Regular Devotions are NOT Easy

A true confession:  Regular devotions isn't something that is easy for me.  This is hard for me to admit in fear of other Christians who may judge that this shows a bad reflection of my faith.  In all honesty, it is something I need to work at daily and something that I need to even push myself to do when I don't always want to.  That's right...I don't always want to.  My selfish, prideful human nature often gets in the way from me wanting to read my Bible and even pray.

By working at this and by pushing myself to read my Bible and to come to God, my Saviour every day I am growing in my faith, I am learning more about my God, and I am becoming stronger.  Simply because I don't always want to do it, doesn't give me a good reason to not do it.  We have to do things we don't necessarily want to do all day long...yet we do them because we know they are good for us and they will help us grow.  

A few weeks ago I began to use this app called 'First 5' made by the Proverbs 31 Ministries.  I wrote a post earlier about how I believe God was prompting me to get more invested in reading the Bible right when I wake up (Find post here:  God's Gentle Reminder ) and how I was going to work at doing this through this First 5 App.

I have fallen in love with this app and want to encourage you to also give it a try...if you don't use it already!

Here are 4 main reasons why:

1.  It is Short and Sweet.  Every day you read one chapter from the Bible and then a short snippet from the devotional.  It honestly takes me about 5-10 minutes of reading in all.  You then have the option of diving deeper by answering a question or two or commenting on the devotional app and becoming part of the community.  Right now, my time is limited as my baby girl is waking up really early and not too keen on napping much.  So the 10 minutes I spend reading and praying is exactly what I need.  Ideally it would be wonderful to sit down with a devotional and spend 30 - 60 mins diving in...but in reality that can feel overhwelming and simply undoable.  I may be excited to begin something like that but the truth is I know I would become inconsistant and eventually stop.

2.  It Brings Connections.  The study right now is on the book of Matthew.  Before this it was on the book of Genesis.  Reading the Bible in this way brings about connections that I hadn't necessarily thought about before.  The study itself talks about these connections as well, and this allows for a more wholistic understanding of the Bible.

3.  There is Community.  While I have not taken too much time to invest in the community aspect myself, the fact that there is community with this devotional app is wonderful.  If you are looking to make connections with other people who are doing the same devotional as you, or if you are in need of prayer or support for whichever reason, you will find that with this app.  Once in a while I do take some time to invest in the community part and it is always such a blessing to read what other people have to say and to be involved in that way.  

4.  It Wakes You Up.  This app has an amazing feature that actually has an alarm and wakes you up with the devotional on your phone screen so that it is the first thing you see.  I have a love/hate relationship with this part of the app.  I love the reminder of doing the devotions and think that often I would have skipped some days if I had not received that reminder.  However, I don't love waking up to looking at my phone right away.  I try very hard to not check my phone first thing when I wake up (Read my post on 5 Ways To Get Unplugged as to why.)  and this has allowed me to do the devotions and then right away answer texts or look at my Facebook page.  This of course is a problem of my own self control and something that I simply need to re-adjust my thinking for.  The benefit of being reminded to go to your Bible and talk to God every day outweighs this small negative.

If you are having a hard time getting into devotions, like I was, I would encourage you to download this app and just begin.  You can find it here: First 5 .  Taking that 5-10 minutes every day will truly change your mindset, helping you to focus on the true purpose and reason for each day, in a way that does not feel overwhelming.

First 5