— Drawing near to God through adoration and holy living

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Colossians 3:16

Get Ready:

• Prepare ahead for the worship gathering. Spend some time worshipping God privately throughout the week by confessing, studying the bible, and considering his presence often throughout each day. Try going to bed early Saturday night, pray ahead of time that God would prepare you for the Sunday services, and arrive before service starts.

Try it out:

• Gather with two or three friends and take time sharing praises — consider the attributes of God, ways you have seen Him move, or things you are thankful for.
• Try worshipping God though different postures at home or in a service. To show God praise consider standing, raising your head, lifting your hands or dancing. To express humility and adoration try bowing your head, kneeling, laying facedown,
• Offer God a sacrifice of worship. Choose to praise God when you don’t feel like it. This may mean offering up a prayer of praise, singing a worship song, or attending and worshipping on a Sunday morning.

Go Deeper:

• Watch Francis Chan’s teaching on “What is Worship” on Youtube
• To learn about how worship works read Imagining the Kingdom by James K. A. Smith
• Practice worship with one of these guides: A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants, The Book of Common Prayer, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
• Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren
• Worship: The Reason We Were Created--Collected Insights from A. W. Tozer by A. W. Tozer. These are GREAT for a morning devotional. HERE
• The Wonder of Worship: Why We Worship the Way We Do by Keith Drury.

— Hearing God’s voice and discerning His will in Christian community

“…I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:19-20

Get Ready:

Find a quiet spot to journal or pray. Ask God to help you discern His voice using Scripture, circumstances, and the guidance of trusted friends who follow Jesus. If you are not sure whose counsel to seek, ask God to bring a person or group to mind.

Try it out:

• Meet with a mature friend or mentor (consider those you have relationships with). Ask them to pray with you for God’s direction, guidance, or clarity.
• Join or start a small group. Meet regularly with the group to pray, study Scripture, and talk. Over time as relationships grow, allow the group to consider and pray about areas you need discernment.
• Ask two spiritually mature, trusted friends or mentors to each choose one other mature person and pray about an area you are seeking guidance. Have the pairs share their guidance with you.

Go Deeper:

• Check out this article on “What Is Spiritual Direction?” https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/january/27.30.html
• Read In Search of Guidance by Dallas Willard.
• Read Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline chapter on Guidance.
• Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God by Dallas Willard (IVP Press, 2012). Previously published as In Search of Guidance in 1984.
• The Will of God as a Way of Life by Jerry Sittser

— Admitting our sins to ourselves, to God and to others"

“… If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Get Ready:

Find a quiet place to pray asking God to reveal any areas of sin in your life. If it’s helpful, pray the words from Psalm 139, “Search me, God, and know my heart, test me know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me…"

Try it out:

• Take a few minutes each morning to ask God to reveal any sins to you. As they come to mind, confess them to God, and then pray, “God help me receive your forgiveness.”
• Consider trying confession out with a trusted friend. Choose someone who is spiritually mature, confidential, full of joy, and meet with them. Share one area where God has revealed a sin in your life. Ask them to pray for you.
• Take a few days to pray the prayer from Psalm 139. After compiling a list of sins, consider sharing these with a trusted friend. After they have read the list, ask them to tear it up and pray for you. Join the prayer thanking God for his forgiveness.

Go Deeper:

• Read “Why We Need to Practice Confession” an article by Relevant Magazine (https://www.relevantmagazine.com/faith/why-we-need-practice-confession/)
• To learn more about practicing confession in community read this article called: “Discipleship Band: Confession Breaks the Power of Sin" (https://www.seedbed.com/discipleship-bands-confession-breaks-the-power-of-sin/)
• Read Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline chapter on confession.
• Download the Confession Card

— Humbly caring for the needs of others

“…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

- Matthew 20:26-28

Get Ready:

Start your day praying this simple prayer from Richard Foster: “Lord Jesus, as it would please you bring me someone today whom I can serve.”

Try it out:

• Consider one way you can serve someone you see regularly through quiet, daily acts of service. This may mean doing the dishes for your spouse, picking up after children, bringing co-workers coffee, or preparing spaces before and after meetings. If possible, do your acts of service anonymously.
• Serve someone through hospitality. This can be as simple as inviting a friend, neighbor or coworker over to share a meal, hosting a party, or opening your home to a guest over night. Consider how you can make space for others to be together.
• Perform a random act of kindness for a stranger. You may want to pay for someone else’s meal or groceries, drop off gifts for local emergency responders, or do yard work for a neighbor.

Go Deeper

Find more on the definition of service here: https://renovare.org/articles/understanding-service or in Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

For ways to serve check out:

• https://finds.life.church/serve-others-during-coronavirus/
• https://alivewesleyan.com/volunteer/

— Willingly choosing to put the needs and preferences of others above your own

“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

- Mark 8:34

Get Ready:

Submission is an attitude of the heart meant to bring freedom. Before trying any steps of submission, pray, asking God to help you willingly and joyfully value the needs of others above your own.

Try it out:

• Try starting each day this week with a prayer expressing your submission to God. You may pray this variation of Thomas A. Kempis’s prayer, “God help me do as you want, what you want, when you want.” Or simply start the day saying, “God use me the way you want to today.”
• Practice listening to your family members, roommates, or friends. Over a meal ask them questions about how they are and listen attentively.
• Start your day reading a short section of scripture. As you read ask, “God what do you want me to obey from this passage?” Write down your impressions and obey what you hear.

Go Deeper:

• Check out https://renovare.org/articles/understanding-submission for definitions of submission.
• Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster includes a great chapter on submission.
• The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder has a chapter on Revolutionary Subordination that Richard Foster references.

— creating quiet for your body, mind, and soul in order to hear and see God

“Come away by yourselves to a lonely place” Mark 6:31

Get Ready:

- Pick a time and a place where you can quiet your mind and your body. This may be a certain room or chair in your home, in your car, on a short walk, or another setting where you can rest. Your quiet moments may happen before you get out of bed in the morning, just before bed at night, or over your lunch break.

Try it out:

• Spend time in your quiet space for 3-5 minutes. While there, breathe deeply and listen for God. To keep your thoughts from wandering, consider praying short prayers as you breathe. “God thank you for this time. Help me hear your voice.” Or “Jesus, I long for your presence.” Write down what you see or hear during this time.
• Go a whole day or a part of a day without speaking. Don’t make it a law, but pay attention to your desire to speak. In particular note the times you want to explain or justify your actions. Write notes or journal about your experience. What is God showing you?
• Take a retreat for a day or a few hours. Spend that time writing out your goals for one year, five years, and ten years. Pray that God would guide this process and write any impressions or directions that come your way.

Go Deeper — The Hour that Changes the World by Dick Eastman has a great description of how to practice silence and solitude.

• Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton describes God’s invitation to this practice.
• For some great exercises in solitude check out: https://practicingtheway.org/silence-solitude/week-one?rq=solitude
• A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Reuben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck includes 12 outlines for short personal retreats.

— an inward attitude and outward practice of enjoying possessions with a proper perspective

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

Get Ready:

- Take some time to read Matthew 6:25-33. Seeking God’s kingdom first is the foundation for all simplicity.

Try it out:

• Consider what you buy. Buy things for their usefulness and not their status. Evaluate your purchases this week through the lens of usefulness. Will I use this? Am I buying this to impress someone else?
• Simplify your speech. “Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Pay attention this week to your yeses and nos this week. Are you doing all the things you said you would? Are you saying no when you need to?
• Give something away. Try giving away a possession that is valuable to you, sharing something you love with someone you care about, or giving financially to a person or organization.
• Borrow rather than buy.  Consider books, movies, recreational possessions, or other items you may use that you can borrow or share with someone else.  Are there opportunities to rent or borrow rather than buy this item? Is there someone I can lend this item to?

Go Deeper — Check out these books on simplicity:

• Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster
• The More of Less by Joshua Becker
• Exercises in Simplicity are available at https://practicingtheway.org/practices/simplicity.
• Download the Simplicity Card

- intentionally focusing the mind on a subject or situation in order to experience transformation

Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Get Ready:

Set aside a block of time, and a quiet spot where you can focus.

