How Do You Practice Spiritual Disciplines When Life Gets Chaotic?

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.

Disciplines Are about Relationship, Not Points

• The question posed: a listener wanted to know what your personal spiritual disciplines look like. Many people, early in the year, make commitments: I'm going to pray more; I'm going to study the Bible; I'm going to fast. But the challenge is when life gets busy, and you're not really in control of your schedule anymore. So, two questions: what do your personal devotions look like, when you are able to follow your schedule? And how do you stay on track, when you're traveling, or in an especially busy season?
• Let me give you some overall guidance and advice, based on my experience. Then I'll share some of mine. I'm not going to always be completely specific, because the Lord did say, in the Sermon on the Mount: don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. When you pray, pray in secret. When you fast, don't go around looking like you're fasting. So I don't want to violate that principle, by seeming to brag, or even to try to use myself, as, you know, you should be like me, or something like that. But I do think there are several spiritual disciplines that I'll mention. So, one is prayer. So I think you should make a goal. I think schedule and goal, those two. So: schedule a time — preferably the same time every day, or maybe certain times in the week — for prayer, and a goal for how long you would like to pray. Now, let me say at the outset: prayer, fasting, reading the Bible — these spiritual disciplines are not about earning points, or earning favors. We're saved by grace, through faith. We live for God by faith. You can't earn rewards, or blessings. It's about relationship. So think of your family relationship: I want to have a very close, personal relationship with my wife. But that doesn't mean I schedule a specific time — well, 30 minutes to talk, an hour to talk, no, two hours to talk. I think there has to be both quantity and quality. So, for example, with my family, especially when my kids were at home: yes, we had a definite schedule, by default — unless there was some special change, might be out of town — but we're going to have dinner every day, at right about the same time, and we're going to have family discussion. Monday night is a family night: we're going to do something, as a family. We're going to have special family devotions. My wife is going to pray with the kids, before they go to school. I'm usually gone, or whatever. Or we'll pray at night, with the kids. So yes, we went to church at specified times. But with your family, it's not about: well, how many minutes did you talk, or did you meet this certain schedule? It's more about your relationship. So I would encourage us to think more about developing a relationship with God, the quality of our interactions. But having said that, there needs to be a certain quantity, in order for the quality to emerge. So it's just like a family. Again, you can't just say: 'I have only 10 minutes for you, but I want high-intensity, quality discussion.' Your kids are not going to cooperate. You have to have enough time together, that spontaneously they will talk about things, or things will come up. You have to have enough interaction, that that just — relationship is formed organically. So let's start with the spiritual disciplines of prayer.

Prayer: Schedule It, and Set a Sustainable Goal

• Okay: schedule. So the best thing to do is to schedule the same time. And your weekend may be different than during the week. But according to your weekly schedule, what's a good time? And I usually find that early in the morning, before the day gets too busy. So, if you have to back up, and wake up 30 minutes early, or 15 minutes early, to make sure you have that time. In my case, I usually try to pray in the morning. So, sometimes — now, when I was a pastor, I had a very simple schedule, most of the time: Tuesday through Friday, I was in the office. I like to go there, 8 to 9: it would be my time, before I would open the office, and take calls, or make appointments. So I had an hour for prayer, Bible reading, study, planning, anything of a personal nature, of that day. Also, before service times, I would block out time for prayer: the Sunday morning, Sunday evening, midweek. So I had blocks of time. My schedule now, as General Superintendent, is very different, because every week is different. But usually, I find the best time is at home, in the morning; during my commute, which could be by car to the office, or by plane. You can't necessarily have all the same quality, when you're commuting, especially if you're driving, but that could still be part of it. It shouldn't be your only time, probably, of prayer, but it can be part of your prayer. Or even sometimes, after I'm coming to the office, I can have a time for prayer. So, but I usually find, in the morning. But sometimes, at night, I like to stay up late at night; so, after it's too late to make phone calls, or interact with the family, well, then that can become a quality time.
• One thing to help us is: don't be unrealistic. So if you're not praying very much at all, to say, 'I'm going to pray an hour a day,' is probably not sustainable. So why don't you say, consistently: 'I'll pray 15 minutes a day.' Then, as you do that consistently, you could up it. I remember, early in my ministry, we were challenged to pray an hour a day, and that was very challenging for me. So I decided: you know what? I'm going to pray an hour a day, but I'm going to set a goal of five days a week, and it won't be strictly one hour at a time. I'll keep track of the time, just for the sake of my commitment. I wanted to make a year-long commitment, but it will be flexible. In other words, maybe one day I'll pray 30 minutes; so maybe the next day I might pray 30 minutes in the morning, and 30 minutes in the evening. Or maybe one day I might pray two hours, or whatever. But I want to make a commitment, for the average of five days a week, an hour a day. So I might pray seven days, but only 45 minutes; or one day, an hour; but maybe one day, 15 minutes. So I did that for a year, and I tracked it in the calendar. And that helped me break through, to a consistency of prayer — by, not as a legalism, but by tracking it, and setting a goal. And the reason why I set five days is because it's very likely that one day is going to get messed up. Then you feel guilty, and then you give up. So that's what happens to most New Year's resolutions: you mess up, and so then you give up. So, if you make it more sustainable — now, actually, I plan to pray every day, but my goal is going to be, for sure, five days a week, and however much. So if I miss one day, I didn't really fail. Okay, it wasn't a 100% grade, but it was an 80% grade: it's a passing grade. So I find, if you be a little more realistic, and allow for unexpected, and not feel guilty. So if the day gets blown away, by an early morning meeting, or a call, or you get involved in something — well, maybe you don't spend much time that day; or maybe you do find time, later in that day; or maybe the next day. So anyway: consistency in your prayer life; daily prayer.

