The Practice That Transformed My Devotional Life

In my 40 years of walking with the Lord, I’ve worked hard to maintain a disciplined devotional life. While that commitment has proven to be valuable, I’ve got to admit that at times it’s been more duty than delight.

My daily “quiet time” has generally consisted of reading a section of Scripture, looking for a point of application, and writing about it in my journal. Then usually I pray through a laundry list of requests. But I can’t say that there has been a lot of genuine interaction between God and me.

Perhaps you can relate. Especially my fellow pastors, for whom personal devotions can become sermon prep in disguise.

However, for the past couple of months, I’ve been engaging in a practice that has transformed my devotional life. My time with the Father has become more intimate and, with that, more joy-filled. It’s called “interactive gratitude.”

Interactive gratitude is a journaling exercise developed by theologian and neuropsychologist Dr. Jim Wilder and his team. It’s based on brain science research which has shown that appreciation and gratitude are perhaps the fastest, easiest ways to open up the relational pathways in our brains. That includes our relationship with God.

Wilder suggests that gratitude actually opens us up to the presence of Immanuel – God with us. God wants to speak to us, and gratitude can help us hear from Him.

Gratitude opens us up to the presence of Immanuel – God with us - and helps us hear from Him.

Many of us have been rightfully taught that prayer is a conversation with God. But it seems that most of us only engage in a monologue with God and not a true conversation. We tell Him our thoughts but don’t listen for His response. Thus, we miss the opportunity for genuine intimacy with Him.

Here's how interactive gratitude works.

The Steps to Interactive Gratitude

1. Gratitude from me to God.

Take a moment to quiet yourself before the Lord, then prayerfully ask the Spirit to bring to mind something you appreciate or are grateful for. This memory can be anything: a recent event, your current setting, a shared experience, something that makes you smile. For example, “Lord, I so appreciate the beauty of the fall foliage” or “Father, thank you for the special time I had with my grandson” or “I’m so grateful to You, God, for keeping my family healthy during these days.”

Or it can be appreciating God for who He is, what He has done, or how He has treated you. For example, “I’m so grateful, Lord, for Your provision – for my home and my health” or “Thank You for guiding me as I had to make that tough decision” or “I’m so thankful that Your mercies are new every morning.”

Allow the feeling of gratitude to fill you and write out your prayer of thanks. If you are able, add why you are so grateful for that particular experience.

2. God’s response to our gratitude

Once you have written down your thanksgiving, pause for a moment to reflect on what you wrote. Next, ask God what He would say to you.

Begin writing, but don’t filter your thoughts at this time. Just let the Spirit of God lead you as you write down what a loving Father would say in response to your gratitude.

For example, “My dear child, I’m glad you enjoy the beauty of my creation” or “My dear child, I share your joy with your grandson” or “My dear child, I’m pleased to protect you and your loved ones from the virus” or “My dear child, I receive your words of praise and am pleased that you honor Me with your worship.”

3. Read your journal entry out loud.

You might be tempted to skip this step, but it’s a very important part of the experience to hear the words you sensed from God spoken out loud to allow His love and comfort to sink into your soul.

4. Share your interaction with God with a friend or group that you consider trustworthy and safe.

Sharing our interactions with others is a way whereby you can “test” the accuracy of what God seemed to be saying. As well, it encourages their own interaction with God.

How Do I Know It’s Really God?

Now, I know that talking about hearing God speak to you makes a lot of people nervous. A series of questions naturally arise:

How can we be sure that our impression of God’s response to us is not just our own imagination?
Worse yet, what if those thoughts are lies from Satan?
And after all, God only speaks through the Bible, doesn’t He?

We may find writing God’s response is difficult if we think we are putting words in His mouth. And, to be sure, we are certainly capable of misunderstanding what God might be saying to us. Yet the greater danger is never attempting or desiring to understand what God might be saying to us which results in a stunted relationship.

The greater danger is never attempting or desiring to understand what God might be saying to us which results in a stunted relationship.

When we write down our impressions we are not hearing or transcribing God’s actual voice. Rather, we get a sense of how a loving Father who longs to communicate with His children might respond.

We have the guardrails of God’s character and Scripture to keep us out of the ditch and on the road of relationship. We also have the advantage of hearing the counsel of fellow believers and the presence of shalom. God’s word always leads to a sense of peace.

If our impression of God’s response to us is in alignment with these, it suggests that the source of our impression is God.

There certainly is room for error in our impressions. We are finite and our thinking isn’t always clear. However, the majority of the time, if those impressions seem consistent with God’s character and mirror what a loving Father would want to say to His child, we can grow in our confidence that He truly does want to engage with us.

If our impression of God’s response to us seems consistent with God’s character and mirror what a loving Father would want to say to His child, it suggests that the source of our impression is God.

I encourage you to give this a try. You might well discover, as I have, that Immanuel – God with us – is more than a phrase to be used at Christmas, but a reality to be experienced every day.

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