In the DMM cycle (Disciple Making Movement) one of the key pieces of movement worldwide is an upgrade to extraordinary prayer.

If I’m honest at all, I'm just not there yet.

But I’ve been thinking about how to get there, both personally, and in terms of influencing the movement that we sense is coming. The questions I have currently are… how does this work practically? How can we support and create environments for prayer that are useful, conducive, and grounded in ways that will inspire God’s people?

This seems to me to be the kind of thing we can’t manufacture through cleverness or the ultimate marketing scheme. God will create the burden and urgency and direction of this kind of prayer.

It also seems to me to be the kind of thing we can have if we really want it. That we see the train, get on board, and soon enough we are on the bullet trip of a lifetime. 

So, how do we get started? 

I wish I had a recipe for this that was more clear. Lord, help my unbelief. Teach me to pray. Call us to where You want us to be. Spark this work in us.

As is often the case with me, I start at the beginning inside my head… and ask God to engage as Teacher.

Father, teach me how to pray - and how to catalyze prayer in others. 

Ok, cool. So here’s what I have so far.

1. Closet

I am a huge believer in free will. That may annoy my more hardcore reformed friends, but my best understanding is that while God is clearly sovereign, we are also clearly free. Insert <mystery> token here for the deep magic of paradoxical biblical truth.

Considering prayer, it is both a problem and an elegant solution, when paired with the idea of free will.

The problem is: why pray at all? Doesn’t God already know what we really need? Doesn’t He know what I will ask for even before I ask? Doesn’t He know that I’ll ask with bad motive, or in the wrong way, or get busy and forget to ask at all?

Yes. He knows all of that.

Yet with the idea of freedom in play, He also doesn’t seem to force His character or will on me. That isn’t to say that He doesn’t protect us, or work around us, or put His Hands on the scale to redeem us from our worst moments. I believe God is active, but all of the “around the edges” pieces of Jesus dealing with His disciples point to the idea of freedom and responsibility.  He is often frustrated with their lack of progress and faith, questioning honestly why they don’t see what He is seeing, or calling them from "earnest emotional response" to "in the moment" action.

​We too are disciples, and not so very different. We too are somehow able to grow in faith, with direct participation. This expectation points to freedom, and engagement on our part. 

We get to play. And practicing in good faith results in progress, while it remains an option for the Rich Young Ruler to walk away. When Jesus expresses a direct connection regarding the level of our faith, to what we believe and what we do... When He calls us out for a lack of faith, it assumes that we could have chosen (by some means) to do better. That "better" is available.

The solution is this: prayer is a principle means by which we align our will to God's.

If our spiritual maturing is a journey, AND if God is careful not to override our free will (even for our own good)… then can we give God permission to accelerate us in prayer? Can we take a leap of faith and go all in?

I think prayer is one way of giving God our full throated assent to move us (and in us), while maintaining the mystery of our freedom.

Clearly, God can do what He wants. And that will be just and good. But if one of the things He wants is for us to be free… then prayer becomes amazing.

It gives God our direct agreement, and freedom to mess with us, to correct us, to guide us, to empower us, and with prayer charged and running, just how much more effective can we be? Could prayer can help us learn the lesson the easy way, instead of the hard way? To actively participate in what God is doing, first and foremost in the trembling of our own salvation?

This is the kind of prayer that starts with gratitude, and the hallowing of His Name. With awe and correct perspective, (think Job at the end of the book) we can step into David's heart of 1) being laser focused on problem at hand, then 2) lifting his vision UP. To see God as best as we can see Him - and doesn’t that just change everything?

It is in the Closet that we re-align, that we say with Him, “not my will but Yours be done,” and we give God complete freedom to lead us wherever He wants us to go. In the Closet we set down our grocery list and align ourselves with Him and the glory of His will on the earth.

2. Corporate

We’ve been talking a lot about the pronouns in the Lord’s prayer. That, interestingly, they are all plural. Our Father… give us daily bread… lead us away from evil… That even in the Closet, we are still a part of the larger Body of Christ and even our solo prayer has a Corporate element.

