Top 10 Christian Devotionals for Daily Inspiration

Oswald Chambers's My Utmost for His Highest has been in continuous daily use since its 1927 publication and shows no signs of losing its grip on serious Christians nearly a century later. The devotional demands total consecration — Chambers does not traffic in comfortable encouragement but calls for unreserved surrender to God's will in language that is both exalting and demanding. It is the devotional that separates people who want to feel inspired from people who want to be transformed. The "updated edition" modernizes language for contemporary readers while preserving every ounce of Chambers's original intensity.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon published Morning and Evening in 1865, providing two brief devotional meditations daily — one for morning and one for evening — drawn from individual Bible verses and written in his characteristically rich, aphoristic prose. Spurgeon was the most popular preacher of the Victorian era, drawing 10,000 listeners to his Metropolitan Tabernacle in London on Sunday mornings, and his devotional writing carries the same authority, warmth, and literary power as his preaching. Morning and Evening has been republished continuously since 1865, making it one of the longest-running devotional publications in Protestant history. Ruth Bell Graham called it her daily companion.

Daily Light on the Daily Path is unusual among devotionals in containing no human commentary whatsoever — it consists entirely of Bible verses selected and arranged by Samuel Bagster in 1875 to speak collectively on a theme for each morning and evening of the year. The genius of the collection is that Bagster's verse selections draw from across both Testaments to create a unified meditation that feels like hearing different instruments play the same melody. Jonathan Edwards and Amy Carmichael both counted it among their most valued resources. It has been the devotional of serious Bible students for 150 years.

Lettie Cowman compiled Streams in the Desert in 1925 during her husband Charles's prolonged illness, drawing on Christian writing from across centuries to sustain her through extended suffering. The devotional's focus on endurance in trial, hope in suffering, and God's faithfulness in dark seasons has made it the devotional that people reach for in crisis — illness, grief, loss, and depression. It has sold over 2 million copies and been translated into dozens of languages. Its anthology format draws from Spurgeon, Tozer, Bounds, and other historic voices, giving each day a layered richness unusual in the genre.

Paul David Tripp published New Morning Mercies in 2014 as a 365-day devotional grounded in his counseling ministry and Reformed theology, centering each day's meditation on the gospel's application to everyday failure, weakness, and struggle. Tripp's ability to diagnose the hidden motivations of the human heart with both theological precision and pastoral compassion makes each entry feel remarkably personal. The devotional has become widely used in counseling contexts and prison ministries, as well as in ordinary churches, because its gospel-centered framework addresses the full reality of human sin and divine grace without sentimentality. It consistently tops evangelical devotional bestseller lists.

Our Daily Bread, published by RBC Ministries (now Our Daily Bread Ministries) since 1956, is one of the most widely read devotionals in the world, distributed in print to over 40 million readers across 150 countries and available digitally through an app with millions of additional users. Its format — scripture passage, brief commentary, and a thought for the day — is deliberately simple and accessible, designed to serve the widest possible range of readers from new believers to seasoned Christians. Our Daily Bread has been the gateway devotional for more Christians than any other in the past seventy years.

The Valley of Vision is an anthology of Puritan prayers compiled by Arthur Bennett in 1975, drawn from figures including Richard Baxter, John Newton, Thomas Boston, and dozens of other seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English and Scottish Puritans. The prayers are remarkable for their combination of theological depth, emotional honesty, and poetic beauty — they are as likely to be prayed aloud as read silently. The collection has been embraced by Reformed Christians as a corrective to the shallow, demand-oriented prayer culture of contemporary evangelicalism. Ligon Duncan and others have used it extensively in corporate worship. It is the devotional for people who have tired of inspirational content.

Frances J. Roberts published Come Away My Beloved in 1970 as a series of devotional meditations written in the voice of God speaking to the soul — a mystical, poetic format in the tradition of the Song of Solomon. The book has remained continuously in print for over fifty years and is particularly beloved in charismatic and Pentecostal communities for its emphasis on intimacy with God, the voice of the Spirit, and the contemplative life. Its language is deliberately elevated and literary, standing in marked contrast to the pragmatic, how-to culture of much contemporary Christian publishing. It is the devotional for those drawn to mystical Christianity.

Henri Nouwen published Bread for the Journey in 1994, the year before his death, gathering brief daily meditations from across his life's writing into a devotional that serves as an accessible entry point to his broader theological vision. Nouwen's themes — the beloved identity of the human soul, the movement from loneliness to solitude, the wounded healer — appear here in compressed, crystalline form accessible to readers who have never encountered his longer works. As both a Catholic priest and a universal spiritual voice, Nouwen speaks with authority to Christians across every tradition. The book is a gentle, unhurried companion for morning reading.

