| This is a question sent in by James on the “Ask Aaron Anything” link:
What is the best way to make myself pray and read the word?
My Answer: This is a tough question because I know many of us have a desire to be consistent and dedicated to reading God’s word. I know the struggle all to well of having a deep desire but never being able to turn that into a consistent devotion. I know the battle but let me give you some ideas and tools that have helped me… (1) Blocking out some time first thing in the morning. If I make it first in my day then I seem to make less excuses to why I miss. (2) Reading for quality and not quantity. If I slow down and just study and meditate on a smaller section of scripture it helps me to really be impacted and understand what the scripture is saying. (3) If I stand while I pray or sit in a well lit spot that is not really comfortable, that helps me to stay focused. (4) If I take small segments of time through out the day, that helps me stay focused. Just some ideas. Does anyone else have some Ideas? |
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I would add try to develop a prayerful attitude. Prayer is even more effective if it is part of your everyday, all the time approach to life and just not something you do and then check off the list for the day.
Strangely enough I’ve been asking similar questions lately. I just blogged about my struggle with prayer. For what it’s worth, I’ve found that I’ve enjoyed my time in the Word more when I know I will have the opportunity to share it with others. Granted I preach every week, so my opportunity is always there. However the joy of sharing the Word isn’t limited to the Sunday morning pulpit. Share what you’re reading with people and you’ll find yourself going back for seconds.
Andy,
Great thoughts… it really is a matter of the heart.
Eric,
That is a great tool. Great accountability.
A lot of my problems with staying focused on prayer and scripture is random background noise, especially since when i stay at my girlfriend’s house the noise from the street becomes very distracting. She lives right on the corner. What i find is helpful and even sometimes relaxing is putting on music in the background while I read. Nothing to loud and abnoxious just stuff that you really don’t pay attention to but drowns out occasional distractions. I don’t know if you have cable or not but most of them come with channels dedicated to continuous music in which case i chose the Classical Masterpiece network. Nothing to distracting. This helps me stay focused while reading scripture. Don’t get to relaxed though, it is hard to read and pray if your asleep.
lol