A daily devotional is a Christian 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'', '' The Upper Room'', '' 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 deifie ...

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, 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 Neo-Latin , from the 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-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

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 Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) is a Christian outreach ministry affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, Lutheran Church - Canada and Lutheran Women in Mission (LWML). Its mission is "Bringing Christ to the Nations—and the Nations ...

makes daily devotions specifically for the liturgical seasons of Advent and

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Jesus, temptation by Satan, according ...

, 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 St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri ...

''. '' Daily Watchwords'' 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 ar ...

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''
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References