If you are like me then you might have one or more devotional studies that you are participating in right now. In my experience these tend to be daily, topical studies that take a verse of scripture and expound upon it, bringing to light some deeper truths of the scriptures.
These studies can be very helpful and they certainly have a place in the growing believer’s regular time of study and prayer. They emphasize brevity (usually a couple hundred words or the equivalent of a single page) and breadth, attempting to cover as wide a base as possible in terms of topics and verses. The verse or small group of verses is given and what follows is the explanation meaning the ratio of God’s words to human words in these tends to be heavily weighted towards the human side.
That has a very important place in our growth but what they don’t do and what they should not do is replace the reading and studying of God’s word directly. We need one on one contact and “eyes to page” time with our Bibles every single day. We need to be reading them in person, praying over them and committing scriptures to memory. And the more mature we become as Christians the more important this is to our continued growth. We need the life-giving meat of God’s word much more than we need anything else.
This was very clearly shown to me recently as my study time had been taken up by a couple of devotional books that, as good as they were, they were not filling me the way that I wanted and needed to be filled. It was only after I decided that I would spend the majority of my study time in my Bible and, if I had any time remaining, then perhaps make use of a devotional that I once again felt filled and renewed in my mind and in my spirit.
As God’s dearly beloved children who are still living on this fallen earth there is no substitute and no greater force than his precious word. Not only can we not grow without it we also can’t be the preachers, teachers, prayer warriors, servants, family members, spouses and friends that He wants us to be. Make it your priority. Read the Word.