How to Make Your Morning Devotions Stick Like Glue
Devotions come in many sizes and flavors. You have the soft mushy kind, the dry scholarly kind, and the in-between kind.
But what I bring to you is one that when you come out of your devotional time you will have grasped the meaning of the the text, and where you fit into the God story.
Often times when you read, I bet you have the “hustle-bustle” type of experience. You have a desire to spend your mornings in devotion, yet your busy life just won’t submit.
If this describes you, then keep reading.
My mornings usually consist of scrounging around the house trying to find the clothes I just washed last night, what I can pop in the toaster for a quick breakfast, trying to shower in the time it takes two cups of coffee to brew, and if I’m lucky, getting a few Bible verses in view. All to get out of the house in just enough time to make it to work 30 seconds before being late.
Should I tell you how often I get those Bible verses in? I’ll let you guess . . . Okay, fine I’ll tell you: Not often.
So what to do about this?
#First, identify your morning devotional verse(s).
Skim through what you will be reading in your morning devotion the night before. This doesn’t have to take long, just a quick read. No analyzing, no critical thinking, no application. Just skim.
Whatever comes to mind in relation to the verse(s) you just skimmed over, write a quick note about it and use that note as your book mark. Bookmark your place so that it is easy to find the next morning.
#Second, go to sleep.
Before you do, say a quick prayer about what you just read. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you insight into His word for the next morning.
Don’t try to think too hard over what you just read, just let it mull over in your brain all by itself. Your subconscious can work wonders, especially when it’s affected by the Word of God.
#Third, when you wake up re-read your devotion verse(s).
This should be the first thing you do when you get up. Well, get up first, then read. Don’t spend too much time reading it, just read through one quick time, and get to your morning routine.
Think about what you’ve read while you are doing your morning routine. Ponder on it.
What does it mean? Who are the key characters? What is the context? How has your thought about it the night before changed or developed?
#Fourth, return to your devotion verse(s).
This time take out your note that you wrote the night before. Re-read your text for the third time. By this time, you should be pretty familiar with the text. The reason is proximity.
The more your are involved with the text, the better you will remember it. And this doesn’t mean you have to concentrate heavily on it each time you read it, it just means that you read it. Often. That’s the point of reading the text three times, but briefly the first two.
Now you should have a few other thoughts on your selected passage. How do they relate to your original though? Has it changed? Has it developed more? Write down the key themes of your thoughts in your notes.
For instance, what if your passage was John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” You may have developed a though about this verse that goes something like this:
- Night before: Jesus is the only way to God
- First reading morning of: Am I inviting Jesus into my daily life, or am I just performing apart from Him?
- Second reading morning of: I often times do not invite Jesus into my life. I am trying to appease God by doing the “right” things.
Now, what is the Big Idea to take out of this devotion? For the example used above, the Big Idea is to remember that the only way I am going to have a healthy relationship with God is through Jesus and not my own “goodness.”
And since you’ve visited the text multiple times, even if they were brief, it will stick to you like glue.
And that’s how you make the most out of your morning devotional!
Can you relate to the morning “hustle and bustle” routine? Have I missed anything? Share your insight in the comments below.
- New here? Consider Subscribing via RSS feed. It’s the best and fastest way to get content!
Related articles
First let me say that, once getting past the definition and purpose of "devotions," the above is a good and reasonable format.
That said, I notice the frequent use of the word "quick" in your description [which use is clearly explained]. For those who may remember their parents' mention of the King James version of the Bible, the word "quick" therein meant "alive," ergo Heb.4:12 = "For the Word of God is quick (alive) and powerful…" I mention this to emphasize that swiftness does not dilute potency. Because God's Word IS alive, it can and does work swiftly.
(Continued below…)
(…continued) But it is also crucial that we keep in mind that it is attitude, rather than method, which will ultimately ensure the "success" [read: reality]of our relationship with our Lord. Which brings us back to defining "devotions" and their purpose…
Devotions as a term is used almost randomly to mean any deliberate involvement between the believer and his Lord. The purposes of this involvement are various, and bear a close inspection. If personal involvement with Christ is viewed as a must-do or should-do, a probly-oughta-do or a better-do-or-else, some reassessment is in order. Spending personal time in the very presence of the Lord God Almighty of the universe, the King of all kings who dwells in unapproachable Light, is not to be taken casually. His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, and the Spirit He has given us to lead us into all truth is Holy.
(Continued below…)
(…continued) Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father who is in heaven…" Let us understand that, had He not arranged for us to be bathed clean of our sins and sinfulness in the blood of Jesus Christ, and then clothed in the pure white robe of His holy Son's own personal righteousness, there would be no audience for us in heaven as we would be inextricably bound to the filth of this world in spiritual death and blindness.
The purpose, then, of our "devotions," our approach to the holiest of holies and Him who dwells therein, is to fulfill His desire to fellowship with us, to present ourselves to Him bodily as living sacrifices, and to be instructed by Him in all that He would have us learn. He intends for us to enjoy His presence and person, even as He means to enjoy ours. (Continued below…)
(…continued) Let our attitude, then, be one of privilege and anticipation, filled with gratitude [expressed in thanksgiving and praise], earnestness of desire [Lord, not my will, but thine be done], and expectation of His fulfillment of His promises towards us.
NOTE: Initially, and often thereafter, we will feel ourselves desperately lacking in all the "proper" attitudes and responses toward God. Let these natural feelings not dissuade us– it is in these very situations that we prove the definition of FAITH [being "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"], as "we walk by faith, not by sight [sensory perceptions]."
Jon's formula, above, will work best [perhaps ONLY] for those whose attitude [affections] is fixed towards things above [God's eternal kingdom] and not towards things on the earth [my appearance of doing all the right things].
al H, I had presumed it to be only a matter of time before someone would draw this point out. I was thinking about prefacing the post with addressing those who have very busy mornings and have not had any kind of devotion at all. And in their case, my hope was that at least they could get something in, even if it was "quick". If I can move someone to not doing anything, to doing something, then I think I may have accomplished something good, or at least have helped that person to begin moving in the right direction.
But you have made an important point, that our time with Jesus is not just a "quick" and "come-and-go" type of relationship. We need to be spending some good time with our Lord, and we need Bible times that are more than what I have suggested above.
By the way, thanks for the insight to the word "quick." I never knew that!
al H, I always appreciate your comments and your contribution to helping us all grow in Christ. I love it that God gives gifts to His children and guides them so that they may help each other grow in all knowledge and discernment through the abundance of love, that we may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God (Phil. 1:9-11).
Great encouragement – I can relate to feeling that my time with God gets all too easily squeezed out. Something I have found useful is to set myself the task of being able to write a one sentence summary thought of something I consider important for me to apply from my Bible reading. Having that goal makes me LOOK for the meaning in what I’m reading rather than just letting my eyes slide across the page uncomprehending.
Good point Mike. Thanks for stopping by!
I've found that since I tend to check my RSS feeds regularly, especially in the morning, having devotionals on my feed page helps me remember to read them. Not always a 100-percent guarantee, of course, but better than having it sitting on my table…where it would most likely get buried under the detritus of a day's life.