Beyond Sunday: 4 Daily Disciplines for a Vibrant Faith Sample

Next, we will explore ways believers can engage in prayer and conversation with God. Below is a video discussing the various types of prayer.

Devotional:

We should be faithful in prayer. But how can we pray? According to a textbook by

Calhoun (2015), there are seventeen types of prayer, which are bullet-pointed below:

• Breathing prayer is a simple, intimate prayer linked to breathing, inhaling a word, and

exhaling a word or phrase to God.

• Centering prayer is to rest in God alone through meditation on scripture and quiet time

with God in prayer.

• Contemplative prayer is an open posture of prayer with a heart receptive to the presence

of God.

• Conversational prayer is talking with God along with two or more people.

• Fasting prayer is the self-denial of specific things to create longing and openness

with Christ.

• Fixed-hour prayer calls for a regular fixed pattern of prayers to God throughout the day.

• Inner-healing prayer is for those with wounds to enter the safe and healing presence of

Christ through prayer.

• Intercessory prayer invites us to petition God for His care for our family, friends, and

world.

• Labyrinth prayer is to make a quiet pilgrim with a marked path and spiritual discipline of

prayer.

• A listening prayer allows God to set the agenda for what we need to hear.

• Liturgical prayer is a memorized prayer of scripture or worship to God (Calhoun, 2015).

• Prayer of Lament is when we approach God with our sorrow, pain, and anger.

• Prayer partners pray together with others about personal concerns and the concerns of the

world.

• Praying scripture uses God’s word to help us enter prayer with God directed by His

words.

• Prayer of reconciliation is going to the Lord in prayer for rest and connecting with the

reality that God is in me.

• Prayer walking is physically walking with Jesus through places like a church, house, or

hospital and praying for the people within those places.

•Welcoming prayer is asking Jesus into every circumstance, our bodies, and all relationships.

Reflection/Discussion Questions:

• Do you spend time in silence and solitude with God like Jesus did when he prayed?
• When was a time in your life when prayer changed everything?
• Which types of prayer have you practiced?

Application:

• Add a new method of prayer to try practicing daily for a week. Then, assess how this new method of prayer has affected you.
• Pick one of the seventeen types of prayer each day to use in talking with God that day, then write in your journal how your experience with that type of prayer went.

Closing Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for all the ways that I can engage with you in prayer to become closer in my relationship with you. Give me the strength to dive into these types of prayers and apply them in my daily life. May I model to my friends and family how to increase communication with you.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

References:

Calhoun, A.A., (2015). Spiritual disciplines handbook. Revised and Expanded. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.