Life + Faith

Tag: Spiritual Disciplines

  • Weaknesses in Our Praying (Part 2)

    Weaknesses in Our Praying (Part 2)

    Part of our Christian culture has absorbed an idea from the nineteenth century Romantic movement, that only spontaneous prayer is authentic prayer. Only the unscripted, in the moment work of the Spirit counts as real, while anything prepared or written is somehow second best. I want to push back on that, and on a few other habits we’ve fallen into along the way.

    Prepared Prayers Aren’t Cheating

    One of the best habits I’ve built into my own rhythm is praying prayers that others have written. They give me words I wouldn’t naturally reach for myself. In one particularly difficult season, it was often just a Psalm or two that got me through, prayers already written for exactly that kind of day or week or month. Prayers composed by Christians from earlier centuries can do the same, putting good theology and honest feeling into words when I can’t find my own.

    It’s a little amusing, really. Peter Adam makes the point that we’re perfectly happy singing prepared songs when we praise God together, yet we can treat a written prayer as somehow less spiritual than praying off the cuff. 

    I’m fairly sure nobody wants to hear me sing off the cuff!

    Colossians 3:16 reminds us that the message of Christ is to dwell in us richly. As he does the overflow of our hearts will come out in prayer and praise to God, and it doesn’t matter if it’s resonating with a written prayer or one that is extemporaneous. 

    Pray the Bible Back to God

    It was a long way into my Christian life before anyone taught me that praying the Bible was even an option. By that I mean taking the actual words of scripture, a Psalm, a passage Paul wrote, a prayer of Hannah, Mary or Zechariah, and praying them back to God as our own. Who would have thought that praying the Bible is simply returning to God the very words he has revealed to us in his Word?

    When we do this, our prayer life is shaped and enriched by scripture at the same time. We recover the old habit of turning our Bible reading straight into prayer, letting its phrases become our own.

    This might be something you’ve never thought of too. It’s worth having a go. I’d encourage trying a Psalm first, since they were written to be prayed as much as read, and see how you find it. As we train ourselves in this our prayers become soaked in scripture and are helpful not only in our prayers but our knowledge and experience of God. 

    Don’t Get Tunnel Vision

    Detectives can fall into what’s called tunnel vision, narrowing in on one suspect so tightly they stop considering other evidence or other people altogether. It’s something good investigators are trained to guard against.

    Our prayer life can suffer the same problem. In time our prayers can shrink down to a narrow band of familiar concerns, and lose the imagination and breadth the Bible calls us to. Many of us rarely pray for rulers, politicians, and nations, especially those we don’t relate to. Other countries and peoples can go entirely missing from our prayers too, along with thanksgiving for what God is doing in places we’ll never see or influence. We need prayers that reach further than our own circle. We need prayer that asks the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field (Matthew 9:38).

    We’ve Stopped Praying Together

    Public and private prayer are both a weakness in our contemporary church culture. There was a time when Christians expected each other to turn up to the regular prayer meeting. That’s largely gone from Western church life now. I once heard of an African pastor visiting a church in the UK whose first question was where the prayer meeting was, and how many people came. If someone asked us the same thing, what would we say?

    Praying together as a church matters. It’s one of the clearest ways we express our shared life with God as we walk this journey with others. But the gap isn’t only in the prayer meeting. Some churches have dropped pastoral prayer from their Sunday gathering, couples stop praying together, parents stop praying with their children, and close Christian friendships can drift along without much prayer at all.

    It’s a stark contrast to our forebears, and something worth considering in our own practice of prayer today.

  • Weaknesses in Our Praying (Part 1)

    Weaknesses in Our Praying (Part 1)

    Most of us know we should pray more than we do, and most of us have never really stopped to ask why we don’t.

    A few years ago I signed up for prayer training, six sessions with an experienced pastor and mentor who led a group of us through the breadth of praying available to us in scripture, then walked with us as we prayed together and grew in it. It was as much experience as it was knowledge. Like most things in the Christian life, it turns out we need someone to teach us how to do this well. Jesus himself taught his disciples to pray through the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. Evidently being trained in prayer is something we need as his followers. 

    In his recent book, Prayerfulness, Peter Adam outlines weaknesses that can creep into our praying or view of prayer. Using these weaknesses as a basis for this post and the next, I think it is a helpful corrective and challenge to us. 

    We Don’t Trust God Enough

    One of the deepest weaknesses for many of us is that we lack real trust in God. In practice, many of us are practical deists. We believe in God, but we don’t quite trust his constant, sustaining rule over the universe. We assume he isn’t especially active in the world, or that even if we pray, he might not act. Without meaning to, we undermine his sovereign involvement in what happens around us, and end up trusting ourselves instead, as though everything depends on us.

    How often do we go about our day without prayer, not even considering that it might change something? Anything!? We end up working for God rather than with his grace, praying to him out of duty rather than with his enabling. We forget that nothing happens apart from him. It’s a good reminder that when we pray we trust, and when we trust we pray. It’s like the man who comes to Jesus in Mark 9:24, we believe, but we need help to overcome our unbelief! 

