Creating devotions for your readers entail searching and revealing your own heart. Your struggles and failures can encourage others to hold on a little longer and trust in God. If you want to know how to write devotionals that speak to others, keep reading.
Read
Read the opening scripture from your own Bible. Meditate on it and listen to it as you speak it out loud. Pray over the scripture and ask God what He has for you today. Listen for any thoughts you might hear Him say.
Read the scripture in other translations to find hidden meanings in the words. Consider how each phrase is different until a more detailed picture is revealed to you.
Commentary
Try a word study of the scripture. What key words are used in this scripture? Then search using an online Bible or app to find other scriptures with similar words. See if there are connecting verses which will broaden your devotional.
If you read commentary written by others, study them so you can glean an idea to write in your own words. Use a story from your own life to illustrate the scripture and the meaning. What can you share to help someone understand God’s love in this verse?
Prayer
Prayer is personal from you to God. Speak from your own heart and your own desires. Ask God to reveal the truths in this verse to the reader. Show them God’s love and His peace.
Your prayer should reach the heart of God and bring the reader close to His heart. They should feel they are in the presence of God. Pray until you feel God’s presence. Then write the prayer.
Learn how to write devotionals
(My grandmother, Anna Daisy Siemens, wrote poetry and prose. She wrote devotions published in the Devotions for the Deaf in 1994. I’ve included her suggestions for writing devotions.)
