10 Ideas for your Devotional Time

Hey y’all!  Today I have compiled for you 10 ideas for things you can do during your Bible time.  Bible reading and prayer should be the basis of our time with the Lord, but there’s no reason we have to stop there.  There are many more ways you can spend time with the Lord – singing, memorization, and even personalizing the Bible through artwork!

1 -- Read your Bible.  Well, it is your Bible time, after all!  Why not spend some time reading God's Word? :)

2 -- Pray.  And I don’t just mean your short, “Jesus, prepare my heart for what you have to teach me today, amen,” prayer (although that IS good).  I mean, just TALK to God.  Tell Him what’s going on in your life, what things are weighing on your heart, your passions and your dreams, and what gives you the greatest joy.  Are you anxious about anything?  Bring them to God in prayer.  Confess your sin.  Explain your frustrations and ask for His guidance.  Thank Him for what He has done and what He will do.  Just simply pour out your heart and talk to Him as you would a friend and trusted mentor.

3 -- Sing.  Although I’m musical, this is the part that makes me envious of guitarists :)  Singing alone in a room by yourself, for the Lord’s ears only, and accompanied only by the soothing strum of an acoustic guitar?  Ahhh!  It gives me goose bumps.  Not to mention, the sound of a guitar naturally urges me to sing my heart out.  It just does.  I’m determined: one day I WILL learn to play the guitar, just so I can sing hymns while playing it. 

But anyway, getting off of my little woe-is-me-for-I-cannot-play guitar attitude…

Even if you think you have zero musical talent, I encourage you to sing anyway in your devotional time.  Start your devotional time out by praising the Lord in song!  You can even turn on music and sing along with that if you want an accompaniment.

4 -- Read a Bible plan.  YouVersion (www.bible.com) has tons of great Bible plans you can explore!

5 -- Read a Spiritual book.  You can choose from devotionals, missionary biographies, and many other options.  Books like Warren Wiersbe’s “Be” books are great for more in-depth studies on specific books of the Bible.  Missionary-type biographies like Kisses from Katie or The Hiding Place would be good.  Elizabeth George has many devotionals for ladies and young ladies.  My good friend Isabella Morganthal (check out our interviews on my "guests" page!) has authored 4 books, and although none of them were written specifically as devotionals, her books I Dare You: Finding Your Passion and Lighting Your World and The King’s Princess: a Magazine Compilation could easily be used as devotionals.

6 -- Journal.  Keeping a spiritual growth journal is a wonderful way to write down what you’re learning and be able to remember and reflect on those things years down the road.  You can also start a prayer journal, or combine the two journals into one.

7 -- Bible journal.  By ‘Bible journal,’ I really mean Bible art. I have a journaling Bible (a Bible with large margins) and I use the margins to do artwork and lettering for verses.  Bible journaling is a great way for creative people to personalize the Bible through artwork.  Psst! – Be on the lookout for a post about Bible journaling coming soon! :)

8 -- Follow Spiritual growth blogs.  There are some great spiritual growth blogs you can follow, which post inspiring spiritual posts often.  Some have blogging schedules and others do not.  As always, use your own discretion (and your parents’) whenever it comes to internet/blogs/YouTube/etc.

9 -- Memorize Scripture.  I use ScriptureTyper a lot for memorization (see this post), but use whatever works best for you.  I know that a lot of Bible Bee contestants use Memverse (see this post).  For other ideas on how to memorize, see this post.

10 – Look over sermon notes.  Of course, you have to first take the sermon notes ;)  If you take notes during the sermons on Sunday, make special notes in your sermon-note journal for things you want to look up later.  Yesterday evening, for instance, I wrote down and marked a verse reference that came up during the sermon, because I wanted to write it out later.

There you have it: 10 things to do during your Bible time! Of course, you probably won’t do all 10 ideas in one devotional sitting.  If you do, I’d love to know if you did ;)  But I know that everyone gets stuck in a rut at one point or another, when they let the “daily grind” get to them.  Although we should always savor time spent with the Lord, and never consider it “daily grind,” sometimes we could use a few fresh ideas and some inspiration to keep us motivated, growing, and inspired.  If you’d like to broaden your devotional routine, then hopefully this post gave you some ideas.

Now let’s hear from you!

What does your devotional routine look like?

Do you have anything to add to this list?

What are your favorite resources for spiritual growth (books, memorization techniques, etc.)?