Oswald Chambers's My Utmost for His Highest has been in continuous daily use since its 1927 publication and shows no signs of losing its grip on serious Christians nearly a century later. The devotional demands total consecration — Chambers does not traffic in comfortable encouragement but calls for unreserved surrender to God's will in language that is both exalting and demanding. It is the devotional that separates people who want to feel inspired from people who want to be transformed. The "updated edition" modernizes language for contemporary readers while preserving every ounce of Chambers's original intensity.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon published Morning and Evening in 1865, providing two brief devotional meditations daily — one for morning and one for evening — drawn from individual Bible verses and written in his characteristically rich, aphoristic prose. Spurgeon was the most popular preacher of the Victorian era, drawing 10,000 listeners to his Metropolitan Tabernacle in London on Sunday mornings, and his devotional writing carries the same authority, warmth, and literary power as his preaching. Morning and Evening has been republished continuously since 1865, making it one of the longest-running devotional publications in Protestant history. Ruth Bell Graham called it her daily companion.

Daily Light on the Daily Path is unusual among devotionals in containing no human commentary whatsoever — it consists entirely of Bible verses selected and arranged by Samuel Bagster in 1875 to speak collectively on a theme for each morning and evening of the year. The genius of the collection is that Bagster's verse selections draw from across both Testaments to create a unified meditation that feels like hearing different instruments play the same melody. Jonathan Edwards and Amy Carmichael both counted it among their most valued resources. It has been the devotional of serious Bible students for 150 years.

Lettie Cowman compiled Streams in the Desert in 1925 during her husband Charles's prolonged illness, drawing on Christian writing from across centuries to sustain her through extended suffering. The devotional's focus on endurance in trial, hope in suffering, and God's faithfulness in dark seasons has made it the devotional that people reach for in crisis — illness, grief, loss, and depression. It has sold over 2 million copies and been translated into dozens of languages. Its anthology format draws from Spurgeon, Tozer, Bounds, and other historic voices, giving each day a layered richness unusual in the genre.

Paul David Tripp published New Morning Mercies in 2014 as a 365-day devotional grounded in his counseling ministry and Reformed theology, centering each day's meditation on the gospel's application to everyday failure, weakness, and struggle. Tripp's ability to diagnose the hidden motivations of the human heart with both theological precision and pastoral compassion makes each entry feel remarkably personal. The devotional has become widely used in counseling contexts and prison ministries, as well as in ordinary churches, because its gospel-centered framework addresses the full reality of human sin and divine grace without sentimentality. It consistently tops evangelical devotional bestseller lists.

Our Daily Bread, published by RBC Ministries (now Our Daily Bread Ministries) since 1956, is one of the most widely read devotionals in the world, distributed in print to over 40 million readers across 150 countries and available digitally through an app with millions of additional users. Its format — scripture passage, brief commentary, and a thought for the day — is deliberately simple and accessible, designed to serve the widest possible range of readers from new believers to seasoned Christians. Our Daily Bread has been the gateway devotional for more Christians than any other in the past seventy years.

The Valley of Vision is an anthology of Puritan prayers compiled by Arthur Bennett in 1975, drawn from figures including Richard Baxter, John Newton, Thomas Boston, and dozens of other seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English and Scottish Puritans. The prayers are remarkable for their combination of theological depth, emotional honesty, and poetic beauty — they are as likely to be prayed aloud as read silently. The collection has been embraced by Reformed Christians as a corrective to the shallow, demand-oriented prayer culture of contemporary evangelicalism. Ligon Duncan and others have used it extensively in corporate worship. It is the devotional for people who have tired of inspirational content.

Frances J. Roberts published Come Away My Beloved in 1970 as a series of devotional meditations written in the voice of God speaking to the soul — a mystical, poetic format in the tradition of the Song of Solomon. The book has remained continuously in print for over fifty years and is particularly beloved in charismatic and Pentecostal communities for its emphasis on intimacy with God, the voice of the Spirit, and the contemplative life. Its language is deliberately elevated and literary, standing in marked contrast to the pragmatic, how-to culture of much contemporary Christian publishing. It is the devotional for those drawn to mystical Christianity.

Henri Nouwen published Bread for the Journey in 1994, the year before his death, gathering brief daily meditations from across his life's writing into a devotional that serves as an accessible entry point to his broader theological vision. Nouwen's themes — the beloved identity of the human soul, the movement from loneliness to solitude, the wounded healer — appear here in compressed, crystalline form accessible to readers who have never encountered his longer works. As both a Catholic priest and a universal spiritual voice, Nouwen speaks with authority to Christians across every tradition. The book is a gentle, unhurried companion for morning reading.