I mentioned that being in God's Word on a regular basis will help with your spiritual formation on a previous post. There are many ways to accomplish this. You can pick up the Bible and just start reading (although I don't recommend this because many have tried this method and lost interest quickly); you can read the Bible from front to back (that is an even faster way to become daunted and overwhelmed - in fact most people don't make it bast the book of Leviticus); but then you can choose a reading plan or a daily devotional to help assist you in your daily time reading God's Word and meditating on what you just read.
You may be asking: but how do I know where to find a reading plan or a daily devotional and even if I do, I can't afford one? Well you may be happy to know that there are plenty of websites and apps that are offered free of charge that are a simple Google or Bing search away from your fingertips. I use several each day, depending on which device I happen to have with me at any given moment. I have the YouVersion Bible app on my phone and it has the option to select a reading plan from tons of options (things like: reading the Bible chronologically; reading the Bible in one year; men's devotional; women's devotional; teen devotional; you name it - the topic is most likely offered to read in a daily format). On my Ipad I have several options that I can choose from to read in a devotional format. I have a Bible version through a Pastoral software company called Logos called the Faithlife Bible and it allows me to access a plethora of devotionals which connect to the study Bible and it all connects to the Scriptures and commentaries electronically (NOTE: Logos is a subscription based software and is note Free - in fact it is quite costly); I will state that the apple marketplace does have tons of free apps available in terms of devotionals offered to download that are very good to utilize in conjunction with your daily reading.
What does a typical devotional offer to you? It typically is written by a pastor or theologian of some sort and they start off with a set of Scripture and then write a short synopsis that connects to the Scripture and may even have an illustration that adds to the Scriptures from modern day. The devotional will typically also have a thought or question at the end to provoke you to think about or ponder throughout your day. It may even give you additional Scripture to look at for the remainder of your day.
When should you do a devotional and for how long? This is asked of me all the time. I would say that if you are currently not doing a daily devotional reading, you should find one that interests you and spend between ten to fifteen minutes each MORNING to start off your day in God's Word. Why the morning? Because when we begin each day worshiping and honoring our Lord and Savior, it has been my experience that the remainder of our day tends to go better than if we leave the devotional to the end of the day when we are tired and stressed out and don't have the focus of attention to give to Him. It shows Him that He is The most important thing and that we are offering the first portion of our morning to Him as a sacrifice.
We also have tiny daily calendars in our house that have Scripture verses on them and often I will take some time and look them up and do a little bit of research on them to see what was going on in the times, why the person was saying what they were saying and who they were saying it to. Knowing the background behind the Scriptural verse can help you to be a whole lot less confused and more interested in wanting to investigate God's Word deeper.
I hope this entry has deepened your interest in wanting to go deeper into the Scriptures and to research his Words more and on a daily basis. Get creative! Ask your friends what they are doing for their quiet time with the Lord. How are they staying actively interested and engaged with the Word? What will keep your mind active?
As always, I welcome your thoughts to this entry and look forward to hearing from anyone about their own spiritual journey.
Recharging my Spirit daily,
Pastor Bill Blanck
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