Spiritual Disciplines for 2024

Do you remember the game ‘telephone’? There’s a group of people and the first person whispers a phrase into the second person’s ear. Then the second person whispers what they believe they heard into the third person’s ear. And it continues until the last person has been whispered to. This final person announces what they believe was the original phrase and everyone laughs at the way the phrase morphed through each round of whispers. What a fun game! 

I think of this game in relation to our prayer life except it’s a much shorter chain and never gets distorted, only more accurate. How? Because the Holy Spirit knows our heart and interprets our prayers to God. What a blessing! 

When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens. I said,

Lord, the God of the heavens, the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands, let your eyes be open and your ears be attentive to hear your servant’s prayer that I now pray to you day and night for your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we have committed against you. Both I and my father’s family have sinned. We have acted corruptly toward you and have not kept the commands, statutes, and ordinances you gave your servant Moses. Please remember what you commanded your servant Moses: “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. But if you return to me and carefully observe my commands, even though your exiles were banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I chose to have my name dwell.” They are your servants and your people. You redeemed them by your great power and strong hand. Please, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to that of your servants who delight to revere your name. Give your servant success today, and grant him compassion in the presence of this man.

At the time, I was the king’s cupbearer.

(Nehemiah 1:4-11, CSB)

This prayer we see in Nehemiah beautifully shows each of the elements of prayer that we will focus on today and next week. Nehemiah begins with adoration, praising God, and gratitude, thanking God for who He is and for keeping His commands. Then Nehemiah moves into confession, admitting that he and his family are sinful. He ends his prayer with intercession, seeking success from God on behalf of himself and the other Israelites. Today, let’s focus on prayers of gratitude and confession. 

Prayers of Gratitude 

Y’all know by now that I like definitions, especially in our current culture where words can become redefined to mean something other than their original intention. (Just ask your nearest Gen Z if ‘no cap’ means someone forgot to wear their baseball cap.) According to the Oxford Dictionary, one definition of gratitude is the quality of being thankful and a readiness to show appreciation.  

In all of our waking moments we have so many reasons to show appreciation to God. They are literally limitless. Just like I enjoy being appreciated for ways I help others, how much more does God, our CREATOR, deserve our appreciation.

Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 4:2)

In the letter of Colossians, Paul tells the people to stay alert in prayer with thanksgiving. AKA focus our prayers on the things we are grateful for. No doubt that this world is a mess. Can we focus on that? Sure we can. But that’s not what Paul suggests we focus our prayers on. 

We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. (1 Thessalonians 1:2)

Our prayers of gratitude include thanksgiving for others that God has placed in our lives. Some people God intends to be in our lives for the long haul, but others are just for a season. There is nothing wrong with reflecting on past friendships and thanking God for allowing those people to be in your life for that specific season. I used to reflect on these past friendships or see them on social media and immediately become upset, wondering why we aren’t still friends or wondering if the friendship we had was as meaningful to them as it was to me. But what good did this do? Absolutely none. So now when I see these people on social media or their name pops into my mind, I try to pray for them, thanking God for the good memories I have with them. 

Other examples of physical things we could be grateful to God for are: health, our homes, our pets, etc. Perhaps the most important thing we should be expressing gratitude to God for is the gift of salvation that He offered to us through the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus. For me, this is closely followed by the fact that, because I am a child of God, I get to enjoy a personal and intimate relationship with Him and someday spend eternity with Him. 

It may be challenging to show gratitude when we are in a season of hurt and sadness. How do we thank God when our hearts are broken and the world seems hopeless? This may be where our knowledge of scripture comes in as we rely on the promises of the Word to guide our prayers of gratitude. 

One prayer of gratitude I like to pray is “Thank you, God, that although I may feel sad right now, my feelings are temporary and unreliable.” Especially in this “follow your heart” culture where feelings are everything, we have to remember that God is permanent and eternal and our feelings are only temporary and unreliable. 

Prayers of Confession

These are possibly the hardest types of prayers to pray for most of us. Here we acknowledge our weaknesses and our sinful natures. We acknowledge our willingness to put everything else ahead of God in our lives. We plead for His forgiveness only after confessing and placing our trust in Him. 

Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor with you, my Lord, please go with us (even though this is a stiff-necked people), forgive our iniquity and our sin, and accept us as your own possession.” (Exodus 34:9)

Moses prays this beautiful prayer as God is giving the second set of tablets. I giggle that Moses calls his own people “stiff-necked”. I feel like the modern day term for that is hard-headed. Raise your hand if you’re hard-headed… ME.  We hard-headed people especially need to be repenting and begging God for His grace. 

Another reason this type of prayer is challenging for many of us is because we are so sinful. We may have the desire to change and stop a particular sin, but it comes so naturally that we commit that sin anyway. Then as we come to God time and time again confessing and repenting for the exact same sin, we feel like it is irreverent and repetitive. Or we think we need to “fix” that sin problem on our own before we repent so that we (in our own power) can be sure we don’t need to confess it over and over again. 

(DeeDee, too many words.) Alright, here is an example: Maybe I’m struggling with pride and selfishness, specifically putting my desires above God’s. So on Monday, I chose not to read my Bible or talk to God because I just didn’t “feel like it”. Then on Tuesday I realize how selfish that was of me so I pray and confess and all is right again. But then on Wednesday, it's dreary and rainy outside and I just want to be lazy and watch movies all day because, ya know, “self-care”. So on Thursday, I’m right back where I was on Tuesday having to confess and repent and ask for forgiveness for the exact same sin. And so the cycle continues until I go to church on Sunday, listen to the sermon, spend time in worship and realize that my sinfulness is causing this seemingly unending cycle and I feel silly asking God to forgive the same thing over and over and over. How do we break this cycle? It’s hard and WE can’t. Only God can break this cycle. We can seek His help and maybe change our routines to avoid the repetitive sinfulness action. And always remember that God wants us to come to Him with humble and willing hearts, seeking Him. 

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots. (Luke 23:34)

Jesus is confessing the sins of those who are crucifying and torturing Him and asking God on their behalf for forgiveness. Pause for a moment here and just think about that. The men that are being hateful and cruel and unjustly KILLING Jesus. That is who Jesus is asking forgiveness for. Meanwhile, I will battle with my pride to confess and repent from the jealousy in my heart when it seems others are treated with more compassion than myself. How absolutely ridiculous! 

We know when we ask with a humble heart for forgiveness of our sinful ways after we have confessed and have a genuine desire to not return to those sinful ways, we see the promise God gives us. Psalm 103:12 tells us: As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

At this point, I must address the heresy (a lie amongst the church) that I can just do whatever I want because God will forgive whatever sins I commit. If you believe this or live your life this way- sister, you need to repent because you are taking advantage of God and putting your pride before Him. God promises to forgive us when we come to him with HUMBLE hearts, not prideful and selfish hearts. 

Today pray a prayer of gratitude to the God that sent His one and only Son to make a way for us to have a personal and atoning relationship with Him. Pray a prayer of confession, admitting your failures and inadequacies, knowing that God hears you and will forgive you.