Is it necessary to have Daily Devotions?
If yes, why?
If no, why not?
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In His Love, Mercy & Grace
Daryl 
And he explains himself by saying, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." [JOHN 6:63.]
Our bodies are built up from what we eat and drink; and as in the natural economy, so in the spiritual economy, it is what we meditate upon that will give tone and strength to our spiritual nature. {CE 57.1}
Desire of Ages (DA)
" Christ did not soften down His symbolical representation. He reiterated the truth in yet stronger language: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him." {DA 389.2}
To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins, and that we are complete in Him. It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour. A theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon Him, receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes our life. His love, His grace, must be assimilated. {DA 389.3}
But even these figures fail to present the privilege of the believer's relation to Christ. Jesus said, "As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." As the Son of God lived by faith in the Father, so are we to live by faith in Christ. So fully was Jesus surrendered to the will of God that the Father alone appeared in His life. Although tempted in all points like as we are, He stood before the world untainted by the evil that surrounded Him. Thus we also are to overcome as Christ overcame. {DA 389.4}
Are you a follower of Christ? Then all that is written concerning the spiritual life is written for you, and may be attained through uniting yourself to Jesus. Is your zeal languishing? has your first love grown cold? Accept again of the proffered love of Christ. Eat of His flesh, drink of His blood, and you will become one with the Father and with the Son. {DA 389.5}
The unbelieving Jews refused to see any except the most literal meaning in the Saviour's words. By the ritual law they were forbidden to taste blood, and they now construed Christ's language into a sacrilegious speech, and disputed over it among themselves. Many even of the disciples said, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" {DA 390.1}
The Saviour answered them: "Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." {DA 390.2}
The life of Christ that gives life to the world is in His word. It was by His word that Jesus healed disease and cast out demons; by His word He stilled the sea, and raised the dead; and the people bore witness that His word was with power. He spoke the word of God, as He had spoken through all the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament. The whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ, and the Saviour desired to fix the faith of His followers on the word. When His visible presence should be withdrawn, the word must be their source of power. Like their Master, they were to live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matt. 4:4. {DA 390.3}
As our physical life is sustained by food, so our spiritual life is sustained by the word of God. And every soul is to receive life from God's word for himself. As we must eat for ourselves in order to receive nourishment, so we must receive the word for ourselves. We are not to obtain it merely through the medium of another's mind. We should carefully study the Bible, asking God for the aid of the Holy Spirit, that we may understand His word. We should take one verse, and concentrate the mind on the task of ascertaining the thought which God has put in that verse for us. We should dwell upon the thought until it becomes our own, and we know "what saith the Lord." {DA 390.4}
In His promises and warnings, Jesus means me. God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that I by believing in Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life. The experiences related in God's word are to be my experiences. Prayer and promise, precept and warning, are mine. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20. As faith thus receives and assimilates the principles of truth, they become a part of the being and the motive power of the life. The word of God, received into the soul, molds the thoughts, and enters into the development of character. {DA 390.5}
By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature. Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine similitude. This is what it means to live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This is eating the Bread that comes down from heaven. {DA 391.1}
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Edward F. Sutton
Matthew 25:13 - the parable of the virgins.
v.3, the virgins all went prepared with oil in their lamps. Now, if we go to Psalms 119:105 we discover that the word of God is the "lamp unto my feet and the light unto my path", so all 10 virgins had the word of God. They all knew what was needed for the wait for the bridegroom (if it was anything like today, weddings were always late!). Five of the virgins took extra oil (keep thinking the light unto my feet and you might draw the conclusion that they had extra of the Word of God - according to Proverbs 3:3; 7:1-3; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; and 10:16 where we are told to write God's Word on our hearts), in their earthen vessels. Time and again, we and our bodies are referred to as vessels. Therefore, it could be concluded that we are to know God's word and carry it around in our vessels . . . we cannot do that without first knowing it, and to know it we must study it - daily.
My thoughts here.
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Sarah Moss
*Prayer Changes Things!*
I learned that the best mileage came with a full tank andif you don't let it get below half, it remains the same.
Let it fall below half, the mileage drops off.
We witness better with a 'full tank', daily devotions is like topping the tank off, it allows for opptimum (sp?) performance.
Keep your tank full, spend time in the BOOK (gas station) every day.
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What is popular is not always right.
What is right is not always popular.
Gerry B.
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Sarah Moss
*Prayer Changes Things!*
I remember reading somewhere that it is best to do it in the morning when first awake and while our minds are uncluttered with the actions of the day.
I find it is the best time for me. If I don't do it right away, I don't do it at all.
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What is popular is not always right.
What is right is not always popular.
Gerry B.
I too was thinking the other day that Daniel is a good example. I have been told that the Bible and EGW (but I don't know where yet - I have to look for it) both mention that we should spend as much time in devotions as we do eating our meals. I think that the best way to do that would probably be to do our devotions at the same time (after or before) that we eat our meals. - Morning, noon and night, just like Daniel.
Anybody have any other thoughts? Does anyone know where those Bible texts are located?
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Sarah Moss
*Prayer Changes Things!*