Guidelines

By Tony Constantino

Just a reminder:

General Guidelines

• Practice it daily (or as often as makes sense) (but daily is a good way to do it)

• Keep a consistent schedule (it helps with the discipline side of it.)

• Give yourself at least twenty minutes for each session. Not all can be accomplished in twenty minutes, and it may take longer, but the key is to not be in a hurry or trying to “squeeze” it in.

• Minimize distractions. Close the door to the room, silence your phone. If you have a child, have the other parent care for them. Personally, I have cats that beg for my attention, so I often do these away from home.

• Find a way to be most present with God.

• I recommend not having music, as it adds sound where there doesn’t need to be any.

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Prayer

By Tony Constantino

Prayer:

Explanation of what it is: 

• Prayer is speaking and listening to God. It includes approaches like adoration, confession, thanks, and supplication 

• There is so much more to prayer than what I can fit into a short video, so this is going to focus on structuring our prayer on the way Christ tells us to in the Sermon on the Mount.

• Also, the word “petition” means to ask or request something. 

Biblical basis: 

• This specific prayer comes from Matthew 6:9-13. However, it is a constant throughout Scripture that we must be praying, must be communicating and listening to the Father.

• “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Guidelines

• Set up your space in a way that will help you be present in the discipline. Silence your phone, close the door to the rest of your life. This is a time between you and God,

• Remember to not hurry through it. Let yourself be present. 

How to do it:

• First, read Matthew 6:9-13. This is the touchstone for your prayer. Let it remind you of each part of your prayer. Remember to spend time in each section. Do not rush.

• “Our Father in Heaven”

• This addresses the prayer to God, the Father. Remember, because our God is Triune, three in one, you are also praying to both Christ (the Son) and the Holy Spirit. It is meant to be intimate and loving.

• This helps to align your heart with whom you are praying.

• “Hallowed be your name.” 

• Another way to say this might be “Holy is your name,” but hallowed is a more extreme version of “holy”.

• The first petition: it is to pray that you keep the Lord’s name holy in your mouth and heart. 

• Pray to expound or emphasize God’s holiness. He already knows, but it is to help align your heart towards gratitude for God's holiness. 

• “Your Kingdom come”

• The second petition, that God’s Kingdom may be brought about. It is a yearning for the fulfillment of God’s will. 

• This applies to not only the wider world, but yourself. That you may be molded and transformed into who God wants you to be.

• Also, let’s be clear here. It will be done regardless of what we or the Enemy do. It is about aligning yourself with God’s will.

• Pray to Him that you and the rest of the world may be molded to meet His will.

• “Your will be done…”

• The third petition: to beg that God’s will be done here on Earth.

•  To quote my boy Martin Luther “Grant us grace to bear willingly all sorts of sickness, poverty, disgrace, suffering, and adversity; and to recognize that in this your divine will is crucifying our will.

• To clarify, let good things come over us (it is not wrong to pray for such things) but more importantly let us surrender our will to yours. If God calls you to poverty or adversity, you must answer. Again, this is to align yourself with God’s will.

• Pray that your will may be left behind, that you align yourself with God’s will

As a quick aside, it’s worth noting that the first three petitions are about orienting yourself towards God’s will. It is not about our earthly desires and wants. Now that the prayer is halfway done.

• “Give us this day our daily bread”

• The fourth petition: there is the obvious (and accurate) petition to God for our daily necessities, it is also about shifting our dependence from ourselves to God. 

• It is not by our own strength 

• Pray for your daily necessities, your worthy wants, remember that all good comes from God. It is through Him that we are provided for.

• “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”

• The fifth petition: this concerns both our relationships with others, and our relationship with God. 

• The “forgive us our debts” is paired with “as we forgive our debtors” intentionally. The first section is about recognizing one’s own sin, confessing to God, and seeking forgiveness. 

• In return, it is about forgiving those who have wronged us. Truly letting go of those who have wronged or upset you. It is not easy, but it is vital. 

• A quote from Keller about this: “... unresolved bitterness is a sign that we are not right with God.” 

• Confess your sins to God, ask for forgiveness; sift through your own feelings, work to forgive those who have wronged you.

• “Lead us not into temptation”

• The sixth petition: this is not a prayer that we may not be tempted, for God does not tempt. Rather, it is that one should pray for a relief from testing. 

• It is to align oneself with trusting in God when grappling with internal evils. 

• Pray for God’s help and for strength in resisting temptation.

• “Deliver Us from Evil”

• The seventh petition (debatably): to keep us safe from the evils in the world or specifically, The Evil One

• To combine thoughts from Augustine and Luther: these evils can be those who would harm us directly; or the latent evil that emanates from the Devil’s kingdom, things like poverty, dishonor, etc. 

• Pray for safety from the evils in the world.

• “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.”

• An ending presenting honor to God and allowing your heart to end with “tranquil repose” 

• This is to help you remember that nothing can take away the kingdom, nor the power and glory from our heavenly father. 

• Another way to say it would be “for you are powerful and glorious forever and over all.”

Sign off:

• Remember again to take your time on each section. You can spend a long time in just this prayer alone.

• We have a handout available on our website

• We at SEFC hope that this was helpful to you, and that you may find fruit in this discipline.

• God bless.

Bibliography: 

• Prayer by Timothy Keller

• Spiritual Discipline Handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

• Matthew: NIV Application Commentary by Dr. Michael Wilkins

Introduction

By Tony Constantino

What are spiritual disciplines?

• A spiritual discipline is an exercise to help you better connect with, and listen to, God. It is a transformative practice, one that leads to growth as a Christian. Think of it like the wire on a bonsai tree, slowly bending you into the shape God desires you to be. 

• They are not magic, they are not esoteric, this is not witchcraft or divination or anything else of the sort. 

Why bother? 

• First: to assist in transformation, to mold you into the person God wants you to be.

• Second: Scripture tells us to: 1 Timothy 4 6-8. 6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

• Basically, Spiritual disciplines help us to build our “spiritual muscles” 

In this series, we are going to cover the “core” disciplines.

• These are the spiritual disciplines most central to Christianity, those that are most basic, and those that are most commanded within Scripture.

• In many ways, they are the disciplines that give you the most “bang for your buck.”

Sources:

• I will be using the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun as a basis, and I'll let you know when I use other sources.

• When reading from Scripture, I usually use the English Standard Version, or ESV.

What are the core disciplines?

• Prayer

• Scripture Contemplation

• Scripture Memorization

• Service of others

• Fasting

• Gratitude (giving thanks)

• Silence/solitude/unplugging

• Monetary Giving

• Worship

There CAN be more, but we’re going to leave it at this for now (I’ll update this post as needed)

General Guidelines

• Practice it daily (for some), preferably on a consistent schedule (it helps with the discipline side of it.)

• Give yourself at least twenty minutes for each session. Not all can be accomplished in twenty minutes, and it may take longer, but the key is not be in a hurry or trying to “squeeze” it in.

• Minimize distractions. Close the door to the room, silence your phone. If you have a child, have the other parent care for them. Don’t play music if you can help it.

• Find a way to be most present with God.