When you read any Words of Hope devotional you will find insight, challenge, comfort, or inspiration. Perhaps a story will resonate with your heart and you will find yourself thinking about it all day long. You might feel as if it was written just for you; it touches a pain or a joy in your life in such a way that you feel that the Holy Spirit has been guiding the writer.
However important that is, I believe that the real influence of a devotional life comes in the shaping power of a daily routine. A day of prayer and Bible reading is significant. A lifetime of daily prayer and Bible reading will change your life. I love to hear stories of how God used the words of writers to touch the hearts of readers. But the reason we do what we do at Words of Hope is to help you develop a daily routine that shapes you to be more like Christ.
The best thing you can do is to make devotional time part of your daily routine, whether it is the first thing you do in the morning or the last thing you do at night. You can read it at meal times or when you get home from work. One young man called to tell us how he and his girlfriend, who lives in another state, share the devotional together over the phone every evening. Whatever time you decide on, I suggest you make it a non-negotiable part of how you live your life. There may be days that you miss and days when you don’t feel like it. There will be days when you don’t feel particularly inspired by a reading. But just like everything in life (exercise, parenting, eating well, maintaining good relationships), it isn’t about the mountain-top experiences. It is about showing up every day and spending time in God’s presence.
