Prayer is Spiritual Discipline
I know we are not supposed to be envious of anything, but to be honest I am envious of people who have a solid prayer life. You know the people who confidently and consistently pray throughout each and every day. They are the first to go to prayer in a time of crisis. They never forget to pray because for them it is a healthy habit. I have to remind myself to pray. Often I only pray when it is expected or when the occasion calls for it. I want to be someone who habitually prays and does so with ease, but that is not me.
So what do I do? I try. I don’t beat myself up for forgetting nor do I believe that God looks down on me in disgust because of my less than stellar prayer life. Instead, I try each and everyday in an attempt to make it habitual. Prayer like any other spiritual discipline is something we must all work at. A spiritual discipline is any habit or activity done with intention that helps us be more "in touch" with our spirituality and with God. There are many spiritual disciplines (here’s a list of a few) and some may come easy to you while others may require more practice, but the key is to keeping trying.
Here are some tips that I have that can help you to turn any spiritual discipline into a habit:
Keep grace in mind. God is not going to punish you or be upset with you, so don’t be upset or punish yourself.
Focus on quantity not quality, at first. One key to developing a habit is to do something as often as you can. Don’t worry about how good you are but rather how often. Eventually quality will improve as the spiritual discipline becomes a habit.
Remember you are not alone. Hopefully you are surrounded by a community of believers, but even if you are not, know that there are many people just like you working to develop spiritual disciplines in their lives. If you don’t have one, look for a community of believers that will challenge and journey with you.
Use effective resources. There are many resources out there to help you develop what ever spiritual discipline you hope to work on. One of my favorite resources is www.resourceumc.org, it is a website rich with suggestions and links to practices to help.
Stay on it. You have probably heard the old adage that when you fall of the horse you got to get back on. The same is true with spiritual disciplines, not matter how many times you fail to make it a habit, you have to keep trying.
Do you want a better prayer life or is there a spiritual discipline that you would like to be better at? If so, give these tips a try. If developing a prayer life is something you are working on, then I want to encourage you to join us this Sunday September 4th as we discuss how we can have an effective prayer life.
In God’s grip,
Pastor Chuck Church