    We Don’t Think It’s Productive

    We swim in cultural waters that prize making the most of every minute. The technology we use trains us to move faster, work more efficiently, and produce more, whether that’s quicker meals, a fuller inbox cleared, or another project ticked off the list. Prayer runs against all of this.

    It asks for intentional time away from what the world calls a good use of time. In fact, it flips our usual measure of time on its head. Prayer requires us to stop, to be attentive, and to take up a posture of worship before God rather than productivity. We might not see an immediate benefit in the hour after we’ve prayed, but that is never the point. The point is the relationship we have with our Heavenly Father, and there’s no more productive use of time than that.

    Martin Luther once quipped that he had so much to do in a day that he needed to pray for three hours first just to get through it. I wonder if we’ve ever thought of praying with that attitude in mind? 

    We Make It Too Narrow

    How often do we pray for the things going on in our own life, and neglect prayer for God, for the world, and for the many other ingredients prayer can hold? A good meal usually needs a variety of ingredients working together, and the same is true of a rich prayer life.

    One of our weaknesses is how much weight we give to intercession alone, praying on behalf of others and ourselves. That matters, of course, but on its own it can become transactional, a running list of requests rather than a relationship. What about the other ingredients of prayer: praise, thanks, worship, confession, lament, trust and love? When our prayers stay narrow and close to home, so does our emotional engagement with God. Paul writes to Timothy at one point reminding him to bring petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving for all people to God (1 Timothy 2:1). Paul clearly has more than just intercession in mind here. 

    I know I’m certainly prone to this. Missing in my prayers is often adoration, praise for God and his character, and certainly lament and confession are harder to find as well. 

    This is a great reminder to widen the range of our prayers and see how God might work.

  • Do You Do A Mid-Year Reflection? 

    Do You Do A Mid-Year Reflection? 

    It’s that time here in Melbourne where the days are cold and fresh and we come to the halfway mark of the year. 

    I’m not sure about you but I long to be somewhere warm about now. The kids have just gone on school holidays, there will be more family time and unstructured time in the home. Friends have disappeared up north to get a dose of sun for the week, and most of the regular life programming has taken a pause. It is usually the case that after our summer break we walk back into life with a pep in our step but we are far removed from January energy. As we mark the midpoint of the year that pep might have gone by the wayside and we are simply trying to put one foot in front of the other. 

    In recent years, with all this in mind, I’ve taken time to intentionally reflect on the first half of the year. I love the book of Proverbs, and don’t dip into it nearly enough, but it has a couple of gems for us in terms of being reflective people. In Proverbs 4:26 we read, 

    “Carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be established.” 

    And then in Proverbs 14:8 is says, 

    “The sensible person’s wisdom is to consider his way, but the stupidity of fools deceives them.”

    Both these proverbs encourage us to be self-aware and reflective people, teaching us that it is discerning and wise to do so. 

    Becoming this kind of person doesn’t happen naturally either. It is not really in our nature to stop, think, be intentional, and reflective of our lives. More often than not we bumble along trying to keep up with whatever responsibilities we have before us, some simply day by day. And so being intentional in this way is a form of discipline. We discipline ourselves to stop, to think, to be reflective as to what is going on inside and around us. We do so in order to observe what God has been doing in our lives and where he might be leading us. 

    In seeking to do this in my life I work through 10 short questions, giving dot point answers to each of them, as an exercise in reflection. I’ve only just done it again for this year, and have found it really helpful. I share the questions below and pray they will be useful to you as well. 

    All the best, and my prayers are with you, as you consider the path of your feet and the way you have walked this year. May it be an encouragement to you. 

    Mid-Year Reflection Questions:

    1. What are the most important events that have happened to me, or in me, this past 6 months?
    2. What are the greatest breakthroughs in any category of my life this past 6 months (physically, emotionally, relationally, vocationally, spiritually, with other people, etc.)?
    3. What has been the greatest struggle in my life this past 6 months?
    4. What has been the greatest, and deepest, loss this past 6 months?
    5. What was the area that has consumed my thinking, attention, and focus this past 6 months (health, relationship, future, etc.)? 
    6. Where have I felt most vulnerable in my life?
    7. Where have I most experienced the presence of God this past 6 months and why?
    8. In the past six months, where have I experienced the greatest sense of consolation (peace, contentment, shalom, beauty, etc.)?
    9. In the past six months, what area of my life has given me the most desolation (pre-occupation, depression, anxiety, etc.)?             
    10. What is ONE word that would begin to sum up this past 6 months?

  • Bible Reading In The New Year

    For many years I had the goal of reading the Bible from cover-to-cover in a calendar year. I reckon I’ve completed that goal once in the last 15 years. My routine from January first was to start at Genesis 1:1 and make my way through at least 4 chapters per day. Yet, by late January I’d be stuck in Exodus reading about the plagues, the Red Sea, and the journey into the wilderness and already finding myself too far behind to catch up. 

    Perhaps this is a familiar experience for you as well.

