Page Summary: Studies on prayer, general pursuit of God.
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42 Devotional Literature, Theory, and Practice |
||
| 42.00 Devotional Literature (Devotions to read) | ||
| 42.01 Devotional Books (about Devotions) | ||
| 42.02 What is Devotion? | 42.06 How do I become more Devout? | |
| 42.03 Why we should be Devout to God? | ||
| 42.03.01 Hell's Punishment | ||
| 42.03.02 God is our Creator | ||
| 42.03.03 Heaven's Blessing | ||
| 42.03.03 God's Tender Love | ||
| 42.04 Why Devotion to God should be Supreme | ||
| 42.05 What should be the objects of our Devotion? | ||
| 42.05.01 The Glory of God | ||
| 42.05.02 Sanctification: Man's Reflection of God's Being | ||
| 42.05.03 Our Happiness | ||
| See also 41 Prayer | ||
*Barnes, Albert (1798-1870) -
A Manual of
Prayer
flipbook (1838)
Bayly, Lewis - Practice
of Piety (1611)
Bunyan, John - Holy
War.pdf 657K (b) (fiction)
(204 pages).
Bunyan, John -
Pilgrims Progress Books 1-2.pdf 406K (fiction)
(b) (176
pages).
Challoner, Richard -
Garden of the Soul
(1775)
Cotton, George Edward Lynch -
Short Prayers
and Other Helps to Devotion
flipbook
(1872)
Davis, Mary Anne -
Helps to
Devotion
flipbook (1822)
Frere, John -
Manual to aid
pious Christian in Private Devotion
flipbook
(1851)
Gossner, Johannes (1773-1858)
The Spiritual Casket of
Daily Bible Meditations
flipbook (1864)
Heygate, William Edward -
The Manual, a
book of Devotion
flipbook
(1853)
Hobart, John Henry -
Christian's
Manual of Faith and Devotion
flipbook
(1850)
Jowett, John Henry (1864-1923) -
Come ye Apart
flipbook
(1920)
Mason, William -
A Help to
Family and Private Devotion
flipbook
(1856)
More, Hannah -
Book of
Private Devotion
flipbook
(1830)
Oosterzee, Johannes Jacobus Van (1817-1882) -
The Year of Salvation
flipbook (1875)
Pechin -
Offices of
Family Devotion
flipbook
(1835)
Pollock, James Samuel -
Resting
Places, Manual of Christian Doctrine, Duty, and Devotion
flipbook
(1870)
Rice, E.J. - Manual
of Devotion for Schools and Academies
flipbook (1870)
*Sorenson, Stella -
Gems of Devotion
flipbook
(1910)
Tholuck, August -
Hours of
Christian Devotion
flipbook
(1875)
Unknown - Acts of
Devotion flipbook
(1927)
Unknown -
Short Helps
to Daily Devotions
flipbook
(1847)
Unknown -
A Guide to
Family Devotion
flipbook
(1846)
Unknown -
Mind and
Words of God
flipbook
(1878)
*Unknown -
Threshold of
Private Devotion
flipbook
(1862)
Willet, Herbert Lockwood (1864-1944) -
The Daily Altar
flipbook (1919)
Christian Writers -
Chosen Words
flipbook
(1869)
For Sick and Dying
Assheton, William -
A Method of
Devotion for Sick and Dying Persons
flipbook
(1706)
James, Arabella M -
Covenant of
Love, Manual of Devotion for sick and Suffering
flipbook
(1878)
Anderson, Robert (Author profile) - The Way (b).pdf 171K (49 pages)Doherty
- A Manual of
Private Devotion
flipbook
(1853)
*Bodington, Charles (1836-1918) -
Books of
Devotion
flipbook (1903)
Bromage, James Gosling -
Some
Hindrances to heartfelt devotion in public worship
flipbook
(1883)
Lincoln, Ensign -
Aids to
Devotion
flipbook (1844)
Gailor, Thomas Frank (1856-1935) -
A Manual of
Devotion
flipbook (1897)
Goulbourn, Edward Meyrick (181-1897) -
Thoughts on
Personal Religion
flipbook
(1869)
*Grou, Jean Nicolas (1731-1803) -
Characteristics
of True Devotion
flipbook
(1883)
Inge, W. R. -
Personal
Religion and the Life of Devotion
flipbook
(1924)
Law, William - A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.pdf 521K (b) (119 pages).
Law, William - Spirit of Prayer.pdf 337K (b) (204 pages)
Marriott, Charles -
Hints on
Private Devotion
flipbook
(1850)
Meyer, FB - Secret of Guidance.pdf 299K (b) (26 pages). 16 Bibliology
Newcomb, Harvey -
The Closet -
Being an Aid to Private Devotion
flipbook
(1841)
Skinner, Ainsworth Skinner -
Family
Worship Reflections and Prayers
flipbook
(1860)
Tozer - Pursuit of God.pdf 127K (b) (48 pages).
Watts, Isaac -
Aids to
Devotion
flipbook (1831)
Zschokke, Heinrich (1771-1848) -
Hours of Devotion
flipbook
(1835)
"Devotion" comes from the word "devote" or to be "consecrated" which means to be wholly at the disposition of God. There is no other expression more extreme that to be devoted. It is being fully 100% given over. You cannot be more devoted than "devoted".
Devotion speaks of zeal, of disposition, of sacrifice, personal sacrifice, and of a voluntary surrender of one's self in all aspects to God. This is a term which we use to describe the worship and giving over a person does to his god, be that the true God of heaven or the false gods of man's invention, even ambition, fame, and riches take the place of a god here, and we say a person is devoted to his money, to his work, to his goals.
Devotion holds a position of authority and priority in the life that only that object of one's devotion is the singular thing which is absolutely important in the life. He no longer thinks of his own desires and needs but only in the object of his devotion. He thinks of satisfying that thing's demands on his life. A person's object of devotion is something that will be seen as the center of his life, and others can easily see how this object of devotion demands and draws from that person's life because it takes forcibly and the person gives voluntarily his time, energy, attention, love, affection, etc. The devout person is A person devoted to a business has little time for other things. People who are devoted to sports or to a team have little time for anything else. You will see the symbol of the team on his clothes, in his home and car, and the colors of his team everywhere, because devotion demands that it extends to every corner of the life of that person. Some people even put their favorite sports' team logo on their Bible covers.
When we speak of having daily devotions, the correct understanding of this term is a daily rededicating of our life to God. It is both a daily briefing from God on what He wants of us in that day, and it is a reporting in to God of our activities, requests, and desires from God.
What we owe to God; The Right Motives for Being Fully Devoted to God.
God has clearly presented to us the reality of the place of God's wrath, hell. This is what happens to those who die without Christ. To be saved from this fate is the singular motive that should drive us to be totally devoted to Christ.
We owe our existence and the existence of a world that we can peaceably and easily live in to God. Our body, soul, and spirit are all loaned to us by God, and we should never let this become a minor or insignificant point in our understanding.
We may thank God for not sending us to hell, and if annihilation was true (it is not), we would thank God for not sending us to hell and just making us cease to exist instead. But we should be devoted to God because God has not just let us out of hell's punishment, but God has made a wonderful place for us to live for all eternity with Him.
God is a great person. Besides the wonderful things God does for us, God treats us as a friend, as a close brother, as a cherished child. The openness and goodness of God towards us when we are evil, sinful, and rebellious against God's goodness should cause us to seek out God.
We should go beyond the carnality here of "we thank God for what benefits he causes us" to see that beyond that, God is good, and outside of God exists nothing good.
We have a life outside of church and our relation with God. God has seen to it that each person must deal with family, both the family from which he comes, and the family which he forms. Each person must deal with civil and federal law, or in other words government at some level. Everybody must deal with health in some way, such as sickness, nutrition, exercise, and other things related to that. Each person must work and strive to support himself. These things are not evil competitors to God, but they are things which God Himself has established in everybody's life.
Depositing these things into our lives does not mean that they are evil, nor does it mean that we are right in letting these other good and God ordained things that demand our attention and energies to take over the primary place of our life.
The true Christian knows but one singular devotedness, and that is to his Savior and Creator.
When we think of being devoted to God, we must always begin and end with God. How does what we think, do, how we manifest our attitudes, etc. affect God's name and estimation among men? The name and fame of God should dominate our thinking before anything else.
See also 34.11 Sanctification, Holiness, Christlikeness
This high desire for sanctification, holiness, and piety is not self-serving nor selfish. It is recognition and estimation of God's own moral character as being the highest, the best, the most excellent, and as per God's own wishes, we make God's moral character our moral character. This is the essence of sanctification.
Beyond the giving back to God of what God has given us, this enters in the more personal area of our being, how we are, how we act, how we react. This is where many a professing Christian simply gives up because he has no will to change his own life in any way. The carnal man does not even care that he morally displeases God.
There is a self blessing aspect to living morally like God, but the truly spiritual Christian doesn't even think about this aspect, because he is totally consumed with pleasing God. The thing that greatly moves the devote Christian is the simply knowledge that something is displeasing to God. This should be all necessary to stop a displeasing conduct or to begin and maintain a God pleasing conduct.
