The Daily Devotional Life (Part 2)

What is a daily devotional?
The general definition of the phrase “daily devotional” is, a short piece of Christian writing, often based on scripture, for each day. There are very good devotional resources available (online or books). We use the S.O.A.P. method (scripture, observation, application and prayer). However, our devotional life is more than reading a brief, inspiring, encouraging Christian writing every day and mumbling a few words. 

It's in daily devotion that we discover:
1) Who God is
2) Who we are
3) What God wants to do in and with (through) our lives.

Let's look at simple real-life examples to illustrate the concept of the daily devotional life.

1) The care of our body

How many of us doubt the importance of proper daily nutrition for a healthy body? If we make careless nutritional decisions, we might be leaving the earth to be with the Lord sooner than we think. I hope not! The body must be cared for, whether you are a Christian or not. We do not eat our daily meals solely for pleasure. Daily meals provide the vital nutrients we need to stay productive. Even after we eat breakfast, we might decide to go to a restaurant with our "work friends" to have lunch. This meal might be a pleasure meal, and not really vital.

Just as our body needs a daily portion of nutrients to live and function, our spirit also needs a daily dose of the Word of God to “stay alive” and operate. Remember, Jesus said "man does not live by bread alone" (Matthew 4:4).

Paul with his unusual insight gives us words that aptly describes the care of our bodies in Ephesians:

For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church (Ephesians 5:29).

Our body needs to be nourished and cherished (or taken care of). If we can translate this understanding to the spirit, then we can have an idea of the concept of the devotional. It is the nourishing and cherishing of the spirit man through the Word of God and in fellowship with Him in prayer.

1) The gas tank of a car

Those of us that have a car, must regularly go to the gas station to fill our gas tank. Just as gas fuels our vehicle, daily devotionals fuel our spirit. Though we are already filled to the full at salvation, as long as we are still in this earthly body, we must regularly refuel our spiritual tanks. Trying to live a fruitful Christian life loving others, without practical fellowship with the Spirit, is like trying to drive a car on an empty tank. It will certainly crash. 

Daily devotional: Definition and concept

The word “devotional” is not in scripture, but the concept is everywhere. Therefore, it’s more important to grasp the idea of a daily devotional, than the definition. Here are some core concepts of daily devotionals, to ensure we have a good understanding.

1) Living by the Word of God

The central pillar that holds every other idea of the devotional is that man was created by God to live by the Word of God. As a believer, Jesus (the incarnate Word) is not only the life we were given, but we live by Him.

2) Devotion

The Christian life is a life devoted to God. Our relationship with God will require devotion, commitment, and sacrifice. We don’t give God the remnants after other activities have used up our best. A healthy Christian life will cost us something. If it does not cost us anything, it will be not be worth anything. It will be practically meaningless to us, while living here and now. The cost will be paid with our time and attention rather than our money. 

3) Time with God

The cornerstone of daily devotional time is essentially that: time spent with God. This alone time with God keeps us practically alive in the spirit from day to day, just as necessary nutrition keeps our body going! There is no shortcut in spiritual things. We cannot serve or tithe our way around this. We need time, alone, with our Father, as long as we are still in this earthly body. When the new body comes, we will not need to find time to spend with God, as He will be perfectly immersed in all of our being. We will forever and completely experience His full presence. But until then, time with God is the only way live in God’s presence and experiencing His daily manifestations now.

4) Fellowshipping with God

Fellowship with God describes our state of being together and talking with Him. This has two parts. First, we experience fellowship with God, beginning at salvation, by virtue of our spiritual re-birth. The second part is the practical fellowship that revolves around nurturing our time with God. 

Our daily devotional time must be dedicated to focusing solely on Him, being in His presence, hearing Him and talking to Him. Beyond the devotional life is an even more intimate connection: learning to maintain fellowship with God all day long. This is even more important than our devotional life! It is learning to cultivate God’s presence, no matter where we are or what we're doing. The devotional life is a critical foundation for building this 24/7 fellowship.

So what is daily devotional? It is a daily moment of nourishment in the presence of God. 

The purpose of Bible Devotions

The ultimate purpose of the devotional life can be summarized by Jesus:

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (John 15:6)

The devotional life keeps us practically in touch with the Master. It keeps us in a place where we continually receive, from a practical perspective, life from the Master, as a branch receives sap. If we could be in this place! The issue is that many of us are saved, connected to the Master by default, but living so far away from Him, that we are cut off from the daily flow of His life.

The Secondary purposes of daily devotional time is to allow the Holy Spirit to complete His multi-faceted ministry in our lives. The Holy Spirit’s activities which are most pertinent:

1) Feeding and nourishment your spirit

This is receiving the life of God into our soul to live in the here and now. The devotional life matures our spirit man to grow in maturity and Christlikeness. This is God’s heart’s desire for His people.

2) Fellowship with God

The Father and Jesus fellowship with us through the Spirit as we feed on the Word and spend time with Him in prayer.

3) Preparation for the day

If we forget everything else, we must remember this: life requires preparation. We prepare to take exams. We prepare for job interviews. Yet, many of us face the daily pressures of life completely unprepared. Have you ever wondered why ministers often seek God in prayer before ministering? Is it some formality? Could they postpone seeking God’s face until after they have ministered? Certainly not! They do it before the ministration. Why? The spirit, soul and body need preparation. The same is true about our daily events in life. Many of us start praying only when we encounter a crisis in our lives. We circulate prayer requests hoping it goes viral and enabling us to muster a large number of praying believers so they can try to help us “catch up”. It does not work this way. It is hard, very hard, to start building your faith when you already in trouble. The key is to be prepared always.

