TOJ: Principles of a Devotional Life

Relationships between people are grounded on three things: talking, listening, and doing things together. The same basic dynamics are crucial to a relationship with Jesus. If we wish to have a relationship with Jesus, we need to spend time talking with Him, listening to Him, and doing things together with Him. Related to each lesson in this unit will be opportunities to practice these three dynamics. Here we will summarize some of the key principles of a devotional relationship with Jesus.

Talking to Jesus

The basic means of talking to Jesus is prayer. Yet many Christians of all ages have struggled to make prayer work for them. How can it be different for you? Here are some tips that may help you in your devotional life and spiritual growth:

1. Be flexible. Don't be locked into any particular position in which to pray; in other words, it is unimportant whether or not you are on your knees, whether your eyes are open or shut, whether you fold your hands or put them behind your back or raise them up in the air. A careful look at the prayers described in the Bible indicate that there is no one right position for prayer; the right position for you is the one that best helps you connect with God. For some, silent prayer is more effective with the eyes open and focused on some object, such as the pattern of a bedspread or couch.
2. Try writing out some of your prayers. (The prayer questions in the various lessons of this unit will encourage you to practice this.) It is amazing what the process of writing does to help concentrate your mind on the reality of being in the act of prayer. Take a notebook and a pencil or a pen, sit down, and construct a carefully worded prayer to God. Computer wizards may find a computer the most effective way to do this.
3. Be relevant. When you pray, focus on the things that truly matter to you. One reason that prayer may sometimes seem irrelevant to everyday life is that the crucial elements of everyday life are not brought forward to God while in the attitude of prayer. Discuss with God the very things that are of utmost concern to you at a given time.
4. Thank God in very specific ways. Thank Him for air, water, the color of the carpet, the animal you just saw out of the window. This may seem a bit silly at first, but where would you be without air? What would life be like without color, without animals? Who made these things? If you feel so depressed that you can't come up with anything to be thankful for, get out a dictionary-it's loaded with names of gifts from God. Just open any page, and you will find them: apes, apples, apricots, and so on. When was the last time you thanked the Lord for those things? Yes, I know this sounds like the most childish thing you have ever heard. But I want you to know something-it works The Bible says, "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). The best way to find the joy of the Lord is through a spirit of gratitude and praise. The best way to develop such an attitude is to learn to thank God for everything you receive.

Listening to Jesus

How do you listen to Someone whose voice you cannot hear? The primary method, of course, is to hear Jesus' voice in Scripture. A major theme of the Gospel of John is that Jesus' words in the written Gospel (as well as the rest of the Bible) are as powerful and effective as His spoken words and physical touch were to those who knew Him in the flesh. How can Scripture study bring us into a living relationship with Jesus?

1. Choose relevant readings. To be devotionally useful, reading must be relevant to present experience, to things that matter in practical terms. What are the greatest concerns and needs in your life? To center study on matters of lesser concern would certainly be a mistake. Genealogies and prophecies may be of intense intellectual interest, but they may not offer practical guidance for the daily issues of the school, home, work, and the neighborhood.
2. Focus on Jesus. Since a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ is the most relevant of all spiritual concerns, devotional study needs to focus on Jesus. The Gospel of John is far more relevant to this purpose than 1 Chronicles or Judges, for example. The other Gospels, letters of Paul and, for Adventist youth, books such as The Desire of Ages and Steps to Christ, by Ellen G. White, can be particularly helpful.
3. Take your time. In devotional reading, the most important thing is to discern God's voice to you personally, not to accomplish the task of completing a certain number of pages or mastering a certain amount of information. If it takes a whole hour to meditate on one sentence, so be it. The devotional life is not the time and place to rush. Take your time; go no farther or faster than you are able to understand what you've been reading. Allow the reading to sink in-let it impact the very core of your being.
4. Write out special insights. Write down or enter into your computer the "highlight-film" kind of insights that God gives you as part of your devotional experience. People forget what they don't write down. The most effective devotional book that you could read might be your personal record of spiritual discoveries. These insights will help you to rekindle your walk with Jesus in tough times. The Insight questions in the various lessons of this unit will encourage you to practice this.
5. Keep a spiritual diary of struggles, experiences, and dialogues with God in the course of your life. Don't limit yourself to devotional note-taking. Challenge your experience with God, ask Him direct questions like, "How do you feel about my friendships right now and about the way I relate to my parents? What are my most important needs right now? How would You want me to meet them? Am I being sensitive to Your leading in my life right now?" Experience questions can be found in every lesson. Most of us take very little time to reflect on our lives. But the fact of the matter is, if you don't keep score of your life, you will repeat the same errors over and over again. If every day we would take time to sit down and reflect on the previous day and ask, "Did I give glory to God?" there would be an amazing growth of self-awareness. We would beg to see things in ourselves that everyone who knows us can see, but we are blinded to ourselves.
6. Let God answer your prayers. There is another exciting aspect of listening to Jesus. When you have finished praying, stay on your knees. Put a notebook in front of you, pick up your pencil, and wait. You have talked to God about the things that matter most. You have asked for His presence with you. You are now in a position to receive. So write down whatever comes to mind. Do not try to evaluate it at once; treat this as spiritual brainstorming.

