Devotion and Witness

Write by:Gabe Powell

For many of us Christians, one of our difficult problems can be finding time alone with God. We may occupy ourselves with electronic devices and entertainment such as the internet, television, cell phones, etc and even home building projects which all can aggressively consume our time with God. Many of us work a lot of hours during the day and then we return home exhausted and spend the rest of our evening with our family. We might also busy ourselves so much in a particular ministry or multiple ministries in church and not prioritize to spend time alone with God. If you’re like me, you may find it difficult to get out of bed early in the morning to spend time alone in the Word and in prayer with God. One thing is certain, if we prefer to have our devotion in the morning, mid day, or evening, it will never happen without discipline. An effective devotional life will never happen without planning. Many people fail to have an effective devotional life because they do not know how to go about cultivating the disciplines of the interior spiritual life. Looking at elements of personal devotion can aid in cultivating discipline for devotion. An important element of devotion is meditation on God’s Word. The Scripture tells us that our meditation is to be “day and night” (Psalm 1:2). Let us remember to meditate on the Word for it revives our soul (Psalm 19:7), it increases our faith (Romans 10:17), and it gives us wisdom (Psalm 119:97-98). Other elements of devotion are confession, petition and adoration. We see examples of these elements of devotion throughout the Psalms. There is no correct order of devotion and we may be led by the Holy Spirit to spend 20 minutes of our devotion in confession or in adoration and only a few moments in other areas. Other times we may be spending most or all of our devotion in meditation or petition. Sometimes we may be able to commit to all these specific areas in one time. Let us strive to have a daily, personal devotion with our Lord for it is the nourishment and renewing of our souls. Let us contemplate on what things in our lives make it difficult for us to devote time with our Lord and let us resolve to do it.

Food for thought: How does our devotion with God have an effect with our personal evangelism? Look at Stephen in Acts 6:8-7:51 as he was Spirit-controlled.

Gabe Powell