and ministering in this way. I remember way back in my Christian life how I would often be blessed by a short devotional. It would often speak right into my situation and give me a new hope or encourage me. Of course a devotional is not something you build your life upon. It is like a little snack in-between meals. Like a little manna from heaven to strengthen you.

You can start giving out this kind of ministry very easily. You can just start to write and put a little mailing list together and start blessing some people. Perhaps you are complaining and wanting a ministry, but you don’t know where to start? Why not write some devotionals and just bless somebody with it? It is a good point to start out.

Getting An Idea

Maybe this has never been your problem. You bubble with ideas all the time. Then you probably are an expressive and it comes easy for you to write down some things. But may be you are not like that and you don’t know what to write about.

Let me help you with this. All of us have a Spirit and when communicating with the Holy Spirit, things get dropped in our Spirit all the time! So where do you get your ideas from? Exactly …you get them from the Holy Spirit.

You might read something in the Bible and get a wonderful gem out of it. Something you have never seen before. Why not write this thought down and create a little devotional?

Or you see something in nature. Like for example you try weeding your wonderful garden and you think… it is like in the spiritual life, we always have to clean our lives of the weeds of sin, but not only that, we need to get to the root of the weeds, otherwise they grow again and again… Wouldn’t that give a wonderful little devotional?

It is so simple to get an idea. Just something the Holy Spirit drops into your Spirit and you sit down and write it down and make a devotional out of it to bless somebody else!

Let me give you some easy points to help you along the way and to make you write great devotionals!

1. Have One Message

If you sit down and write a devotional, bring only one message across. Don’t try to give several different points. Just stick to the one thing the Lord wants to say. Have only one main point and one message!

After reading the devotional, one point should come out very loud and clear. If you give too many points and try to pack too much into it, people get confused and you don’t accomplish anything through your words.

Just bring one message across. It must be like one theme or one topic in the whole devotional.

2. Keep it Short and Simple

A devotional is something like a dessert. You don’t want too much of it. Well, some of you might want to only eat dessert and lots of it, I know. Maybe that’s a bad example for you dessert lovers!

Anyway, try and keep the devotional really short. If I open a MS Word document, I choose a simple font that is nice and easy for the eye to read. Like for example Verdana. With that font I will take size 12 and try to keep the devotional to less than one page!

You think, “What? That is not much at all!” No, it’s not much. But believe me, people do not like to read much. Especially if you write a devotional. You have to keep it really short. If you keep it to that length, you will have the best results!

Keep it short and simple and you will be able to minister to others effectively with a devotional!

3. Write With Emotion

Give your all when you write. Do not just write down a thought, but really try and put emotion into it. Put your Spirit into it! It is so important while writing a devotional that you release the spirit through your writing. It’s not just sitting down and writing an essay or a story. No, you are ministering. You are sharing a principle or a word and you are ministering to somebody.

Although it is just writing into a computer or on a peace of paper, you can actually release the Spirit by giving your all when you write. Pour out of your heart, pour out of your Spirit and it will make all the difference in the world!

See, I can write and tell you a great story… or I can write and tell you a great story and release all that is within me and bless you tremendously, so that when reading you can feel a flow and an anointing of the Holy Spirit. Give your best! Don’t just produce something, but share from your heart and deliver the word the Lord has, with power and anointing!

4. Different Forms of Devotionals

Of course you can do different kinds of devotionals. You will find a wide variety of different things in the devotionals we write. Sometimes it’s a simple prophetic word! You see a picture, or feel something bubbling out of you and you just put it in writing and start ministering prophetically!

Or perhaps you read in the bible and a verse pops out. You are so fascinated about this little gem, this little truth that you quote the verse and write what you discovered.

Or you could just have a message on your heart and you write that down. You may be want to use a little story to better illustrate what you want to say and then make a point after the story to explain and to minister through that.

Or you are the convictional evangelistic type that has this challenge for other believers or maybe even for unbelievers! It could also be just a small pastoral encouragement to somebody. You just feel they need to hear that the Lord is still in control and that he is taking care of all the needs.

There are many different ways and styles you can use. It doesn’t really matter. Whether it is a prophetic word; a small bible study or just a thought from the Lord; a little principle in nature that you have learned. What ever it might be, the most important thing is that it’s a blessing and can minister to someone!

The best is if you use stories or pictures to better illustrate what you want to say, to bring the message across more clearly. People always remember pictures or stories the best!

5. Practical Application

Often a word or a little teaching or thought might be a great thing and encourage, challenge or edify. That is great, but you can also help the people apply what they’ve heard and make it easier for them to apply it practically.

It’s not necessary in every devotional, but it helps. For example, you could pray with people at the end and write down what you pray for them. Or ask them, “If you want that, I invite you to pray with me right now.” Then pray as you are lead.

You could also have a little task for the person reading the devotional. You encourage them to apply it in their daily living and do what they have just been challenged on. It is always great if you can make a little practical application, so people not only hear the word, but also start doing it and applying it to their lives!

7. Minister

The most important goal in writing a devotional is to minister! You need to write it from a heart of love, faith and hope and really want to minister to the Body of Christ or to fellow believers!

Never forget that when you write a devotional it’s always to minister to somebody and build faith, love and hope into them. Always have that in mind and with these little guidelines that I gave you, you can not go wrong and you can start ministering to people today!

Everybody can write a devotional. If you start applying these few principles that I just shared, you will be able to write devotionals that people will read and be blessed by! That is ultimately what you want! You want to minister and bless somebody else, right?

So just step out boldly now and start applying what you have learned. The next time the Lord speaks to you through His Word or you have a good idea or principle, or maybe a short prophetic word, sit down and write your own devotional!

Don’t ever say again that you don’t have a ministry. You can always have a ministry! If you want to have a ministry, you can always find an outlet to bless and minister to others!

This is something easy everybody can do! Sit down and write a devotional and bless somebody else with it!

You can do it! Have fun with it!