A few weeks ago, two different friends asked me what I do for my devotional time. Reading the Bible and praying is also known as quiet time, QT, devos, and who knows how many other names.

I felt a little awkward as I shared, because I certainly don’t hold myself up as a perfect example of what a quiet time should look like. And I felt I needed to share how and why I got to the practices I use now. One of my themes is that there is not one right devotional routine.

Still, I remember as a young Christian, it helped to have some practical advice rather than a general admonition to read my Bible.

After communicating with these friends, I began to think about sharing what I told them in a blog post. Instead, I decided to share some general devotional principles I’ve learned along the way.

Read with a plan. God can speak to us when we open the Bible at random. But, generally, we get more from a passage when we read it in context. I’m a big proponent of reading through a book of the Bible at a time. We wouldn’t read line two of paragraph one of a friend’s letter one day, then line four from paragraph five the next. We’d read the whole thing, then probably go back and reread certain parts.

I was also taught early on to read the whole Bible. God says it is all inspired by Him, so we should read it all. If we just floated in and out of our favorite passages, we’d miss some buried nuggets in unexpected places. Plus, some parts of the Bible help us understand other parts.

When I first became a Christian as a teenager, my church advocated reading the Bible through in a year. I am so thankful for that, both because I needed the structure and because that practice grounded me spiritually more than anything else.

But I found that I didn’t have time to stop and ponder what I was reading because then I’d get behind on my schedule. And once I fell behind, it was very hard to catch up.

There are multiple Bible reading plans on the Internet and in various Bible apps (a good variety is here). There are plans to read the Bible in 90 days, a year, or two, or five. Some plans incorporate readings from various parts of the Bible; some focus on a book at the time. Some plans go straight through from Genesis to Revelation (as I did for years). Others go back and forth between the Old and New Testaments (as I do now). The key is to find one that works for you. However, you’re not tied to that plan for the rest of your life–you can try different things.

Sometimes you’ll read a longer passage as an overview: other times you’ll study a smaller passage more in depth. I share ways to do both here: Ways to Both Read and Study the Bible.

If a certain verse or phrase or principle in a Bible passage piques our interest, it’s perfectly acceptable to stop and investigate it more fully. Or, alternatively, we could make a note of that verse or thought and come back to it later..

Read purposefully, not passively. One problem with using any kind of plan to read the Bible is that we can fall into a “getting the assignment done” mentality. We work through our routine and then check “Bible reading” off for the day.

But what is our purpose for reading the Bible? To get to know our God better and learn how He wants us to live.

When I first started reading the Bible, I was advised to underline promises with blue, warnings with red, commands with black, and salvation verses with yellow. That was helpful as far as it went. But that focus might cause us to miss the overall theme of a passage.

One of my pastors used to say the Bible is “divinely brief.” The Bible says God’s thoughts are more than the sand. Of all the multitudes of things God could have shared with us, He chose what is in the Bible. So everything there has a purpose.

As we read a passage, we can ask a number of questions. Who is saying what to whom? What is the line of thought developed in the passage? What does this teach me about God? Is the passage prescriptive, telling me something to do, like forgive others, don’t lie, etc.? Or is it descriptive, telling me what people did that I am supposed to learn from but not copy, like polygamy in the OT? What words are repeated? What are connecting words connecting?

Read prayerfully. The psalmist prayed, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Jesus opened people’s minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). We can’t understand the Bible in our own human reasoning. We need God to unfold it for us.

We often think of prayer as a separate part of devotions, before or after Bible reading. But we can pray while we read. When we come across verses of praise, we can express them to God right then. When we’re convicted by what we’re reading, we can confess that to God immediately, ask His forgiveness and His help to change.

Read thoughtfully. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7). God told Joshua to meditate on His law day and night (Joshua 1:8), and we’re told the righteous person does just that (Psalm 1:2).

Biblical meditation isn’t emptying the mind: it’s turning the passage over in our thoughts, looking at it from all angles.

Sometimes part of our devotional routine might be staring out the window, thinking.

Read with aids. A good study Bible made a great difference in my understanding, giving background information, the meaning of the original Greek or Hebrew words, the different interpretations of a passage. Trusted study aids like Warren Wiesrbe’s With the Word or “Be” series are helpful. I’ve also used some of the Good Book Company’s “For You” books: Isaiah for You, etc. I’ve just started one of Charles Swindoll’s Insights series on books of the Bible. There are multitudes of Bible study aids and commentaries: perhaps ask your pastor or a good friend for recommendations.

Studying the Bible with a friend or group can be helpful, too. Discussing what we’ve read helps reinforce it. Often, someone will bring out a point we missed.

Read obediently. God tells us not just to hear but to do His Word (James 1:22). After (or sometimes during) reading the Bible, we need to ask what our response should be. Sometimes we need a definite outward response: we may need to apologize to someone, change our viewing habits, stop wasting money on certain purchases, etc. But sometimes the response is inward: I need God’s grace to respond to that person with love rather than irritation; I need to change my attitude toward a job I’m not looking forward to; I need to be grateful rather than complaining.

Remember there is no perfect plan. No matter what routine we use, there will be days we wrestle with sleepiness, distractions, or boredom. We have to battle our flesh as well as the enemy of our souls who would like to keep us from God’s Word.

Every time in the Word will not give us blinding flashes of insight. Every time in the Bible will not leave us feeling warm and cozy. Sometimes God will speak to a specific need or answer a particular question for us from His Word. But most often, it’s the daily intake of spiritual food that nourishes us and sustains us. It’s like physical food. Some meals are a Thanksgiving feast. Others are less memorable, but even the tuna casserole and peanut butter sandwiches nourish us.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in our devotional routines that we forget why we’re actually having them. We feel good when we’ve accomplished everything on our list and vaguely uneasy when we haven’t. But the point of a devotional time isn’t just to work through a routine: it’s to meet with God. That can happen over one verse or thirty if we have a heart that wants to meet with and get to know our God better.

There’s so much more that could be said–in fact, the book I am *trying* to make time to write is on this very subject.

If you’d like a peek into what some other women do for their devotional time, Christa Threllfall did a series of interviews on that topic here.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)