Have you ever had seasons when you did not feel like you were getting the most out of your daily devotion (your daily time for prayer, Bible study, and meditation), or sometimes struggled to maintain consistency?
In those seasons, prayer and reading the Bible can seem like more of a cold formality, something done because “it needs to be done,” but not necessarily done out of a deep love and enjoyment for it.
I would like to share with you a very practical devotional model which, after learning about it, added richness to devotion time that was quite reviving.
The beauty of this model is that it is not too complicated, and yet it incorporates all the major elements that make for a meaningful devotional time. Namely,
- Prayer (i.e. talking to God)
- Bible Study
- Reflection / Meditation
- and Journaling
I try to practice this model at least once a week and have found it to be a blessing. I hope you will benefit from it as well.
The aim of personal devotion:
Before diving into the devotional model itself, it’s important to remind ourselves of the ultimate aim behind having devotion time in the first place.
The main goal of having personal devotion is to spend quality time with God and to draw closer to Him. In fact, God wants to be close and intimate with us, more than we may ever want to spend time with Him.
Consider how the Bible describes the lengths that God was willing to go to even to make it possible for us to have a relationship with Him:
“Since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” Romans 5:10-11 NLT
When we were enemies with God (because of our sins), God was willing to send His son to die for us so that we can have a restored relationship with Him. This shows how eager God is to reconcile us with Himself.
Now we have the opportunity of having a relationship with God and spending time with Him in devotion, knowing that He was willing to go to any lengths to make that possible for us.
God thus invites us to spend daily time with Him. He invites us into this experience, despite all of our shortcomings.
The fact that we are imperfect does not cut us off from having a relationship with God, firstly because He already knows our flaws and is “acquainted with all my ways” (Psalms 139:3); and secondly, because spending daily time with Him is the best way to overcome all our shortcomings.
The main point to note here is that devotion time is primarily about God, about drawing closer to Him. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…” James 4:8 NKJV
With this in mind, we can now get into the model.
How does it work?
For this model to be successful, there are three main tools required:
1. A Bible (in your preferred version / language)
2. A Journal (either a physical journal or your preferred note-taking app)
3. A Bible referencing tool (to be able to search for specific keywords / topics. One of my favorites is Open Bible)
Part 1: Appreciating God – Gratitude and thanksgiving
What has God done for you?
The first step is to take your journal and list all the things that you are grateful for in your life. The aim is to mediate and reflect on the things that God has done for you and the blessings He has placed in your life.
There is no limit as to which areas of life this can relate to. You can list anything related to any area of life, including:
- Family and relationships – E.g. Gratitude to God for family being alive & intact, for friendships, close relationships, children, parents etc.
- Health – E.g. Giving thanks to God for a healthy, functioning body; being grateful for sanity and a healthy mind. Being grateful for healing etc.
- Recoveries and restorations – E.g. Giving thanks for the recovery and restorations of things which may have been formerly lost – health, relationships, assets, etc.
- Breakthroughs & Providence – E.g. Thanking God for the miracles that He has worked in our lives and the breakthroughs in situations that may have otherwise seemed hopeless.
- Education and career – E.g. Giving thanks for having employment (if employed), or a means of income; education and career growth (i.e. passing at school, work promotions etc.)
- Sustenance and provisions – E.g. Thanking God for providing for our day-to-day needs of food, shelter, clothing, etc.
- Faith and meaning – e.g. Being grateful for having a relationship with God, and the meaning that adds to life. Thanking God for the gift of salvation.
- The hard experiences that God is working through – Thanking God that even in the seemingly negative experiences, “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
In going through this process of reflecting on things we are grateful for, we get to see and appreciate God’s goodness over our own lives.
This process can be done daily (in which case one would list 3 – 5 things) or weekly (in which case one could list 5 – 10 items.)
“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT
Part 2: Trusting the Works of God – Supplications.
What do you need God to do for you?
After listing things you are grateful for, the next step is to list the specific areas of your life where you would like God’s intervention.
What would you like God to do for you in the various areas of your life? List these.
This can be in anything from health, finances, relationships, work & school etc. This also includes our spiritual lives, and the areas where we need God to help us gain victory over our sins.
God is mindful of every area of our lives, and there is no part of life that is hidden from His care. Thus we can bring any matter to Him.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6 NLT
This can be also done daily (in which case one could list 3 – 5 things) or weekly (in which case one could list 5 – 10 things.)
This list can include any area of life that you are particularly concerned about or which you may think needs some improvement, including any bad habits, specific aims, needs, fears etc.
In doing this exercise, be as specific as possible, as this list of items will form part of the next section.
Part 3: Trusting God’s Word – Bible Study
What are God’s promises concerning your life?
After listing all the specific areas of your life where you need God to intervene, this next section involves going through the
Bible to claim the promises that God has put in His word concerning the specific areas of life you have listed.
For example, if you have listed “restoration of health” as something you would like God to do for you, God has given the following promise:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” Psalms 103:2-4 NKJV
Another example is if there is a specific need that you may have listed, the Bible also gives the promise that:
“My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 NKJV
The main aim here is to search the scriptures to discover and claim the promises of God for yourself. This involves a bit of study and makes the word of God personally applicable.
To find the various promises of God, tools like Open Bible can be very helpful. With such tools, you can search for the specific topic of interest and see all the relevant Bible verses related to that topic.
At the end of this exercise, you should have a list of Bible verses: one scripture for each of the specific needs you have listed in the previous section.
Prayer:
The last part of this model is prayer. After listing our thanksgivings, our supplications, and God’s promises, we can then talk to God about all the things that we have listed.
Based on the three parts we’ve gone through, our prayer will thus be made up of the following:
1. Thanking God – Express gratitude to God for the specific things you have listed as thanksgivings. Appreciate His goodness and praise Him for His continued favor on your life.
2. Asking God – Let your requests be made to God, ask Him for His intervention in the specific areas you have listed. Tell God what you need and what you are going through, including confessing any known sins.
3. Claiming God’s promises – God has made promises to you in His word, and He is no liar. Recite those promises and claim them for yourself, trust God to fulfill His word and look in anticipation for Him to make good on His promise.
The above model thus allows us to have a richer and more meaningful time of personal devotion, incorporating Bible study, meditation, and prayer.
A quick recap of all the above:
The primary aim of devotional time is to spend quality time with God, and He wants this more than we do.
A great model that can be useful to achieving this can be summarized as:
1. List 5 – 10 things you are grateful to God for in your life
2. List 5 – 10 things you would like God to do for you
3. Find 5 – 10 promises that speak directly to your situation – 1 promise for each need that you have.
After listing all these, you can then engage in heartfelt prayer to God, to thank Him for the things you are grateful for, to ask Him for the things you need from Him and to claim His promises.
