Words With God: A 5-Day Reading Plan From Addison BevereSample

Making It Practical

Another way to cultivate a lifestyle of prayer is to engage in practices that foster prayerfulness throughout the day. These practices help us become more mindful of what God is doing around and within us, helping us see how we can join and enjoy His good work.

I’ll highlight one of those practices today: the Ignatian Examen or the Daily Examen. It is a simple practice that takes us through a series of movements, all of which are inspired by The Lord’s Prayer or models for prayer found in the Psalms. The steps are simple, and the idea is to take as long as you need to complete each step.

Pause and take a few deep breaths, and recognize that no matter where you are, you are in God’s presence.

Bring what the psalmist calls a sacrifice of praise. This is a chance for you to express gratitude for the day. Be specific and genuine. This moment of gratitude puts things into perspective.

Express your requests to the Father. This is when we are specific with our needs and desires, inviting His perspective into our struggles and opportunities.

Review the day with God. Take a journey back through the day’s stirrings and struggles. Be honest about where you’ve ignored God’s presence and guidance.

Ask for forgiveness and extend forgiveness where necessary. This is a healing step that reintegrates our heart with the Father’s and with our brothers and sisters.

Look forward with God and ask for His renewing power to be with you. This is where plans are made with God, where we respond and obey.

Aware of God’s presence and goodness, we conclude the Examen but carry with us the reality of Immanuel “God with us.”

That may seem like a lot of steps, but once you try praying the Examen, you’ll notice how the steps naturally flow into each other.

God wants to commune with us, constantly. If it weren’t true, Jesus wouldn’t have told us to pray always and never give up. The challenge is, we struggle to hear the Voice when we spend most of our lives listening to the other voices. But if we continue to persevere and allow prayer to escape from its proverbial box, we will become more aware that God speaks in both silence and sound.

We hope this plan spoke to you. Learn more about WORDS WITH GOD by Addison Bevere.