I recently wrote about the connection between physical and spiritual strength, but thought it might be helpful to elaborate on the spiritual and physical disciplines that I practice for the sake of growing stronger. Ultimately, the work is the Lord’s but there is personal responsibility on all believers as we steward the body, mind, and soul the Lord has given us. I’ve written on spiritual disciplines off and on, both about myself and about my kids, but I have never compiled them all in once place. These are the disciplines I practice on a daily (or weekly) basis.
Prayer
Prayer, like it is for many believers, has been my greatest challenge in spiritual disciplines. My prayer life has gone through more changes than any other discipline in an effort to commune with God. To be quite honest, I’m constantly wondering if I need to change how I pray, yet again, because I frequently find myself wondering if God hears me, frustrated because I get distracted and wondering how effective my prayers are.
In the last decade, I have tried writing my prayers down, kneeling, talking out loud, keeping a prayer request journal, and prayer walking around my house. Currently, I pray as soon as I get up by walking in circles around my living room. I want prayer to be the first thing I do to start my day, but as much as I think a kneeling posture does something to orient my heart, I find I have an extremely hard time maintaining that posture first thing in the morning without falling back asleep. There may be an argument for fighting against the flesh somewhere in there, but for now, I walk to stay awake and to pray first thing.
Prayer has become an important part of our family disciplines, as well. We pray together as a family when putting our kids to bed and my husband and I pray together before we go to bed, too. As much as I feel I struggle with it, I believe bookending my days with prayer has been vital towards spiritual growth.
Bible
After prayer, I read my Bible. I always go through some kind of reading plan. Most years, it’s a read-through-the-Bible plan. I like reading through all of Scripture every year. This year, I borrowed a plan my husband developed for himself, which reads through the whole Old Testament and only part of the New Testament every year. Each day has a reading from both testaments, but with this plan, we read the New Testaments books through multiple times.
A couple of years ago, I decided to read only through Paul’s letters for the whole year. I took one letter per month (I think I combined 1 and 2 Timothy in one month to make it work). I really enjoyed doing that, but I missed reading through all of the Bible. However, last year I read this article by Trevin Wax that has had me considering slowing down and reading through the Bible over 2-3 years versus 1 year.
I help teach the women’s Bible study at our church, so I frequently get in depth study of one book of the Bible that way. I feel it’s the best of both worlds when I can both read through the Bible and do a focused study at the same time.
Scripture Memorization
Memorizing Scripture has made a huge impact on my spiritual health. As one lady in my Bible study put it, “Scripture is our super power.” When I am struggling, it can be easy to ignore are argue with generic statements about what is true about my situation. But it’s impossible to ignore direct quotes from Scripture that apply to my struggles, and the Spirit frequently calls memorized verses to mind when I’m having a hard time.
I don’t know how many passages I’ve memorized at this point (I think it’s around 40), but I have a stack of index cards on which are written all the verses I’ve memorized and I go through five of them each day. I need to add more to the deck now that they’re all memorized. Some are singular verses and some are multiple-verse passages. Typically, I memorize verses that stand out to me in my Bible reading, particularly when I’m having a hard time with something.
Prayer Walking
This probably could go under “Prayer,” but it is a relatively new practice I have started since my kids began school, and I have a more specific purpose for prayer walking. I’ve been convicted about the lack of a particular spiritual discipline in my life: evangelism. And my neighborhood is the most obvious place where opportunities for sharing the gospel would come up.
So, since the kids started school, every Wednesday after I drop them off, I walk around my neighborhood praying for my neighbors and for opportunities to reach out to neighbors who may not know Jesus. I am praying for ways to reach out to our neighbors, but also for patience in what is likely to be slow work. I’m also praying that I would not drag my feet in taking action as well.
Room to Grow
Like evangelism, there are likely other disciplines (such as fasting), that I need to incorporate in my regular rhythms. There is always room to grow. And to be quite honest, I feel I go through frequent seasons of feeling like these disciplines are dry and monotonous. I will have times where I do feel moved, or feel more affection for the Lord, but those times don’t feel like the norm. Not yet, at least.
But, as I recently told a friend, even if it feels dry or monotonous, daily time in prayer and Scripture is vital to orienting our heart and mind towards the Lord and setting our day off on the right foot, for God’s glory, for our spiritual strength, and for the people we serve. The Lord is faithful and His word will not return void. And though I might sometimes feel like that time isn’t very effective, I can also look back over the last 7 years and see how the Lord has worked through those disciplines, even when I wasn’t feeling it. These disciplines were vital to growing in spiritual strength.
Photo by Austin Henckel on Unsplash
