Morning Habit

This is actually about morning devotionals. But the goal is to encourage a daily habit of study. Cute, right?!

Continuing with my teaching class on the effective self-regulated learner, I’m giving a couple of tools that have helped me for daily Bible study. I find it easiest to get up in the morning, (reach for my glasses,) pick up my Bible, and read the devotional for the day along with some Scripture. It’s a great way to start your day because it requires some planning ahead of time to get up a little earlier and have everything else in order, and it puts you in the proper mindset (you really aren’t that self-focused after you’ve spent some time with God).  

My recommendations:

• “Called & Accountable” by Henry and Norman Blackaby is a 52-week devotional that’s good if you have another Bible reading plan in between the days. The subject as the rest of the title states is, “Discovering your place in God’s eternal purpose.” Who wouldn’t want that?
• Our Daily Bread Daily devotionals from RBC Ministries 
• “Mealtime Habits of the Messiah” by Conrad Gempf - Not a devotional, but with 40 sections on the encounters with Jesus in the Bible, it makes for a great quick morning study
• For a more comprehensive study, Discipleship Journal magazine has provided their bi-monthly ‘Easy-to-fill-out-Bible-studies’ online for you to print out and use: http://www.navpress.com/Magazines/DiscipleshipJournal/BibleStudyResources/.
• For Bible reading, Discipleship Journal also has a reading plan for the New Testament called 5×5x5. Feel free to print it out. (It stands for 5 minutes a day, 5 days a week, with 5 ways to dig deeper.)

Suggested reading for spiritual discipline: “The Best Question Ever” by Andy Stanley - check out parts of it at Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Best-Question-Ever-Andy-Stanley/dp/1590523903 - and no, you won’t find out the question unless you read it  =)

Please comment on other devotionals you recommend!