Too much of modern day Christianity concentrates on the outward obligation of what is seen and is visible rather than on the inward obligation of what is unseen and is hidden. These weekly devotionals for 2019 have come out of a concern that we Christians should give time and attention to the hidden, inner life with God. If we are going to enter more deeply into the visible arena, into the realm of the spiritual, we will have to make a conscientious effort to move past the superficial in order to enter into a deeper knowledge of God. The beginning of such an effort must be the construction of a pattern in our lives in which the voice of God has access to us. We need to develop a personal habit. As we are generally creatures of habit, we need a routine, a discipline, to cultivate the inner life. It is the purpose of these devotionals for 2019, to help you establish such a pattern or routine, which is why I have used the word disciplines in the title.
In my spiritual journey of almost 50 years, I have come to see that deeply committed Christians of many different traditions have handed down tools & resources to help us as we take steps toward such disciplines. Throughout Christian history we have received from them various spiritual principles, rules, disciplines, and practices that have helped believers in the quest for a deeper knowledge of God. There have been liturgies, lectionaries, prayer books and many different guides for the hours and days of one’s spiritual journey and they all arose from the need to develop a disciplined, ongoing relationship with God.
One of the common threads of all of these tools of spirituality was the recognition of the need for constancy in the establishing and deepening of a person’s spiritual relationship with God. And underlying the writings of all those whose works have stood the test of time is the theme of faithfulness and regularity in the development of spiritual practices.
Unfortunately for most of us, we are often ignorant about the use of such disciplines in days gone by. And although it sees like there is a lot of materials to be used, it is also very true that we have not exposed ourselves to the things that are available to us and despite the variety of excuses for our lack of use of these disciplines and materials, our ignorance of them seems to have roots in at least 2 philosophical areas.
One of them is that as Christians in our 20th century western culture, we have grown up being so pragmatic in our philosophy of living that the developing and nurturing of our spiritual life often begins to revolve around the same values that govern other parts of our lives: “What will get this done efficiently? What is the most cost productive? Is this a resourceful use of my time in light of my agenda for today?” — and as a result, many of us feel quite sure, both from the hunger in our hearts and from the lack of Christian fruits in our lives, that we are far from a life rooted in the deep resources of God. Times of trial and other adverse circumstances may sometimes cause us to renew our intentions and resolves in this regard for a while, however, with the return of better times, or simply under the myriad pressures of life itself, we gradually relax our grip on our resolutions and return to our more pragmatic, “real-world” concerns.
Regretfully, the 2nd of those powerful areas is our prejudice against other traditions. Our unwillingness to cross the boundaries of tradition quite often leaves us to make our way into the depths without availing ourselves of the counsel and wisdom of those across the centuries who have made similar journeys fruitfully and victoriously. Indeed, we often find ourselves attempting to make our spiritual pilgrimage entirely on our own.
For example, we do not even have a common term that we all understand that can be used to describe the process. For many of us, devotions is the term most often used. Terms like inner life, spiritual formation, spiritual life, interior life, and others simply do not have the same common meaning to us, if they have any meaning to us at all.
A remarkable similarity and continuity to both the hindrances and helps to spirituality across the centuries exists. Journals and writings of early and present-day saints and saintly people record the struggles and the victories in virtually all the matters pertaining to the implementation of our inner intentions. All those writings have something to say to all who would take up the journey into the inner life.
For these weekly devotionals, I have collected samples of hymns, scriptures, and readings that will provide insight and guidance for the formation and nourishment of the inner life. My hope is that the daily or weekly services will provide a foundation upon which you can begin to build strong disciplines into your life.
While some of the material has been gathered during the study and research for these devotions, a lot of the material has come from books and readings and writers who , through the years, have provided health and hope to my spirit. Likewise, much of the scripture is taken from those verses and passages that came to my mind in thinking about the weekly subject I had chosen.
One more word needs to be spoken to those who would strive to take up a discipline for the inner life. To maintain a discipline of meditation and prayer, you must commit yourself to the way of faith. The injunction to live “by faith” the life you are now living is applicable in the disciplined life as well. To begin in prayer today may have no visible fruits tomorrow. But that is no reason for stopping. One who begins on Monday to train for a marathon surely wouldn’t stop training because his muscles still ached on Friday. More than likely, you will start out enthusiastically in the life of prayer, only to find that you enter some dry, desert-like time after a few days along the way. KEEP GOING!! Remember that these are disciplines that you have undertaken in response to a call to move deeper into your life with God.
The call to walk with God is a call to a life of prayer and devotion. The cost of answering, the cost of following, must be counted as best we can. But because we don’t know where it will lead us, we must be prepared to add a great deal more to what we already know to be the cost. The cost will always be greater than our ability to measure it.
The words of Jesus to those who would join Him on the journey are found in John 1:39 – “Come, and you will see.” And that is the order of things in answering the call to follow God on the journey into the inner life. We are not given the privilege of “seeing first” and then deciding if we are willing to make the journey. However, the process of following God can be trusted. The prayer of the psalmist must become our prayer:

“I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Thy words. My eyes anticipate the night watches, that I may meditate on Thy word.”(Psalm 119:147-148)

May these weekly devotions be a faithful companion to you on your journey to the inner life!