I've been wondering about how to improve my morning devotional time. Lately it's been kind of drifty and unfocused. My mind wanders. And my prayers generally lack fervency. I've noticed that the quality of my devotional life seems to rise and fall like the tide. Sometimes I just need to kick-start it by making a change in the pattern; breaking the mold.

Here's what I think I'm going to do. I'm going to sit down with my journal and make note of my God-sightings from the previous day. This is a practice I learned from Mark Fee, a Vineyard pastor. Bring to mind the times in the previous day in which you can see the evidence of God's hand at work in your life, either in the words or actions of others, providential circumstances, outright miracles, whatever. I used to do this regularly and found it quite helpful, but somehow drifted out of the habit. Bad on me.

After making written note of my God-sightings, I'm going to do the same for the things I need to confess. Again, scrolling back through the day and making deliberate note of them, and then asking forgiveness. This kind of practice will, I think, sharpen my spiritual senses as I go through the day. Also, writing them down will help me to focus on spiritual things, Kingdom matters, and kick-start my prayer time with praise and thanksgiving.

Anyway, that's the plan. I'd like to hear from you, my myriad readers, as to other ideas for energizing your devotional life. Write to me here, and I'll share the best ones in a future post.