What Should Personal Devotions Look Like?

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.

Prayer: a daily time — and a conversation woven through the day

• The question posed (in the host's frame): many of our listeners have made some sort of resolution, or commitment, for this year, in the area of their personal spiritual disciplines. They may have decided that they want to pray more — or that they're going to read the Bible through, this year. And we certainly commend those efforts; think that's important. But it raises a question: what should personal devotions involve? Because the Bible never sets an hour of prayer per day, or a rule of reading the Bible through in a year (in the host's framing). So: how do we know if we're doing personal devotions right? The answer: well, let me give you some suggestions and guidelines. First of all, let's look at the components: what should a healthy, well-rounded spiritual life look like? First of all, I think we should commit to prayer. The best plan is to have a daily time of prayer. And it's helpful to have it at the same time. And I think it's more about relationship, than minutes or hours — although, to get quality time, you sometimes have to spend quantity time. So I think the best plan is to set a time, every day, where you pray — whether it be 10 minutes, 15 minutes, an hour. And it could vary. And it may be that your daily schedule is not quite the same — mine is different, every week. But if you try to set a time — usually in the morning, usually first thing — that's probably best. Although, for some, at lunch, or in the evening. But you don't want to let things crowd out your day, and you never get around to praying. Some prayer can be while you're driving, you're commuting. I don't think all of your time you have to have some intensely focused time. But you can redeem the time. So if you're commuting — like I do, by plane, or train, or driving, or riding with someone — that could be at least part of your prayer time. And I think the idea, more than an exact amount, is building the relationship, and having consistency.
• And also, let's be realistic. So if you set this time — I want to pray, you know, 700 a.m. (as the time stands in the text), for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever — and let's say your day gets blown away, by things outside of your control; or let's say your schedule changes. Well, if you can succeed five out of the seven days — well, that's a passing grade. It's not perfect. But don't beat yourself up, or condemn yourself. Because what happens is: people often do something unrealistic — well, I'm going to pray an hour a day — and then they fall short, and then they give up. Or: I'm going to pray every day — in the midst of the day, they give up. So I would say: it's not a matter of condemnation. It's not a matter of earning something from God. You can't earn favors, by so many hours of prayer, or so many days of fasting. It's about relationship. It's about building a relationship. So having a consistent relationship is most important. If you fall short one day, that's okay. You can do extra, the next day, for example. But it's not legalism. But: daily prayer. And really, the Bible says: pray without ceasing. So I've learned, over the years, that I'm in conversation with the Lord, all the time. It's not just a set time — well, here's my prayer time, I'm going to talk to God, and go through my checklist. But it's interacting with God, at different times of the day: praying, as a need arises; or, when something unusual happens, just talking to the Lord about it, asking what he thinks; or, you have a decision, asking the Lord, or taking a moment to pray; somebody expresses a need, saying: well, let's stop, let's pray right now. So prayer gets woven in your day.

Bible reading and study: daily, unhurried, unforced

• Bible reading and studying should also be daily. But sometimes, again, your schedule may get messed up. So sometimes I may read many chapters. Sometimes I read a whole book — I like to do that, because I get the whole context. Other times, it might be just a verse or two. So, again, the idea is not to beat yourself up; not to have a rigid schedule. My goal: I like to read the Bible through, every year. So that means you need to average about three chapters a day. That's in addition to study. So: prayer; Bible reading — which I would include: study, meditation, thinking about the Bible. So sometimes reading one verse, and thinking about it, praying about it, studying it, might be more beneficial than just going through three or five chapters, just to say you've done it.

Fasting, church, tithes, testimony — disciplines of relationship

• Third thing is fasting. Again, it's not about earning favors with God. It's not about legalism. It's not about a rigid requirement. But I think: a good discipline — which I've tried to do, for most of my adult life; and sometimes it's difficult, because of my schedule. But I like to fast one day a week. I don't always do that, because, as I said, sometimes my schedule is full of events. If you have a lot of strenuous work, it may be difficult to fast a lot. But one easy way to do it is: eat your evening meal — eat supper — and then fast to the next supper. So that way, you're getting 24 hours, but you're not — you still are, you know — have enough nutrition, to take care of what you need to take care of. Or, another thing might be: once a quarter, to take two or three days, to fast. If there's a special need, a special time in your life, special consecration — then you might have a special day, or several days, of fasting. It's not so much — again, you're not earning favors with God, at all. It's not so much a requirement. In fact, the Bible — the New Testament — never specifically says: you shall fast. But Jesus gave guidelines, assuming we would fast. Another spiritual discipline is attending church, faithfully. So, obviously, we need a local church. We need a pastor. We need to be faithful to the regular services of our local church — which typically would be Sunday, plus a midweek Bible study, or home friendship group, or cell group. So we should be faithful, a regular, in attendance. And it's just a given: we're going to go to church, when it's time to go. Our family's going to go. That's a spiritual discipline. Also: tithes and offerings. That should be a given. That should be a commitment, that we make, to support the kingdom of God. And I would also add: sharing our testimony. It shouldn't be seen as optional. Again, none of these things are legalistic requirements, to earn salvation, or earn favors with God, or make ourselves holy. It's about building relationship with God. And from that relationship, of course, we have power with God; we have power over evil; and blessings of God. But it flows from relationship — not from some kind of mathematical formula, or legalistic requirement. But I would say, as part of that: our lifestyle should be sharing our testimony; inviting people to church; you know, meeting strangers, or visitors, or people that we regularly interact with, and building relationships, that would be conducive to helping to lead them to the Lord. That should be part of our spiritual disciplines, as well.

Corporate seasons — and the relationship that carries it all

• I think, if we have these basic elements in place, we can have a healthy, mature spiritual life. Sometimes, God will call us to extraordinary consecration, or effort. Or sometimes, the pastor will feel led to call the church — particularly in the beginning of the year, perhaps — to call the church to some special times of prayer, fasting, consecration. So, as a group, maybe we'll do some things on an extraordinary basis, a few times a year. But so, I think there's a value in corporate prayer, and corporate worship. Coming to church early, to pray, should be a regular habit. Or, maybe there are some designated times of corporate prayer, that you're invited to join, or the pastor asks you to participate in. But there also should be some individual prayer. And ultimately, it's got to be a relationship, between you and the Lord.