Resources for Daily Personal Devotions

Prayer and Bible reading are core to our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. They are the basis for our daily appointment with God, a time when he reveals himself to us and when we learn to be like him. It matters little what plan we use; it matters that we keep this appointment.

At the beginning of every year, people decide on a new Bible reading plan for the coming year. There are many kinds: plans the allow you to read the Bible through in a year, like the One-Year Bible; reading plans from Discipleship Journal (available from COA as “The Bible—A Book at a Time”) or Back to the Bible; printed plans from great ministries like the American Bible Society. Some people subscribe to material from Scripture Union or Forward Movement. Others focus on the New Testament or the Old Testament only. And many of us simply use the readings of the Daily Office listed in our guide or the Book of Common Prayer.

Our next Daily Personal Devotions guide will cover the Season after Easter. This guide still offers all the prayers and worship of the Morning Office. But there’s one big difference: you may use whatever Bible reading plan you want! You can use the Daily Personal Devotion guide just as always, but when it’s time to read the Scripture for the day, simply substitute the Bible reading plan of your choice, whatever that may be. This gives you the best of all worlds: the sweet time of prayer and worship from Morning Prayer and the Bible reading plan that you enjoy the most.

These printed resources are available in the lobby at COA

• Daily Personal Devotions: for the Season After Easter
• “The Bible—A Book at a Time” (a plan for reading the entire Bible in one year)
• “The Bible in Chronological Order” (a plan for reading the entire Bible in one year)
• “The Old Testament Challenge” (40 weeks)
• “Through the New Testament in under 90 Days”

Here are other resources that may enhance your quiet time

Online Resources

• The Daily Office (or click this link for the latest full text for Morning or Evening Prayer; it picks the appropriate service for the time of day you click. If you have a high-speed connection to the Internet, you may find it helpful to make this link your home page so you are reminded to pray when you start your computer.)
• Daily Lectionary Readings in the ESV translation (includes optional audio)
• Scripture Union
• Forward Movement
• Back to the Bible

One Year Bibles

• One-Year Chronological Bible, NIV, softcover, Tyndale House, 1995 [order from CBD | Amazon]
• One-Year Bible, NIV, softcover, Tyndale House, 1986 [order from CBD | Amazon]
• The One-Year Chronological Bible, NLT, Softcover, Tyndale House, 2000 [order from CBD | Amazon]

For Soaking Prayer

• Instrumental Worship I, Compact Disc, Terry MacAlmon, Integrity Music, 1999 [order from CBD | Amazon]
• Instrumental Worship II, Compact Disc, Terry MacAlmon, Integrity Music, 1999 [order from CBD | Amazon]

Quiet Time Resources

• Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence, Ruth Haley Barton, Intervarsity Press, 2004 [order from CBD | Amazon]
• The Quiet Time Companion, Ro Willoughby, Intervarsity Press, 1999 [order from CBD | Amazon]

Daily Reflections

• My Utmost for His Highest, Updated Edition, Oswald Chambers, edited by James Reimann, Discovery House Publishers, 2003 [order from CBD | Amazon]
• A Year with C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works, Patricia Klein, ed., HarperCollins Publishing, 2003 [order from CBD | Amazon]
• Hearing God Through the Year, Dallas Willard, Intervarsity Press, 2004 [order from CBD | Amazon]
• One Year Book of Praying Through the Bible, Cheri Fuller, Tyndale House, 2003 [order from CBD | Amazon]