5 Ways for Modern Christian Devotions

Question. When someone asks you “Hey! How have you been lately?” What is your response? Do you, like me, often respond with a diatribe divulging your busy schedule? It seems pretty difficult these days to not be busy. Most of the stuff we’re busy with are essentials: kids, family, work, church, etc. We often look back to “the simpler days” when we could go to the lake a read a devotional or even had energy to wake up early to pray and be with the Lord. Perhaps that’s just me. I need all the not so good sleep I can get.

The trouble is I read about all these amazing men and women of God who spent hours pouring through the scriptures, praying, serving and I feel like a sack of potatoes. When was the last time you prayed for 10 minutes let alone 3 hours? This self-imposed weight we often feel can be extremely burdensome. In the past couple years as I’ve grown up and become more tied to a specific schedule I’ve found other ways to get my devotion time & prayer so they’re still very much a part of my day. Perhaps some of these things will help you

[highlight color=”yellow”](1) Know Yourself[/highlight] I’m sick of comparing myself, my faith, my connection with God to other people. I often come up lacking and end up depressed. However, when I went to William Jessup University I heard of a book called Sacred Pathways. If you, like me, read that title and automatically assume CULT or PAGANISM you’re not alone, but you’re wrong.

As far as I can tell the phrase was coined in the book “God Is Closer Than You Think” by John Ortberg a well known Christian author. Ortberg’s premise is this: God is creative, God has created us all uniquely therefore God has created us with unique ways to have a relationship with Him. In other words Christianity is not a one size fits all faith. The first step to drawing nearer to God in your devotional life is finding out how God has created you to interact with Him. Here are two links that may help you get closer to understanding that.

Sacred Pathways Breakdown
Sacred Pathways Test
Purchase it through Amazon.com

[highlight color=”yellow”](2) Bible on Audio Book[/highlight] It’s 2013 and everything seems to be in Audio Book form these days. This includes the Bible. You can find the Bible in several different Modern Day translations on Audio Book. These copies of God’s Word can be taken with you wherever you you. Do you have an hour long commute? Put on some worship for 15 minutes and listen to God’s Word for 45 minutes. Let this be part of your routine continually hearing God’s Word spoken to you. The major downside of Audio Bibles is the inability to highlight and make notes as God speaks to you through His Word. The upside is you’re continually hearing God’s Truth spoken into your life. I wouldn’t recommend switching only to Audio Bible’s but having access to it can be a great blessing.

[highlight color=”yellow”](3) Listen to Sermon Podcasts[/highlight] If you have a smartphone chances are it’s an iPhone or one of the thousands of Android Phones. There are several options to listen to podcasts on both of these devices. But what are podcasts? Think of them as radio shows that you can download onto your phone for listening at any time. Below are some suggestions for finding and listening to podcasts on your smart phone.

For the iPhone
Podcaster 4
Downcast [my personal favorite]

For Android Phones
Pocket casts
Dogg Catcher

Some podcasts I would suggest subscribing to are.
Cordova Neighborhood Church Sermon Podcast
The Village Church Sermon Podcast
Mars Hill Church Sermon Podcast
Just Thinking Podcast
Desiring God Podcast

All of these contain solid Biblical teaching and insight, check them out!

[highlight color=”yellow”](4) Use your tablet or E-Reader[/highlight] It’s sad to say but paperback books seem to be going the way of the DoDo or at least that’s what tech geeks say. As much as I like the feel of books, I also like being able to carry around a library on one tablet. The benefit I see to getting your favorite translation of the Bible on your tablet are many. (1) access to several translations in one app for cross-referencing. (2) Access to detailed study notes & commentary (3) Ability to make your own notes and highlight (4) Cloud syncing, if that’s your thing and more. I’m not saying a tablet should replace your Bible but it may be nice to have it on there for when you travel and space is limited.

[highlight color=”yellow”](5) Subscribe to Devotional Blog Sites[/highlight] (4) Subscribe to devotional blogs using an RSS News Aggregator. Woah, woah, slow down? What is RSS?? RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication. Most modern websites support this. Basically when a site, say your favorite blog site, writes a post your RSS Aggregator App receives it and you can read it without ever having to go to the site. There are several apps like this for iPhone and Android. The two I prefer are Flipboard (iOS, Android) & Feedly (iOS, Android).  Flipboard is the easiest to use but Feedly is my preference though it requires a Google Reader account.  If you don’t know what Google Reader is go with Flipboard, but again Feedly is better.  Using these apps allows you to keep up to date on the things you care about including the helpful insights of those useful Christian bloggers out there.

How to use Feedly
How to use Flipboard [video]

Do you have any suggestions?  let me know I’d love to add them on here!

Bryce