Practical Writing Tips for Using Illustrations in Devotionals: FAQs

Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content and has gained 600K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.

Here are some practical writing tips for using illustrations in devotionals.

Using Illustrations: FAQs

Q. What is a devotional illustration?

The illustration is one of three parts of a devotional: scripture, illustration, and takeaway. It is the devotional’s main body, sandwiched in between the scripture and the takeaway.

Q. What does it do?

The illustration connects the devo’s spiritual truth – its point – to a real-life situation. It does the “heavy lifting” in the devotional.

Q. How long is an illustration?

I’d love to say, “as long as it needs to be” but since the illustration represents the bulk of the devotional, let’s be practical and give a word count. A typical devotional is 200-250 words. The scripture and the takeaway clock in at approximately 25 words each, give or take – depending on content, of course. 

That leaves 150-200 words for the illustration – about 60-80% of the entire devotional.

That’s a helpful piece of information to know when you need to write longer devotionals. For instance, say an editor publishes 400-500 word devotionals. A bit of quick math tells you that the illustration should run 250-400 words.

Q. I’ve figured out the point I want to make. How do I choose an illustration for my devotional?

You can use nearly limitless means to illustrate a biblical point (here are 8 kinds of illustrations to consider), but be sure to follow the “Illustration Golden Rule”: use just one illustration per devotional. Don’t share a fascinating fact to make your point and then tack on an object lesson. Reason? Too many illustrations distract your reader and can dilute your point. Target one truth with one illustration.

Q. Must I include the devotional’s point as part of the illustration?

You must connect the dots between the illustration and the point. How you choose to do so is your decision.

“The point” is a short sentence that summarizes the devotional’s key message, idea, principle, or truth. (More about the devotional point.)

The illustration is a word picture that communicates that point.

An illustration, by itself, is not enough to complete your devotional. You need to explain in plain language how your illustration connects to your point, whether you weave in the short sentence you prepared beforehand or with new language that connects the dots to the illustration. You’re not done until you make that connection for the reader.

How you do that is up to you.

More Tips for Writing Devotionals

Getting Started Writing Devotionals: A Free Mini-Course ...

What is a devotional?

How to write devotionals: use a 3-part structure ...

Save Time: Identify the Devotional Point Before You Write ...

Use a Devotional Illustration to Connect the Point to Real-Life ...

Journaling to write devotionals ...

8 Kinds of Illustrations to Use in Devotionals ...

Compare and contrast: 2 ways to connect the illustration to the point ...

Writing a takeaway: keep it simple ...

Templates for takeaways ...

More tips on our Writing Devotionals Pinterest board ...

Writing Devotionals That Stick: a step-by-step guide ...

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