Books to Love: A Year of Devotion
The last two years have been a great strain upon the world. So many people I know personally have truly been struggling through this time, particularly the last six months. However, we are now in the start of a new year, and regardless of what we may be facing- be it a new variant, mandate, restriction, lockdown, job, or the like- it behooves each of us to devote ourselves to something outside ourselves. This will take the focus off of our shortcomings, our fears, our worries, and our inabilities and puts it on something full of great promise and certainty.
In Luke 10, Jesus is visiting with his friends, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Now, we all know that when Jesus traveled, he traveled with a retinue of people. So, when he showed up at Lazarus’s house, it wasn’t just him, there were at least a dozen other people, if not more.
Being practical, Martha begins preparations. She’s running around, getting food organized and cooked, cleaning and preparing guest rooms should their guests wish to stay the night, et. al. To make matters worse, her younger sister, Mary is being of no help to her whatsoever. While Martha is struggling, rushing around, trying to maintain a hectic list of to-does, Mary is sitting at Jesus’s feet. Finally, in a very human, relatable moment, Martha goes to Jesus and says,
“Lord, don’t you think it’s unfair that my sister left me to do all the work by myself?”
Jesus, rich in compassion and understanding, looked over at Martha, extended his hand to her invitingly, and said,
“Martha, my beloved Martha. Why are you upset and troubled, pulled away by all these many distractions? Are they really that important? Mary has discovered the one thing most important by choosing to sit at my feet.”
Our lives are hectic, full of things we have to get done, full of anxieties and worries. In sort, our lives are full. So full that we neglect that which we should never neglect. We neglect our spiritual health by pushing aside the time we should be spending at the feet of Jesus.
The health of our spirits will determine the state of our souls and, consequently, the ultimate health of our bodies. Therefore, I am resolved this year to enter into a deeper devotion to my spiritual health. For me personally, this will be accomplished through more time spent mediating in the Word of God as well as time set aside to pray and worship Jesus.
One of the best resources available to help any one of us on this journey is a devotional. Throughout the course of my life, I have used numerous devotionals. Depending on the devotional, it can be a daily or weekly lesson centered around a scripture that you can read in the morning and meditate on throughout the day.
Today I am sharing with you several devotionals that I still use. I have endeavored to offer ones that each have a specific purpose as you go through them.
The Divine Romance: 365 Days Meditating on the Song of Songs • Brian Simmons
“I have fallen in love with this sweetest song of all the ages. We see the Shulamite’s breathtaking journey unveiled in this amazing allegory. It is the path every passionate lover will choose. But this divine parable penned by Solomon also describes the journey that every longing lover of Jesus will find as his or her very own.”
The introduction to this devotional starts: The Lord is beckoning every believer into a lifestyle of unhindered devotion.
The first book of the Bible that Brian Simmons translated in The Passion Translation was Song of Songs. The beauty of this allegorical book is the unveiling of the covenant marriage between Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and his bride, the Church. While I had always had a great love for this book of the Bible prior to the Passion’s publication, Song of Songs came alive to me in a tapestry of richness like never before when I read the comprehensive, philological offering from Simmons. In fact, it through my year long study of this book in the Passion translation that I ended up formulating one of my all time favorite characters in the second novel which I am writing. I cannot wait to share her with you all as I believe the depth of her character is filled with the richness this biblical study of Song of Songs wrought within me.
The Divine Romance devotional is a manageable way in which to delve deeply into this magnificent book. The entire devotional will take you through the short book of Song of Songs, allowing you to truly meditate and absorb the complex and truly beautiful relationship between you and your Savior.
The Divine Romance will take you deeper on your love journey with Jesus. The most secure and abiding your revelation of His love is, the more fixed your heart will become on His goodness, His love, and His covenantal promise to preserve, protect, and see you prosper.
Another reason I have chosen to list this devotional first is because I believe it is a great starting point, particularly if you are new believer. What better way to begin a year of devotion than with a devotional that helps to solidify you in the abiding, unending love of Christ.
Destined to Reign • Joseph Prince
“As you simply allow His word of grace and righteousness to speak to you, you will find faith springing up in your hearts, peace guarding your mind, wisdom for the day and a confident expectation of good things happening to you.”
One of the most life changing devotionals I have ever used is Joseph Prince’s Destined to Reign devotional. I have been a devout Christian the whole of my life. However, it was not until I began the year long journey with Destined to Reign that I grasped such a revelatory understanding of what the Grace of God truly is.
So often this term is massively abused within the Christian community. The term grace is thrown around to justify embracing a lifestyle of sin. Oh, the grace of God will cover this bad decision or that bad decisions is often how the word is bandied about.
However, the depth and richness of what the Grace of God is is not so tawdry. Because of the finished work Jesus wrought upon the cross, the Grace of God enables us to enter into a life of holiness to which we were denied access before. It is not a life which we can qualify for through work or good behavior, rather, it is a gift, freely bestowed, from the Father through his Son. We have been brought into the family of God because His love for us was so great that nothing, not even our sin nature which forever separated us from His holy nature, would separated us from Him. However, the gulf between sinful humanity and holy God had to be bridged. God Himself became the bridge in the form of his Son, the Word made flesh, and through His sacrifice on the cross, he became our sin offering, once and for all, so that we can now, unafraid and boldly, enter into the Presence of God.
