A daily devotional is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

religious publication that provide a specific spiritual reading for each calendar day. Many daily devotionals take the form of one year devotional books, with many being tailored specifically for children, teenagers, students, men and women. Examples of daily devotional booklets include ''Beside The Still Waters'', ''

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'', '' Our Daily Bread'', and ''The Word Among Us''. Traditionally daily devotionals came in the format of a book, with one reading passage for each day, and often a reflection and

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

related to the Scripture lesson. With the advent of online content, daily devotionals come in multiple formats including apps, blogs, websites, and emails. There continues to be a multitude of devotional books and calendars, in addition to numerous online devotionals, that are tailored to a variety of recipient, denomination, or view. Daily devotionals differ from traditional

breviaries A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as ...

, which are used by Christians to pray the canonical hours at fixed prayer times every day, in that daily devotionals can be used at leisure. Daily devotionals have a long tradition in Christian religious communities, with the earliest known example being the Gælic ''Feliré'' written in

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in the Ninth Century.Hudson, Robert (ed.) (2004) ''The Christian Writer's Manual of Style: Updated and Expanded Edition'' Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Mich., p.176, They tend to be associated with a daily time of prayer and meditation. Churchgoers often get one-year devotional books from

Christian bookstore A religious goods store, also known as a religious bookstore, religious gifts store or religious supplies shop, is a store specializing in supplying materials used in the practice of a particular religious tradition, such as Buddhism, Taoism, Chi ...

s and give these as gifts for life events, such as baptisms, confirmations, graduations, weddings, among other occasions. ''Beside The Still Waters'' is a daily devotional widely used by adherents of the

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...

Christian tradition. Each page of the "devotional begins with a Scripture reference and verse on a theme" with a subsequent "reflection on the theme, followed by an inspirational aphorism or a line from a hymn, and a few additional biblical references for those who would like to read through the entire Bible in a year." The themes are "temptation, trust, hypocrisy, nonconformity, ndintegrity" which are combined with "a short story or illustration with a biblically based admonition." Lutheran Hour Ministries makes daily devotions specifically for the

liturgical season The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which ...

s of

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

and

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

, in addition to other parts of the Church Year, such as ''

Portals of Prayer ''Portals of Prayer'' is a quarterly publication of the Concordia Publishing House of St. Louis, Missouri, the denominational publisher for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, with a printed circulation of almost 900,000 copies each quarter. Th ...

''. ''

Daily Watchwords The ''Daily Watchwords'' (german: Herrnhuter Losungen) is an annual, globally distributed publication of the Moravian Church. It was started on 3 May 1728, and is now published in 50 languages, making it the oldest and most widely read daily d ...

'' is the daily devotional and

prayer book A prayer book is a book containing prayers and perhaps devotional readings, for private or communal use, or in some cases, outlining the liturgy of religious services. Books containing mainly orders of religious services, or readings for them are ...

used by the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church ( cs, Moravská církev), or the Moravian Brethren, formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination, denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohem ...

. Daily devotionals such as ''

My Utmost for His Highest ''My Utmost for His Highest'' is a daily Christian devotional by Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) that compiles his preaching to students and soldiers. Chambers' widow self-published the book with Alden in Oxford circa 1924 (Lukabyo, "From a Ministr ...

'', while common among Christians, can be found in many other traditions as well. Classic examples of devotionals include

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's ''The Reading Circle''.Chambers, Oswald ''My Utmost for His Highest''
full text

References

{{Reflist Prayer

See also

References