Get a Grip on Your Devotions

Big Idea: Spiritual growth comes from daily practices such as Bible study, prayer, and solitude, not just from attending church or listening to sermons.

I've been confused for years by a mystery many Christians experience: How can two people sit in the same pew, attend the same church, hear the same sermons, and read the same Bible, yet one becomes spiritually strong while the other remains weak?

As a pastor, this question troubles me deeply. I’ve come to realize that my sermons alone are unlikely to make anyone holier. That’s a humbling realization. If great preaching alone were enough, we would all be spiritual giants by now, given the incredible sermons available. But it’s not. Even faithful church attendance, while essential, doesn’t guarantee spiritual growth. Many have attended church for decades without growing much spiritually. Why is that?

I've thought a lot about this and found the key difference between those who grow and those who don't. Let me illustrate. Imagine a young person who dreams of becoming an excellent baseball player. They decide the best way to improve is to watch the pros. With no elite players nearby, they settle for watching the Blue Jays at the SkyDome. They carefully observe how the professionals hold the bat, slide into bases, and carry themselves on the field. Inspired, they decide, “I’m going to be just like them.”

The next day, they step onto the field, fully equipped. They’ve bought the same shoes, hold the bat the same way, wear the helmet just like the pros, and even slide into first base with the same technique. But despite all their efforts, they fail miserably. Why? Why can’t they perform like a professional?

The answer is simple: trying to mimic the pros during the game isn’t enough. Excellence doesn’t come from imitation alone. Professional athletes achieve greatness not by mimicking on-field behaviors, but through a lifetime of dedicated preparation. They focus on training their minds and bodies, creating strong automatic responses that enhance their performance on the field. It’s the unseen, daily regimen of disciplined practice—what they do in private, long before the game—that makes all the difference.

Similarly, many Christians leave the pew on Sundays thinking, "This week I'm going to be a Christian all-star." But they don't realize that a spiritually mature Christian just doesn't go out and obey God's commandments automatically. A daily private practice of spiritual disciplines fosters their character and obedience, unseen by others.

This morning, I want to focus on these disciplines and how they can help you take hold of your devotional life. They are the missing ingredient that can help us grow. But let me offer a word of caution: many people look for quick fixes. Many people desire spiritual experiences, like Moses at the burning bush, Isaiah’s vision, or Paul's encounter on the road to Damascus, thinking these moments will ensure lifelong spiritual well-being.

The truth is, most of us—ordinary people like you and me—will never have such dramatic encounters. Even if we did, it would be like eating at a buffet and expecting to never be hungry again. There are no shortcuts or instant solutions. The only path to lasting spiritual growth is the regular, consistent practice of spiritual disciplines. These habits, faithfully cultivated over time, are what truly make a difference in your life.

Dallas Willard's book, The Spirit of the Disciplines, outlines 15 essential spiritual disciplines for a growing believer. I was going to cover all 15 this morning until I realized that some of you might have other things planned for today. But I want to cover some key ones. Bible study, prayer, and solitude. There are others I could cover, such as fasting, service, fellowship, and confession. To study all 15 further, I recommend getting Willard's book or other excellent options I have.

Let me re-emphasize that these are not quick fixes or techniques. They are absolutely necessary for your growth as a believer. Let's highlight a few very quickly, and then spend a bit more time on one that we don't hear a lot about.

Bible Study

Imagine losing someone you love, whether they've moved far away or passed away, and you can no longer reach them. Then one day, as you’re sorting through some old papers, you discover a letter they wrote to you years ago but that you never opened. Imagine the joy of opening that letter, reading their heartfelt words, and feeling their love once more.

Now consider this: in my hand, I hold something far more priceless than any letter. Everything we know about Christianity—about God, His love, and His purposes—has been revealed to us through His Word. The Bible consists of 66 books written by various authors over thousands of years, conveying God's message to us. Daily studying Scripture in a clear and accurate translation is essential for knowing God and living by his truth.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

When Jesus began his ministry and was tempted by Satan, he responded to each temptation with, "It is written." The Bible is the Word of life, the bread, the meat we need to live the Christian life.

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:2-3)

But we are admonished in another Scripture:

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)

Paul told Timothy, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

Many people come home on Sundays, put the book aside, and only pick it up the next Sunday when they return to church. But we are to crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it we may grow up in your salvation. Return to this taproot of truth. Lean on it. Start today. It will hold you up and keep you strong. When it comes to a final authority in life, the Bible measures up.

