Learn how to choose a daily devotional book that deepens your faith, nurtures your spirit, and meets you right where you are.
How do I choose the best devotional book that fits my spiritual needs?
- Identify what area of your life you want to focus on.
Many devotional books are available for whatever you are needing. Perhaps you want to become more familiar with the Bible or maybe you are needing some help during a time of grief. This is the first place to start.
- Determine your schedule.
This can be daily, weekly, or whenever you can find a spare minute. Also, consider the best time for you to read a devotional. Morning, lunchtime, bedtime? Make sure the time is manageable for your schedule.
- Embrace your season of life.
A devotional for a single man in their twenties will vary greatly from a seventy year old, widowed woman. Pinpoint where you are in life to find the perfect devotional book.
Which devotional is right for you?
Choosing the right devotional book to start can feel overwhelming with so many faith-based resources at our fingertips. The digital age gives us an endless library of excellent Christian content. So much that it could take a lifetime to get through.
It’s often easier to scroll through a devotional, which, if I’m honest, usually ends with texting someone back or getting lost in media. Funny how that happens.
It’s necessary to slow down, turn down the volume of your life, pause your agenda, and listen to the sound of your spirit. What is she or he saying? How are you doing? What would be helpful right now?
Are you in a season of gratitude, finally able to dive into a part of your faith you’ve been wanting to? Or are you in a season where just taking the next breath feels like a stretch, and your spirit is longing for a glimpse of heaven? Perhaps you’re new in your relationship and wondering how to walk that path well. Or maybe you’re opening the Bible for the first time and not sure where to start.
We live in an incredibly noisy age; notifications, agendas, news, the neighbor’s news. Allow yourself some time to set aside the noise of life for a moment and chisel down the ‘fluff’. What lights on the dashboard of your soul need attention?
Devotionals and faith-based books can guide us in every season of life. They help us check in with our spirit and grow closer to Christ. But with so many options available, how do we know which one is right for us?
Here’s a quick 3-step checklist for you to consider as you pick a devotional book or book tailored to your current season of life:
Step 1: Identify Your Spiritual Goals
For a moment, think about the muscles in the human body. We have muscles that move us from one place to another, and muscles that lift heavy things. We have muscles that work unconsciously to keep our heart beating and our brain firing, as well as tiny muscles between core muscles that provide support. All of them function independently, yet all are interwoven by design. Each is individually utilized, yet together they create a harmonious being.
Faith, in a similar way, can work like a system of “muscles.”
There are many sectors under the umbrella of faith. Becoming biblically literate, learning how to grieve with Christ, coming face to face with pride and laying it down, cultivating a flourishing prayer life, and developing Christlike relationships to walk with you on this side of heaven are all muscles of faith.
But what if developing sound biblical literacy and a deep understanding of the character of Jesus, in turn, begins to cultivate in you a desire for dependence on and relationship with the King of heaven and earth? Independent, and yet interwoven. Every “muscle” of faith is intricately specific, yet they work together as a system.
Is there a specific muscle group in your spiritual life that you need to focus on?
Step 2: Determine Your Schedule
Take a moment to consider is your schedule.
A gentleman soaking up the luxury of newfound retirement will experience time very differently than a mom with two toddlers under 2.
A college-aged student balancing extracurriculars, 16 credits, making friends, and managing their health might benefit from a specific devotion suited to the pace of life that they are in.
There are seasons that allow lots of uninterrupted time to dive into the trenches of your spirit. Maybe even enough time to sit with Jesus for a week at a time. Just as true, there are seasons when reading a single verse feels hard because you must pause the roar of your schedule.
In a new season of parenthood, an intensive job, or a challenging class, I hope you feel the permission to choose a devotional that offers a refreshing breath and guidance one day at a time.
If you are blessed with a schedule that allows space for deeper reflection, consider what you might want to explore with that time. Reflect on what feels realistic for you right now. Nothing is worse than fighting frustration or burnout from something you can’t fully commit to.
What feels purposeful without being overwhelming?
Step 3: Embrace Your Season of Life
The season of life you’re in plays a meaningful role in the type of devotional book that may best speak to you. Someone stepping into an empty nest era will likely face a very different landscape of time and circumstances than someone navigating their twenties.
Are you attending church and learning to understand Scripture for the first time? Trying to navigate dating or marriages with wisdom? Or perhaps you just discovered your calling and want to study and pursue that calling with humility? Life holds countless transitions that deserve dedicated devotion time.
The beauty is that there are devotionals for nearly every one of them! Devotional books reflect the wide range of the human experience. Take a moment to reflect on where you are right now.
How might Jesus want to meet you in this season, in a deeper way?
Find a Devotional Book Perfect for Where You Are
As you seek a beneficial resource for yourself, I hope you feel permission to come exactly as you are. This season is sacred; whether joyfully abundant or walking through the valley of death. You cannot grow, or take a step, from anywhere else besides where you are at this exact moment. There is a place at the table for everything under the sun.