Even more, when we get together physically, His word says that He is right there with us. There’s something deeply held in the community of believers, especially when we pray. Jesus leads His embryonic church to the Upper Room and they start to pray, together. In one accord, and in one place. This can’t be overstated. 

The power and connection we find in this mode is one of the most incredible gifts that He gives. It unites us, and our demographic, political, economic, and ethnic tribalism all melt in these moments. Who cares what (insert attribute here) you are in the presence of Almighty God? What difference doesn’t dim and fail to matter in the extraordinary unity of His Love and His Presence? These collective experiences, draw us, encourage us, inspire us, connect us, and lead us to what’s next.

There is no better inclusion than the singularity of mission shared by the redeemed. We are saved from, and to. What other details matter in the face of that glorious purpose?

God give us the vision to pray together, in the ways that are pleasing to You.

3. Canister

There is a wonderful story making the rounds about a canister found in the ruins of a Russian prison. We found, and pulled this version from Grok AI.

​_______________________________________

The Story: The Stones of Sukhanovka

In the dark years of Stalin’s reign, when the Soviet regime sought to erase the old Russia and its faith, countless churches were torn apart. Their golden domes were toppled, their icons burned, and their stones re-purposed for the machinery of the state. One such church, a small but cherished sanctuary near Vidnoye, just south of Moscow, met this fate in the late 1930s. Its walls, built of sturdy granite and limestone, were dismantled by order of the NKVD, the Soviet secret police. The stones weren’t discarded—they were too valuable for that. Instead, they were hauled to a nearby site, a former monastery called Ekaterinskaia Pustyn’, which the NKVD had transformed into Sukhanovka, a brutal special-regime prison for “enemies of the people.”

The prisoners at Sukhanovka—political dissidents, clergy, and others deemed dangerous—were forced into grueling labor. Among their tasks was to handle these very stones, once sacred, now reduced to raw material for prison walls and utilitarian structures. But not all the prisoners accepted this desecration quietly. A small group of believers, including a few Orthodox priests who had survived arrest, saw the stones differently. To them, these were not mere rocks but fragments of a holy past, stained with the prayers of generations. In secret, they whispered among themselves, making a pact born of faith and defiance.
One night, under the dim glow of a flickering lamp in their cramped cell, they acted. A monk named Father Alexei, whose hands still bore the calluses of swinging a censer rather than a pickaxe, scratched a message onto a scrap of paper torn from a smuggled Bible page. The note read: “These stones were once a house of God, torn apart by the hands of men. We pray that the Lord, in His mercy, will one day gather them again to sing His praise.” They sealed the note inside a rusted metal canister, perhaps an old tobacco tin scavenged from a guard’s refuse, and buried it among the stones they were stacking for a new prison barracks. As they worked, they prayed silently, entrusting their hope to God amid the despair of Sukhanovka, a place Alexander Solzhenitsyn would later call “the most terrible prison the MGB had.”

Years passed, and the Soviet Union crumbled. By 1992, the tides of history shifted. The Russian Orthodox Church, battered but enduring, began reclaiming what had been stolen. Sukhanovka, no longer a prison, was returned to its monastic roots. The barracks and walls, built with those pilfered stones, stood as grim reminders of the past. That year, as monks and volunteers began the slow work of restoring the site, they decided to erect a new church on the grounds—a symbol of resurrection over ruin.

During the construction, a laborer pried loose a stone from an old prison wall and heard a faint clatter. Beneath it lay the canister, dented and corroded but intact. Inside was Father Alexei’s note, its ink faded but legible. The discovery stunned the workers. The stones they were using, they realized, were the very ones taken from the church decades before—now being returned to their sacred purpose, just as the prisoners had prayed. Word spread, and the story took on a life of its own: a testament to faith’s quiet triumph over oppression. The new church, completed with those same stones, became a place of pilgrimage, its walls whispering a tale of divine providence fulfilled.

__________________________________


Thinking about the Canister, it seems to me that this kind of prayer is sublime and too often left for the moment of extremis, when it should be more intentional and purposive for us. This is a prayer for redemption in the face of injustice. A selfless prayer note, Canister filled time bomb for God to unleash His will and work in future context. A heavenly pay-it-forward blessing to the next generation.

