Do you struggle in the attempt to spend time with your Heavenly Father each day? I've been there friend, and there are many days when I am still there! Over the past year, I have been exploring what it means to commune with the Father through daily devotions. I have tried many different approaches, and though my practice is far from perfect, I have been able to develop a steady and healthy rhythm of devotion time. Today I started asking myself, "what has led to this increase in my engagement with my daily devotions?" and there were a few things that stuck out.
So today, I have for you a little list of tips that I hope will help you engage more fully with God as you enter into the Christian discipline of personal devotion time.
1) Don't find time, make time.
If finding time is your number one issue when it comes to spending time with God, then nothing else on my list is going to help you until you give up trying to find time and just simply make time. The honest truth is that if your schedule is so jam-packed that you don't have even 10 minutes to spend with God each day (or even 3 days/week) then you are too busy. Plain and simple friend. In our busy culture these days it is unlikely that the average person has spare time just lying around waiting to be filled, so if you keep looking for that hidden amount of time, you won't find it. Contrary to what you may believe, you are not a slave to your schedule. God has given you the freedom to say "yes" and to say "no" and so if you are struggling to find the time amidst your busy schedule to be with God, then there is something currently in your schedule that you need to say "no" to in order to spend time with Jesus. I'd start with all things technology, such as: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, online games, texting, watching TV, browsing magazines, and online shopping. Prioritize making time to be with God, and I promise you the rewards you reap will be far more fulfilling than any of the things on that list.
2) Create sacred space.
Once we have carved time out to be with God, perhaps the next biggest barrier to a successful devotional time is distractions and interruptions. Any mother knows this (not that I am one...)! But really, we all know it because pretty much all of us own cell phones. Those blasted things we can't live without. So we need to create a sacred space in our lives, and most often this involves separating ourselves from others so that we can be focused on Jesus. This is a practice that Jesus actually modeled for us, He often when off by Himself to pray. We can follow this example by seeking solitude from time to time, in order to commune with our Father. This may mean closing a door, going into a closet, a different floor of the house. I once heard a story of a mother who would sit in her kitchen and put a blanket over her head. Her children would walk in the room to ask her a question, see the blanket (a visual cue that now was not the time to bother mom unless it was urgent) and would wait until later to chat with her. You could even leave a notepad out on the counter so that they can write their question down, and then you follow up with them when they are finished. This simple act gave this mother mental space in which she could be with the Lord amidst even a chaotic house. Of course, if the matter was urgent (i.e. an emergency of conflict) then she would excuse herself from God's presence and tend to her children. But the point is that when it comes to developing consistency in our devotional lives, environment matters, and even putting a blanket over your head as you pray creates a different mental environment.
3) Use sound as a pathway.
For some, music or sound is distracting while they are trying to focus. If this is the case, try to find a quiet place, or purchase some ear plugs and put them in (here is a link to my favourite brand) in order to create silence. For others, music drowns out distraction (this is ME!), and so engaging fully in your devotion means finding music that acts as a pathway to God. For me, this is quiet, ambient or instrumental music. I found this amazing playlist the other day on The Good Christian Music Blog. it has been on repeat every morning this week. Each individual's taste is different. Instrumental might be your best bet, for others, it is worship and for others, it is electronica. Whatever your taste, find music that feeds your soul and brings you into communion with the Father rather than distracting you from Him. If silence is what does it, then choose that.
4) Be devoted.
In the past, I have given up on Bible reading plans or devotional books when I felt like I wasn't "getting much out of it." In the past year, I have learned that daily devotions are less about my feelings and more about showing up. They are about devotion or faithfulness, that is why they are called devotions! Devotion is actually defined as "profound dedication, consecration." So if I have a friend who I hang out with regularly, and there are a few hangouts in a row where we don't have some sort of amazing communal experience together, does this mean that I will stop being their friend? Of course not, because friendship is about loyalty - it's about devotion! We stick around even when we go through dry patches, and sticking around actually teaches us a great deal about friendship. The same is true in marriage and this virtue also extends into our devotional life. What if we viewed our devotional time as time that was consecrated, or "set apart" for God? What if we devoted ourselves to freeing our time up to meet with God daily regardless of the outcome? What if devotions were more about learning to actually be devoted and less about learning something? I mean, obviously you don't want to sit there and waste your time every day, but the truth is that if you are sitting in communion with God each day, your time is not wasted.
5) Slow down.
This requires little explanation (I hope). Basically, the idea is not to just rush through your devotion. The idea is to spend quality time with God, not to just rush through and read as much of the Bible as possible or to catch up on days you've missed in your devotional book. Be okay with missed days. Be okay with not having a specific timeline or agenda. Let God bring the agenda. If all you do for 5 days straight is read the same 3 verses over and over again and spend time reflecting on what they mean - that is a successful devotional week. It's not about quantity, but quality, so take it slow.
6) Be expectant.
Slowing down also opens our ears to what God might want to say to us on any given day. But we often don't hear things because we either A) don't want to or B) don't expect to and so we don't even bother to listen. Come to every devotional time expecting to hear something from God. Maybe you won't hear something every single time, but the more you expect to hear from Him and open yourself up to the possibility, the more you will. It might be confusing (more on that below) and it might be hard at first, but eventually you will begin to hear from God, and not just during your devotion time!
7) Ask questions.
If you aren't hearing from God, ask Him a question. Where are you God? Why aren't you speaking to me? Why can't I hear you? Listen for a response. See what happens. Or maybe you are hearing things (from your devotional book, from the Scriptures, from the music, or maybe something pops into your head that you heard in a sermon or podcast) and they don't make sense to you. Ask Him why. I don't understand this, can you explain it to me? Is this for me, or for someone else? Is there someone you want me to share this with? Is this for now or for later? When we ask questions, we continue the conversation. God doesn't have to do all the talking.
8) Read something good.
This is the last item on my list because, honestly, I think it is maybe the least important (bear with me...). I believe this because if we do the first 7 steps, then it matters very little what devotional book we choose to read that day. As with many things in our faith, it is our heart that matters most. So if our hearts are open, if we have set apart time, and if we have done our part in trying to create an environment in which we can meet with the Father, then the material become just a vehicle to move us into communion with God. When our hearts are there, any devotional book or Scripture we read can be used by God to speak to us. Eventually, you may even find that you don't need a devotional book to aid you, the Scriptures alone are sufficient. I highly recommend that you always keep the Scriptures as part of your devotion time, but I also think sometimes we place all the emphasis on what we are reading and not on who we are meeting with. You may not remember in a few weeks what you read yesterday in your devotional with God. But if you had an encounter with Him, you'll remember how you felt and what you learned. This is because experiences solidify knowledge. So yes, choose a book that resonates with you. And obviously don't choose a devotional book that doesn't speak to your heart, mind, and soul. But don't think that choosing the right devotion book is what will transform your devotional time because it won't.
Well, that's it! I hope you find this helpful. If you have tips for how to improve your devotion life, please comment them below!
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