How To Do A Devotional Prayer

Maintaining spiritual discipline is very important for every Christian. Some specific spiritual disciplines include reading the Scriptures, meditating on them, praying to God, and creating fellowship with other believers. Spending moments of solitude with God and making time to read His word and pray is what we sometimes call “devotion”. We devote our time to God by communing with Him as we read His word and pray to Him. Spiritual disciplines, where devotion is included, are essential for a Christian’s growth. They are some of the means of grace that God has instituted in our lives. Just as we receive water from a faucet and not from the rain clouds, we receive grace through Christ when we maintain devotion by reading God’s word and praying to Him. If we are going through difficulties in life, how can we have the grace and strength to endure if we don’t read the Scriptures and pray? Not only is devotion a means of grace, but it is also where a Christian grows. The Bible is like spiritual milk to infants as they grow in their walk with God, and a prayer is an act of worship to God.

Colossians 4:2

Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

1 Peter 2:2

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

How do you perform a devotional?

Knowing how to complete a devotional will help you understand how and why you should pray during your devotion. An ideal devotional is where you get to read the Bible, meditate on God’s word, and practically apply what you just read in your normal life. 

How do you pray?

First, you pray before your devotion, specifically before reading God’s word. You can pray to God for wisdom, understanding, and knowledge as you read His word, as well as for the comprehension of His truth. You can also pray the verse in Psalm 119:18, where you can pray for God to open your eyes as you read His word to behold wondrous things from His law or word. You can also pray the verse in Psalm 119:11, praying for God to help you memorize and store up His word that you will be reading so that you might not sin against him, because every time you encounter temptations, you will instead remember the very words of God.

Psalm 119:11

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Psalm 119:18

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Aside from praying for God to give you the understanding as you read His word, opening your eyes to the wondrous things of His law, and helping you store His word in your heart, you can also pray to God that whatever you read in His word shall minister to you. If you are going through hardships or difficulties in life, you can pray to God that the words you will be reading will bring comfort and remind you of the truth. You can also pray for the Holy Spirit to convict you as you read the Bible. Perhaps there are areas in your life that are not honoring God. In that case, you would want the Holy Spirit to convict you of sin as you read God’s word. For example, if you are struggling to be patient with people and are reading about being angry, but not sinning out of your anger, in Ephesians 4:26-27, you could ask the Holy Spirit to convict you with it so that you may repent and obey God’s word. 

Proverbs 15:33

The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

John 16:8

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

1 Peter 1:14

As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

Another thing you can pray for as you start your devotional or the reading of God’s word is for God’s grace to help you be humble when reading His word. Be humble in the sense that you submit to whatever the word of God says. It also means not forcing God’s word to fit your wants or beliefs, but instead taking God’s word for what it says and obeying what He commands.

In line with what we have shared above, here is a sample prayer that you can pray as you begin your devotion:

Heavenly Father, You are the God who gives wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Thank you for this privilege to read Your word and commune with You. I can come before Your presence because Christ has torn down the veil and the dividing wall of hostility between us. As I read Your word, give me the grace and understanding to comprehend Your word. Open my eyes to behold the wondrous things of Your law. I pray that as I read Your word, it will minister and speak truth to my heart. I pray that I will be comforted through the words that I am about to read. Give me the grace to also be humble as I read Your word, so that I shall adjust, submit, and obey what You say in Your word and that I shall never force Your word into what I want or believe. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

How do you end a devotion?

Just as we begin our devotion with prayer, we should also end our devotion with prayer. We pray as we end our devotion by asking God for the grace to apply whatever truth we have learned while reading His word. Praying to God for grace to apply His word is very important. In James 1:22, James tells us that we are not just to hear the word of God, but also do it. He tells us that hearing it and not doing it is like deceiving ourselves. It is like looking and knowing what your face looks like in the mirror, and then forgetting what you look like—applying God’s word is essential to a Christian because God’s law is like a mirror. It shows us what we have to address or remove in our lives. If we look in the mirror and see some dirt on our face, we would try to remove it, not ignore it. It is similar when applying God’s word and not just hearing it; we see what God’s word is trying to address in us through His word and apply it in our lives. What we read in our Bibles should not just remain as internal knowledge, but should also be practical as we move through our daily lives.

James 1:22

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Another thing you can pray to God is a prayer of thanksgiving. Everything comes from God alone. The truths that you have learned when reading God’s word are all because God gave you the grace and the understanding to comprehend and learn from reading His word. The Holy Spirit led you into the truth and helped you understand the truth of God’s word. Whenever you read the Scriptures, and feel convicted of sin, it is the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart. A productive devotion with God is not because of our intellect and understanding, but because of God’s grace and the Holy Spirit at work in us and renewing our minds.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Romans 12:2

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Here is an example of a prayer you can offer as you end your devotion:

Heavenly Father, You are the God of grace from whom everything comes. I thank You for giving me the grace and understanding to comprehend Your word and see the truth of Your word. Thank You for opening my eyes so that I may behold the wondrous things of Your law. Thank you for convicting me of sin to repent and grow more in holiness and sanctification. I pray that whatever truth I have learned from Your word, it shall not remain as internal knowledge, but knowledge I shall apply in my life. Let the things I have read from Your word be more evident in my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Prayer is an act of humility before God. We pray to God before our devotion or the reading of His word because we know that we need God to open our eyes so that we may behold the wondrous things of His law. We also pray to God to help us apply in our lives the things that we have learned when reading His word. All of the prayers mentioned above are acts of humility before God, acknowledging that we depend on Him as we do our devotion.