6 Steps For A Solid Devotional Routine

What better time than in the first part of 2018 to refresh your bible reading with a devotional routine?! I love hearing how others read the bible and pray each day, so I thought I would share my devotional routine with you guys.

PREPARE to meet with God

I tend to do my devotions in the morning, because that is the time that works best for me. BUT mornings can also be super busy, so my preparations start the night before! I put my bible, journal and iPod docking station on the dining table ready for when I get up. This takes away extra thinking time, and means that after I have gotten ready for the day I can do my devotions straight away.

Breakfast and Tea/Coffee

I make my breakfast, and get my cuppa (because no morning is complete without tea!) and then sit at the table and do my reading for the day while I am eating. This saves me time so I don’t have to then have breakfast separately after my devotionals.

Prayer

I love to pray before starting my bible reading – just something along the lines of “Father, please help me understand your word today, and help me understand what you are saying to me. Open my eyes and my heart to what you want to say today”. This just helps me get my focus set on God, and usually I will spend maybe 30 seconds just sitting and bringing my awareness on God and his presence.

Bible Reading

Since I started working, and began having less time in the morning, I tend to read either a section of a chapter or a whole chapter depending on how long the chapter is. While I eat breakfast I think about what the reading could mean for me today, and I usually take a highlighter and highlight the key words that are speaking to me.

Journaling

I used to write in a journal every day, and in less busy seasons I still do – but when I started working I found that I would often not have as much time to journal thoughts, and at one point I even started to feel guilty about that as if I had not had a ‘proper’ time with God without journaling.

One of my mentors really spoke into my life in this area, and suggested I start having a specific journaling time once a week on a Saturday when I can take 20-30 mins and journal what I feel I have been learning all throughout the week in my devotion times. So that is what I try and do once a week, but sometimes if I feel like something specific is speaking to me in a morning I will jot it down in the notes on my phone.

Reading a devotional study

I LOVE the She Reads Truth devotional app, and I generally purchase their reading plan for the month, where they either go through specific topics or a book of the bible. At the end of my devotional time I read through the short daily reading and then I pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead me through the day.

So, that is my devotional routine! I would love to hear what each of you girls do for your daily devotions – comment below and let me know!