In this case, it blesses the Christians who found the Canister, with it’s heartfelt prayer and prophetic purpose. It also blesses us, when we hear about it and are moved to know that God has a greater purpose than we see.

This is the prayer of Moses in the desert.

It is the prayer of Jeremiah in the burned stones of the ruined city.

It is Daniel, and later John, filling up Canisters with inspired scrolls, to us in hope, about chapters yet to come.

And it is the prayer of Jesus in the upper room. In John 17, our Savior was asking for an outpouring, and unity that He didn’t get to see, until He was on the other side of the Cross.

This isn’t denial or wishful thinking. It is not a stubborn refusing to acknowledge reality while hoping beyond hope that the heavenly pie in the sky is real in some metaphorical attempt to make ourselves feel better.

No.

This is the evidence of things unseen. The participation of God’s work in the earth, speaking in such a way as to draw our will into His, while trusting His timing, even when that outshining is not yet.

The question is this: what does God want in broken circumstances? What is His will that is beyond us or our ability to do it? What does He want for the next chapter, or perhaps even the next generation? What prayer should we pray, or what book should we write… to bless the ones to come?

Even in a state of hunger, sometimes we can selflessly meal prep in unbelievable ways. 

There is something deeply true and good about this idea of prayer. So set your heart… and prayer put a note into a Canister of faith.

4. Command

Sometimes prayer takes on something of an extraordinary voice.

Your sins are forgiven.

Hey you! Yes, you. Get up and walk.

God, I'm doing my utmost to obey your instructions. Please send fire from heaven... now.

Peace, be still (to the storms of nature itself).


Sometimes prayer is less like a feckless pleading, and more like Alexander deploying generals into the fray. 


Now, don’t misread my intent here. I’m not a name it claim it, blab it grab it, health, wealth, and ease, theologian.

But I do think that Father talks to us very directly in His word about a gospel divorced from heavenly power (and says with conviction to avoid this). If Jesus isn't just our Savior, but is also our Model for life and ministry, then this has some interesting possibilities attached. If, when He said, “even greater things will you do…” He wasn’t just speaking metaphorically, then we should ask what that looks like, and how to get there.

James tells us to call for elders, to pray over the sick, and then to pray in faith. There’s a longer story here (as James points us to Elijah as to how all of this works), but I think the short version is that this order matters. We pray “over” to align and ask what God is doing.

If through agreement and discernment, or through a supernatural outpouring of faith, we find that God is shining out in power, then we pray in faith, with boldness. That word for prayer in “prayer of faith” could be translated “vow.”

The vow of faith.

We see this when Jesus, or the prophets, or the disciples, or Paul, speak out in miraculous power - and then it happens - literally, physically, in the material world. The Red Sea parts, the child comes back to life, the blind eyes are opened and start to see. Obviously we can’t manufacture that, it is 100% dependent on the Holy Spirit and God moving. But God does lead us here sometimes, and miracles (both biblically and in the stories we hear today) come through His people and prayer.

This kind of prayer should be engaged in with care, and often with counsel. This isn’t witchcraft, or us "manifesting" what we want, but rather aligning our hearts and voices with the manifestation of God… to hear, then to bind on earth and trust in God to bind. Or release on earth, and with God, participate in that releasing in the mystery of His will.

Ask God what He wants to do here. Ask Him to build up your level of trust and faith to pray these kinds of “big prayers.” Then buckle your seat belt and get ready for the ride of your life.

Closet.

Corporate.

Canister.

Command.

​Let's go!

To review: (1) God enables my pursuit of virtues. (2) God equips believers with virtues including hope, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and forgiveness. (3) I pursue these virtues and gain experience and discernment. (4) People of like mind help me discover and deploy one or two specialized aptitudes which help the group serve people. Specialty virtues include seeing things from God's point of view, serving, teaching, giving, organizing, and mercy. These are just examples. God enables other spiritual gifts as he wishes.

