Your Church Life Does Not Replace Your Devotional Life - Part 1
There is no substitute for the "secret place!"
The devotional life is a huge topic, that I can talk about for hours, days, weeks, and months. There are so many aspects of the devotional life to discuss. However, most churches that I have been to I have never heard even a single message about the devotional life. The preacher may talk about various verses in the Bible, applying the Word to your life, inspiring you to live a godly life, but I don’t remember when was the last time I heard an entire message in church telling you that you need to spend alone time with God.
Yes, there are these types of teachings available. You can find messages about the devotional life by certain ministers and ministries, and books on the devotional life by well-known authors. There are entire section in Christian bookstores filled with devotionals new and old. Some of the most famous Christian books are devotionals, such as My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.
However, overall, the devotional life is a neglected topic in the church today. When I go to a church service, I have no idea if the people there are spending alone time with God. Nobody knows. The pastor doesn’t know. No one cares to talk about it. No one is thinking about it. Then you experience dryness in the church, you experience lethargy, lukewarmness, and passivity in the church. You don’t sense God’s presence. There is no life in the church! The Holy Spirit has left the church! What happened is that the people are not spending alone time with God. The spiritual life of the church is only as strong as the devotional life of the individuals attending the church!
People can go to a worship night or an exciting conference and experience personal renewal and refreshing in these events, but then they are deflated and defeated by the enemy afterwards! They are inspired to live for God after hearing a powerful message, then they fall into a pattern of sin just weeks afterwards. They cannot maintain their mountain top “high” on a day-to-day basis, and their spiritual walk becomes a roller coaster where they pursue events after events to get what they need from God.
I think many Christians don’t even know that they need to have a devotional life—time spend alone with God, whether using that time for private worship, praise, reading or studying the Bible, meditating on the Word, prayer, intercession, soaking, waiting on God, etc.
In Matthew 6:6, Jesus states,
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
It is obvious that Jesus is telling the disciples to pray in secret on a regular basis! Paul tells us to “Pray without ceasing,” (1 Thes 5:17) and Jesus is telling us to pray in the secret place! We need both public prayer gatherings and personal prayer times. Most importantly, we need to prepare a secret place, and set aside a time, to meet with our Father! This is your most significant act of worship.
Devotional time is like going on a date with God. Devotional time (devo) is preferably spent in solitude and not in a public place (you can have “devo time” at Starbucks but it won’t be high quality devo). Devotional time is not spent hanging out with friends because friends are a distraction during devo and you don’t want that! God wants your undivided attention during devo.
If you know how to do devo, it is super fun and exciting and the central event of your day. It is the best part of your day. Your devo is the fire that powers everything else in your life!
Some people quit devo because it got dry and boring, repetitive and religious. It became an obligation, a duty. They got stuck and stopped, because they never received good teachings about the devotional life. They never caught the vision of what their devo time could be like!
Back to the subject—many Christians don’t know they need to have a devotional life. They think all they need to please God and be a good believer is to be active in their church—attend church activities, and serve in the church!
Yes, I totally agree that you should be involved in your local church—go to Sunday services, go to Bible studies, go to home groups, go to prayer meetings, go to outreaches, go to various meaningful events. Volunteer and meet needs and keep the church running. I am a pastor’s kid and I have done pretty much every kind of service work in the church myself!
However, your church life should never replace your devotional life. There needs to be a balance. You need both, and the priority should be your devotional life. I am not saying you shouldn’t go to church or serve in a local church until you get your devotional life established. In terms of importance, your devotional life is way more important to your overall spiritual health than your church life.
Why is that? It is because your devotional life is where you cultivate intimacy with God. You were created for love and intimacy with your Father! You can never cultivate intimacy with God in a church environment. Intimacy is cultivated one-on-one, face to face. Intimacy is not a lesson you learn in a sermon. Intimacy is not an idea you study in a book. Intimacy is getting to know a person and opening yourself to being known by that person.
Stay tuned for Part 2…