The devote man seeks holiness, not as a badge of honor to boast of his holiness before others, but to offer it to God as a sacrifice of his own life, pleasing and of pleasant smell before God. He understands that his offering is as much God working within himself as it is a work of himself.
Our happiness as the objection of devotion is an objective which God also is concerned with. God desires that we are happy (in heaven and in God's will) and not unhappy in sin and eventually in hell. The point of our happiness goes hand in hand with the moral appreciation of God's will. In other words, when we give up our own will to do God's will, it is because God's will is better for us (makes us happy and content) than anything else including our own estimation of things. Repentance is basically a giving up of our understanding and goals as being the best to make us happy in order to take on God's will as being infinitely better. Being better must eventually result in more or better happiness for us. Therefore, holiness will logically lead to our happiness, even though in the meantime we may suffer some.
Here is the point of contention for many. The unsaved man insists that he and his own view as to what is good and bad in life, his own estimation of what is desired and rejected, that he is the lord of his life in these matters. He sees alcohol, drugs, and free sex as "good" and "desired", and rejects God's opinion on the matter. This causes his break with God. When we witness to this unsaved man, we show him how his sin causes his condemnation, and only by giving up that sin (repentance) and submitting to God's will can he truly be saved and happy (both here and now, and eternally in heaven instead of hell).
But even for the saved Christian, this same issue comes up in his devotion to God, the lack of it. Failure in fully living and submitting to the issue of "God knows best for my life" is what causes carnal Christians, and many who claim to be saved but are just deceiving themselves.
Here meets our sanctification and our happiness at the feet of God's glory. God understands the Excellency of God's way of doing things, and of God's own will. He understands that only when we submit to that perfect will of God will we be happy and free from the curses of something outside of God's will.
Perhaps one of the best ways to understand true devotion is to put it under a microscope and study it at length.
Grou, Jean Nicolas (1731-1803) - Characteristics of True Devotion flipbook (1883)
The first mark of devotion that we see is that the devout person is one who has an open channel with God through prayer, and greatly esteems this element in his life, protecting it and nurturing it constantly. Christ said, "we ought always to pray, and not to faint" Luke 18:1. The devout Christian is a person who refuses to give up on his prayer life. Someone who refuses to accept mediocrity in his devotional life.
Moreover a devout person does not fight over prayer. Some people fight with praying as though it was a chore or duty that is most disagreeable with them, but they do it anyway. You do not have devotion to God you have the attitude that prayer is painful and repugnant to you, if it costs you great effort to pray. If you find yourself unable to pray without constantly distracting your own self.
The next mark of a devout Christian is that he has found the "fatherhood" of God, and in this, he is constantly attracted to communion and fellowship with his Father. The spirit within a child who loves his father is one which desires constantly to be on his knee talking with him about whatever goes on around them.
True devotion reveals itself as an interior spirit which resides within, but which always forces itself outwardly in the life. So many well-meaning Christians wish to be pious, but they turn to good works instead of loving their Father. Devotion which is seated in the soul will manifest itself in outward works of piety, but outward good works are not necessarily connected to devotion.
Devotion also blocks the exterior detractions from grabbing the soul in its emphasis and concentration. Like a very devout servant who is always attentive to the needs and desires of his master, he will not allow anything distraction his attention to his master. He is always ready and willing, because he disengages himself from anything else that would distract his attention from his master. Moreover he is constantly seeking to learn his master's pleasure in everything. He studies his master's words, tones of voice, his looks, his frowns, his gestures, and the smallest sign of his pleasure or displeasure in any matter. He is an expect on what is the will and displeasure of his master. A devout Christian, then, is a person who God has no problem daily instructing him in the path he will follow.
A true inner spirit of devotion is one in which the person is always attentive and responsive to the speaking of God when He wishes to tell us His will via His word or working through the Holy Spirit on our conscience.
This indescribable spiritual force within us is one which easily moulds and forms godly actions and attitudes as easily as it can stop incorrect ones. The concept of godliness is the outworking of this force of devotion.
Luke 17:21 "the kingdom of God is within you".
So often we are sidetracked very easily by somebody who does something to frustrate, irk, or disturb us. Devotion will allow the person to ignore and not allow distractions to dislodge the heart from God. Devotion keeps the heart on track with God. It is inside us, and it blocks those external outside things which cause sin to enter into our minds and hearts dragging us far from God.
This is the peace that passeth all understanding.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
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