Prayer | The Practical Disciple - Part 9

Posts Tagged Under: Prayer

31 “31’s” of prayer

I have learned the hard way that spiritual growth most frequently happens when we are intentional and committed to it.  Duh!  That may sound obvious, but is it?  For example, what can you list right now that you are doing on a disciplined basis with an intent to grow spiritually…to become a better disciple?  If you just paused and groped how to answer those questions, then you aren’t currently exercising the obvious.  

I regularly take on practices for set periods of time.  For example, right now I am spending 15 minutes of giving thanks every evening for 31 days.  I am about halfway through.  I will report on how that goes in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime, I encourage you to take on some form of thirty

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Praying for Pruning

A couple of weeks ago, I made a post about pruning habits that draw our energy away from following God. After the fact, I realized that I only gave you half of the instructions need. The Sunday after creating that post, I happened to preach on the passage in the gospel of John where Jesus describes himself as the vine and we as the branches. Here is that passage.

I am the vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As

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Expanding your Prayer Vocabulary through Prayer Books

A reader commented on how great the prayer was that I shared in the post, “Eradicating Spiritual Virus.” The prayer came from the Book of Common Prayer. Printed prayers used as a guide for our own prayers can be a wonderful way to expand our prayer vocabulary and awareness. I have two particular favorites that have distinct strengths to them.

The Book of Common Prayer

One is The Book of Common Prayer and its strength is the fact that is “common.” It is common in the sense that we hold or share it together. As I use the Book of Common prayer as a guide for my own prayers, I am always mindful of the

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