Daily Devotional For Friday, April 17, 2026
Yesterday I wrote about how I structure my quiet time each day with God. All of this is from a booklet I wrote for teens for our convention years ago, titled, Time Alone With The Captain, I used a nautical theme of sailing to explain everything. There is only reason I am so insistent about all of us having a daily quiet time.
Look at Mark 1:35, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He (Jesus) departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed” (ESV). If having a daily quiet time with God was that important to Jesus, shouldn’t it be for us also? Notice Jesus started each day early in the morning prior to anyone needing Him and getting caught up in His day. To think we do not need to do this is arrogance and pride. As we say, “Pride comes before the fall.”
Bible Study is much like a ship’s captain who studies his navigational charts. It determines his course and direction from these charts. The charts tell him what to do. Bible study is where we let God speak to us. The Bible is like a navigational flag in that it doesn’t bear witness to itself. The American flag is not America. It only represents and points to or bears witness of America. A flag only communicates the message. It is not the message itself. In the same way, the Bible will navigate you in the right direction because the Bible is where God speaks to us. It is where God sends His signals to us.
Below are some practical ways to study the Bible (i.e. how to let God speak to you). Read the selected passage 3 times. If it is a long passage, then select a section to read 3 times Why?
- The first time is to get a general idea of what is taking place.
- The second time is to get who is involved and/or specific details involved. Here you read it slower.
- The third time is to make the passage come alive for you. It is here that you receive God’s signals. You do that by asking questions. Yesterday, I gave you several questions you can ask when you are reading God’s Word.
Having a daily quiet time was Jesus’ daily routine and it needs to be ours as well. After I have read my Bible text for the morning (7-9) minutes, I then turn to prayer. I have always used an acrostic to help me pray: A.C.T.S. If you use this acrostic as your model, then you are looking at around 9-10 minutes of prayer. You may think, “That is a long time. How can I pray that long?” That is where the acrostic of A.C.T.S. helps you with this. So, let me break it down for you.
See this section as “tacking” through spiritual waters. “Tacking” is a sailing term which means to change the direction of a sailing ship when sailing. Webster defines tacking as, “turning the bow to the wind and shifting sails as to fall off on the other side at about the same angle as before.” Here in Wilmington, we live by the Atlantic Ocean and many people own sailboats and sail. Do you know how to change the mast in order to tack?
Have you ever had to solve a problem and had no idea how to do it? Your goal is to get the answer, the right answer. This requires a certain amount of knowledge. You must know the “how to” part (i.e. truths, principles, etc.) and how they work with respect to that problem.
Imagine that you are on a ship in the Arctic. The waters are icy and full of icebergs. Your goal is to reach San Francisco without sinking your ship by hitting one of those icebergs. Your problem is not just where you are to go, but how you are to go to get there. In the same way, we are often told to meditate, to study the Bible, to pray and memorize Scripture. We know that. The problem is that we don’t know how to do these so that we really grow, and really become Christlike. Here it is:
A.C.T.S
A = Adoration > This is the first spiritual navigational flag or signal we should send to God in prayer. This is where we acknowledge Who He is. This is where we pray to God.
- You might say something found in Psalm 103:1, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! (ESV).
- Or, Psalm 104:1, “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty” (ESV).
- Or, Isaiah 6:3, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (ESV). Your goal is to remind yourself Who God is in comparison to you. God is not your “buddy, pal, dude.” He is God and we are in no way on the same level in comparison. The Bible is full of titles and descriptions about God you can use to remind yourself who God is and you are not. A simple Internet search will help you with that also. The point is to recognize who God is first.
C = Confession > This is the second spiritual navigational flag or signal we should send to God in prayer.
- The Bible states in Psalm 66:!8, “I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (ESV). Because God is Holy and Righteous, our sins separate us from Him. Look at Isaiah 59:2, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear” (ESV).
- Going with our navigational theme, sins are like “mines” in the water. Until we remove them, then we are sailing in very dangerous waters. What confession does is to remove the “mine” from the water and our lives. We may not take our sins seriously, but God does. Jesus’ death by crucifixion demonstrates this and our confession expresses our grateful humility for what He did. To skip confusion of sin is to spit on Jesus as many did on the day He was crucified.
- 1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (ESV). Confession is more than saying. “Lord, forgive me of my sins.” If confession is more than this, then how do we get this signal of confession to God? Maybe with the help of another acrostic below:
There are three steps to confession: A.I.R.
- A = Acknowledgement: This is where we agree with God that we have disobeyed Him. You can say something like, “Lord, I have disobeyed you, I’m sorry.”
- I = Identification: This is where you name or identify the sins. You say something like, “Lord, I lost my temper at my wife today,” or “I lied at work today” or “God, I got mad in traffic today and used this curse word” (name it). These are only examples. The reason we name the sin is so that we will feel ashamed and not want to do it again. You specifically identify your sin so that it shows your humility, agreement with God and are ready for the next step.
Naming a sin to God is taking responsibility for it. To say, “I’m sorry God” of “God, forgive me of my sins.” This does not impact us as saying, “God, please forgive me using these words ____________ today or having this __________ attitude today.” Saying, “God, forgive me for being judgmental about (name the person).” “God, forgive me for losing my temper today with [name the person].” It is where we face our wrong and accept the responsibility for it. It is where we agree with God that our short-term sin experience could have long-term consequences.
- R = Repentance: This is an old fashioned word. It actually means 180 degree turn. You are going in one direction and you turn and go the opposite direction. Repentance is where we show the sincerity of our confession. This is where our words of acknowledgement and identification become actions. You start doing just the opposite of that sin out of gratitude to the Lord.
The final two letters in the word ACTS are the T and the S:
T = Thanksgiving – here you express your gratitude to God for who He is, what has done, what He is doing and what He is going to do.
S = Supplication – this is where you pray for others and yourself. I like to organize this by days. I pray for certain family, friends, certain specific new issues and my needs on certain days.
I pray this helps you in your prayer time and your daily quiet time.If you read the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, you will see that Jesus gave us this model of ACTS in this prayer.
Reflection Assignment: When you pray, do you jump to needs first or do you spend some time acknowledging who God is and confessing your sins? Do you use any music to set the tone and atmosphere? Do you use your daily quiet time to worship the Lord? If you have a daily quiet time, is it a ritual you do – just an item on your check list for the day so that you can get to what you consider really important? If you track your spiritual growth through your daily quiet time, what have you learned from it so far?
Scripture to Meditate On: Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (ESV).
Prayer to Pray: “Dear Jesus, I am so sorry that I make excuses for not praying. God, I see a way that helps me pray each day right after I have read Your Word. God, I seem to have plenty of time to watch TV, be on my phone, and even be on social media. God, I need You. I want You. And I want us to converse each day. First, You through Your Word to me and then second, me to You through the gift of prayer. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly