Going Beyond Devotionals

Going Beyond Devotionals.

To devote oneself to something or someone is to solemnly commit one's time and efforts towards it.

Christian devotional literature (also called devotionals) are publications that are designed for individuals or groups to read and meditate upon usually for each calendar day, for their personal edification and spiritual growth.

The books essentially on Christian living are not meant to be read in one sitting but are designed for one to read and think about what God is trying to pass across in the passage(s) given.

Daily devotion to the Word of God is proof that we desire a meaningful and constant relationship with God.

Devotionals are great. They are opportunities to ensure an early and daily fellowship with God and his Word is maintained on a constant basis.

Devotionals help give people a focus at the beginning of their day thet they can ruminate over and put to practice when they make out time to do so on the job or whilst involved in any other endeavour during the hustle and bustle of that day.

When we begin the daily grind of taking the kids to school rushing to meet up with clocking in at the office and facing business at one's place of work, there's seldom time to reflect on talk less practice anything one has imbibed about God, His will and His ways except what one freshly remembers from that mornings devotional.

Although devotional guides serve as a veritable means of keeping in tune with God's will and His ways through His Word, there's definitely something more than such external mediums of fellowship with God.

I couldn't help but wonder whether God didn't want our relationship with Him to go beyond such pacesetters.

At one point in time I noticed that if I didn't use a devvotional, what I call a third-party application to start off my day with meditating on God's Word, I'd have no real bases for communing with Him or praying.

The thought was somehow disconcerting, as I believed that before the advent of devotionals, God's people were able to communicate with Him and fashion out a daily or even moment by moment relationship with Him without relying on any third-party innovation to do so.

Before devotionals became so prevalent people would fashion out and devote themselves to a reading scheme to ensure they covered the holy writ annually, follow their church calendar or devise some other reading plan to have a deeper understanding of God and His will for them.

There's an account in Genesis chapter 3, verse 8 onwards of how God Almighty would walk in the garden of Eden, in the cool of the day and actually converse with Adam and Eve His prized creation, before such fellowship with mankind was severed as a result of sin.

God desires such a one on one relationship with everyone of us if we would just dare to believe in it's possibility and cultivate it as in Christ Jesus did, so that the broken fellowship of us relating with God as a friend that sticks closer than a brother can be restored. However if we must talk with God we must also take time to listen as every meaningful relationship is a two-way street.

Going Beyond Devotionals (2)