Descriptions of Daily Devotionals
Proverbs
The book of Proverbs has two main sections. Proverbs chapters 1 - 9 introduces the book's purposes and lays out its main aims, exhorting sons to attain wisdom and avoid the enemies of wisdom, chiefly fornication. Chapter 10 begins the section of Proverbs we are most familiar with: the comparisons of the wise man to the fool, usually in two brief, contrasting lines. These are the subject of these devotionals.
The Proverbs devotionals take these proverbs one by one and break them down analytically, then ask how the fear of Jehovah should accordingly be incorporated in our lives today.
Except for the first three devotions, which all concern Proverbs 10:1, each day takes up the next proverb in order over the course of a year. They can be read in order or can be read as separate commentaries on individual verses of Proverbs.
The Proverbs decisively divide mankind into two patterns of living and thinking: dependent on God or independent of Him. We are supposed to discover our weaknesses, turn, and plant ourselves squarely back in God's kingdom.
The Proverbs fill a unique place in Christian thinking and training. They are practical, but they are also amazingly theological. May God grant us increased wisdom as we consider them.
Scripture Meditations
The Scripture meditations are mainly insights and applications of various verses from the book of Psalms. We are commanded to "speak to one another in Psalms ...", Eph 5:19; therefore, the Psalms must be part of our thinking, our Christian 'vocabulary,' if you will. These meditations seek to facilitate that familiarity. They came from a journal kept while meditating on Psalms which had been committed to memory via song (literal settings, not paraphrases).
Many of these are connected, but each of them is written so it can serve as a profitable Scriptural insight for any given day.
There is no other command like Ephesians 5:19, necessitating the memorization of a whole book of the Bible. Other generations of Christians have done admirably on this count, while we have failed to even hear the command! May God grant the book of Psalms to His people once again!
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is the name given to the prayer that Jesus, on two different occasions, taught his disciples to pray. This year's worth of devotions is an attempt to come to grips with that teaching.
The Lord's Prayer, or Model Prayer, is perhaps the single most important instruction in God's Word, in that it gives us at one sitting the entire panorama of God's view of the world: what He is doing, what our part in this should be, how we relate to Him in it. God gives us summary lessons only a few places in Scriptures. This is probably the most important one, besides being a direct HOW-TO instruction on prayer.
After an introduction to the Prayer is given over the course of the first two or three weeks, the devotions fall into a rotating weekly pattern. Day 1 always gives a general instruction from Scripture concerning prayer. Days 2 - 7 then consider in order the six requests Jesus teaches us to pray. Hence, Devotion 2 will always explain "Hallowed be Your Name." Devotion 3 each week exposits "May Your Kingdom come." This continues sequentially through Devotion 7 which always delves into "Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
The next week, Devotion 1 starts over with a general lesson on prayer. Devotion 2 continues to explain "Hallowed by Your Name." And so on it goes through Devotion 7, "Do not lead us ..." Then repeat the cycle.
There is a definite building to the teaching, beginning from more foundational concepts. However, knowledge from the previous week's devotion is not absolutely assumed to appreciate any one devotion. Most devotions begin with a review paragraph.