The Bridge: How to Choose and Write the Bible Point in a Devotion

The Bible point is the bridge between the hook where you began your devotion and the application point at the end of your devotion. The Bible point bridge must be strong and smooth, a natural arc so your reader can implant God’s word into his or her heart.

A short form devotion is usually three paragraphs: the hook, the Bible point, and the application point. Last month I wrote about the first paragraph, the hook. The hook pulls the reader towards the Bible point in the second paragraph.

How does a devotional writer choose and develop the Bible point? Here is how I do it:

Brainstorm all the Bible points. If I am writing for a publication, I am assigned a Bible passage. If I am writing for my own blog or book, then I chose what Bible passages I will be focusing on for my blog series or book. First I start with a prayer that the Holy Spirit will guide me to see the truth in the Bible passage. Then I read and reread the Bible passage writing down all the things that stand out to me about the passage.

I jot down interesting words that I want to look up to see what they mean in the original language. (You can do that here on blueletterbible.org.) I list descriptions of who God is. I notice any commands someone in the passage had to follow, although, be careful here because not all commands given to others in the Bible are for us to follow as well. The same goes for promises. Not all promises given in the Bible are for all people for all time. I also look for emotion words, too, and jot down if the Bible passage or verse reminds me of any other verses or passages. I also read the context around the Bible passage so that I remember who is speaking and in what time period are they speaking.

Let it simmer. Once I have brainstormed all the possible Bible points, then I pray again and set the list away for another day. I want to give the Holy Spirit time to work on my heart and see what particular Bible point He wants me to focus on for the devotion. During this time, I also read a commentary or two to make sure that I have not missed anything or misunderstood any of the Bible passage.

Pick one Bible point to focus on. If you are writing a longer Bible study lesson or a sermon or a longer blog post, you may be able to focus on many points in the Bible passage, but in a short devotion you will only have room for one point. Many short devotions have a word count of between 250-350 words. Plus, your devotion will be more memorable if you focus on one well-developed Bible point.

Explain the Bible point in simple, but descriptive detail. Once you picked out the one Bible point to focus on, then you can write the hook and the Bible point. Writing about the Bible point is not a retelling of the whole Bible passage. It’s a short paragraph pointing out one observation in the passage. You don’t have a lot of words to spare here, but make sure you reserve some words for descriptive detail to paint the picture of the passage in the reader’s mind.

Try it out! Pick out a Bible passage. Maybe it could be one that you are reading in your own Bible reading right now. List out the possible Bible points, then pick one to write a devotion on. You can submit it to any of these publications and maybe your devotional will be published! Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions along the way.

Rachel Schmoyer is a pastor’s wife who is loving her church life. She writes about the hard parts of Scripture at readthehardparts.com. She has had devotionals published in the past, but now she is looking forward to getting her first Christian Living book published. You can connect with Rachel on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.