God's people have long pursued these virtues.  Some do so with simple openness to God's direction. Some people are more systematic. Thus, the Wesleys’ 22 questions urge a person to ask of themselves daily probing questions: Can I be trusted? Am I enjoying prayer? Am I humble? Do I obey God in all things? Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography included his secular self-improvement program concerning 13 virtues, focusing on just one virtue per week. Other personal constitutions have been published, several since 1989 based on Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

We mentioned Covey but did not list his 7 habits. They are:  Be proactive (take responsibility).... Begin with the end in mind (have a plan and vision).... Put first things first (Prioritize).... Think win-win (Seek mutual benefit).... Seek first to understand, then to be understood (Listen with empathy).... Synergize (Value diverse opinions).... Sharpen the saw (Seek continuous improvement)....

Personal constitutions are essentially a list of virtues or desirable practices. New Year's Resolutions are another such a list.

The Single Question of Highly Effective Saints

We now turn to a Christian personal constitution that is not a list of questions, virtues, habits, or resolutions. I find in it some issues. Still in its way it can touch every situation of life. Millions have followed it daily since Iñigo (aka Ignatius) from the town of Loyola in Spain, first published it in 1522: This is The Examen.

With Ignatian Examen, I would take time once or twice a day to read scripture and pray, focusing gratitude and dependence on God for direction. These alone are worthy activities.

Next, I iterate through my memory of events in my life since the previous Examen. An event can be an experience, my thoughts, my feelings, or my action: admiring the sunrise, worrying about a conversation, eating breakfast, something I read.

I review each event for a few seconds with a single yes or no question:
 
          Did this event move me closer to God? 

Of course to answer this, I need a sense of what God wants.

• What does God want? That’s why Examen starts with scripture and asking for Holy Spirit’s insight.
• For the illiterate, “Teachings of the Church” (and its leaders) and parents might substitute.
  
• Examen groups I’ve visited meet with experienced Spiritual Directors (aka Givers) to discuss what “closer to God” can mean and to encourage one another.  
• Awareness Examen requires that I not linger in reflection on each event, but move on like a farmer counting cows or chickens while alert for individual health problems.
• Particular Examen is the kind of review exemplified by the Wesley 22 questions or the Franklin 13 virtues.

After my review of my events, I wrap up with prayer to God. I can log discoveries and resolutions.

Elegant, right? No 110 rules, 22 questions, 13 virtues, or 7 habits.

Though simple, there are weaknesses in the Ignatian Examen. I won't see the significance of some events in my life. I might over-emphasize some events. What feels like a humbling downer for my pride might be a step toward God’s way. I might judge illogically: by immediate effects, not considering likely consequences.  I might obsess over defects that God is already forgiving and healing. What seems like an opportunity to serve may be over-reaching. What seems like punishment may be opportunity.

Ignatius recognized such issues. His original book on Examin is 150 pages long. In his “Second Week” instructions Ignatian identified supporting activities before and after the central review.

1. Read God’s word in quiet.
2. Having prayed that the Holy Spirit will help me, Receive God’s Holy Spirit. Psalm 139 is such a request: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any evil in me, and guide me in the way everlasting.” So is Romans 8: “In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don't know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words.”
3. Review each event (my experience, thoughts, feelings, and actions) since the previous Examen. Don’t dwell on perceived success or failure. Instead, consider God’s activity in, around, and through me. Most important, decide: Did this event move me closer to God? Relish events that blessed me. Thank God. Repent of shortcomings or failures that the review found. Request God’s forgiveness and help with these needs.
4. Resolve to live righteously in concrete ways by God’s grace.
5. Recite a closing prayer such as “Our Father”.

Jesuit teachers call the above typically daily steps the Awareness Examen. If emphasizing thoughts and feelings (instead of experiences and actions), this is Consciousness Examen. If focused on a particular virtue or habit, this is Particular Examen. If focused on identifying and dumping sins, this is General Examen of Conscience and is a recommended preliminary to Confession.

In his Spiritual Exercises for the Second Week, Ignatius considered several complications and how to avoid them. These tend to involve feelings. The Second Week comments address puzzlements not clearly covered by scripture, by the teachings of the Church, or by the counsel of wise believers. Who should I marry? What work should I pursue? Where is my hairbrush?

A more controversial activity associated with Ignatian Examen is Imaginative Prayer.

