Blog

As a lark, I rise with the first tweets of the birds. Early mornings are my golden hour for clarity and productivity. With a cappuccino in hand, I head to my writing nook to start the day with a morning devotional. Starting a day out this way helps keep you grounded and provides a peaceful foundation from which to navigate through the day.

We live in a frantic world that can be overwhelming with the many roles we fill—family, marriage, and other significant relationships. Careers and finances, ageing parents, young children, unstable economies, and social media are only a few of the voices scrambling for our time and energy. This can leave anyone exhausted and the soul depleted.

To clearly hear God’s voice through all the ‘noise’ that saturate your life, requires intentional times to pause in stillness. To help you cultivate a regular devotional time, I developed a 2022 Devotional Guide in PDF downloadable format, including the tools and 7 steps for doing devotionals. Here’s a brief breakdown of the guide, which can be adapted to suit your personal preferences and needs.

Devotional Guide

Prepare Your Heart

A morning devotional starts with a silent moment and prayer to focus the mind on a quiet time for spiritual growth and contemplation. Soft background music may help shift you into a state of stillness. Deep mindful breathing can help ease any tension in the body while you welcome the presence of God into this sacred time.

Acknowledge God

This is a time to acknowledge and praise God for all He is and means to you. Focusing on the names or attributes of God can be helpful. For example, whispering El Shaddai – the Lord Almighty. Or, calling on Jehovah Rapha – the Lord that heals. Or, inviting Jehovah Shalom—the Lord is Peace, into specific areas in your life where you need these attributes of God to manifest more clearly.

Repent

The next step is to pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal any sin or worries you need to release that may hinder your sacred time with God. Confess any sin that comes to mind, knowing that God’s grace and mercy are new every day.

Read Scripture

Read a chosen scripture, or follow a devotional plan that includes 1-3 scriptures and a topic description. https://www.bible.com/ offers thousands of devotional plans that cover multiple themes and topics. Take note of anything that resonates with you that may need further exploration. Remember, the aim of having devotionals is to cultivate spiritual growth and to learn how to live in alignment with God’s will and purposes.

Journaling

Journaling is a useful way to unravel the areas in your life where you’re struggling to align God’s will (His Word) with your daily life. Psycho-spiritual journaling integrates spiritual principles with life experiences. This creates an alignment between personal values, beliefs, and ways to express these in real-world contexts.

Prayer

Surrender your concerns and requests to God, praying for wisdom, discernment, and guidance in current challenges. Also, intercede, or pray for others at this time. You may find it useful to keep a prayer list with specific people and their needs.

Give Thanks

It is natural to focus on things that are stressful and that worries you moreso than focusing on what is going well in your life. Take a moment at the end of the devotional to think of one or two things that you are grateful for, and thank God for these. Finally, to end the devotional, yield every area of your life to God, surrendering to His purposes.