Try it out:

• Choose one book of the bible (a shorter one) and read it each day for a week or for month. Expect to hear new things, and keep a journal of what you learn.
• Study nature. Sit outside and look around. Think about the design behind what you see. Notice patterns and look for evidence of God in animals, plants, and landscapes.
• Study yourself. Think about what thoughts might be going through your mind. What makes you angry? What makes you happy? Why do you like or dislike certain people? Consider with humility what’s going on inside of you.
• Pick up a devotional classic and read through it, reflecting on what it is teaching you.

Go Deeper — Check out one of these resources on Study or these devotional classics:

• Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
• https://practicingtheway.org/scripture-practice/part-four
• Download Study Card
• The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
• The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Franyl

—Pushing pause on what you want or need for something you need more

Matthew 4:4

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’’

John 4:34

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

Try it out:

• Fast from social media, news, streaming services or other forms of information and entertainment. Choose one day a week to fast from the outlet you turn to most in times of quiet. When you feel the draw to pick up your phone, turn on the tv, or start scrolling instead turn your thoughts toward prayer or meditation.
• Fast from food for 24 hours. Try to fast from lunch to lunch. Do this privately and tell those who need to know. Use the time usually spent eating for times of meditation or prayer. Eat something light to break your fast like fruits or vegetables. Consider writing your reflections in a journal.
• Fast from phones. Set aside a specific time to put your phones away. Families with young kids may consider creating a phone jail or small box to store phones in while you go for a walk, spend time with someone you care about, or spend time praying or reading scripture.

Go Deeper — Check out one of these resources on Fasting:

• https://practicingtheway.org/fast/part-one
• Download fasting card

• Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

• God’s Chosen Fast by Arthur Wallis

• The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer--fasting from work and busyness
• Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating by Norman Wirzba
• 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke--fasting from technology
• A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer by John Piper
• The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard
• Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney (Chapter 9 is about fasting)

— asking God to move and change lives and circumstances around us

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7

Get Ready:
- Take a minute to breathe deeply and listen for God. Ask Him to show you how to pray.

Try it out:

• Imaginative Prayer - Choose a life or a situation you’d like to see changed. Now imagine what it would look like for that person or circumstance to be changed. Imagine the person who is sick well and walking around. Picture the husband and wife filled with love for one another when they walk through the front door. Pray for God to heal and to restore.
• “Flash Prayers.” — Notice people around you in a store, a service, at home, in your classroom, in your workplace, or in places you drive by. Silently look at them and pray quietly asking God to make them aware of his presence. Watch for how he may answer.
• Pray for kids. — If you have kids or know kids, consider praying blessings over those kids. Pray for them as they rest or play that God would heal them and help them grow up knowing his love.

Go Deeper — Check out one of these resources on Prayer:

• https://practicingtheway.org/pray/week-three
• Download Prayer Card
• A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller
• The Hour that Changes the World Dick Eastman
• Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God  by Tim Keller
• Prayer: Communing with God in Everything by A.W. Tozer
• Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? by Phillip Yancey

— The ability to hear God’s voice and obey God’s word

John 14:27
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Get Ready:
- Choose an unhurried time, a quiet place, and a comfortable way to sit.

Try it out:

• Meditate on Scripture — Read a verse or passage each day and reflect on what it says. John 14:27 is a great place to start. Consider reading the same verse or passage 3 or 4 times a day quietly or reading it once a day for a week, try not to rush!
• Meditate on Creation — Look at the trees, the birds, the animals around you and reflect on the God who made all of this. Invite God to speak.

Go Deeper — Check out one of these resources on Christian Meditation:

• https://practicingtheway.org/scripture-practice/part-five?rq=meditation
• Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline
• Download Meditation Card
• Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God by Dallas Willard

Dallas is one of the most prolific, modern authors on Christian discipleship. This book offers lots of wisdom and advice about hearing from God through Scripture. Willard includes several, guided practices in this reprint of one of his classic works.

• Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture by John Piper

At almost 400 pages, Piper’s Reading the Bible Supernaturally may not be for the faint of heart, but it will be well worth your effort. For those of you who find theological backgrounds important, it is necessary to note that Piper is a Calvinist. However, I have found many of his writings personally encouraging even if I do not agree with every position he takes. Nevertheless, I can agree with Piper that the Bible is supernatural and that God speaks from Its pages.