My SPARK benefits have been:

• More time in prayer. I spend anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour or more in my prayer closet every day.
• Deepening quality of prayer.  I listen more and a intercede more for others.
• Growing desire to pray.  Pray isn’t an obligation I need to squeeze in.  I want to pray more.  I loving my prayer time.
• Living out the Word more fully.  Each week a verse of the week and action focus guide my daily living.  These guides have prompted me to actively set goals for living faithfully to God’s Word and I am doing it!  Yay!
• Intimacy with God. I am so much more alive to what God is doing. My SPARK is burning brighter everyday.  It’s like I am headed toward a bonfire of faith rather than struggling to keep a flickering flame  alive.
• Life Lessons/Wisdom. God has granted me insights for living and growing.  Through studying proverbs I am beginning to understand what is important and what is not important for me to invest my time in daily.
• Strength for the journey.  Life is demanding right now. Yet every day in my prayer closet God grants me the strength, words, wisdom, or whatever else I need to make it through the day with out being overwhelmed.  God is good!

 
Most of these benefits have come from Study, Prayer and Action via my prayer closet discipline. My attention to Rest has been great up until the last week or so, when I got a bit sloppy in guarding my sleep pattern.  My prayer closet time in general has been one big piece of Kindling that is perpetually feeding my faith fire.  Nevertheless, I have started to feel God tugging me to expose myself to knew things that can enhance my faith.
 

My verse for the week is…

“Do you see a man skillful in his work?  He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”  Proverbs   22:28-29

When I read these verses this morning, I wrote in the margin of my bible, “work on your craft.” Part of being wise is becoming excellent in the vocation God has given you. Great disciples honor God in their work. God has given us His absolute best in his son, Jesus Christ.  Our thankful response should always be to give God our very best.  That said, I realized today that if you want to to give God your best then you should always strive to improve the skills of your work.
 
So, on the way to work I stopped at a bookstore and bought three things:  this  month’s copy of Bible Study Magazine and Success Magazine, and the book The Daily Writer.  Each of them will feed, inspire and educate me.  Consider them professional kindling for my God-given craft.  Bible Study Magazine will kindle my ability to read the Bible.  I am hoping to glean from it fresh perspectives, discipling tips and study tools. The Daily Writer, subtitled, “366 meditations to cultivate a productive and meaningful writing life”, will help me grow in the skill of writing.  So much of my work is writing:  newsletter articles, Sunday school lessons, sermons, blog posts, letters, etc.  Lastly, I always find Success Magazine inspiring and informative.
 

Consider these question to help you give God your very best.

• What could you do to offer God your very best as a parent, busyness owner, student, or employee?
• What could you learn today that would help you perfect your skills in one of those areas?
• What new knowledge would make you better?
• What practice would help you perfect the work God has called you to do?
• What would the ideal skillful worker look like in your field?
• How can you take a concrete action step (no matter how small) to move toward being that ideal?

Blessings in your quest to give God your best,
 
 

John Arnold,

ThePracticalDisciple
 
 
p.s. Pictured below is my desktop for the week. Right click here to download a full size version.

Periodically, I write a post that really seems to hit people. One that stands out in my mind is a post that I wrote almost 2 years ago explaining growth barriers called “10 Signs that You are Resisting Change.” I had an overwhelming response to this post. Numerous people read that post and said, “You are describing me.” This coming Monday, August 30th at 10:30 a.m I am going to revisit those signs on the Laurie Beth Jones Internet Talk Radio Show and go further by discussing how we break through growth barriers. If you are not familiar with Laurie Beth she is an awesome author.  ”Jesus, Ceo” and “The Path” are probably her two most popular books.  And…if you are not familiar with internet radio, stick around until the end of this post.  I have put together a quick step by step video tutorial to show you exactly how to listen to the show.
 

About the Interview

Well anyways, come Monday morning I am going to be on her show talking about how to get through growth barriers.  This is one of my favorite topics and something sorely overlooked in most spiritual growth materials.  Most materials tell you all the wonderful changes you will experience growing in God, but often times neglect to tell you about the pain sometimes associated with stepping away from the old you. Growth barriers are actually a normative part of how we grow.  We all have them.  In fact, just knowing that discomfort and resistance is normal to growth can make a huge difference.  When we learn, grow and begin changing, the identity shift can be quite painful.  Many people misdiagnose the discomfort of growth and then unwittingly avoid growth.  It is not that they don’t want to grow.  They are just trying to get away from the discomfort and they don’t realize the huge opportunity cost.  I will unpack this more in the interview on Monday, August 30th at 10:30 on Monday.  Click here for details or to listen on the day of the show.
 