This begins as above: Read scriptures and pray. Additionally ask that the Holy Spirit work through my imagination. We want to turn up imagination of the senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell…  Memory works through connections, and the idea is to enhance scripture memory and insight via sensory connections, even just imagined ones. Thus, selected scripture could be a gospel event or stories in which I might have participated had I been there: Jesus being born. Jesus healing the lame, feeding the crowd, celebrating Passover,… these contain sensory impressions waiting to be enhanced. Imagine chatting with other Judean spectators, hearing of their anxiety and fatigue before Jesus gave them bread and fish. Imagine being the blind man who fumbled his accustomed route in darkness until Jesus gave him sight.

Having mastered these safe imaginations, you can level up to Examen Contemplation and Examen Colloquy.  In these you approach Jesus on the cross and ask him how he can forgive—and he answers you. He tells you how you can forgive. Or buzz by a TARDIS on your way to creation and ask Father God about quarks or hell or raising children. Prompted by Psalm 139, ask God about his creation of you.  Discover that God loves you. Certainly, ask something of a saint—Mary the mother of Jesus is always popular. What are those things she hid in her heart? How did Jesus act at funerals?

Of course, the problem is not asking questions. The problem is not fanfic and Mary Sue. The problem is imagining a reply from Jesus, God, or Mary. Does that reply come from the Almighty or from my hopes or fears? From the Holy Spirit, or from the tempter? Holy Holodecks, I could fantasize Jesus confirming my stupid desires: Verily, Robin Hood, do rob that bank; just give some to the poor. Safeguards against wayward imagination are the Examen's prescribed use of the Biblical precedent, the "Teachings of the Church", and Spiritual Directors. Google, "AI", and social media can bring you trustworthy sources, opinions, or confident lies.

Toward the end of Spiritual Exercises, under the heading Greater Discernment of Spirits (p 169 in the pdf), Ignatius deals with many possible insights discovered in Examen. His advice is to recheck your current position and especially your current trajectory. The first rule: continuing in serious sin is bad, even if you feel good about it. “In the persons who go from mortal sin to mortal sin,… the enemy commonly proposes to them apparent pleasures… The good spirit uses the opposite method, pricking them and biting their consciences through the process of reason.”

Compare with the third rule: “the evil angel enters the devout soul with good and holy ambitions; but then little by little he aims at drawing the soul to his covert deceits and perverse intentions.” In other words, “It’s a trap!”

In many Psalms, David and others requested justice or vengeance. Jesus gives us even more confidence to come to God (Hebrews 4:15-16). But there’s such a thing as presumptuous prayer (Psalm 19). So be extremely careful with imagined directives. Seek external confirmation. I’m not a 100% cessationist; but I know that words from God tend to be on his initiative and through his means, confirmed by his miracles to certify his truths in his time.

Supporting Ignatian Examen, there is a sizable stack of devotion books, Apps, and web sites . They offer preparatory scriptures, canned prayers, suggested music, discussion prompts, and other customizations for students, athletes, business people, mothers, fathers, etc. You just bring your experiences, thoughts, feelings, and action. Most I’ve seen are decidedly Roman Catholic. Jesuit retreat centers sponsor weekends or longer retreats saturated in Ignatian Examen. Practically all weekend you will be in silence except for chapel prayers and singing. Can’t go to a retreat? Some monasteries and churches offer Ignatian groups via Zoom.  Several non-Catholic church groups conduct spiritual direction retreats that are mostly Ignatian Examen but basically Biblical. There have been secular outfits that claim connection with Christian spirituality, but watch out: “It’s a trap!”

At its heart, the Ignatian Examen shines a flashlight on each of my events today, and asks, “Did this event move me closer to God?”  Other Christian contemplative methods tend to add a few more questions. They are not hard to find.  Here is one such Examen core from a Franciscan community:

• If I truly wanted to live God’s dream for humanity, or to live and act as Jesus did, What must/should I do in response to this text?
• How would it change my life? 
• Is it possible for me to respond at this time of my life?
• Is there anything I can do, right now, which would begin my journey of response to this text?

