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

Prayer of Confession

Living God, I don’t want a secondhand faith. I need something more to bring your reality home to me. Send your Spirit to testify in my heart that what I read in Scripture is from you; open my eyes to see that the words of Scripture vibrate with your love and truth, and address these words to my heart, Lord. Amen. (Prayer based on the Belgic Confession, Question 5)

*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 63 | Read 1 Corinthians 13

• 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: “Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a classic of pastoral response: affectionate, firm, clear, and unswerving in the conviction that God among them, revealed in Jesus and present in his Holy Spirit, continued to be the central issue in their lives, regardless of how much of a mess they had made of things.” Meditate on the passage, noting a few words or a phrase that stood out. Take them to God in prayer.

Evening Readings:

Pray Psalm 64 | Read 2 Chronicles 35

• OT Context: “Sovereignty, God’s sovereignty, is one of the most difficult things for people of faith to live out in everyday routines…This story makes it clear that it was not God’s idea that the Hebrews have a king, but since they insisted, he let them have their way. But God never abdicated his sovereignty to any of the Hebrew kings; the idea was that they would represent his sovereignty, not that he would delegate his sovereignty to them. Reflect on the passage. Who was the original audience, and what was their situation? How is that relevant to you today?

Sermon Devo

We are in our Spring series in Romans 8. Each day we will dig into a different aspect of this incomparable chapter and see how it alters the way we live “in Christ!”

Read: Romans 8:1-11

Ray Ortlund has a way with words. In his short commentary on Romans 8 he writes,  “…real life is not to be found in the body but in the Spirit. ‘The Spirit is life,’ Paul says. The world tells us, ‘If you’re not in shape, if you’re not thin, if you’re not beautiful, if you’re not sexually active, if you’re not young, you’re not alive.’ 

But is that true? If it were true, then all the fit, thin, beautiful, sexually active young people in this world would be on Cloud Nine. But they are not. Why? Because life does not flow into our experience through the body but through the Spirit. It is the spiritual, not the physical, that gives us hope and fullness and joy. 

The body is not to be despised. God made our bodies. He must like them. But the fact is, sin is killing us all. And God imparts true life in our hearts, not in our veins.”

REFLECT: What are you trusting in to bring you “real life”? How’s that going for you? Spend some time asking God to make plain for you how to find your life in Him alone.

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