The Holy Spirit needs His tools to work in your life. His tool is the Word. The Spirit’s influence in our life is directly proportional to how much of His Word has us. There are no short-cuts in spiritual things. We cannot sow a seed to replace the need for feeding on His Word and spending time in prayer with the Lord. A healthy spiritual life will cost us something. If our spiritual life cost us nothing, it will certainly turn out to be worth nothing. The cost is not going to be some big sum of money or a 40 day consecration or fast. The one sure price to pay, is time with God, consistently in His Word, and in prayer.

The Daily Devotional Life (Part 1)

Our daily devotional life is our springboard for developing a rich, rewarding, and productive relationship with the Lord. The key to living a life of continuous victories beyond human comprehension, is be in touch with God in a practical way, also called “fellowship of the Spirit” or “abiding in Christ”.

Spending time with the Lord is facing a real threat of potential extinction. The demands of modern life seem to be incompatible with taking time out to spend with an invisible God. It is as though we should reconsider if prayer and meditation still belong to this age or they should be left alone with the less busy generations past. 

In fact, Pharaoh called the attitude of seeking God laziness in Exodus 5:17:

You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD’ (Exodus 5:17 ESV).

Before moving any further, there are two very subtle lies we must reject from the outset. The first is that life is too busy today for God. It is true that the pace of life has increased a thousand times since Jesus’ day. Even contemporary teenagers have more crammed into a day than an entire combined household of their ancient counterparts! However, life is never too busy for God, who is life in the first place. The second is the common misconception that it is normal for the Christian life to have “highs and lows." Though this has been the experience of the majority of Christians, it is not what God has designed for us. 

The scripture says about those who are pay attention to the Word :

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers (Psalm 1:3 ESV)

A tree by the river never experiences dryness. Its leaves are fresh, and its fruit abundant, everyday of the year. This is the divine picture of your life-whether this is your experience now is a different question. The reason why the devotional life is crucial is because it seeks to put us in a place where we live like a tree planted by the rivers of living waters, always green and fruitful.

Why is the daily devotional time under threat?

But why is the daily devotional time facing the threat of extinction? While we often cite a lack of time, this is a lie I pray will be excavated from our minds before the end of this lesson. Though our time today is certainly under pressure, contrary to what many Christians believe, it is not the main reason why many of us find it so difficult to establish a solid daily devotional life. Here are five underlying causes of the lack of time available for God.

1) Priority mismatch

Our perceived priories are the most powerful personal factors dictating how you allocate your time. Our priorities are driven by our perception of need.

We place more value in the activities we believe are most necessary to meet our needs or ideals of success, whether our perception is accurate or not. Many of us sincerely do not understand why a consistent devotional time with God is critical in our lives.

2) Misperceived need

An even bigger problem is our perceived need for God and His Word. Sadly, many of us still see God’s Word simply as a "instruction manual", rather than the source of our life. As a result, our perceived need for God’s Word is blurred by an inadequate appreciation and understanding of the role God's Word plays in our lives.

3) The wisdom problem

The wisdom problem is closely related to our mismatched priorities and misperceived need. We need divine wisdom to discern our most important needs and set our priorities right. If we truly grasp the impact of our relationship with God on every area of life, we will give God's Word the true attention it deserves.

4) God’s work dilemma

This casualty of ministry might surprise you. Over-extending ourselves in God’s work erodes and destroys ministers’ time of intimacy with the Lord. As God’s precious children, we must never think that God called us primarily to work for Him. Our relationship with Him must have priority over the work He has commissioned us to do.

Enemies of the daily devotional life

While there are many enemies of our time, I will mention just three of them:

1) Distractions

Distractions are anything that come in our way to interfere with the time we set aside to spend with the Lord. The work God has commanded us to do can even be a distraction! The classic story of Mary and Martha below explains this beautifully without further comments. 

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. “But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:38-42 ESV)

2) The religious spirit

This silent destroyer occurs when we engage in the form of religion without the substance. The religious spirit focuses on the practice rather than the purpose of the practice. We might even begin to measure our performance based on how consistent we are in our time with God. The mindset of the religious spirit kills the quality of our time spent with the Lord.

3) Being a crisis Christian

Those of us with this attitude only seek God when there is a crisis. For us, God is a "problem solver", so we only come to Him when we need answers. This is a heightened risk for believers with a misperceived need for God, as explained earlier. Christ is more than your problem-solver; He is our very life (Colossians 3:4).

Why bother about your daily devotional life?

Many of us ask this very reasonable question. Our relationship with the Lord has a huge, practical impact on all areas of our life. If something does not solve an emotional pain, financial crises, health turmoil or relationship unrest or similar day to day issues we face, they matter less to us.

The Flourishing life

Life, both spiritual and physical, is like a tree. The leaves indicate the overall well-being of our body, soul, and spirit. The fruits are virtues like love, joy, peace, and righteousness, all characteristics both God and man desires. A tree planted by a river will never run dry, even when the sun is high above in the sky. The secret to its fruitfulness is not the tree, but it’s proximity to the river. Simply stated, to flourish in life, plant our self by the living waters of God. This is where our daily devotional life comes in. It opens the flood gates for the Holy Spirit to nourish our relationship with Christ. 

Devotionals bring us to the water of life, to abide in Christ every day. For many believers, their mindset and routine has planted them in a dry place far away from "the River", and they wonder why their leaves are drying up and they struggle to produce fruit.

So why should we care? Our fruitfulness in life will depend squarely on where our practical, daily habits plant us.