It is no secret that we live busy lives. Time management is perhaps one of the most under developed skills in our society. Yet, with all of the demands on our time, it is one of the most important skills that we can develop. Something is always begging for your attention, the family, friends, the latest post on social media, company projects with fast approaching deadlines, and school book reports that should have been completed yesterday. All of these things make it simple to put aside our devotion time, which is the most important part of our day. It is the one thing that restores sanity to our insane lives. So, in this article, I am going to give you 7 tips to help you manage your devotion time.

1. Locate Down Time – One of the best ways to schedule your devotion time in the busy world we live in is to locate the down time that you already have. For example, if you have 15 minute commute to and from work, this can equal 30 minutes of prayer time a day. Or if you use public transit or carpool, it could equate to 15 minutes of prayer and 15 minutes of Bible reading. And as I recently wrote, you can read the entire Bible in less than 15 minutes!

2. Carve Out Time – With anything in our lives, we find time for what is important to us. This is the same with our devotion time. If it is really important to us, we will find the time no matter how busy we are. Think about it for a minute: when someone meets a person they are romantically attracted to, they find time to call them, text them, and hang out no matter how busy their lives are. Why? Because that person is important to us and we realize that the time used to cultivate that relationship is an investment. The same is true for our relationship with God and developing our relationship with Him.

3. Make It A Routine – We all have a routine. We get up in the morning. Take a shower. Have some coffee. Eat breakfast. Get dressed. Day after day, we do the same things, though sometimes in a different order. And at night we have our nightly routine as well. Brush teeth. Wash face. Make sure the doors are locked. Put on pajamas. Fluff pillows. These are all things that we do daily without having to remind ourselves. Okay, so sometimes you lie in bed at night and wonder if you remembered to lock the door, but you get the point. The point is we need to make our devotion time a part of that routine. It needs to become a habit. This could be saying a simple prayer each morning when you wake up, thanking God for another day or reading a few Psalms before bed at night. This is a great way to start and end your day!

4. Plan Ahead – Devotion time requires some planning. It is not enough to know that you need to pray and read your Bible, but you need to know what to pray about and what you’re going to read. You don’t want to waste the time you do have to read the Bible on trying to decide what to read. Have a plan in place and be organized. If you need help finding direction as to what to read, check out one of our Bible reading plans.

5. Don’t Do It Alone – Devotion time can be very personal and intimate, but it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes things to do are more fun with a friend. That is why so many people try to find a friend to go to the gym with. It’s just more fun and helps the time go by faster. It’s much more fun to have someone that you can discuss your Bible reading with because they are doing the same reading plan you are. Having someone to go over memory verses with also makes the whole process easier. So try finding a devotion buddy!

6. Accountability Is Key – Accountability is a sure way to stay on track. I often recommend that people find an accountability partner. This is just someone to check in with you to see how your devotion time is going. It’s great to have someone in your life to ask you if you’ve been praying or reading your Bible every day. It can be a quick text message, a phone call, or a chat over coffee. But having an accountability partner helps you stay on track, and it helps you realize that you are not on this spiritual journey alone.

7. Be Flexible – Have you ever been running late, finally get in the car, and then realize you need gas? What do you do? Well, obviously you have to get gas. Sure you’ll be a few more minutes late, but if you don’t you’ll be sitting on the side of the road and never make your destination. In life, you have to be flexible. The same is true with your devotion time. Stuff comes up, stuff happens, stuff disrupts our day. Sometimes you simply have to make adjustments in order to take care of the things that are important. Besides, you don’t want to be on empty spiritually, do you?

With any list of tips we run the habit of trying to incorporate all of them at one time and often fail. I suggest, finding one or two that you can start doing right now and do them for a week. Meanwhile, begin thinking about how these other tips can be incorporated into your life. Before long you will discover that finding the time for your daily devotions isn’t as hard as you once thought.