Devotional Time-Updated

I hope that you realize that a daily devotional time is so important for born-again believers. Not just for the Pastor or The Man of God, but all of God's children including laity. We see this modeled in the life of Christ as he got up early in the morning to pray and commune with His Father. We too, need to rise up early in the morning to spend time with our Heavenly Father. Now wait a minute, individuals like my wife say; early in the morning, why not before bed-time. Hey, whatever works best for you is great. Not all of God's children are created the same. The point is to have a devotional time. For me, I delight in giving God the first-fruits of every day before any thing else comes along. A devotional time is important because one hears from God in His Word and he or she has the opportunity to agree with Him in prayer. If a person is not spending time with God each day, he or she is living disobediently before a Holy God. Without a personal devotional time sin can more easily creep into a life and often times it goes unconfessed. Victory in Jesus is not experenced and that is exactly the way that the devil wants a believer to feel; defeated!

One can do a devotion in so many different ways. There is really not a right or wrong way to do it. I have read through portions of the Bible Books in my devotion time, 2 -5 verses at a time; I think that is a great way to do it. I enjoy reading Spurgeon's daily devotion, as well as John MacArthur's (I will link today's) and other spiritual literature about the Bible. But there is no substitute like reading the Bible itself. How much time you spend with the Father in His Word is really not the issue. I will be honest, I think it takes at least between 15 to 30 minutes to do a quiet time much justice, more is what I call extended time in God's Word. So, what do you say start right now getting up alittle earlier before you begin your day.

Don't forget that reading the Bible and prayer go hand in hand. There is truth that sin will keep you from this Book (The Bible) or this Book will keep you from sin.

The question that many have is why should I study the Bible? Friends in Christ, you cannot afford to not meet with the Lord regularly. I am shocked at how many professing Christians do not study their Bible. Perhaps if you have questions about how to have a devotional time with God you will find the link above helpful.

I later read Spurgeon's devotion for today and had to post it for you. It deals with the same thoughts I shared earlier.

"I will meditate in Thy precepts."Psalm 119:15

There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in His service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The bruiser's feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the wine of consolation therefrom. Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning, "I will meditate in Thy precepts."