What if You Never Had to Look for a Sermon Message Again?
"What am I going to say?!"
For preachers, that question can feel:
exciting
intimidating
or anxious
When our response is either of the last two, fear that our message is lame, dumb, or boring can kill our confidence.
Likewise, bad dreams that we land in the pulpit with our vocal cords on "mute" twists many a preacher's stomach into Celtic knots.
Even the most experienced preachers sometimes wonder how to pull another message out of too-familiar lessons.
Sermons driven by anxiety or to avoid embarrassment may get the job done, but not happily.
What if there were another way? A better way?
What if we never had to look for a sermon message again?
And no, I don't mean going to the internet for someone else’s sermon, or asking AI to “write” one.
I mean, what if we didn't have to look for the message at all?
What if, instead, the message found us?
Never Look for a Sermon Message Again
When we apply Lectio Divina to sermon prep, the Message is revealed.
We don't have to look for the message.
The Message wants to offer itself.
This slow, trusting, prayerful process encourages us
to be still,
to listen,
and to attend to the scriptures
until Christ speaks for himself.
Rather than pulling the message out of the text, the Spirit offers the message as a gift.
By adapting Lectio Divina to sermon prep, crafting a sermon is transformed into a spiritual practice with a gentle rhythm, guiding the preacher to finish the sermon by their preferred day.
As an aside, the best refresher (or introduction) to Lectio Divina is Maria Tasto's book, The Transforming Power of Lectio Divina: How to Pray with Scripture.
It's short and the most beautifully written book on the subject I've read. No matter how long you've practiced Lectio Divina, I can't encourage you enough to savor that extraordinary little book.
Lectio Divina for Sermon Prep through the Week
Below is our weekly rhythm at Backstory Preaching, providing time for reading, reflection, exegesis, writing, and revision. The process is meant to be adapted to suit your schedule and Sabbath day.
Monday: Lectio (Read)
Become quiet in your body, mind, and spirit. Pray for the presence of Christ.
Read the text over and over and over. Read it as is. Don't look for meaning, a message, or what you’re going to say. Let the words be literal, concrete, actual, as the living, breathing Word of God they are.
The people in the text were once living people. Enter into their lives as a respectful guest. Let them speak for themselves, live their own lives, have their own context, quarrels, loves, relationship with God and God's with them.
When completed, let your preparation rest for the day in Contemplatio (Rest).
Tuesday: Meditatio (Study)
Become quiet in your body, mind, and spirit. Pray for the presence of Christ.
Re-read the text. Focus on a section or word or phrase that intrigues you, something you want to know more about.
Prayerfully follow your curiosity in exegesis. Be playful with anticipation to follow "rabbit holes" using annotations, themes, and word or character studies.
Pray over your congregation. What's happening with some of them? All of them?
Enjoy this time of revelation, as God and these people reveal themselves to you. Let their motives, connections, nuances, themes, and theology inform you...and be glad.
Then rest. Let your discoveries breathe and expand in Contemplatio.
Wednesday: Meditatio (Study/Organize Ideas)
Become quiet in your body, mind, and spirit. Pray for the presence of Christ.
Re-read the texts.
Notice what you have in common with the text, what surprises you, what disturbs or troubles you.
Continue with exegesis. Be part of the communion of saints who shared their knowledge and experience with you and who guide you to see the Good News.
Put those you serve "in the same room" with the text. What do they have to say to each other?
Jot down notes.
Continue to let God and the people, and words from the text live, move, and have their being inside you.
Thursday: Oratio (Organize Ideas/Compose)
Become quiet in your body, mind, and spirit. Pray for the presence of Christ.
Re-read and ponder the texts. Look inside yourself.
Gently ask in prayer:
Based on these texts, what do I believe?
Where is the conflict, the tension, the question waiting to be answered?
What new aspect of God was revealed to me that I want my people to know about?
Write it down.
Your answer is your sermon message.
Give thanks.
Now let your message guide your sermon so that you lead your listeners on a path of revelation similar to your own from the past few days.
Find stories to illuminate the text/message and draw the listeners in so that the Good News is not an abstract theory but as real and concrete as the Word of God is in the text.
Take notes and/or outline your sermon.
Let it rest in Contemplatio.
Friday: Oratio (Compose/Revise)
Become quiet in your body, mind, and spirit. Pray for the presence of Christ.
Write your sermon. Let it rest for a while.
Revise.
Give thanks.
There you have it.
The message is revealed and offered through prayer, with curiosity and the joy of discovery, and without the stress.
The bonus? You're finished by Friday—or as often happens for members of the BsP community, even earlier in the week!
You'll never have to look for another sermon message again.
Want to Try applying Lectio Divina to your sermon prep?
Join our free, 1-week Sermon Prep Challenge
September 18-25, 2026
Over the course of one week, we’ll apply Lectio Divina to sermon prep together.
With daily weekday events to support each step of the process, you’ll be guided by a mentor to practice this prayerful but practical process so you finish by the weekend. You can attend one or all!
The events reflect the weekly events we host in The Collectives, our online community for preachers where we practice this process year-round.
Find all the details and join us! Experience the difference supported, prayerful sermon prep makes.