Ten Ways to Keep Your Spiritual Life from Getting Stale
I plunked myself down in my cozy recliner one ordinary morning, ready to start my day with contemplative reflection before the Lord. After I read my Bible, however, I positioned myself to pray as I had many times before, but something strange happened.
I couldn’t bring myself to pray. It wasn’t because I didn’t love the Lord, or because I didn’t have requests on my heart to present to Him. It was because I didn’t want to pray. My spiritual life had become stale, and I was going through the motions of my faith.
God desires that we have time with Him. But God also wants us to want to have time with Him. This desire can easily get squashed if we don’t spice up our spiritual life in a way that makes it exciting. Prayer and reading the Word can both be fun, but only if we let it. Here are ten ways to keep your spiritual life from getting stale.
1. Change the Environment
One of the ways our spiritual lives can get most stagnant is if we pray or read in the same spot or at the same time every day. While this might be good for some who love routine, even the most regimented person can feel stiff and stagnated if he doesn’t change things up. In the same way our relationships can become stale if we don’t put extra effort into them, we also need to put extra effort into our spiritual lives as well.
2. Commune with God’s Creation
Find a spot on a park bench to read. Go outside and enjoy nature. See God from a new perspective. This will jumpstart your gratitude toward all the ways God is at work, which may spark your prayer life.
3. Discover What Works Best
Find what works for you and stick with it. Don’t put yourself in places or practice disciplines at times during the day when you’re not at your best. If you are a morning person, stick with the morning. If you’re an indoor person, find a new spot in your home to spend time with God. The change in the atmosphere or environment might be just enough of a kickstart you need to spice up your prayer life.
4. Practice a New Discipline
While we all agree that prayer and reading the Word are two essential disciplines to anyone’s spiritual growth, the Bible tells stories of people who used different outlets to connect with God. For example, Daniel fasted from the king’s food for ten days to get his body at optimal health. Elijah practiced silence and solitude and heard God in a still, small voice. Paul urged churches to lay hands on young leaders to “fan the flame of God” in their lives.
5. Move out of Your Comfort Zone
Try something different that you’ve never tried before. If you don’t like silence, practice sitting in silence for twenty minutes once per week. It may be difficult at first, but eventually if you stick with it, it will become a habit. Best of all, God will honor the new methods you choose as you seek to get closer to Him.
6. Get a Prayer Partner
We are never meant to do life alone. Throughout Scripture, from Adam to the Apostles, each person is commanded to do life in community with others. Even God Himself exists in three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. So often, however, we strive to do our spiritual lives on our own. We don’t ask for help, and when we falter—or even neglect—our spiritual lives, we have no one in our lives to urge us to re-convene with God.
7. Identify a Mentor
Find someone you trust to assist you in your spiritual growth. It can be a trusted friend, mentor, or leader in your church. Whomever you choose, set the ground rules and expectations clearly before you begin. For example, if you want to read the Bible more, communicate what that will look like to you specifically. If you want to read for twenty minutes three times a week, make that clear to your partner. Furthermore, have someone praying for you throughout the week. Ask someone you trust if he/she would commit to praying for you each day to make sure you get your spiritual goals accomplished.
8. Do It Frequently
Whatever new way you choose to liven up your spiritual life, do it frequently enough to make it become a habit. For example, if you want to increase your prayer life, make sure you are praying for a certain amount of time each day or a certain number of days per week. Just like with New Year’s resolutions, we must be specific with our goals or else they do not get achieved, we also need to set measurable goals for ourselves when it comes to our spiritual lives. We will not lose weight unless we exercise regularly or change our diet each day. We will not alter our spiritual lives unless we participate in that new discipline enough to make it a habit.
9. Write Them Down
It is one thing to verbally state we want to liven up our spiritual lives. It is quite another to write down that goal and place it in a prominent place where we can be reminded of that daily. By writing down our goals, we can be reminded of the commitments that we need to fulfill. Get an index card and write down each aspect of your spiritual life you would like to liven up. Write down specific goals on one side of the index card. Then, flip over the card and write down specific ways you plan to do this. Share this with your partner. Let them know your goals and how you will achieve them. Ask your partner to keep you accountable to make sure these goals are achieved.
10. Reward Yourself
As children, our parents rewarded us when we rejected bad behavior in favor of good behavior. As adults, we tend to accomplish goals with an incentive or reward at the end. This is no different than with our spiritual lives. Give yourself a reward when you feel your goal has been achieved. For example, if one of your goals is to read the Bible five times a week, when you have done this successfully for three months in a row, give yourself a reward. It can be something you’ve wanted to own but have never spent the money, or it can be a small treat such as giving yourself an extra day off or going to your favorite place at the end of the week. Give yourself something to look forward to and it will be easier to get to the end of your goal.
Even the most disciplined person’s spiritual life can become stale if he lets it. However, when we seek to change our environment, try something new, become accountable with a trusted friend and incentivize our results, we will find our spiritual lives are not only be richer in the future, but we are also better people as a result.
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