How To Tune into the Show

Okay, I have to confess…as net savey as I can be in some ways, until about a month ago I had no idea how to listen to internet radio. It should be as simple as clicking on the link I provided above, but life isn’t always as it should be so let me quickly show you how to hear the show. I also show you in the video how to share the show with others or have a reminder sent to you.

Well, I hope you tune into learn more about breaking through growth barriers. Blessings to you from The Practical Disciple

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For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)

 
Last night I was watching a video with my son Matthew that was part of an online course we are taking together. It is a course in developing online products. The instructor actually gives away a number of products to participants in the course. They are completely free to reproduce them and put them online. In the video the instructor was addressing the concern that if he gives the products away won’t the market then be flooded to the point that his students can’t realistically compete. The short answer was no. Mainly because he explained that the sad reality is that 99% of the people who take a course fail to do the work necessary.
 
I was reminded of a real estate agent I met who was extremely profitable at what he did. A young competitor called him up one day and said, “I know that you probably won’t want to do this, but I was wondering if there is anyway you would meet with me for lunch and share with me what you do that makes you so successful.” The agent agreed without hesitation. He went and he shared the many personal disciplines that he regularly exercised to succeed so well. Afterwards, the young competitor said, “I still can’t believe you where willing to do this. Why did you do this? Aren’t you afraid I’ll take your business?” The agent explained to him, “I am really not worried about that. Very few people are willing to do what I do to be successful.”
 
Unfortunately, I can relate all to well to these stories in my spiritual life, both as a mentor and a student. I can’t tell you how many books, retreats, sermons, cd’s, videos, and classes I have sat through that gave me clear direction that would benefit my spiritual life. Yet, finding myself applying far to little. I also have seen this in the church regularly. I repeatedly hand people spiritual disciplines in kit form, but sadly only a very limited number apply tools long enough to see the fruit.
 
My concern around this very human reality is heavily on my mind as I try to re-craft an online bible mentoring program that people will actually hopefully apply themselves to. I am not trying to sound dismal and skeptical here. The harsh reality though is that we are conditioned daily to crave newness and immediate gratification which are both antithetical to the self-discipline necessary to develop depth in any discipline.
 
I have noticed that whether you are talking about sports, academics, finances, business, or spiritual growth, the people who excel have tremendous personal discipline. They share some common characteristics and practices. Highly successful and disciplined people:
 
PLAN THEIR WORK
Disciplined people have clear plans for what they will do. Clear to-do lists for the day. Journals for their prayers. Stated or written intentions and goals. Do you consciously have any plan for how you are growing in your relationship with God. Do you have a plan for improving your study of the Word or prayer life? Do you have a plan for what you will give in money, time or talent? Do you have a hope or vision for how you will be different as a disciple in six months? If so, do you know what specifically you are going to do to get there? You cannot expect to arrive somewhere, if you have no destination in mind or no plan to get there.
Application step: Write a description of how you would like to be different as a disciple in the next six months or write down an accomplishment that you would like to achieve to honor God. Make a list of the steps you need to take to transform these hopes into realities.
 
WORK THEIR PLAN.
The greatest intention in the world without action is worthless. Once you craft a plan, work it. Work it without fail, not just when it is convenient. I have noticed disciplined people stick to their plan to completion. They do not keep willy-nilly jumping to a new idea or plan. I actually recently heard discipline defined as “not changing course unless a different choice brings you closer to your destination.” Stay focused on taking action daily and consistently. No matter how small a step you take, take a step.
Application step: Track your progress. Create charts, checklists or other visible reminders that reflect your progress. For example, on the corner of my bathroom mirror I have written the following with a dry erase marker: “Blog Posts–41/210.” I have a goal of writing 210 posts in 2010. The first number is my current count of posts year to date. I update it each time I produce a new posts. It stares me in the face every time I stand at my sink. I have several other goals similarly tracked on my mirror. Notebooks can be another great way to track progress. My son and I have a notebook for tracking our progress in a joint venture. We print out lists of actions steps. We then check off and date when we accomplish them.
 
DO NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS
This principle goes hand-in-hand with working a plan. I have often voiced it this way, “Don’t work ahead and don’t make an exception.” This principle is really a principle of boundaries. Disciplined people resist distraction. How often do you put together a to-do list and then later you find that you spent hours doing other things with limited progress on your actual list. This may be symptomatic of a lack of self-discipline around staying focused. Or you may be grabbing at other solutions before applying something long enough to see its fruit. Keep on your plan. Discipline also draws boundaries on working excessively to the point of burn-out. A lack of rest is a lack of discipline. I am discovering more and more that fatigue debilitates discipline faster than any other factor in my life.
Application step: Define the upper and lower boundaries for the activity you will put into a discipline and stick with those boundaries. At first this will very likely induce stress, but over time it will extremely reduce stress.
 
ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS
Disciplined people think and plan fully through things. They don’t half do a task. As Christians we are supposed to do all that we do as if we are doing it for Christ. Doesn’t it follow that we should do all things excellently? Doesn’t it follow that we shouldn’t be sloppy or disorganized about how we approach our spiritual disciplines?
Application step: Go back and evaluate your plan. Is it specific and thoughtful or have you just thrown a loose idea out there? What if someone else had to follow it? Could they follow it clearly?
 
KNOW THEIR PURPOSE
It’s one thing to have a destination in mind and even a plan for getting there, and it is an entirely different thing to understanding why you are going there. Disciplined people don’t only know what they are doing but they understand why they are doing it. This clarity of purpose is partly what allows disciplined people an edge in accomplishing their plans. When the going gets tough, they can remind themselves of the importance of the activity they are doing.
Application step: Look at your plan and write down why you want to succeed. What is your motivation? What will be accomplished ultimately?
 
—————

EXERCISES THAT WILL STRENGTHEN PERSONAL DISCIPLINE
 
Fasting
Fasting from anything that matters to you will increase your baseline ability to practice discipline in all things. You don’t have to just fast from food. Give up something for a period of time that is significant to you or reflexive, i.e. spending time on facebook, watching television, texting, etc. A life coach that I know says, “The way we do one thing is the way we do all things.” There is a lot truth to that statement. The good news is that if we shift significantly how we do one thing it can effect how we do all things. So, discipline around how you eat will translate into greater discipline in how you study.
 
Pick a single activity each day and perform it with extreme excellence.
For example, next time you iron a shirt, do it very meticulously. Or next time you have to clean something, clean it until it is absolutely spotless. Actively working at attention to detail on a task will shift your awareness around detail in other tasks.
 
Practice waking and rising at the same time each day.
This is something that I have a particularly difficult time with, so I may be preaching mostly to myself. Nevertheless, there are two important reasons why you should do this. You will develop your ability to exercise placing boundaries which are critical to discipline. You will also dismantle fatigue in your life. Fatigue causes you to cut corners and compromises your judgement.
 
Use a timer on activities you easily get lost in and quit when it goes off.
I can get lost in activities all to easily. Some people set time boundaries more naturally than others. Using and obeying a timer will help expand your ability to set healthy limits. I used a timer twice this morning in the office. I spent 15 minutes “T.R.A.F.ing” (toss, refer, act, or file) in my offices and 20 minutes reading a magazine on children’s ministry. I knew that both of them were things that I could easily let consume much time so I set a timer. When my office gets out of control, I traf daily for just a few minutes at a time until it is restored to order. I set my timer and do nothing more and nothing less.
 
Maintain a Sabbath
A sabbath is a discipline in and of itself but I find the practice of it effects my ability to be disciplined. You need time for quiet reflection or you will become very muddied in your purpose and find yourself pulled about by every demand that comes your way. I am in the process of reestablishing a Sabbath time. I used to take half of every Monday and use it to wander in the woods for a couple of hours and then I would sit in prayer at the edge of a pond for an entire hour of uninterrupted prayer. When I maintain a day of rest like this my ability to be disciplined sores.  To learn the basics of sabbath read my sabbath post.
 
Practice stillness
Few things will awaken self-awareness like stillness and self-awareness is key to self-discipline. When we lack awareness we are reactionary. If you practice stillness, you will become much more conscious of thoughts and feelings going on inside of you. You increase your ability through stillness to observe thoughts and feelings and either respond to or disregard them. Sitting quietly observing nature and paying attention to my senses for lengthy periods of time has been particularly beneficial in this regard. Centering prayer though has been incomparable to any other activity in honing my ability to stay focused and not get jerked about by thoughts, feelings, and physical distractions. If you are unfamiliar with this practice then check out my centering prayer post.
 
Pray for self-discipline
Did you notice in the opening quote from the bible that Paul is telling us that a spirit of discipline or self-control is something God gave you. You can work on all the things above and it will help, but don’t forget to ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit to keep the flesh in check and your spirit faithful.
 
Blessing to you as you seek greater faithfulness to God in all things.
  

In my last post, Thorns in the Rose Garden of Spiritual Growth, I spoke about how spiritual growth can be painful because significant change is uncomfortable.  This post addresses ten common ways people resist change.  Think of these things as yield signs warning you to proceed with caution.