How Parents can Make Personal Devotions a Priority

As a husband and parent of four, I am always looking for more time. It is the one asset we can never get more of and we all have 24 hours in a day. The question is, “how do we utilize the time we have?”
One of the things I hear from so many believers is that they simply don’t have the time. Time for prayer, time for Bible reading, time for Bible study. This bleeds over into family life as well. I have never met a Christian parent that didn’t want to teach their children about God, but excuses tend to abound, this applies to me as well. After working an 8 hour day I am tired and often find it easier to turn on the T.V. or take the kids somewhere to get some energy out. By the time we crawl into bed, it seems impossible to start doing family devotions or study the Word.

I am constantly working to figure out ways to get my own personal study time in and walk my kids through some kind of devotions. The fact is that if we are not spending time in the Word and prayer, then we are already failing. Leading our family starts with our personal walk and example.

Personal Devotions

Some people are night owls, others are morning people. My entire life I was a night owl. That has changed in the past few years. It took a while but I started waking up earlier intentionally because it was the only time where quiet was a guarantee.
I began by starting a prayer list (I currently use PrayerMate as my prayer list app). As I started to build lists of people my prayer time kept getting longer and longer. Eventually, I set my prayer list at 10 items of prayer a day. I also got on a Bible App one-year reading plan (I go through the ESV reading plan every year). As I added things I began to wake up earlier and earlier. Many people think it’s crazy, but these days I jump out of bed at 4:45am. It is the time of day I look forward to the most. It didn’t start like that, nor was my devotional time as refined as it is now.

My Mornings

I’m usually in my office (or personal space) at 5:00am. I start to make my coffee while listening to that day’s one-year bible plan chapters. I then say about three minutes of liturgical prayer, then sit down with my cup of coffee and open up the Psalms. I have found a “31 Days Through the Psalms” plan in my Bible app (YouVersion) that I am continually going through. I read my Psalms aloud and then I open my prayer app. After I have spent time praying for the ten items that are given to me by the app, I spend anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes in silence contemplating what I have read or heard. I might spend some of this time in silent prayer, or in considering a word, line, or verse that is in my mind. I then take 10 minutes to read whatever theological book I’m currently in, and that’s about it. In total, my morning takes about an hour and a half. But before you think I magically got to that point, let me tell you how difficult it was.

What my Mornings Used to Look Like

My first mornings were almost impossible, I would drag myself out of bed and attempt to find a cup of coffee while my eyes were still trying to sleep. I would sit down and consider going back to bed for about 10 minutes before I opened my Bible. I would try to read a chapter a day, but I didn’t really have any direction. Once I had read a few verses I would pull out a notebook and a pencil and try to think of things to pray for. Once again, no direction meant that I spent most of the time staring at the page and contemplating going back to sleep.
The truth is, I hated those first few months. I didn’t like it and I wondered if I was ever going to get into a rhythm.

Finding Your Own Routine

My habits may not be right for you. What is more, you might get into a good routine differently than I did. With that said, the thing that will set anyone up for success is having a set “order” for the way you do things. Your goal does not need to be an hour and a half in the morning. Your goal can be something like a single chapter and five solid minutes of prayer a day. It may seem small, but this kind of consistency can be life-changing.

Where to Start

Set a specific amount of time (start small) each day and don’t miss it. Even if it’s five minutes, make sure that you are consistent. Treat this time like it’s the most important thing in your day because it is.
Start a prayer list. This can be digital or on paper. Start by writing down family like your wife, your children, your family members, your friends. Just keep adding to it every day. Pretty soon your list will be too big to pray through in your allotted time.
Read or listen to a portion of Scripture each day. No matter how you feast on the Word make sure you’re paying attention. It doesn’t have to be long, but make it count.

Expanding Your Devotions

One of the ways I started reading more books was to read 10 minutes every morning. It only gets me a couple of pages in, but I am actually getting through books. I try to read things that are biblically and theologically based. In other words, make it part of your devotional time.
I cannot stress how much a few minutes of silence can benefit your life. We are constantly bombarded with sound, phones, games, music, kids, people in general. If you have the ability, stop, sit in a chair, and listen to what the Lord has to say. Live in silence for five minutes (it’s harder than you might think the first few times you try).
If you are a husband, give your wife some time to do her own devotions. This can be 15 minutes. Tell her you’ll watch the kids for the next ten minutes and you want her to read her Bible or spend some time in prayer. This, too, is harder than you might think. We get so busy that I often forget that I need to give Lacacia her own time. Often she takes this kind of time after everyone goes to bed, but I personally need to do better at offering her personal devotion time during the day.

In my next post, I will talk about “The Family Order.” A concept of simply routine that I have begun to implement with our family that has done great things to keep us on track and in the Word as a family.

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Photo by John-Mark Smith