This continues a series of reflections on personal devotions written by individuals from many different walks of life. This reflection was written by Lael Griess, wife of Prof. Cory Griess and mother of seven.
Have you ever had the blessing of a very close friend? Maybe even a best friend? As children you might play together and share your childish hopes and dreams. As you grow into teenage and young adult years your conversations mature into sharing opinions and convictions on different topics, asking each other for advice, and learning to understand each other’s thoughts.
If at any point one or both of you stops investing in the friendship, the relationship will suffer. In fact, if you ignore each other long enough, you might even lose the relationship altogether so that the person who was once your best friend is now like a stranger. Maintaining a friendship requires regular communication and time spent together.
In the Protestant Reformed Churches we learn the beautiful truth of God’s covenant with His children. We know and understand that God’s covenant with His people is a living and active bond in which our Creator God condescends to be our Friend. He lives with us in communion and fellowship, communicating with us, leading us, correcting us, communing with us. But just like an earthly friendships, our friendship with our God thrives with time spent together.
One of the key ways that we give time to our relationship with God is through our individual, personal devotional times. We have many opportunities to commune with God together as a body of Christ—during important times of corporate worship, around the table during family devotions, discussing the Word in Bible study, praying with others, etc. While these times are important parts of strengthening our friendship with God, personal devotions are unique. Personal devotional time is just that—personal! It is time alone with God.
And yet, so many Christians struggle with maintaining regular devotional times. Many Christians also wonder what exactly to do during personal devotional times. I am not exempt from either of these struggles! For this reason, I would like to devote the rest of this post to giving some very practical tips and suggestions I hope may help in your own personal devotions.
The basic components of personal devotional times are very simple. I am going to recommend lots of supplements, materials, and additional advice, but if you feel overwhelmed, just go back to the basics. Personal devotional times are very simply made of up two components:
- Reading the Word— In the Word God speaks to you leading and guiding, comforting and encouraging, as well as confronting and correcting.
- Prayer—You respond back to God by responding to his Word in worship and submission, and you lay your burdens on the Lord. Along with prayer is singing during devotional time. Singing to the Lord is a form of prayer, but more on that later.
Materials
- Bible—If you don’t already have one, get yourself a good study Bible with helpful notes, maps, and even cross-references. I recommend the Reformation Study Bible. It includes devotional reflections and applicatory questions at the end of each chapter of the Bible.
- Notebook and pen—Purchase a simple notebook and journal. More on this later.
- Study Resources–Invest in a few key books to guide your reading. There is no need to feel overwhelmed; as lay-people we don’t necessarily need to invest in a whole library’s worth of commentaries. However, if you are reading through a book of the Bible, ask your pastor, young people’s leader, or another adult you respect to recommend a particular commentary. Don’t feel like you need to read through the commentary cover-to-cover. Instead, use it as a tool to dig deeper or to answer questions on particular passage. Also, chances are you don’t know Greek or Hebrew, but the good news is that you don’t have to know either to use a concordance! It’s just there as a reference if you are curious about the original meaning of a word. Once you have a commentary and concordance, you might want to check out the RFPA and the Reformed Book Outlet for additional non-fiction books focusing on different books of the Bible or different topics covered in the book of the Bible you are reading. If you don’t find what you are looking for, don’t be afraid to ask others for recommendations!
- Optional helpful resources—If you struggle with some of the archaic words or familiar words used in unfamiliar ways in the King James Version, try purchasing a Noah Webster 1812 Dictionary. This dictionary has every word in the KJV defined and described in its King James usage. Another helpful resource is the Old Oxford Dictionary. Also, a Psalter and good hymnal are great resources for the days when you have a little more time to spend with the Lord. Read a song, or better yet sing to Him in response to His Word!
- A word here about the “devotional” genre. While there are many, many devotionals out there to chose from, there are precious few that actually encourage you to read the Word for yourself. My caution about devotionals is that in addition to the fact that some are shallow or even heretical, it can also be easy to simply read someone else’s reflections and be done with your devotions for the day. In this scenario, you never actually read God’s Word, and that is how He speaks to you! If you are using a devotional, first make sure it is sound, and then use it as a supplement to reading the Word.
Methods
- Scheduling—I will admit that it is ideal for personal devotions to happen daily in the morning hours before day’s work has begun. However, I am also practical enough to recognize that there are many seasons of life when sustaining that kind of schedule is nearly impossible. Rather than falling out of the habit, find the days and times that work for you.
- Reading—I think the easiest way to begin is to simply read through books of the Bible. If this is intimidating, don’t start with a dense prophetic book. Begin with a short epistle or the book of Psalms. A chapter a day is almost always manageable, and if you find that a particular chapter is challenging, camp out in that same chapter for several days and pull in other resources to help!
- Writing—Remember that notebook I mentioned in the above section? Pull it out and use it after you read to record your reflections. Do you have questions? Write them down. Was there something that convicted you? Something that applies to your life right now? Something that moved your soul or encouraged you? Record it briefly. Just a sentence or two.
- Praying—Remember the journal I mentioned in the above section? If you are anything like me, your mind may start to wander during prayer, especially if you are praying silently. I have found it to be immensely helpful to write out my prayers. My mind stays focused. I have a record of requests I have made in the past that I can look back on and use to see how God has answered my prayers. Also, I have found that it helps me develop maturity in my prayers. I recently read through prayers I had written out over the years, and I realized how much of my prayer life was spent whining about my own circumstances. I was convicted to spend more time praising God, giving thanks, and praying for others. In addition to your own prayers, don’t be afraid to use the prayers of others. I highly recommend purchasing The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers. You may find the spiritual depth and honesty of these prayers helpful. The acronym ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication) is also useful to guide your prayers.
- Singing—If you have the time, use the Psalter and some sound hymns to sing to the Lord!
- Listening—This last suggestion is really a supplement to your daily devotions, but you may find it really enriches your reading and retention. Download some audio Bible apps on your phone, ipad, or PC. Try not to use this to entirely replace your daily devotions because time praying and meditating on Scripture is important. But as a supplement, you can listen to the same passages you are reading to reinforce your understanding! You can listen while you do housework, while driving to school or work, or even while exercising. You may even find that portions of a passage you didn’t notice while reading jump out at your while you are listening. Another idea is to use sermon audio to find sermons on the same passages you are reading. What you hear in the sermon will deepen your personal application of the passage.
I hope at least one suggestion here is helpful to either enhance your daily devotional habit or to help you to establish such a habit. I began this article with the comparison of an earthly relationship and our friendship with God. While it is true that our relationship with our covenant God suffers when we neglect time spent alone with Him, the comparison does have a key difference. An earthly friendship can not only suffer but can also die entirely. Not so with God’s friendship to us! He initiates and sustains the friendship with His children. He will never walk away. Never let go. If you grow cold and neglectful for a season, your spiritual vitality will lag, but He will not abandon you. So, pursue a closer walk with your covenant God not for fear of His abandonment but for the joy of knowing Him more fully and walking with Him more closely!
By Lael Griess
Young Calvinists 
Thank you! I’m not young, but appreciated the info.
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