iStinkatDevotions.com

After almost 3 years running we have decided to close our doors effective June 15th, 2010, June 23rd 2010.  The traffic and activity on the site isn’t enough to validate the sites existence.  Maybe in the future we will be back with a fresh idea, but for now… so long!  Thanks to all the members that  joined over the past 3 years.  It’s been a fun journey!  I hope in some small way we have made you stink less at devotions…

Sometimes I feel like 2 Timothy 4:7 with this site.  I have fought the good fight!  Spammers are consuming 95% of my time with this site.  So, in order to slow them down I have disabled blogs all together.  While I am looking into other avenues to slow them down please email me directly to get a blog.  I can add them manually if you are interested.  This process will be a little bit slower, but it will save me countless hours.

New users can still sign up with no issues, you just won’t have the option for a blog.

If you want a blog, email me here:  adminben {at} istinkatdevotions [dot] com

If you already have a blog, nothing changes for you.  Continue on as normal.  This is only for new users or users that haven’t created a blog yet.

The one thing that ISAD didn’t have, that I wanted it to have, was a Bible search.  I wasn’t sure this was going to be possible.  With the help of ESV.org, it has happened!  Give it a test run and let us know what you think in the comments.  Hopefully this will allow ISAD to be a “one stop shop” during your devotional times.  It has always irritated me to have to jump around websites while doing my devotions.  I enjoy staying on one site until I’m done.  We hope this helps you stink less at devotions and become more intimate with God.

Hopefully this will clear up any confusion around ”private blogs”. If you create a blog, and choose option #2 during the process, it is set as private and not ”advertised” anywhere. The only way anyone will know about it is if you send them the direct link to your blog. If you choose option #1, we will ”advertise” it on our site and your friends will also know about it, be able to comment on it, and interact with you on your spiritual journey. If this is a blog for you and the Lord only, option #2 is the way to go. If you would like feedback on your blog from the ISAD community, and possibly others outside our community, then option #1 is the way to go.

These options can be changed at any time from the blogging headquarters, under ”My Blogs–>Your Blog Name–>Dashboard–>Settings–>Privacy”.

Hopefully this helps you better understand blog privacy! Any questions, feel free to ask me.

We have updated the mobile site to include a lot more options.  With it’s initial launch, mobile.istinkatdevotions.com was just an easy way to update your devotion history.  Today you can read your daily Bible reading anywhere you have cell phone reception.  If you have a smartphone (blackberry, iphone, windows mobile, etc…) you can listen to your daily Bible reading as well.  We have also added daily devotions from well respected authors and pastors.  Read morning and evening devotions by Charles Spurgeon, “Strength for Today” by John MacArthur, and finally you can read “My Utmost for His Hightest” by Oswald Chambers.  We hope these options will make it easier for you to spend time with the King of Kings.  We also hope you will become more intimate with God and stink less at devotions.

We just released another new feature to ISAD, the 1 year Bible plan!  This will allow you to keep track of you daily reading’s on ISAD and complete the entire Bible in one year.  We are convinced that ISAD makes it easier to read the Bible on a consistent basis.  If you use all our tools under the My Devotions area, you are bound to succeed with the help of the Holy Spirit.  For most folks, you usually don’t have a bad plan to be consistent to reading the Bible, but no plan.  We have done all the legwork for you.  Just login with your ISAD account and start today!  You will find the 1 year Bible plan under the My Devotions area at the bottom of the list.  You can hover your mouse over each day (1-365) to figure out what you missed.  You can also click on each day to finish a reading from a previous day.

Important:  This is NOT a 1 year plan where you have to start on day 1.  You can start at any point during the year!  Today is day 201, so why not start there on your reading plan?  This reading plan will NOT change starting January 1st, 2010.  It will be the same year round!  We also integrated this into the daily reading page.  Check the bottom of that page for more details.

We hope that this and the other tools we’ve provided will make you not stink at devotions.  Start using them today and provide some feedback on how we can better improve ISAD.

Watch your accountability partner with DirecTV widgets!

Did you know that DirecTV now has TV widgets?  If not, you do now!  What is a widget you might ask?  It’s a small program that will quickly bring you information on any given subject.  They have items like a weather gadget, sports, calendar, games, etc…  Well, now they have an iStinkatDevotions.com gadget!  With this gadget you can quickly check on your accountability partner from ISAD with the click of your remote button while watching TV!  Right now DirecTV is only using the widgets on DVR models of receivers.  You can get more info here  http://tvapps.directv.com and here http://directv.com

Here is the direct link to our app that you can add to your DVR.  Add the application and let us know what you think!  Hopefully this will make it easier to follow your accountability partner on ISAD.

Once the application is downloaded, you can change the name of the accountability partner you are following under options from your remote or from the DirecTV application website.  Please let us know if you have any issues with it!

The re-launch of ISAD is only two weeks old and a lot has changed.  I see this becoming a trend.  I just wanted to highlight the changes in case you missed one.  I appreciate any and all ideas in order to give you the tools necessary to be consistent with the Lord.  Thanks to jbright and marnus for their ideas thus far!  You have made ISAD better.

So, the changes under “My Devotions”:

1) Devotional Blog Link (an easy way, in My Devotions, to quickly post what God is teaching you so others can learn as well)
2) Daily Reading (read this daily and you will have read through the Bible in 1 year)
3) Daily Devotions by Charles Spurgeon (Morning and Evening Editions)
4) Daily Devotions by Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest)
5) Daily Devotions by John MacArthur (Strength for Today)
6) Weekly Memory Verse (memorize it today!)
7) We are on Twitter http://twitter.com/istinkat (follow us now)

If you have an idea that you would like to see implemented on ISAD, post it here.  http://istinkatdevotions.com/groups/new-isad-ideas