The First Part — Reach One
Each day I pause for a few minutes, quiet my mind, and ask God to bring someone to mind that I should pray for. Once aname surfaces, I pause again and ask for a Scripture that might be meaningful for that person. Then I open my phone, record ashort voice message, read the Scripture, and pray spontaneously for them.
That’s it. One person. One prayer. One Scripture.
I didn’t expect how meaningful this would be.
It forces me to slow down and think prayerfully about the people in my life. That alone is a powerful discipline. And I’m discovering that in just one to three minutes, God can deeply touch someone. Several people have told me how the message came exactly at the right time. This practice is growing my trust in God to lead me in prayer.
The Second Part — Teach One
Each day I post a brief reflection on Facebook about building deeper connection with God and with one another. We live in a time that feels fractured and polarized. One of the clearest signs of the Holy Spirit at work is unity. So my hope is to inspire simply acts of deeper connection.
Overall, this devotional practice is going well, but I need to make one adjustment. I need to make the practice part of my morning routine. There are quite a few times I have found myself in bed, ready to turn of the light and realized, “Oh man, I haven’t done my discipline yet.” And then, sitting there in bed, super tired, I’m busting out a post and prayer. I can’t tell you how incredibly tempting it is in that moment to just turn of the light and punt until tomorrow.
I feel like this end of the daily devotional hail mary pass makes God an afterthought instead of a priority. Also, because of the frame of mind I’m in those moments, this can rapidly devolve into legalistically just make sure I punch my devotional time card for the day. I don’t like that at all. God’s probably not a fan either.
So, this week I’m adjusting my practice. My intention will be to complete my practice before noon. If I can figure out a good way to embed it into my morning routine I will.
My Rookie Mistake
I always advise people not to “double up” on Lenten disciplines or push them off to the next day. But on one of my late nights, I told myself I’d do it the next day. My justification was, “I don’t want to text someone when they might be asleep.” A legitimate consideration. BUT, there was no reason I couldn’t record one to go out the next day, or to one of my friends in another country.
These moments, of temptation to skip will likely be eliminated just by honoring my practice in mornings. That said, if something happens where I need to record late – I’ll go for it and deliver it the next day. From my experience half or more of the growth of a discipline is in how you handle it – the ups, downs, and turn arounds.
Three Things I Just Said Without Saying that You Don’t Want to Miss
1. Disciplines oftentimes need adjusting – and that’s okay. You never know what you don’t know until you try something. There are almost always unexpected consequences or circumstances that every discipline must face. The key to dealing with these is two-fold.
First, plan on evaluating from time to time. Pause and ask yourself, “What’s working, what’s not?” Some times the slightest of adjustments can be the dividing line between observance or abandonment.
Second, give yourself permission to pivot, just make sure your pivoting into God, not away. Notice that my adjustment was so I could give God my best in this practice, rather than I just didn’t want to be uncomfortable doing this while I was tired.
2. Have clear parameters for your discipline. Many times disciplines drift because they were not properly anchored. You need to give practical thought to when, how, and where you will observe your practice. I went into this with a great general intention, but I didn’t really plan for execution. Now that I’m dialing that in I will likely be more consistent and enjoy the practice more.
3. Decide your backup plan before you need one. Expect the unexpected. Unexpected obstacles are not an anomaly, they are a given. Life happens, you kid get’s sick, you get sick, your car breaks done, you misplace your journal. Lots of things just happen. So, ask yourself, “If things don’t go as I plan, what can I still do? Trust me, knowing this in advanced makes all the difference in the world.
Deciding in advance helps you in two ways:
- You are freed from guilt, because you’ve decided on an exceptible option ahead of time.
- You are freed from the choice between scrambling to figure it out or abandoning your commitment.
I hope you’re learning something from my wins and losses.
I’m curious to see what forty days will yield. Sometimes transformation doesn’t come through dramatic gestures. Just simple spirit-led repeated actions.
Blessings,
Pastor John