This love, this grace, is fathomless. Yet, it is simple. And once your begin to understand and operate out of this amazing love and grace, your life will never be the same.
Destined to Reign is a tender, intelligent, and revelatory devotional that will take you deeper in your relationship with Jesus because you will come into more and more understanding of what He accomplished for you at the cross and how that enables you to be an overcomer in every aspect of your life.
If you are interested in exploring the devotionals available from Joseph Prince, you can sign up to receive a daily devotional sent to your email free of cost on his website.
Faith to Faith: A Daily Guide to Victory • Kenneth and Gloria Copeland
“My fellow believers, when it seems like you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can! For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up power within you to endure all things. And then as your endurance grows ever stronger it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.”
Faith to Faith: A Daily Guide to Victory is a devotional that I have had in my life for as long as I can remember. I can recall my grandmother reading to me from this one when I was young. It was a staple for both my father and mother as well as my mother-in-law, and it has been one that I have used often throughout the years for myself as well.
What I appreciate the most about this devotional is that is approaches the Word of God in a practical manner, presenting a scripture for the day along with a lesson that helps me to take the truth of the Word and apply it to my daily life.
Time spent in the Word- with Jesus, who is the Word made flesh (John 1)- will renew our minds (Romans 12:2) to the Truth of who He is. From that Truth, we will live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). As quoted above in James 1, we will always face trials that try out faith. However, it is important that we go through those periods of time because as we do, we draw closer to the Lord through His word, which will in turn build up our faith, which in turn will unleash a divine power within each of us to overcome whatever we face. This is the victory that overcomes the world.
Faith to Faith is the devotional that has consistently, year after year, brought me close and closer in my walk with the Lord by teaching me the Word and how to apply it to my life daily.
The Faith to Faith devotional is available for free online here on the ministries website.
Sparkling Gems from the Greek: Volume 1 & Volume 2 • Rick Renner
“Although I have studied the Greek New Testament for many years, I am still a vigorous student of the New Testament in its original language and continually discover new truths and wonderful insights that bring change to my own life. Throughout my decades-long treasure hunt in the Greek New Testament and my continuous extraction of ‘gems,’ I have often thought of Matthew 13:52, where Jesus says, ‘…Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man who is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old.’ I know from personal experience that as we give our attention to the Word of God, the Holy Spirit adds new insights to the old ones and causes our understanding of God and His Word to be marvelously expanded.”
Any amount of time spent here at Whiskers, and you’ll know that I am a philologist. I love the origination of language and words. I love studying the roots of things to grasp the deep truths hidden within the written word. So, when I encountered Rick Renner’s Sparkling Gems from the Greek: Volume One devotional, I was thrilled. Rick Renner is a true scholar when it comes to language, particularly Greek.
Through both volumes of Sparkling Gems from the Greek, I have learned so much of what is actually recorded within the New Testament.
These devotionals are tomes. They are huge; each are about 1500 pages long. (I have both the book as well as the Kindle editions of these devotionals as I cannot travel with such a HUGE book.)
In the manner of a great teacher, Rick Renner painstakingly unpacks the New Testament word by word so that the richness recorded there can be fully expressed. Honestly, it is through his philological knowledge- which encompasses not just the understanding of the meaning of words but also gives the rich historical context to the manner in which they were used when they they were first written- that I have learned so much about the history and time in which the New Testament was written.
While Sparkling Gems from the Greek may seem like a more studious approach to the Word of God, it does not neglect the spiritual at all. While you’re learning about history or word definitions, you’re also having the Word of God revealed to you with a richer understanding and revelation.
Rick Renner makes his Sparkling Gems from the Greek Volume Two available online accompanied with a short teaching video from him each day.
I Hear His Whisper: 52 Devotionals • Brian Simmons
“God is not silent. He has a voice, and you can learn to hear it for yourself. I trust these ‘whispers’ will spark in you the desire to hear God’s gentle voice for yourself.”
This weekly devotional is truly something special and intimate. I have gifted it on numerous occasions to my Christian and non-Christian friends as the whispered words are morsels of encouragement and wisdom for every spirit being. If a daily devotional seems like too much for your to take on right now, then I Hear His Whisper is an excellent place to start. The devotional are not long, but they are rich, filled with the Word of God and lessons than unpack that Word so that you can see how intimate, tender, and specific that Word is for you.
Brian Simmons has made a bi-weekly I Hear His Whisper devotional available for free online if you should wish to sign up. Just follow the link here.
My relationship with Jesus Christ the most important relationship I have ever had. I can not fathom a live without Him. He has defined my life. It is written in Acts 17 that in Him we live and move and have our being; this is an incontestable truth in my life. The longer I live, the more I learn how I need Him more and more. As the popular worship song says, I want more of you, God.
A year of devotion is a year in which we passionate seek more of God. More of the One who sets our souls on fire. More and more and more of Him till we are filled with His Spirit to overflowing. And from that overflowing come the rivers of life.
I do not know what all your beliefs are, dear readers. However, if you’ve never embraced a life of devotion, I can only encourage you from the depths of my heart to take up one of these devotionals and start today.
