Daily Devotions

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 ESV).

I have been writing Morning Devotionals for over twenty years now. I can assure you that I did not wake up one morning and think, “I need to write a devotional for publication every morning.” It began with a simple request from someone about a passage of Scripture they wanted to understand a bit better. I communicated my opinion by email. That email was sent to others by the first person to write to me. They began to send their questions, and soon I found myself writing to several dozen people on a regular basis. That soon became more time consuming than I could afford. As a solution I offered to simply write my personal devotions into a format for them to read each day. Those few people grew into a list that numbered in the thousands all over the world. Today, it is read in nearly every state in America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. I never intended to write for all those folks. I have always just written what I was finding in my devotions. Funny how God does stuff like that. So, that brings me to the reading for today. It is a central passage in my life. Transformative living is the desire of God for each of us. That is accomplished by the renewing of the mind. And, that is done through daily devotions. The discipline of daily meditation and prayer are vital. It is the conduit for the exercise of our soul. We exercise our bodies to increase strength and endurance, promote general health, and keep unnecessary weight off. Devotions are like exercise for our souls. They force our attention off of self-indulgent distractions and pursuits, and on to God’s purposes and promises. If we neglect this exercise, our souls will not be strong and healthy. And, like exercise, it’s okay if there was no special spark in your Bible reading today. In fact, ordinary devotions are a good thing. And, a thorough, repeated soaking in the Bible over the course of years increases our overall biblical knowledge, providing fuel for the fire of worship and increasing our ability to draw from all parts of the Bible in applying God’s wisdom to life. So, my hope and prayer for you today, whether you’ve been with me on this journey from the beginning, or this is your first experience with my personal spiritual workout plan, relish each moment. Cherish the truth that you’ve gotten stronger, even if it doesn’t seem so. God is doing a work in us that ends in eternal perfection!