There is something that can happen when one year begins to ebb and another lies just over the horizon. It is something that can happen in those areas where our disciplines have grown lax and our habits have begun to wane. We can decide it’s easier to wait until the start of a new year to instill those disciplines and refresh those habits rather than do it right away. We can essentially waste what remains of the year that still is as we wait for the year that will soon be.
By the end of August, many people have come to admit that the dreams they had for Bible reading that year have not been realized. Maybe that’s your reality. Maybe you set out strong in January and kept up the habit through the first half of the year, but then summer came along, routines were disrupted, and things haven’t been the same ever since. Or maybe you planned to read through a daily devotional but didn’t enjoy it as much as you thought you would. Maybe you found your reading plan was just a bit too heavy for the realities of your life. Maybe you got sick and couldn’t read for a time, or had a baby and have had to build entirely new routines. There could be any number of factors.
I simply want to encourage you not to surrender the rest of this year. In fact, I want you to believe that you can still make this an extraordinary year of reading your Bible. However, for that to be the case, you will need to take a bit of time to consider how to read, what to read, and how to either form a new habit or re-form an old one.
Freedom
The place to begin is with this: God does not command you to have a daily quiet time. There is nothing in the Bible that states Christians must read the Bible and pray every day. This means you are not bound by law and instead have freedom. That should come as a relief! However, Christians have always commended daily Bible reading and prayer as wise and valuable practices that foster their relationship with God. These practices are inherently relational in that they allow us to hear from God through his Word and speak to him through prayer. These are the means through which we enjoy the blessing of being in relationship with the God of all the universe. So while you don’t need to have a time of daily devotion, you will find tremendous benefit in it.
While you don’t need to have a time of daily devotion, you will find tremendous benefit in it.
To that end, here are a few ideas for making the most of the closing months of this year.
Make Your Devotions Relational. You may have set out into the new year with a desire to study the Bible. Maybe you were going to read the Bible accompanied by sermons, commentaries, or theological texts. That can be a great thing to do, but if you’ve found such study too heavy, why not consider reframing your Bible reading and prayer into a time of simply relating to God? It’s good to study the works and ways of God, but it’s also good to relate to him, and maybe you’ll find that a bit more effective for a time. Simply begin by asking the Lord to help you know what he wants to say to you that day through his Word, and then open your Bible to the book or passage you’d like to read. Once you have done that, consider what he has said to you and make that the beginning of a prayer. You will come to enjoy conversing with him.
Listen to the Bible and Pray Out Loud. There have been many people throughout history who have had to rely on listening to the Bible instead of reading it. Though we have the ability and resources we need to read it, listening can be a useful means of encountering Scripture. You will hear the same familiar passages, stories, and truths as you have when reading, yet your brain will process them differently. The same may prove true when praying aloud versus praying silently. So why not give it a try?
Involve Someone Else. There is no shame in admitting that you struggle with Scripture reading and prayer, and you may find a lot of benefit in owning this and then inviting someone else in the discipline with you. I have known of mothers of grown daughters who FaceTime in the morning so they can read and pray together. I have known married couples who stopped personal devotions to instead engage in couples devotions. I have known friends who gathered together for devotions rather than doing it solo. In the absence of biblical mandates, you have a great deal of freedom to try different practices and find the one that is best for you and your relationship with the Lord.
Use Your Commute. I don’t remember a lot of sermons from my childhood, but I do remember one in which the pastor told us how he used his daily commute for Scripture and prayer. He had a lengthy commute each day and was alone in the car. He found this the perfect context to listen to Scripture, meditate on it, and pray. He turned lost time or time given to sports radio into devotional time, and it became a precious habit. Perhaps you have a commute or other similar time you could claim and repurpose for your devotions.
Bible Ideas
If it is primarily your Bible-reading that needs refreshing, here are some ideas:
Try Scripture Writing. Rebekah Matt is a committed Scripture-writer, and in this article she lays out the benefits while also suggesting a method. You could also try Scripture journaling with one of the many Bibles created for that purpose.
Use a God’s Word for You Study. The Good Book Company’s God’s Word for You series is an excellent choice for being led deeper into books of the Bible. They are written by well-known pastors and theologians and are structured in such a way that they can be read a day at a time.
Change Up Your Translation. I am a longtime reader of the ESV, but have spent some of this year reading the CSB instead. I have been surprised by how much I have enjoyed the change. I am so familiar with the ESV that many of the CSB’s alternate translations have immediately jumped out at me and forced me to think about the differences between them. It has been refreshing.
Read a Study Bible. You can choose a few books of the Bible and read just one or two chapters per day, while also reading all of the associated notes in a study Bible. There are lots of reliable study Bibles available (e.g., ESV Study Bible, Reformation Study Bible, NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible).
Read the ESV Expository Commentary. The final volume of the ESV Expository Commentary has just been completed, which means the entire Bible is now available as a full set or individual volumes. It offers more depth than a study Bible, but less than a standard commentary, so it works nicely for daily study. It is written specifically for those who are interested in knowing the Bible better or who are preparing to teach it. It includes the full text of the ESV.
Prayer Ideas
If it is primarily your prayer that needs refreshing, here are some ideas:
Use an App. I am a longtime user of PrayerMate and have found it extremely beneficial to my prayer life. It is just one of many options designed to help Christians pray well. Perhaps you would enjoy exploring one of them. You might try PrayMore as well.
Stop Using an App. Apps are not for everyone, and it could be that using an app has hindered your prayer life. If that’s the case, consider abandoning it and trying a different prayer method. Maybe index cards will work best. Why not reserve a day of the week for free and unstructured prayer? Why not speak to some friends and ask how they pray? Why not try a prayer journal?
Use a Liturgy or Prayer Book. Try a liturgy book or prayer book. You may want to begin with Jonathan Gibson’s daily worship liturgy series to see if you find it helpful. If you’d like to try something else, just search Westminster Books to see what you come up with. They only sell good books, so you can trust them.
Read a Good Book on Prayer. Sometimes the best thing for a prayer life is to be reminded why prayer matters so much in the first place. To that end, why don’t you consider reading a book on prayer to see how it motivates you to pray more and pray better? You can find my suggestions here.
Don’t Despair, and Don’t Wait
If you have found it hard to maintain your devotional habits this year, I don’t want you to despair, give up, or put things on hiatus until January. Though the year is growing old, it is not nearly over yet. You still have lots of time to make it an especially good and beneficial year for reading your Bible. Ask the Lord for help, make a plan, and enjoy meeting him day by day through the precious disciplines of Word and prayer.
