How an iPad Improved my Devotional Life
I’m a busy pastor and am committed to developing my walk with Jesus through several spiritual disciplines. One discipline I practice is a daily time with God when I read Scripture, pray, and journal.
Before I owned an iPad, my quiet time looked like this.
- read my bible (the paper version), often reading several different bibles to compare translations
- read a devotional from a paper book
- journal with pen and paper and later I journaled on my Mac in a Word doc
- pray through my prayer list on a Treo outlining program, when I got an iPhone I began to use it
Here’s what has changed since I got my iPad 6 weeks ago.
- read my bible on my iPad using Olive Tree’s BibleReader program (multiple versions, side-by-side comparison, ability to hi-light, take notes, and cut and paste into another program)
- read an e-devotional from one of the best bible study apps, Logos
- journal on my iPad using a program called MaxJournal
- pray through my prayer list using a program called PrayerLists
How this has improved my devotional life.
- While not feeling rushed, having these tools all in one place has saved time that I can now devote to the actual spiritual exercise.
- Reading on the big iPad screen using BibleReader is an incredible experience as I can view side-by-side 2 translations at once, can pull up commentaries alongside the text, can copy a verse and paste in into my journal, can hi-light in one color verses I’m memorizing and hi-light in another color a verse that stands out
- MaxJournal gives a very nice layout, the ability to search, and the ability to use the on-screen keyboard or a bluetooth keyboard. Very cool.
- PrayerLists provides an easy way to record prayer needs and allows me to schedule them on the days I want to pray for those needs.
- Having everything in one small package makes it more convenient since I don’t have to lug around four things-bible, journal, devotional, and prayer list.
Struggles I still face.
- To be honest, I still feel kinda’ guilty not reading out of a paper bible. Sometimes I feel like I’m not really reading the bible though the more I read from BibleReader, the less guilty I feel.
- It is a bit of a hassle with the current iPad os to move back and forth between programs, but OS 4.0 will allow multi-tasking.
- PrayerLists is not yet adapted for iPad but the developer is working on it.
- At first it seemed too ‘tech-y,’ but the more I use this system, the more I’m finding this tool to be an invaluable help in my walk with Christ.
If you have an iPad, has it helped you grow? if so, how?
In a few weeks I’ll post my experience using the iPad in preaching.
Related posts: How Pastors can Benefit from an iPad
For more Help, Tips and Resources for Pastors, visit Pastor Stone’s main site.
I want one
but I am torn between the iPad at $499 and upgrading to the new iPhone at $200. I could of course just download OS 4.0 to my existing iPhone (the original) but where is the fun in that. These life changing decisions are hard.
WrDlnV Very true! Makes a change to see someone spell it out like that.
Thanks for posting, Charles. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how technology affects/can affect our walk with Christ (as well as others), for better and for worse. Buying Logos was one of the best decisions I made during seminary, for so many reasons. But my tech-centeredness has become a bane to my wife, who thinks I’m getting sucked into a technological vortex.
I recently tried out doing my devotions on my Macbook, with Logos and some OT class notes, and thought it went pretty well. Other than the portability factor, what would you say is the extra benefit of the iPad over, say, laptop?
Keep sharing your thoughts on this topic.
Just saw your previous post, “How Pastor Can Benefit from an iPad.” Guess that answers my question.
Another wonderful advantage is that you can take these devotional disciplines anywhere. If you are at the airport, at a coffee shop or in a hotel you have your entire discipline tool with you. It does take an adjustment, but let’s face it, using one tool is easier than trying to bring everything else like devotional books, bibles, great Christian biographies etc…..
zlBBI5 Very true! Makes a change to see someone spell it out like that.
Hé c’est un grand poteau. Est-ce que je peux employer une partie là-dessus sur mon emplacement ? Je naturellement lierais à votre emplacement ainsi les gens pourraient lire le plein article s’ils voulaient à. Remercie l’une ou l’autre manière.