A key point that you made in which I did not think about is that we must humbly
apply the disciplines to our lives. a Therefore, we cannot allow pride to take
control. a Also, we cannot apply these disciplines in our own strength. a We must
rely on the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us to help us successfully apply these
disciplines to our lives. a It is the Holy Spirit that will help us to apply the
disciplines and as a result, will allow us to fulfill the goal of godliness.
I appreciate your honesty concerning the spiritual disciplines you need to improve
on. a There were times I struggled with consistency with prayer. a The thing that
works for me is that I schedule my prayer time like I would any other meeting I
schedule. a I put prayer on my work Outlook calendar. a This helps me to be
consistent in prayer and has helped to improve my prayer life. a You are not alone
as I have struggled with inconsistency in applying these disciplines. a Take it day
by day and continue to seek God’s help to be consistent in applying these
disciplines. a Also, be patient with yourself in applying the disciplines. a a I hope this
helps and encourages you. I thought it was interesting that the three areas of
spiritual discipline you identified were Bible intake, prayer, and stewardship of
time. a This is a very vulnerable admission that I find extremely honorable. a It is
extremely hard to balance school life, family life, work life and carve time out for
intimate study of the Scriptures. a I appreciate Whitney’s emphasis on this spiritual
discipline, in that there is no discipline more important that the intake of
Scripture.[1] a That being said, as a husband, father, firefighter, pastor, counselor
and student, squeezing in time to study the Scripture outside of academia had to
become an intentional, scheduled act for me to not push it aside. a Like you, life
would get in the way, and I had no consistency. a Until I intentionally forced myself
to make time reading the Bible outside of schoolwork, it was an afterthought on
busy days. I encourage you to be intentional and build a schedule around time
for the Lord’s Word. a I cannot begin to explain the difference it has made in my
life. a I completely understand life and its way of skewing our routines and
schedules, but there is heavenly value in having intentional time in the Scriptures.
[1] Donald S. Whitney,
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
(Colorado Springs,
CO: NavPress, 2014; repr., 2017).
