Use this devo as you are able, in whole or in part. Don’t feel compelled to read it all. Simply read and meditate upon whatever catches your attention. The goal is enjoying time with God through His Word and in prayer. Questions about the devotional elements?

Call to Prayer

God who listens, what would it take for me to contend with you in prayer like Abraham? As I pray, teach me that humility and courage aren’t opposites. Don’t let me hide anything from you—not the needs of myself or others, not my joy, or even my frustration with your ways. And always, may my bold prayers rest on the unshakable foundation that you listen to my heart. In Christ’s name, amen. (Prayer based on the Heidelberg Catechism, Q117)

*Prayer borrowed from Philip Reinders’ Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year

Reading Plan

This reading plan will help you to develop the habit of being in God’s Word each morning and evening. Come to this time with expectation. Expect God to reveal himself to you. Expect that he delights in you being there, even when you’ve wandered away. Growing a spiritual habit is a slow, patient process. So be kind to yourself as you grow! 

Readings are hyperlinked. Simply hover over the passage or click Morning/Evening Reading (email version).

Morning Readings:

Pray Psalm 65 | Read James 5

• Praying the Psalms: Read slowly. Take note of words and phrases. Bring them before the Lord in prayer and personalize the passage as you pray.
• NT Context: “Christian churches are not, as a rule, model communities of good behavior. They are, rather, places where human misbehavior is brought out in the open, faced, and dealt with. The letter of James shows one of the church’s early pastors skillfully going about his work of confronting, diagnosing, and dealing with areas of misbelief and misbehavior that had turned up in congregations committed to his care.” Meditate on the passage, noting a few words or a phrase that stood out. Take them to God in prayer.

Evening Readings:

Pray Psalm 66 | Read Job 42

• OT Context: Job is “the one book in all of Scripture most obviously concerned with suffering…Job reveals, in a way unlike any other book in all of Scripture, a unique kind of ordeal that God sometimes allows to befall his children, a dimension of suffering both intense and inexplicable, which has nothing to do with sin and (strange as it might sound) nothing to do with growing us spiritually.” Though we do grow through such suffering, the purpose of suffering according to Job’s story is not our growth, but rather our knowing and loving of God himself, on His terms (like I said, offensive and strange, but true). Reflect on the passage. Who was the original audience, and what was their situation? How is that relevant to you today?

Sermon Devo

Our sermon Devo takes a break during for summer, does some beach reading, a few home projects, and will be back in the Fall! Looking for something to read in its place this summer? Try Paul David Tripp’s New Morning Mercies!

Evening Prayer of Examen

• Where did you move with or feel close to Jesus today?
• Where did you resist or feel far from Jesus today?
• Where is Jesus leading you tomorrow? Ask for joy as you follow him.

Benediction