Consistently Generate Great Lessons and Devotions – Week after Week

Great Bible teachers consistently produce great lessons and devotions, week after week.  

Sometimes we all struggle to keep going, and hit dry patches.  I believe our Lord uses these dry spells to draw us back to Him, to help us focus on Christ, and to keep us from pride and error.  

Here are the 10 basic practices which help me consistently generate great lessons and devotions, to edify the people God has put in my sphere of influence, and honor our Lord. 

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1. Teach from what God is teaching you

It's critically important that you, as a teacher, remain well-grounded in Christ and well-connected to Him.  You need to have devotional time in God's Word which has nothing to do with the lessons you are preparing.  But out of those, you'll find many rich insights which you can use in your teaching ministry.

It's been said that we ask God to fill our cup, and then we minister, serve, and teach from the saucer (the overflow).  

You can separate Christians into two categories:  those growing, and those not.  If you have an active, ongoing spiritual life with the living God, then you're in growth mode.  Teach out of what you are learning from the Lord. 

2. Keep an idea list going

Capture ideas - however small or vague - when the thought hits you, "Uhm…that could be useful in teaching."  Or you get an idea for a topic or class.   These ideas are like slippery fish.   If you don't catch them now, they're gone, often irretrievably.  

The experience of every teacher I know who does this is the same: "I have more ideas about what to cover than I could teach in several years!" 

Then build the habit of reviewing notes like these periodically.  You'll be surprised at how God answered your prayer "What should I teach next?" or "How can make this a better lesson?" well before you asked for wisdom.  

3. Reflect on your life often

I cannot concur with Socrates' statement "The unexamined life is not worth living," but I think an examined life is a richer life, and one more likely to positively influence others in the Kingdom of God.  

Many great teachers journal.  They take notes or have conversations with others about how they see God working in their lives, and in the lives of people close to them.  They do the hard work of processing thoughts and emotions into words.  The fruit of this work is an increased sense of your real self - strengths and weaknesses, joys and fears, accomplishments and shortcomings.  

Great teaching is reinforced by personal authenticity as a pilgrim on the discipleship way, before God.  You can't fake this.  And your lesson content will be all the stronger and richer because you share from your authentic view.  God usually  causes teachers to learn lessons before He allows them to teach them to others!

4. Teach from the heart 

Many times we must fight the temptation to intellectualize the content of lessons and devotions.  I'm opposed to teaching only from emotional drivers, but emotions are God-given for a reason.  When you teach from the heart on a subject or passage that moves you, your students will be moved, too.  Emotions help sell facts.  

So ask yourself "What is God doing in my heart now?"  Use this in your teaching.  You can organize a short devotion based on this.  

5. Answer student questions

You can't go wrong addressing the questions that come up from the people you are teaching.  If you're teaching a series of lessons, take one as a "breather" and use it to answer questions that you've heard.  Or give fuller answers to questions that you partly answered earlier.  

It's also fun to organize a lesson along the structure of "Top 5 Things People Should Know About _____"  or "Three Misunderstandings About ____ You Should Avoid." 

6. Read a lot, across disciplines

Great teachers are great readers - first of the Word of God, and then everything else that is useful.  

Mark Batterson has a short blog post on the importance of reading, saying that in many ways, "We are what we read."

The average American adult reads 1 book a year.  If you read 1 book a month you are on the top 3% of American adults.  (That's a sad statistic, by the way!)

Don't limit your reading to books - there are wonderful bloggers, magazines, and websites (Wikipedia is a good jumping-off point for practically any topic you can imagine). 

I strongly encourage you to read widely, because you will find many illustrations and enrich your understanding of the world.  Intentionally tackle some reading outside your normal range, to stretch yourself.  This year, for example, I'm intentionally pushing myself to learn more about graphic arts and Chinese culture.  Reading in multiple disciplines effectively "cross-pollinates" your brain.  

One more thing: reading biographies is very powerful.  

7. Write, write, write

Writing is the discipline that forces us to clarify thinking.  Great teachers learn through writing.  

You can write in your journal.  You can run a blog.  You can write emails to your students or fellow teachers.  Write short devotions or helps for your church web site, newsletter, or bulletin.

This might sound like an odd thing to include in this list.  "Glenn, I'm dry and I don't know what to teach this week!"  Counter-intuitive advice: start writing.  Something.  Anything, actually.

Why?  Because when we start writing, new ideas come.  The process of writing seems to stimulate your mind to be open to new possibilities.  

8. Take "rhythm" breaks to stay charged

Everyone benefits with a change of pace occasionally.  If you're stuck on a lesson, try something completely different.  Change up the format, the translation you're using, or the room setting.  I'm increasingly under conviction that none of us hear the Word enough; so I'm going to be taking some class times in the future simply to read the Word and let people soak it in, listening quietly.  

Use old hymns.  Have the group share stories about how they saw God at work this week, or a meaningful passage from Scripture.  Let someone else be the teacher for a week.  (This is a great opportunity for you to mentor other teachers!)

9. Short lessons and devotions are fine!

One key idea in a 3 minute devotion can set hearts on fire for the Lord.   

The most common advice I give teachers is simply this: "Teach less, well."  We tend to cram too much into lessons.  One the written page the proper use of whitespace improves readability.  In a class, adept use of silence and shortness leaves room for great dialogue and life-transforming application of God's truth.  

Stop beating yourself up by continually adding more content to lessons.  Focus on delivering the BEST parts, and teaching that in an engaging way.  

10. Repurpose existing lessons

"It is as important to be reminded as it is to be informed."  -- Richard Halverson.  Not everything in your lessons or devotions needs to be 100% original every time.  It's fine to rework past lessons, pull out a section to create a short devotion, or adapt something created by another.  It's likely that not all the people you are teaching now heard that lesson from 4 years ago.  

Don't be afraid to go back to existing materials and rework them.  You can add new or different questions, a different illustration, or a different application from the same passage.

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So that's the list: 10 basic habits and practices which will help you generate great lesson and devotion content every week!  

If you have comments or additional suggestions, let us know!