Reading the Bible Through, Every Year

• Second is reading of the Bible. So I made a commitment, many years ago — I think, just about every year since early teenagers — read the Bible through, every year. So I'm guessing — I haven't kept track, as I should, probably — but probably read the Bible through 50 times. And I've read at least 10 different translations, completely. Because often, I will choose a different translation each year, just to supplement. And again, it's best if you can have a daily schedule. In my case, it's a little more difficult. I usually work in at least some of the Bible, every day, because often I'm working with the Bible anyway, all day long. But I do keep track, so that within the year, I've at least read the Bible through. And often, I'm doing a little bit more: like, I've never read the entire New Testament in Greek, but I'm taking it one book at a time. So, in addition to reading a translation all the way through, I may intersperse: well, here's a book in Greek; or here's another reading; or here's a commentary, where I'm reading through a certain book, in addition to just my regular reading. But I find that's a good goal.

Fasting and Giving: A Schedule and a Goal

• As far as fasting: again, it's not a legalism, but I find that having a schedule and a goal — it's for the purpose of self-discipline; it's for emphasizing your spiritual life, your prayer life. And so, what I've done, for many years, is just one day a week. Now, again, with my schedule, I'm not able to do that: a lot of times, I'm traveling, have a special event, banquet, whatever. But when I'm either at home, for a week, or in the office, for a week, I can usually — I have one day a week. And the way I've done it is: I'll eat the evening meal, supper, and then not eat after that, and then fast all the next day, until the next supper. So it's roughly 24 hours. But if you're having a very active schedule, you're not missing the nutrients that you need, at the right time. And I usually will drink water, but nothing — no juice, nothing else — just strictly water. It's a one-day fast. You could fast even water, for a day, but it will start draining you, if you're very active, or if you're in a hot climate, as much of the time I am. So I found a reasonable accommodation is: completely fasting from food, for about one day. Another way to do it is: once a quarter, just designate, like, two or three days; or, maybe your church does that, on a regular basis, and so you cooperate with whatever your church does. But if your church is calling it once a year, or a couple times a year, it might be good to do something more consistently. And I found once a week is a good practice.
• Another spiritual discipline is giving. I give tithes. I don't regard that as a legalism, but I regard that — and we have an episode on that: if God required tithing in the Old Testament, then he would expect we would at least do that. But then, offerings. And so, depending at different times of my life, I've had a bigger budget, or smaller budget. Sometimes I've committed, as a goal — again, tithes, I think, should be 10% of your net income, but, net of business expenses, whatever. But offering should be anything above that. So there's no necessary amount, but, again, a goal is good to set. So I always try to do a goal of about 5%, or, in times where I'm doing better, a goal of 10%. Of course, the tithing should support the local church. But offerings could also go through the local church; could be for other purposes, besides the church, and the pastor, and the ministerial team. But it could be more broadly; could be charitable giving, as well, because it's an offering. But I think that's part of spiritual discipline.

Attendance, Sharing Your Faith, and the Frame

• Another spiritual discipline is faithful church attendance. So, wherever the regular services of your church are scheduled, you should make a commitment to be faithful to your local church. Certainly, your Sunday service — usually there's going to be a Sunday service, or two, and a midweek service. And I think we should be faithful to that. Another spiritual discipline is sharing your faith with other people. Whether it be teaching a Bible study, sharing a testimony, inviting someone to church — but you should look, just as part of your regular lifestyle, you should try to talk about the Lord, talk about church, seek opportunities to share your testimony, or even teach a Bible study. So those are some practical ways that you can weave in spiritual disciplines, in your daily and weekly life. I think you should do it on a daily and/or weekly schedule. And you should set goals, but not be bound by the goals. It's not a matter of works-righteousness. It's not a matter of legalism. It's not a matter of condemnation. It's just a matter of trying to be effective, in your relationship with the Lord.