About
Jesus tells us in the gospels that our focus needs to be growing in the love of God and our neighbors. We want to help you grow as disciples. Each month, we will lift up a practice of faith to help us deepen our relationship with God and with others. Why these practices of faith? They are exercises for the soul. Each month in worship, we’ll lift up a new practice. We will explain the practice and invite everyone to try it for a full month. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:48 that we are to be perfect in love like God is. So, let’s practice these exercises together that, by the grace of God, we can grow in perfect love in faith.
Spiritual Practice Calendar
What is a daily devotion?
A daily devotion is time we devote daily to focusing on our relationship with God. This practice can take different forms. It often consists of scripture, prayer, and reflection. See below for resources that may be helpful.
Why practice daily devotions?
Daily devotions help focus our lives and hearts on what Jesus said is most important: loving God and loving others. This practice helps us grow our relationship with God and stay tuned to His presence. Daily devotions also help us listen to God and notice how the Holy Spirit is leading us. This is one of the ways we grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Resources:
- The YouVersion Bible App creates opportunities for people to seek God throughout each day. Download the app on your smartphone or tablet or go online to Bible.com.
-  Dwell Bible App allows you to explore Scripture through daily listening plans, topical playlists, curated stories & passages, and more. Download the app on your smartphone or tablet.
- The Upper Room offers resources that encourage daily spiritual practice. Pick up a copy of The Upper Room devotional guide in the Lobby or go online to theupperroom.org.
- d365 is a daily devotion written for youth and adults. The devotion follows a five-step format – Pause, Listen, Think, Pray, Go. Download the app on your smartphone or tablet or go online to d365.org.
- Everyday Sanctuary offers a satisfying spiritual practice in 5 minutes or less. The components of each session are Presence, Scripture, Deep Breathing, Gratitude, and Prayer. Download the app on your smartphone or tablet or go online to everydaysanctuary.org.
- Pray As You Go is a daily prayer session, designed to go with you wherever you go, to help you pray whenever you find time. Lasting between ten and thirteen minutes, it combines music, scripture and some questions for reflection. Download the app on your smartphone or tablet or go online to pray-as-you-go.org.
We’d love to hear how this spiritual practice is impacting your faith walk. Fill out the form below and share your experience with the pastors.
What is fasting?
Fasting is a spiritual practice in which we temporarily give up a food item or a habit. Fasting centers on God and our relationship with God. It is not done for personal gain or notice, and it is different from dieting or making sacrifices for personal health. There are different examples of fasting in scripture, such as in Daniel, Acts, Esther, and more. Jesus talks about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:16-18. Jesus lifts fasting, along with prayer and giving, as a spiritual practice. In the example Jesus gives, fasting is a very private, spiritual matter between only an individual and God. Other fasts are a public or group choice, such as a small group or family deciding to fast together and discuss the experience.
Why practice fasting?
Fasting offers a unique opportunity to focus our minds and hearts more on Christ. Fasting can be a spiritual discipline during a period of discernment and prayer devoted to God. Fasting can help lighten the hold of things over us as we offer our lives more fully to God.
Resources:
- Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard J. Foster
- Fast With Me by Nanette Langston Meredith
- A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding our True Hungers in Lent by Christine Valters Paintner
- The 40-Day Fast Journal: A Journey to Spiritual Transformation by Wendy Speake
- Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond Our Appetites by Lynne M. Baab
- Fasting: The Key to Spiritual Victory by Tony Evans
If you choose to fast during February or Lent, please share your decision with the pastors using the form below. We would love to know how God used your experience to draw you closer and grow you as a disciple.
What is caring for others?
Caring for others is a vital aspect of our discipleship. It is putting God’s love into action. People talk about doing random acts of kindness. As Christians, let’s do intentional acts of kindness for the people we know and for strangers. This can be as simple as calling someone or sending a card; it can also be sharing a meal or volunteering in ministry.
Why practice caring for others?
John 13:35 says others will know we are Christians by our love; caring for others is an identifier of a disciple. Matthew 25:31-46 talks about how important it is to put God’s love into action, and when we care for someone else, it is as if we are caring for Christ. Caring for someone else takes us outside of ourselves, helping us to focus on lived faith. As United Methodists, we believe faith is both a matter of personal holiness (reading scripture, prayer, worship) and social holiness (caring for others, mission, and active love). This is a primary way we grow as disciples.