The Seven Spiritual Weapons of Saint Catherine of Bologna

A method of Christian spiritual growth might not use questions. Instead, it can spotlight values or goals or “Life Verses”. These are a little like Franklin pursing his 13 favored secular virtues.

Catherine was an inspiring painter and musician in Bolagna, Italy. No introspective wimp she. From about 1463, she lists her weapons of integrity and progress.

George Washington

Toward the end of February the US Senate performs a Senate activity repeated every year since 1893. It is a 45-minute reading of George Washington’s Farewell Address.  This document is way longer than many personal constitutions.  Nevertheless, it quite conveys the ideals and advice of a respected leader practicing what he preached. What advice would you leave for people you love?

Please don’t take as representative of President Washington's values his widely-circulated “110 Rules of Civility” (more compactly here). As a teenager he simply copied these rules from a century-old textbook. Quite likely this was a school assignment, possibly a penmanship exercise. If you know teenage boys, you know they generally need such rules as number 4, “In the Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.” Or number 107, “If others talk at Table be attentive but talk not with Meat in your Mouth.”

Though longish, read Washington’s Farewell Address. It is worthwhile, even as an annual reflection. You might skip his warnings about foreign entanglements, cautions about political parties, concerns about government debt, and so on—if you dare.

Thomas Jefferson

The third US President wrote several short notes to youngsters summarizing his principles and practices. Here is the earliest and longest, titled “A Dozen Canons of Conduct in Life”. He sent this to his granddaughter instead of the expected two-dollar bill with his picture on it.

Items with * were omitted in later versions sent to other young people. TJ took rule number 5 quite seriously.

These slightly cryptic maxims trace to Greek philosophers. For example, the Stoic named Epictetus wrote, “Every event has two handles, one by which it can be carried, and one by which it cannot. If your brother does you wrong, don’t seize upon his wrong, because this is the handle incapable of lifting…”.
 
Besides quoting Stoics and Epicureans—in Greek, French, and English!—Jefferson famously distilled a collection of Jesus’ words. However, he omitting from his harmony of the gospels anything supernatural: Claims of deity, angels, miracles, and the resurrection? Gone. Jefferson explained his super-condensed Bibles—he made two—in an 1813 letter to John Adams:
 
“We must reduce our volume to the simple evangelists, select, even from them, the very words only of Jesus, …. There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently his, and which is as easily distinguishable as diamonds in a dunghill.”  
 
I repudiate Jefferson’s abuse of indigenous people and slaves, and reject his deism, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”  Still, I do admire that Jefferson’s personal constitution was just Jesus’ words: nothing more, nothing less. Whereas US Senators hear Washington’s words every February, US Presidents—really, everybody—would do well to give as much attention to Jesus’ words as did President Thomas Jefferson.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin published a strikingly systematic yet humane set of resolutions. And that’s not all!  Regarding these resolutions, he set up a simple system for his own performance evaluation.

This thorough attention to virtues doesn’t compensate for Franklin’s promotion of daylight saving time. Or his wishy-washy deism. Still, compared to the other personal constitutions, individual agendas, resolutions, and maxims of his era, I see Franklin’s as clearer, more doable, and more adaptable to my use. Here's his list:

Here is Franklin’s own enjoyable explanation of his motivations and the development process.
http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/page38.htm

Franklin included humility, chastity, and perhaps some other virtues because people told him that he was not good at them! He was particularly keen to not just admire virtue, but to do virtue. His approach was intentional—not accidental—daily practice and streamlined daily self-evaluation. So as not to confuse himself, he resolved to focus on just one virtue per week. With 13 virtues on the list, that’s 13 weeks before starting over. 13 weeks times 4 is 52 weeks. See what he did there?

Here’s a clearer presentation of his calendar: 
     https://blogs.library.unt.edu/untdocsblog/2014/01/17/11/

This report and encouragement comes from a fellow who followed Franklin’s Plan for a decade.

Virtuous To-Do Lists

Question: Are there virtues that you would add to Franklin’s list?  Would you trim any?

My priorities would be kindness (or agape) and discernment replacing silence and moderation.

Really, what’s worse than a silent ax-murderer, if not a moderate silent ax-murderer?

