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Start with the dots God gives you. When you get a “green light” idea, just jump into the circle. And keep writing until you’ve made it all the way around.
Sometimes an observation will connect immediately with a biblical insight. But more often than not, I have to think about what I’ve observed and ask God to help me make the connection. The process drives me to the Word and to my knees in order to zero in on a biblical principle.
Devotional ideas that are authentic — that show how YOU made the connection to God’s truths — are the ones that stick.
“Speak, Lord. I’m listening. What do you want me to see? ” Ask this one question. Do your part to observe and to capture your thoughts. God will help you connect the dots.
“Is God knocking at my heart right now? Is He asking me to listen so I can hear Him speak, even if it is in a way I have not heard Him before?”
A devotional sticks when it grabs a reader’s attention.
Indeed, when you are a stickable writer, you will grow, too (as we discussed in the last chapter), because sticky devotionals grow out of your growth. In fact, I’d argue that if you don’t grow as a result of writing devotionals, then perhaps you can become more stickable.
you cannot control a reader’s heart, making it more pliable and open to truth. You can pray for that to be the case, but cultivating a receptive heart is the job of the Holy Spirit and the choices made by the reader.
When it comes to the need for brevity, today’s readers are not too different from the people in Habakkuk’s time.
Christ-followers know they need time with God and His Word.
They want to fit in more time with God. And they need a way to do it.
Devotionals are brief. You can read one in five minutes or less. A devotional wraps scripture, content, and a takeaway in a package that the time-deprived can use during their busy days.
It’s understandable that our leaders want more for their people than simplistic platitudes in a short reading. But what about when a short piece introduces a biblical principle in a unique way … when the piece challenges the reader to face a hard truth … or even when the piece simply gives the reader pause to ask God for insight?
I’m not suggesting that a brief, 250-word devotional can take the place of an in-depth Bible study or daily personal time with God. But the beauty of a well-written devotional is its concise nature. Ultimately, God can use anything to reach us and grow us.
Your job as a devotional writer is to communicate a biblical principle with brevity so that it sticks.
The need for intentional inspiration is not only a response reaction to circumstances around us, but it is also a biological reality.
Negativity bias is the unconscious, default setting in your brain that serves as a warning system, wiring you to accept negative input much more readily than positive input.
Two-thirds of the amygdala’s neurons are dedicated to searching for negative experiences. Meanwhile, it takes five to twenty seconds for positive input to even register in your brain, and it must be held there for more than 12 seconds in order to transfer from short-term memory to long-term memory.
every reader needs purposeful, authentic inspiration.
Even Christians who have been living a life of faith for years need regular doses of inspiration.
Inspiration = Truth + Hope + Motivation
your readers need the different kinds of inspiration that devotionals offer. Inspiration prompts the reader to own the truth for herself. And who doesn’t need that?
Today’s readers are do-ers. They are busy, involved, and on-the-go. They want to put God’s principles into action.
It takes some research to understand your audience so you can write to them in a relevant way, but it’s not hard.
Create a Target Reader Profile
Use the checklist in Appendix B to help you create a reader profile. Then write to that reader.
Note that just because you write to a specific audience, you are not excluding others. People who do not fit your target profile will read your devotional and benefit from it. Great!
Bottom line: your reader needs content that is relevant to her — or at least content presented in a way that is relevant to her station in life.
Devotionals that are short, inspiring, and relevant — these are the kinds of devotionals that get your reader’s attention.
These days it’s not uncommon to feel you are drowning in information, whether it’s coming from the web, text, social media, television, radio, other traditional media, or even conversation.
our isolation is rooted in the absence of community.
In order to connect with his audience, Habakkuk used the means at his disposal. You can follow his lead.
Where are your readers reading?
Once you know the different channels where your readers find content, you can consider and choose which ones will reach your target audience the best. Then you follow the trail to place your devotionals in those channels.
While other writing projects like articles or books take on a different form if they are destined for print versus online versus in person, a devotional’s format stays largely the same regardless of the media in which it is produced. That means devos can be presented in more than one channel, largely as is.
There are two elements to consider: Media: the channels in which devotionals are published Publisher: the person or team that does the publishing
Digital publications allow you to publish devotionals and devotional collections suitable to be read digitally. While online publications “live” online, digital publications are individually downloaded and stored on the consumer’s device. Younger readers prefer this format (along with online formats). Many publishing houses include digital publication rights as part of a publication contract.
Right now, all you need to do is take one step in that process. That step is this: know where your readers are reading. That way, you can write your devotional to that audience, in a format that best reaches them.
It is about them. Make your devotional plain and easy for them to find … so that he may run who reads it.
a scripture, an illustration, and a takeaway.
Each of the three elements has a special function. The scripture This short passage from the Bible forms the basis for the devotional and communicates a principle that is reinforced elsewhere in scripture, too. The illustration Sometimes called the body, the narrative, or even the “devotional” itself, this section explains the principle from the scripture by connecting it to an authentic life situation. The takeaway This part of the devotional, sometimes referred to as the “application,” gives the reader a thought to ponder, a prayer to pray, or an action step to take in order to apply the
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When a short devotional presents truth clearly, it sticks.
What better way to structure teaching than to present the principle, an example of how it has been lived out, and then a way to apply it? The order simply makes sense.
formulas have been around for so long because they work.
three qualities of sticky content: it is to be simple, authentic, and memorable.
They are easy to remember by following a simple acronym: S-A-M. S: Simple Habakkuk was to write plainly. His content was to be simple and to the point — not verbose and complex. A: Authentic Habakkuk was to write “the vision” — divine revelation. He was to share the truth God gave him, not his own agenda. In other words, the content was to be authentic rather than sugar-coated; truthful rather than dishonest; deep rather than superficial. M: Memorable Habakkuk was to write the vision so that readers could use it. The content was to be memorable so as to be practical.
S-A-M: Simple, Authentic, Memorable
And “simple” is not the same as “simplistic.” You can write about a complex principle in a simple way that is concise and to the point.
The One Point Rule is simply this: Focus the content of the devo on just one nugget of truth.
readers read devotionals because they are simple.
