The History of the Daily Devotions

 The History of Daily Devotions

In 1995, Sue and I began using The Moravian Daily Text as a basis for our family devotions. The Moravians prayerfully chose two scriptures for each day for their missionaries and added a brief prayer. We added TRIP (Thanks / Repent / Intercession / Plan) to our devotional routine. {More on TRIP later.}

 

In 1999, I began writing a couple of sentences about the assigned scriptures for each day in The Moravian Daily Text as a forty-day Lenten discipline. I shared these with some members of my congregation in Springfield, Missouri, and a few friends via email. With the permission of the Moravian publishers, I reprinted the scripture texts and prayers from the Daily Text.

 

Some of my friends responded by asking me to write a bit more. I began writing “Thoughts to Ponder” during the remainder of that year and into 2000. The number of people requesting email copies began to grow exponentially. In June of 2000, we moved back to Nebraska (Albion), and the requests continued to increase. What was supposed to be a 40-day Lenten discipline became a true Daily discipline. 

 

In 2009, I was planning my retirement the following year and decided to stop writing. Several people encouraged me to start recycling the old Daily Devotions, so in 2010, I began editing and often totally rewriting the Thoughts to Ponder from 2000. I tried to start with 1999, but those were incomplete because I didn’t start until Lent. That meant I had no assigned scriptures from The Moravian Daily Text for three months. In addition, my Thoughts to Ponder didn’t appear until late in the year, and there wasn’t much to them. Even those from 2000 took major overhauls. It was more work than starting from scratch. 

 

So, that is how Daily Devotions evolved. I have noticed an improvement in my writing over those years. However, this year will be the last year as I pursue other projects. Thank you to all those who have encouraged me through the years.

 

T.R.I.P. – a devotional practice: Take some prayerful time to jot down a few words about the following topics. Then share them with a marriage, friendship, or prayer partner.

THANKS: What are you thankful for in the past 24 – 48 hours?

REPENT: What do you regret or are you sorry for?

INTERCESSION: Who or what do you want to pray for?

PLAN: What is your plan for today/tomorrow?

 

Pastor Larry Sydow