    As one who comes from a tradition where the regular reading of the Bible is engrained from a young age, being unable to do this can trigger some sort of guilt trip. Thankfully, this need not be the case and my legalistic view of Bible reading has changed somewhat. This is not to say that my view of God’s Word has changed, only the perceived necessity to read through the entire Bible each year. 

    As I seek to worship God in the everyday I seek to engage with God’s Word in various ways and at various times throughout the day. This may involve reading a select passage of scripture, listening to worship music focussing on the words of scripture, or reading a portion of a Christian book that leads me to contemplate the ways of God more deeply. 

    The sidebar to this that I can’t help but make is that God’s Word is not on even par with a worship song or a Christian book. No other book or words written in human history is “…God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It’s got to be said. 

    But still, perhaps you are like me and require some structure, some idea of what you’d like to do. In growing as a disciple, in our experience, knowledge, and follow-ship of Jesus it’s still good to have a plan or approach to scripture reading. As a regular practice of our faith, and as the year is now underway, I wonder whether a way to approach this might be to think small, think regular, and think expectantly. 

    Think Small

    Everyone has different capacities as to what they can achieve in a day or a week or a year. Often we might be surprised at how much we can accomplish when we are consistent in doing little things throughout the year. 

    I’d encourage you not to think about reading the whole Bible as one complete project for the year. Radical, I know. But instead, think about it in little chunks. Think about reading one Proverb a day and repeat it every month. Think about working through a gospel one chapter at a time and digesting it properly. Or think even smaller, contemplate 1-2 verses of Paul’s letters. Or perhaps limit yourself to 5 minutes a day for January with the goal of increasing it a minute each month. 

     It is the little done over time that produces a significant amount. You’ll be surprised at how much of God’s Word you will end up reading if you think small. 

    Think Regular

    Thinking small leads to thinking regularly. Doing the small means approaching the reading of the Bible as a consistent discipline. 

    Perhaps reading everyday is not a possibility for you, that’s OK. How do weekdays suit? How does committing to a Saturday and Sunday schedule sound? I’m not sure what’s best for you, but it is in your hands as to when and how regularly your Bible reading might be. 

    At the moment I’m probably hitting 4-5 days per week of significant reading whereby I’m seeking to connect with God and grow in him. Outside of this I am in the unique situation where I’m given the opportunity to dip into God’s Word in various ways – sharing with others, preparation for sermons, and in faith conversations with church and community members. Nevertheless, what I’ve found helpful is to have a committed time of reading that’s in the calendar or on the to-do list (and prayer is always helpful alongside this). 

    Think Expectantly

    The final idea in approaching Bible reading for this year is to read expectantly. 

    How often Bible reading can become a duty rather than a delight because we come to God’s Word not expecting to hear from him! Not expecting him to change our hearts and minds, not to conform and have our mind renewed (Romans 12:2-3). 

    Often we will find connections, greater knowledge of God and his ways, and be willing to hear from God when we come to his Word expectantly. Sure, sometimes Bible reading is hard and difficult and doesn’t make sense to where we find ourselves, yet God has revealed himself through his Word and continues to make himself known by it. It’s why part of our discipleship is to go to God’s Word and hear what he has to say to us. 

    I’d encourage you to have a go, to think small, to think regularly, and think expectantly as you approach the reading of God’s Word this year. 

  • Exploring The Habits of The Christian Life: Reading The Bible For Application

    In recent time I’ve been exploring what modern Christianity would call the ‘spiritual disciplines’. These are the habits, the actions, the lifestyle, the regular practices, which shape spiritual formation for the self.

    As you can imagine these practices are centred around the Word and prayer. However, they also bring with them other practices that can help in our communion with God (think: fasting, solitude, silence, giving etc). And in the end that is the purpose of these practices, to help in our communion with God, leading us to enjoying Him in greater depth.

    Modern proponents of the spiritual disciplines are people like Dallas Willard, Eugene Peterson, Richard Foster, Donald Whitney and others. But generally when reading their books they are often footnoting the divines of ages past. This week, as I’ve been reading David Mathis’ book, The Habits of Grace, one such quote from the Puritan preacher Thomas Watson caught my eye enough to highlight. He writes,

    “Take every word as spoken to yourselves. When the word thunders against sin, think thus: “God means my sins;” when it presseth any duty, “God intends me in this.” Many put off scripture from themselves, as if it only concerned those who lived in the time when it was written; but if you intend to profit by the word, bring it home to yourselves: a medicine will do no good, unless it be applied.”

    How often do we read the Bible and seek to apply it to ourselves in a way that brings it home to ourselves? Often we can read the Bible for the sake of understanding more of the Bible, it’s history, it’s context, the people it was originally written to, but how often do we apply it to ourselves in a way that means we need to apply it?

    For those of us who have been walking with Jesus for a while, who are familiar with the Bible, and understand many of its contours we can easily skip the application of the text for us.

    As Mathis rightfully highlights following this quote, it is important to understand the Word in its context, how it relates to Jesus and the cross, before seeking to apply it to ourselves. But after reading it in this way, do we take the next step in applying it for ourselves, meditating on it to find where it may be speaking to us, insightfully helping us to see how we may need to change our thinking or actions?