Spiritual Disciplines

with Pastor Ken Graves

Dear brothers and fellow pastors, may I remind you of what you know? We are disciples! And what are disciples, but disciplined ones. So then discipline ought to be part of our lives.

I think you know that we are spirit, soul, and body, and we ought to experience discipline on every level of our being. It ought to be part of who we are.

Discipline of Prayer

We have been given an outline by the King Himself. This model for prayer is found in Matthew 6, in the Sermon on the Mount.

The Lord says, “After this manner therefore pray ye.”
I just want to remind you that you and I are the ye in that.

Once we begin, we begin with an acknowledgement of who our Father is,
which really puts into perspective who we are.

The combination of transcendence and eminence in that line: “Our Father who art in heaven.”

  • He’s transcendent – He’s in heaven, separate from all that He created.
  • He’s eminent – He’s near, our Father, near enough to be our Father.

That dual reality is our starting point every day: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”

7 Requests of Daily Prayer:

I see seven lines or seven requests that I apply to my family, then expand in circles to my staff, co-laborers, and to a big, long list of people I pray for.

  1. His Kingdom
    “Thy kingdom come,”
    We’re not part of the Democratic Republic of God. This is the Kingdom of God. We are subjects.
  2. His Will
    “Thy will be done”
    Daily praying His will, a healthy thing.
  3. His DProvision
    “Give us this day our daily bread”
    What we need for this day.
  4. His Grace
    “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”
    The grace to forgive.
    The grace to be forgiven.
  5. His Guidance
    “Lead us not into temptation”
    As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
    If we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
    We seek daily guidance.
  6. His Deliverance
    “Deliver us from the evil one”
    Let me remind you, dear brothers, it’s a war we’re in.
    We have an enemy, an adversary, the devil who prowls like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may actually devour. So we seek daily deliverance.
  7. His Glory
    “For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.”Daily, we seek His glory.

    A Daily Discipline
    So I go through this as a discipline. My day begins here, and I highly recommend it. I got it from the King, after all.

    Recognize you’re praying to your Father. He’s in heaven.

    Then pray for:

    • His kingdom
    • His will
    • His provision
    • His grace
    • His guidance
    • His deliverance
    • His glory

Written Prayer Lists

I’ve learned from other friends and watched them, who clearly have a disciplined prayer life. There’s way more than they can remember, so they write it all down.

I’ve never been much of a prayer journal guy, but I’ve come to realize that if you’re going to pray like the Apostle Paul prayed, you’re going to have to have some written lists. So, I recommend it. Daily disciplines.

May God help us maintain those and grow in them.

Grace and peace to you.