The elements of creating an effective Christian devotional that showcases your faith
Christians all around the world use devotionals to strengthen their relationship with God. A devotional is a book that guides faithful Christians in daily prayer or meditation. Often, a successful devotional features passages from Scripture, contemplative quotes, or other thought-provoking passages to inspire introspection.
Devotionals are never one-size-fits-all. Each author has their unique perspective and expression of their faith they imbue into their work. Since devotionals lead readers on a daily spiritual journey, authors have a lot of room to make their mark. This guide will help you jumpstart the writing process for your own successful devotional.
Write to a specific audience
The first step in writing your own devotional is deciding on a target audience. Devotionals are for readers of all ages looking to build their relationship with God. The audience you are writing for affects what themes or passages you decide to include.
Children’s devotionals can be shorter, feature illustrations, and feature less complicated quotes and passages. As you increase the age range of your target audience, the themes you cover can mature and evolve. However, readers of any age can read most devotionals to strengthen their faith.
The themes you feature in your devotional can include relationship growth, grief, parenthood, healthcare, and general ease of mind. Some devotionals can cover multiple themes, while others can be about a singular topic. Let your relationship with God guide your writing process.
Make entries short and sweet
Devotionals are different from standard books because they are not separated into chapters — instead, entries are divided into days. Readers should read one entry a day to guide their spiritual journey. Therefore, the individual entries should be relatively limited in length and targeted for a specific train of thought for the day. The only requirement is that the entries are thought-provoking and inspire faithful contemplation.
Devotionals can vary greatly in length, based on the author’s intention. Some devotionals are intended for short-term use, only a handful of months. Others can be for a full year of spirituality. The length of your devotional is up to you and the journey you are leading.
Choosing the right passage or piece of Scripture
The crux of your devotional is the piece of writing that spurns the reader’s thoughtfulness. When choosing a Bible quote to include, you can go in any direction you see fit. In a general devotional, it is always a safe bet to go with your favorite passages or those that offer a specific type of guidance. The Bible is full of inspirational quotes and compelling passages, so it will be hard to go wrong with nearly any section you choose.
Instead of a passage from Scripture, you can include a quote from a person, a prayer, guided meditation, or a personal anecdote. When choosing what is going to lead a given day’s entry, consider what the reader will take from the material. Anything that will increase the reader’s understanding of their faith is appropriate for your devotional.
Infuse your own humor and personality
Just because your devotional will largely consist of quotes and more insightful material, you could still inject your personality and humor. Doing so will make your devotional stand out from others and give the reader an insight into your life and story with God. Readers can see different representations of faith to strengthen their own. Humor, in particular, can be a powerful tool to connect with many readers. Depending on the intended audience, humor can also be a strong entry point into reading more about Christianity.
At the end of the day, you are writing a devotional to use your relationship with God to help others along their spiritual journey. Everyone’s journey with the Lord is unique, and writing your own devotional will add a new entry to the ever-growing Christian book industry.