Working Together With Jesus

Without concrete and practical faith-action, however, the study and prayer life can easily become confined to a closet separate from the rest of a person's experience. What happens in the devotional life will have little impact on everyday experience, unless accompanied by conscious, corresponding action. How you live has a powerful effect on your sense of God's presence in your life. This class in the Gospel of John focuses directly on the study-and-prayer aspects of a living relationship with God. But the following ideas are part of a balanced walk that can easily be incorporated into your overall academy experience.

1. Sharing faith is not an option. Expression deepens impression. Talk faith and you will have more faith. Whenever the Cross of Christ is uplifted, the Holy Spirit presses the claim of the Cross home with power to whomever is listening. But that same power spills back to the one who testifies. Sharing your faith with others strengthens and confirms your own faith. And when you live out your care and concern for the lost, you participate in Jesus' care for them, which draws you closer to His heart.
2. Stretch the limits. Don't be afraid to do something radical with God. Do a short-term mission project in a part of the world much different from yours. (This doesn't have to be overseas; you could go to inner-city America if you grew up on a farm or to rural America if you grew up in a city.) Plant a garden, dedicate a portion as a special gift to God, and see what happens. Spend time getting to know public high school students, seeking ways to interest them in deeper values. Shared risk enhances intimacy with others. Risking yourself for God enhances intimacy with God.
3. Walk the talk. How you live has a powerful impact on what you believe. This is why evangelists like to call people up front. There is something about getting out of your seat and walking to the front that nails down a decision in a way that very few other things can do. Action has a powerful impact on belief and experience. Relationship with Jesus is most powerfully affirmed as part of a seven-day-a-week experience, one that impacts in some way on every moment of every day of our lives. While the term "Adventist lifestyle" may mean different things to different people, it can be an important part of living together with Jesus every day. For example, when an Adventist shops for clothes, the question is, "What impact will this clothing have on my witness for Christ? Will it aid or hinder my mission in life?" When an Adventist shops for groceries, time is spent reading labels. Why? Because there is a desire to not put into the body things that will clog up the mind and render the individual less fit for the difficult task of honoring God in all that is done, said, or thought. These are just two of many ways we can constantly be reminded of Jesus' claim on our life. There are dangers in two extremes. A rigid lifestyle without a living relationship with God is drudgery. But a devotional life without practice is also doomed to fail. Finding the balance between the two extremes can be both challenging and exciting! And in the process Jesus becomes more real to us.
4. Act on impressions. After the spiritual brainstorming mentioned in the previous section, test the ideas that came to your mind. Some may be from God, others, from the fog of your internal dreams and/or confusion. But as you prayerfully consider these impressions, you will gradually become able to discern when it is God speaking to you in your mind and when it is not.