kingdom travelin'

This is an old word that literally means begging earnestly with humility. I think that it often may be associated with asking for the needs for others, but here it is for our own needs also. When praying for others, it has often been called intercession. To practice supplication then, is to ask God for whatever is on my mind and heart. I would suggest this one point: Adore first, Confess humbly, Thank often and Supplicate last (ACTS). One more helpful practice is to keep a prayer journal where you list those requests. Then when each request is answered (in whatever way God chooses), write a prayer of thanksgiving beside or below it.

I did not have to join a religious order to practice submission. But I did have to make a commitment to some fellow disciples to meet and be open to their input and challenges into my life. Practicing submission is a simple as making myself accountable to a couple of fellow disciples. They will ask me and care about my struggles and remind me of His grace. The better my brothers know me, the more I have confessed to them, the easier it will be for them to remind me that I am straying from the path that honors God. Then I can submit to that counsel and turn back to my Lord.

Like silence, this may be difficult for some, especially the extrovert. But it is in being alone for a period of time that one may hear God and one’s self. Solitude means to be alone and goes naturally with silence. But unlike silence, you may not be silent but be talking to God in prayer and praying aloud and reading Scripture aloud can both be very meaningful indeed.

It is said that when Saint Augustine died, he had nothing but his writings and few clothes. Everything he had belonged to the monastery. To practice simplicity does not require a vow of poverty, but it does suggest moving away from a lifestyle that is focused on possessions into a lifestyle of less. Doing more with less means having fewer things around us to care for so that more of our attention may be toward God and people. If I didn’t have to mow the lawn, that’s forty minutes I could give to something else. But we must be careful about extremes. Because it is during that very forty minutes that I can often be in solitude and silence with God as I follow my noisy mower, oblivious to everything, except the row of grass that I am cutting. It’s about attitude, and asking: Can I do without this thing?”

            The Bible is filled with singing! To sing the praises of God is what many of the Psalms are all about. Singing as a form of worship (all of these disciplines should be seen as worship) whether alone in your prayer closet or among your fellow disciples is a key discipline. On key, off key, whatever kind of joyful noise you can make, worship the Lord in singing! And don’t think singing is just praise, we can lament in song as well as we can praise, but in either case, rejoice always!

To be silent in today’s world may be the hardest, yet most rewarding of the disciplines. This simply means not talking. When tempted to talk, one should pray. Like many such disciplines, to begin with a shorter period of time and then increase the amount of time is wise. In silence, one seeks to hear rather than to speak. This is not the same as an attempt to empty one’s self, for any emptying of our heart and mind needs to be intentionally filled by God with His Scriptures. So silence may well be tied to one of the  prayer disciplines. But, quietness so you can hear is the key. Therefore, having your Bible open and ready is wise.