Day 66 - how do you do devos?

I "talked" to a good friend of mine on msn today. He asked me how my devotions were going. I said they were going great! He then went on to ask me which devo book I was using. I told him I wasn't using any, not since I finished my last one in January. I got the impression from him that without a devo book, I'm not really doing devos. Hmmm. I don't know about that.

To me, devotion time is the time that I spend devoted to God, every day. To spend time with him in reflection, in prayer, in words. Some people call it 'quiet time'. I don't think there are specific things that I have to do during my devo time. I don't have to follow certain material, right? Do devos have to be structured? Devotions has become such a loaded word these days.

I know that I spend each day with God by reflecting on the blessings he's given me each day. Every night before I go to sleep, I write in my journal. I write down the day's events, I write down all the thoughts that have been going through my mind and any prayer requests that I have. Many times, as I'm writing, I sense God speaking and revealing his own thoughts to me. I've learned so much about myself and God's will for me just by writing each day. Sometime, I would read something in the Bible and I'd reflect on that. This is the way that I spend time with God. This is my devotion. I've been more committed to writing in my journal every day than I have following devotional books.

Tell me if I'm wrong because if I am, then the first thing I'll do is go get a devo book but I think that devotional books simply give you ideas to ponder on. They let you evaluate your relationship with God by asking you questions and giving you examples of other people's lessons. Well, my mind is filled with enough ideas to keep me thinking and reflecting for a life time. I'm constantly reflecting on my life, where I am, where I've come from and where God wants me to go. Devotional books have never really worked for me. I've used them before but they were just things that I made myself do each day and it always seemed like a routine. If I miss a day, I feel bad. If the day's topic doesn't relate to me then I don't know how to reflect and learn from it. When I write in my journal, sometimes I get a thought that keeps me writing and writing for pages and sometimes I don't. But I still write down everything that happened to me so I can recall all the little things God did for me which I might have missed at the time.

I dunno... I look around Christian book stores and I see hundreds of devotional material. Is it important to have a guide when doing devotions? They just don't work for me. Maybe it's because I've never been committed enough to follow through with them and really try to learn from them. I guess some people need a guide to help them and some don't.