Many Christians lack essential biblical resources, such as quality commentaries, in their collections. They don't understand that spending $50 or $100 on a good set of biblical tools will benefit them for a lifetime.

David Watson was a prominent Christian in Britain. He came down with a case of terminal cancer that eventually took his life. A few days before doctors operated on this cancer, this is what he wrote: "

As I spent time chewing over the endless assurances and promises to be found in the Bible, so my faith in the living God grew stronger and held me safe in his hands. God's word to us, especially his word spoken by his Spirit through the Bible, is the very ingredient that feeds our faith. If we feed our souls regularly on God's word, several times each day, we should become robust spiritually just as we feed on ordinary food several times each day, and become robust physically. Nothing is more important than hearing and obeying the word of God.

The Bible is crucial for spiritual growth. Studying it daily helps us know God, live by his truth, and mature spiritually.

There is a second spiritual discipline we need:

Prayer

Prayer is conversing, communicating with God. When we pray, we talk to God, aloud or within our thoughts. Prayer often goes along with other disciplines such as study, meditation, worship, and often solitude and fasting as well. Communication is key to any relationship. And our relationship with God is no different. You could preach for years about prayer, but let me simplify prayer by calling it a visit with God. What do you do when you visit with someone? You communicate, you casually open your life to them. When we visit with God, we do the same, along with praising Him and adoring Him.

Not long ago, I had failed to communicate enough with Charlene. And it was taking its toll on our relationship. We had a date scheduled, and let me tell you, it was hard to go out on that date. We hadn't entered into soul intimacy in such a long time that it was a bit intimidating. But as we spent time on that date, conversation and thoughts flowed naturally; there was openness and communication. It was great! And I left thinking, what was there to fear about this? Why didn't we do this long ago?

It's the same with prayer. In seminary, they used to have days of prayer twice a year. The first time I said, "Who can spend a whole day in prayer?" But I quickly found out what a profitable time it was, and I said, "Why didn't I do this sooner? Why don't I do it more often?"

Now, for those of us who don't have enough time for prayer. The great reformer Martin Luther said, "I have so much to do today, I'll need to spend another hour on my knees." Prayer is essential to living an effective, spirit-filled life.

Many have found the practice of journaling helpful in slowing down their minds enough to pray. As they write their prayers, they write nothing profound or that anyone else would want to read, but the process of writing slows down their mind from 6000 RPM to 1000 or 2000. And then they're quiet enough to commune with God.

Others suggest ACTS as an acronym for how to pray. The A stands for Adoration, C for Confession, T for Thanksgiving, and S for Supplication, or asking God. However you do it, just jump in and pray! It's better to pray poorly than not pray at all. It's essential for your life.

Prayer isn’t about being perfect or performing well. It's about being present, opening your heart, and connecting with God as you would in any meaningful relationship—through honesty, consistency, and time.

There is a third spiritual discipline we need.

Solitude

By solitude I mean time alone with God. In our current age, there is seldom a time in which we experience silence and solitude. And yet these are essential to our spiritual lives. When we're in the car, the radio is on. When we're at home, the television is on. When people are away, many of us feel lonely and empty.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote:

Unfortunately the world today does not seem to understand, in either man or woman, the need to be alone. Anything else will be accepted as a better excuse. If one sets time aside for a shopping expedition, that time is accepted as inviolable; but if one says, 'I cannot come because that is my hour to be alone,' one is considered rude, egotistical, or strange.

A Christian man had a bad case of insomnia. Every night at 2 a.m. he would be wide awake. After some time, he decided he would go to a therapist, who happened to be Jewish. And he told the therapist that he had some trouble because he couldn't sleep. Do you have any suggestions? The Jewish therapist said, "Don't you read your Bible?" The man replied, "Of course I do." The therapist responded, "Don't you remember the story of Eli and Samuel in the Old Testament?"

That story, of course, is found in 1 Samuel 3. In the middle of the night, the little boy Samuel heard his name called. He thought it was Eli the priest, but it turned out on the fourth time that God was calling out to Samuel. And so the therapist said, "Maybe God is waking you up to speak to you. Next time when you wake up at 2, get up, and go sit in a quiet place, and listen to God speaking."

And so he did. That very night, at 2 o'clock, he was wide awake. He went out to his living room and sat and listened to God. At first he didn't hear anything. But at about four o'clock he began to hear God speaking to his soul. Near the end, he was ready to go back to sleep, and he said, "God, can't you speak to me during the day?" And what he heard back in his soul from God is, "During the day, you're much too busy to listen to me." Still to this day, he gets up every night at 2 and spends 2 hours with God before he goes back to sleep, and wakes up refreshed the next morning.

Jesus, of all people, needed solitude, and he created this solitude for himself.

• Mark 1:35 – After a busy night of healing, Jesus woke up early to pray, despite everyone's search for him.
• Luke 6:12-13 – Jesus, skilled at understanding people's hearts, prayed all night before selecting his disciples.
• Matthew 14:13, 23-25 – After hearing about John the Baptist's death, Jesus prayed until 3:00 a.m. He spent the day dealing with this sorrow, crossing the lake, helping a large crowd, and feeding five thousand people.
• At the beginning of Jesus' ministry – Jesus spent 40 days in the desert in solitude and prayer.
• On the night of his arrest – Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion.

Paul, too, spent three years in Arabia for solitude and preparation before starting his ministry (Galatians 1:16-18).

If Jesus and Paul needed solitude, how much more do we?

There are places in Toronto that will give you a quiet room to meditate for a day, to get in touch with God.

A man named Arthur Gordon tells of a time in his life when he began to feel that everything was stale and flat. Finally, he decided to get help from his medical doctor. His doctor confirmed he was physically fine but asked if he could follow instructions for one day. Gordon replied that he would.

Listen to what the doctor said. The doctor told him to spend the following day in a place where he was happiest as a child. He could take food, but he was not allowed to talk to anyone or to read or write or listen to the radio. He then wrote out four prescriptions and told him to open one at nine, twelve, three, and six o'clock. "Are you serious?" Gordon asked him. "You won't think I'm joking when you get my bill!" was the reply.

The next morning, Gordon went to the beach. As he opened the first prescription, he read, "Listen carefully." He thought the doctor was insane. How could he listen for three hours? But he had agreed to follow the doctor's orders, so he listened. He heard the usual sounds of the sea and the birds. After a while, he began to hear other sounds that weren't so obvious at first. As he listened, he began to think of lessons the sea had taught him as a child—patience, respect. He began to listen to the sounds—and the silence—to feel a growing peace.

Well, noon came, so he opened the second slip of paper and read, "Try reaching back." "Reach back to what?" he asked. Perhaps to childhood, perhaps to memories of happy times. He thought about his past, about the many moments of joy. He tried to remember them with exactness. And in remembering, he found a growing warmth inside.

At three o'clock, he opened the third piece of paper. Up until now, the prescriptions had been easy to take. But this one was different: it said, "Examine your motives." At first he was defensive, thinking that the doctor was maligning him. He thought about what he wanted—success, recognition, and security—and he justified them all in his mind. He realized that his motives weren't sufficient, which might explain his stagnant situation.

He considered his motives deeply. He thought about past happiness. And at last, the answer came to him. "In a flash of certainty," he wrote, "I saw that if one's motives are wrong, nothing can be right. It makes no difference whether you are a mailman, a hairdresser, an insurance salesman, a housewife – whatever. As long as you feel you are serving others, you do the job well. When you are concerned only with helping yourself, you do it less well – a law as inexorable as gravity."

Six o'clock finally came, and the last prescription didn't take long to fill. It said, "Write your worries on the sand." He knelt and wrote several words with a piece of broken shell; then he turned and walked away. He didn't look back; he knew the tide would come in.

One man writes, "The greatest battles of life are fought out daily in the silent chambers of the soul."

Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
(Proverbs 4:23)

The gospel reminds us that we are not saved by our efforts, but by the finished work of Jesus Christ. Yet, this same gospel calls us to respond—to live in light of what Christ has done.

Spiritual growth doesn’t happen by accident; it requires intentionality. Commit today to practicing Bible study, prayer, and solitude not to earn God's favor, but in response to the grace you have already received. Abide in him, and he will produce fruit in your life. Start small, but start now. The Spirit is ready to meet you, to transform you, and to draw you closer to the One who gave everything for you.