Having A Devotion by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Daily devotion is a deliberate, consistent time set apart each day for fellowship with God through prayer, His word, and worship. Think of it less as a duty and more as an appointment to genuinely talk with your Father, not simply talk at Him.

Three Postures for Approaching Devotion

1. Wonder

   Isaiah 40:12

   Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens with a span. The sun alone could hold over a million earths inside it, and it is a small star. There are said to be more stars in the sky than grains of sand on every beach on earth, and Psalm 147:4 says He counts them all and calls each one by name. 1 Kings 8:27 records Solomon confessing that heaven itself cannot contain God, yet that same God upholds all things by the word of His power and lives inside the person who belongs to Him. The God who holds the oceans in His hands has an appointment with you tomorrow morning, and He is not too busy to keep it. Devotion is not squeezing God into a schedule; it is the Almighty stooping down into an ordinary morning. What was given at the cross was not caught God by surprise; He knew and considered the person on the other side of it worth it.

2. Sincerity

   John 4:24

   God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. Come as you actually are, not performing a religious version of yourself. Cast your cares on Him, because He genuinely cares for you. You cannot lie to God, so there is no benefit pretending in prayer to feel things that are not true. Even telling Him plainly, "I am struggling to pray right now," is itself a form of prayer, communication rather than performance.

3. Surrender

   Luke 10:39-42

   Mary sat at Jesus' feet and listened, while Martha grew distracted and resentful with serving. Jesus told Martha she was worried and troubled about many things, and that Mary had chosen the one needful thing. See devotion as a time to receive, not a time to perform or give. Busyness, even busyness inside church activity, is sometimes just noise used to drown out an unquiet heart rather than genuine service. God is the giver in this relationship; the only real task on the other side is to receive.

Three C's for Building the Habit

1. Consistency

   Structure exists to support a lifestyle, not imprison it. A devotion plan copied from someone else's schedule, a quiet two-hour morning with candles and coffee, rarely survives contact with a twelve-hour shift or a newborn. Build a structure around your actual current life instead. Prioritize consistency over intensity: thirty minutes prayed faithfully every week for years outperforms an ambitious ten-hour session that collapses after a month. Set a small, doable commitment first, and treat anything beyond it as a bonus, rather than starting too big and crashing entirely.

2. Clarity

   Vague intentions rarely survive. Define three specifics: the action ("I will read two chapters," not "I will read my Bible"), the time (a fixed slot, or something anchored to an existing routine like a work break or right after putting children to bed), and the location (a car, a couch, wherever is actually accessible). Put together: "I will read a chapter of the Bible during my break, in my car."

3. Convenience

   When a day is missed, guilt is not the answer, habit stacking is. Attach the new habit to something already done automatically every day: praying and listening to an audio Bible during a regular commute, two minutes of intercession the moment feet hit the floor in the morning, a physical Bible placed on top of a phone at the bedside so the hand reaches it first. A nine-to-five job is not a disqualifier from serious devotion, Jesus spent roughly the same span of years as a carpenter before ministry began, and Luke, Paul, and Peter all worked ordinary trades. A pastor's stated hours of prayer are part of their actual job; they are not a fair standard to measure everyone else's devotion against.

What It Can Actually Look Like

Put the phone away first, even where it might otherwise be used for music, since it remains the single greatest distraction available. Ask the Holy Spirit for help before starting, rather than relying purely on willpower. Begin by magnifying God in words, not as empty protocol, but as a way of bringing the mind into genuine awareness of who is actually being addressed. Then give thanks specifically, for life, family, and what has already been provided. Keeping a written record of what has been asked for, and marking it when it is answered, is what makes it possible to actually see what God has done rather than losing track of it entirely.