Actions:
- Visitation Ministry: Visit those who are bereaved or living alone or write encouraging notes or cards
- Comfort Meals – Provide meals for those who are experiencing illness or bereavement
- Community Meals – Prepare meals for local seniors on the first Saturday of each month
- Kairos Cookies – Bake cookies for Kairos Prison Ministry visits (Next collection April 14)
- Send a card or encouraging message to someone who is going through a difficult time
- Take a meal to a neighbor who is recovering from surgery
- Visit ebenezerumc.org/serve for more information
Resources:
- Don’t Sing Songs to a Heavy Heart: How to Relate to Those Who are Suffering by Kenneth Haugk
- The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld (children’s book)
- The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door by Jay Pathak & Dave Runyon
We’d love to hear how this spiritual practice is impacting your faith walk. Fill out the form below and share your experience with the pastors.
What is journaling?
Journaling is one way to grow as a disciple. Journaling involves writing in a notebook or using a journaling app. Write whatever is most helpful for you: thoughts, prayers, prayer concerns, notes and questions on Bible verses or songs. Write thoughts that come to mind when you read scripture. Keep a gratitude list, naming that for which you are thankful. Some people write down how they see God in their lives. Try different approaches to determine which is most helpful for you in faith. It’s also interesting to look back and read over your notes to see patterns and ways God is speaking to you over time.
Why practice journaling?
Journaling is a tool for spiritual reflection. People have written about faith and their prayers for centuries. The Psalms are, in some ways, like a journal. They are written songs and ways people put words to their faith and experiences. Think about questions before you write. What do you want to say to God? What do you sense God saying to you? How do you see God today? To what is God drawing your attention? For what are you thankful? What are your struggles in faith? Putting answers to these questions into words is a way to collect our thoughts, let it all out, and share them with God in prayer and Christian meditation. This is one tool that can help us grow as disciples.
Resources:
You can start with any empty book or page and a pen or pencil. You can also try downloading a journaling app on your phone. There are many book options which offer a journaling prompt as well.
- A Daily Dose of Gratitude Journal offers daily prompts to help you cultivate gratitude.
- The Forgiveness Journal by Lysa Terkeurst (companion to Forgiving What You Can’t Forget) features engaging reflections and journaling prompts.
- Gratitude: Journal and Bible App helps you discover gratitude and biblical wisdom with a gratitude journal, inspirational Bible verses, and more.
- Glorify App allows you to connect with God daily through guided meditation, prayer, Bible study plans, and more.
We’d love to hear how journaling is impacting your faith walk. Fill out the form below and share your experience with the pastors.
What is a prayer partner?
Prayer is one of the primary ways we grow as disciples. Prayer is about relationship, because it deepens our connection with God and others. As we pour out our hearts in prayer, we listen for God speaking to us. A prayer partner is a spiritual friend who helps us do that; it is someone who prays with and for us. A prayer partner is someone with whom we share prayer concerns and spiritual questions. A prayer partner asks the God questions of us: How do you see God working in this situation? How are you hearing God speaking to you? What do you think God is saying? We share what’s going on in our lives and contact each other regularly (monthly or weekly). Some prayer partners meet in person to pray. Others stay in touch by phone or email. Prayer partners are often family members or close friends. Sometimes we choose a neighbor or someone in a small group or Bible study to partner with us in prayer. Having a prayer partner is a deep spiritual blessing because you share a faith journey together.
Why have a prayer partner?
Having a prayer partner adds accountability and spiritual friendship to the practice of prayer. In our busy lives, prayer sometimes falls to the back burner. Having a prayer partner helps us to be intentional about praying on a regular basis. As we write down our prayer concerns and share spiritual questions, we begin to see, with the help of a prayer partner, ways God is speaking into our hearts. Sometimes it is easier for a praying friend to notice God’s movement in our lives than it is for us to see it ourselves. Being able to pray together with another person increases our commitment to growing as a disciple and helps us to pay attention to God’s work in our lives.
Resources:
Getting started:
- Choose someone you know who has a strong faith. That person may be a family member or friend. That person may be in your church small group or a shared Bible study.
- Choose a time to talk or meet.
- You may want to start by reading the same book on prayer and talking about it (ideas below).
- Share prayer concerns and how you see God in your life. Share what you feel God is saying to you.
- Pray aloud together or pray separately for each other in silence.
- Set up another time to get together again to share and pray.
Books to try:
- Ragamuffin Prayers compiled by Jimmy Abegg
- A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God by Norman Shawchuck and Reuben P. Job
- The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer by Matt Miofsky
- Meditations of the Heart by Howard Thurman
- Right Now Media also has a number of free resources on prayer.
We’d love to hear how this spiritual practice is impacting your faith walk. Fill out the form below and share your experience with the pastors.
Contact Us
Have a question or want to share how these spiritual practices are impacting your faith walk? Please contact our pastors using the form below.