Develop a Meaningful Devotional Life Painlessly

I've taken the liberty to re-publish a previous post (this first appeared inSeptember). I feel it coincides nicely with what I posted a few days ago about meditation.


I've come to two conclusions:

1. I am a Mary forced to live as a Martha. I would relish the opportunity to sit at Jesus' feet and learn from him but most of my life I've been called to cook and serve and then clean up.
2. Monks have it easy because their lives are centered on contemplation, studying the Word of God, and praying. I know they perform important tasks in many areas of service but their main focus is worship.

 All Christians struggle to develop the habit of meeting with God regularly. That is where real worship and growth take place and yet we find it difficult to schedule. It was especially true for me during the busy years of managing family life, running a home, and teaching school. 


Here are some things I learned:

• Baby Steps. Try scheduling a time for reading the Bible and prayer once a week. Then make it twice, working up to every day or almost every day.
• No Guilt. Think of this as a special time with Someone who loves you deeply--an appointment.
• Make it Pleasant. The setting can be a familiar, comfortable place or a different place each time. If a cup of coffee or tea or a cookie makes it nice, then indulge.
• Adapt to your Schedule. When raising four young children, I could barely greet the morning chaos with any semblance of alertness. Often I had my devotional time at 11 or 12:00 at night, long after the family was tucked into their beds. When all the kids reached school age, mid-morning worked for me until I started teaching. Then it was that dreaded 5:15 a.m. time, that actually grew to be quite effective.
• Be creative:
• Let your car become a Chapel on Wheels as you listen to audio versions of the Bible. A good one is Word of Promise Audio Bible with Jim Caviezel reading the words of Jesus. This is an excellent dramatic presentation with sound effects and a musical score accompanying 600 professional readers. It can be downloaded or purchased at www.FaithPlanet.com
• Take 15 minutes of your lunch break to read and pray. One of  my fellow teachers at a large public high school sat at a picnic table eating lunch and reading his Bible every day.
• Walk and meditate during your lunch break. Scripture verses on index cards enable you to walk, read, and pray all at the same time.
• Combine a devotional time with whatever exercise program you endure.
• Think of one 30-minute activity you can give up for your appointment with God:  television, computer time, sleep, etc.

 

A family of quail that visited my backyard during my morning devotional time on the patio.

Helpful Resources

Devotional Books:

• Jesus Calling by Sarah Young
• Our Daily Bread - www.odb.org
• Words of Hope - www.woh.org
• Meeting God in Quiet Places by F. LaGard Smith
• My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
• Online devotionals by your favorite Christian author or speaker

Something happens along the way and your time of devotions becomes a Holy Habit, something you look forward to as pleasant rather than a chore.

You really miss it when you miss it!

 

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3: 17)


Remember:  No guilt, just steady effort. You will benefit and God will smile. 



(Let me know through your comments what works for you and I will share it in a future post.)

From Chaos to Calm

Who depends on you? What are your responsibilities? How many items are on your to-do list for the week?

Overwhelmed yet? The jumble that makes up your daily life can cause incredible chaos. This doesn't even factor in the biggies that occur:  loss of health, relationships, job, or home; fear, either real or imagined; worry about, well, everything.

How can we manage an overloaded life so there are pockets of calm?

Proactive Steps:

• Pare down
• Simplify
• Just say no

No, no, no! That's insulting if you are in the throes of life right now because often you can't eliminate anything. It would be like asking

• Which meal can my family do without?
• Which kid do I neglect today?
• How do I tell my boss I can't do the work she assigned?

So, how can we manage all we must do and stay upright? Try this:

1. Work diligently and efficiently. Focus 100% on the task at hand and then REMOVE YOURSELF FROM IT. (see a previous post, Formula for Busy People, about setting priorities and working through goals.)
2. Take care of yourself physically. Eat healthy (try eliminating one not-so-good item from your diet), exercise (each week move around a little more than the previous week), and get good sleep (work on your before bed sleep routines and allow enough time for proper sleep). Even Elijah took a God-ordered nap when he was depressed and overwhelmed. (see I Kings 19: 3-9)
3. Work on improving your relationships. Schedule time for fun and social engagements.
4. Be sure to spend time alone with God.

Now...

Invert that list so it looks something like this:

1. Spend time alone with God
2. Work to improve your relationships ("People are more important than things")
3. Take care of your physical well-being
4. Work responsibly and productively

Do you see the difference? Allowing God to be first in your daily priorities enables everything else to fall into place. The busier you are the more you need to place God first.

Wonder of all wonders, privately communicating with God makes me more energetic, it clears my thinking, it minimizes stress, and increases my productivity.I don't know how, but it works every time.

Too Busy not to Spend Time with God!

 

My Prayer Chair in a former backyard

Old Testament David, a man with many responsibilities as king of God's people and a man who frequently found his life in chaos, said it best:  "I seek you with all my heart;...I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees....I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways....I will not neglect your word." (Psalm 119: 10-12, 15-16)

"The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth." (Psalm 145: 18)

David learned to go from chaos to calm by spending time with his God.

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