God reveals everything we need to know about Himself in the Bible. Therefore, reading the Bible brings a deeper knowledge of God and how your life fits into His plan. These “devotionals” often involve reading a Bible passage and reflecting on it. For example, Our Daily Bread (odb.org) publishes several online and printed studies that take a short passage of Scripture and unpack its theme.
There are many ways to do devotionals however here are some tips to go deeper. Remember, your aim is to know God in a richer way.
SOAP it up!
SOAP is an acronym which stands for 'Scripture', 'Observation', 'Application' and 'Prayer'. If you are looking for a template to help structure your Bible devotional time, then SOAP is a good start. Remember, the aim is to get you to go deeper than simply reading a Bible passage. You want to explore it and extract the rich meaning that God has in that passage. You will need a notebook or online tool to record the following: