Ditch the Devotional
to quit devotional dependency
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Becoming a Disciple
A foundational 10-week study
Did you know that 83% of devotionals are made up of someone else's thoughts about God's Word? That means only 17% of what you are reading is God's actual Word.
Let's flip that statistic.
With the Ditch the Devotional Challenge, you are committing to a devotional fast that will allow you to re-balance the weight of them in your daily reading. (Hint: the challenge pairs perfectly with our Bible Reading Plan!)
The Ditch the Devotional Challenge includes:
- 30, 60, and 90-day tracker sheets that represent one
full day without devotional consumption
- a place on each sheet to determine a reward once you complete the challenge
This has been sitting as a draft for months. Today, it needed to be shared.
Battle cries for waiting women: take what you need, share with the person you immediately think of. That’s usually God telling you they need to read it, too.
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1. Did you know that one of the primary Hebrew words for “mercy” in the Bible means, simply, “womb”? You can see it for yourself in action in Nehemiah 9:19’s “mercies” and Isaiah 46:3’s “womb.” Both are the same Hebrew word, raham, which describes a deep love that is rooted in a natural bond. So, if you are a woman who is waiting for God to fill your womb? Know, as you wait, that He carries you in His.
2. If you’ve already been waiting for what feels like forever and you aren’t quite sure your faith can handle much more, good news: it doesn’t have to. Just hang onto hope for today. His womb-mercies are brand new to (literally) carry you afresh tomorrow.
3. If nothing else, you can rejoice in this: Today, you are one day closer to your miracle.
4. But, if not? He is still good.
5. This is hard. The waiting is crushing. It might not be well with you now, but it will be, eventually (because, Romans 8:28).
6/7/8. Psalm 90 is directly from Moses’ mouth, and the oldest of the Psalms. The man (and the people he led) knew affliction and suffering in a way we can’t even begin to imagine. Psalm 90:15 has long been a beacon for me, a proportionate prayer of faith that God would balance the weight of my waiting scales with the same amount of gladness after.
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“Make us glad in proportion to the days in which You have afflicted us,” Moses prayed in Psalm 90:15-16 AMPC, “and to the years in which we have suffered evil.” And then, as one last tacked-on faith cry, when those glad days come? “Let Your glorious majesty be revealed to my children.”
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Yes, God. We believe for it.
If Ezra 4 tells us anything, it’s that it’s ALWAYS when you get to the most critical work of your God-spoken, Spirit-stirred calling that trouble comes calling. And Satan won’t quit until he tears it all back down to rubble.
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Keep your wings up. Satan can try to convince you it’s all useless, but remember Isaiah 55:10-11. God’s purpose will always be accomplished.
Wings up, buttercup.
I honestly believe that Ezra 3:11-13 is one of the most misunderstood Bible passages. People seem to get almost offended at the mention of grief in this passage like there couldn’t possibly be any HINT of sadness when something so spiritually profound is happening.
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But I’m here to tell you: it’s possible to feel the weight of both at the same time.
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You can grieve the loss of what once was or what could have been. And you can also be absolutely jaw-dropped at the glimpses of God’s glory and the hope of His Jeremiah 29:11 future for you.
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Lament and sorrow can hold hands with elation and hope because God holds it all, sees it all, and feels it all with you.
It’s all commingled equally. One is not louder than the other, one no more prominent. One does not negate the other, one not any less important.
There’s a place for BOTH grief and joy all at the same time.
I learned a new definition of prayer the other day (from Psalm 109:4) that I’ve never heard of before, and it’s the purest visual picture of intercession that I never knew I needed.
