5 Disciplines To Build In Every Man | Vince Miller | Resolute (beresolute.org)
The end goal of the Christian life is to become the man that God wants us to be. We do this by allowing his vision, mission, purposes, and goals to shape our lives. One way we can lead men to this is through discipline. A discipline, or in our case “spiritual discipline,” is a training activity that helps to shape and mold character over an extended period of time that accelerates and focuses the process. Spiritual discipline is the “strict training” that Paul was talking about 1 Corinthians 9:25.
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.”—1 Corinthians 9:25
THE FIVE DISCIPLINES
ONE | Prayer
“Beginning Awkward Conversations With An Unseen God”
Prayer is a fundamental discipline, and men need to learn to build prayer routines into the daily patterns of their lives. Prayer is merely talking with God. For newer Christians, talking to an unseen God is unusual. And it’s unusual because when we are having a conversation, there is usually someone physically standing in front of us that talks back. Prayer does not exactly work like this. But the small hurdle of learning to talk with an unseen God is not the central issue men have with practicing the discipline of prayer. The primary problem is all the other pressing issues that keep us from praying and developing a pattern of prayer. Daily we face demands that compete for our time. Because of this, men go days, weeks, and even months devoid of prayer, trusting only in human effort rather than also trusting in God through prayer. This can leave men feeling physically exhausted and spiritually depleted. Since so many other things compete with this priority, we need to be reminded of its priority and encourage men to strive to make time.
Read more: 5 Disciplines To Build In Every Man | Vince Miller | Resolute (beresolute.org)