The Challenge - Week Five
Getting Your Devotional Life Going Again

One of the most important and practical parts of a Christian’s daily life is his or her devotional time. By devotional time I’m referring to a time set aside each day (or as close to that as possible) to pray, read the Bible, and spend time meditating on what it means to you.

Almost all of us know that we ought to have a daily devotional or quiet time as its sometimes called. And almost all of us know that we don’t come anywhere near doing that!

Why not? Our excuses range from being to busy, to not knowing what to do, not having a place to do it in. Occasionally we’ll even get honest and just admit – “I’m too lazy!”

Amen! Aren’t most of us? Having a vibrant devotional life takes more than discipline, but it includes it! So getting your devotional life going begins by making a quality decision to set aside time at least five days a week to spend some time with God.

Once you’ve done that then what?  Let me give you a simple, easy, basic guide to spending 15 minutes with God. This is a great way to get going, later I’m sure you’ll change it – as you should! But for those of you who are having trouble – I think this will help.

1) Get Settled. (1 minute)

            Take a minute to get settled down, relaxed and ready to go (just make sure you don’t fall asleep if you are doing this early in the morning!

2) Read the Word. (4 minutes)

            Begin reading where you stopped yesterday, and do so slowly, listening for God to speak to you.

3) Meditate on the Word. (4 minutes)

            Now that God’s Word has grabbed you, spend some time thinking deeply it. What does it mean, how does it apply to my life, what can I do to put this into practice?

4) Write it Down. (2 minutes)

            Take a few moments to write out an application for yourself (no one else please!) Also record your thoughts, questions, etc.

5) Finish in Prayer. (4 minutes)

            Finish by spending time talking to God. Bring your requests to Him, pray about what you learned from the Word today, pray for others, praise Him for what He’s done for you and others, etc.