Consider Hebrews 11, "Without faith it is impossible to please God."

Consider Matthew 6, "If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive, ...."

Franklin’s list of virtues reminds me of several New Testament lists:

Galatians chapter 5    (ESV)
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Colossians chapter 3
“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Romans chapter 12
“We all have different gifts … prophecy … serving … teaching … encouraging others … giving to others … leading … showing mercy.

2 Peter chapter 1
“May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,…

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have talked to Christians who objected to the idea of becoming a better Christian. I would not call them lazy. They languidly pointed out that Christ Jesus has already done all that can be done to please God.  Moreover, God has already programmed each person’s future. Service may come. If they need preparation or discernment, God will provide. They cite Ephesians 2: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (More) They sit back and enjoy the ride on the train from St. Augustine to Calvinville.

Those, ahem, determined believers are rare. Few Christians are completely passive. God calls us holy and saints. Most of us want to match such titles with improved thought, feelings, and action.

So it was with college students John Wesley (1703-1791), his brother Charles, and some friends. They formed a club that advanced the following 22 yes or no questions to track daily their lifelong pursuit of holiness.  Tally how well you do on these 22 questions. I’ve rephrased some so that answers of “yes” are always desirable. 22 “yes” answers puts you close to Jesus.

I find this is a tough list. What else would you consider?  How about, "Have I been generous? Have I encouraged anyone? Have I forgiven? Have I gone the second mile? ..." Lists like these bug me. They easily spotlight my errors, fumbles, and opportunities missed.

It's also possible to compose a list where I get an A+. Consider the story of “The Good Samaritan” in Luke chapter 10.  The two jerks who passed by the injured man could congratulate themselves: Yes! I preserved my ritual purity and journeyed on to fulfill my appointed godly duties. Yay me. Jesus asked concerning the three passers-by, “which was the neighbor?” Jesus did not hesitate to ask clear but challenging questions.

A scorecard like the above can be a private record or used as the Wesleys did in accountable and more nearly objective review. Wesley's use was in a small group. Wesley's journal notes how the of these and subsequent coworkers helped him. The Moses of Methodists John Wesley later published four amendments that also can present as yes or no questions.

A. Am I absolutely open and unreserved with all I should converse with?

B. Do I labor in continual seriousness, not willingly indulging myself in any the least levity of behavior, or in laughter; no not for a moment.

C. Do I speak no word that does not tend to the glory of God; in particular, do I not talk of worldly things?

D. Do I take no pleasure which does not to the glory of God; thanking God every moment for all I do take, rejecting every sort and degree of it which I feel I cannot so thank Him in and for?
 
Wot, no lafs?
 
Jesuits use “spiritual exercises” to grow; we’ll see some of that subsequently. Of course, Methodists use methods. Historically, the main method has been discipleship in the form of a weekly small group meeting. The leader would begin by asking an open-ended question, “How is it with your soul?” There would be Bible study, and review of the General Rule of Discipleship evidenced in acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion. The small group enhances self-examination and is inclined to compassionately critique, encourage, and assist.

Footnote 1: Already noted in the New Testament is tension over faith vs works, determinism vs free-will, original sin vs responsibility, and more... These surface in Pelagianism and continue today.

Footnote 2: In the above screed I have focused on the Christian denomination, "Methodist". My focus will move on to look at lowercase "m" "methodists". That "methodist" is one who lives life life and pursues personal development via conscious rules of conduct and of personal evaluation: a method. The goals and evaluations that interest me must be more objective than, "if it feels good, do it" or, "go with your gut". The above unstructured 22 questions form such a method. It explicitly and implicitly accepted certain values, goals, and practices. The Stoic Enchirodon, the Ignatian Examen, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People are other such methods. I aim to touch on a few more methods of Christian personal growth.

Should you write a “Personal Constitution”? This is a potentially rewarding—and potentially obsessive—practice of listing your values, ambitions, and practices.  On first pass such a list will be inaccurate—too conceited, too modest, just ignorant.  After several passes and amendments, my own list became too wordy.  It remained useless until I boiled it down to two primary practices of two words each.
 
“A doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient” (Dr. William Osler). “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit." (Philippians 2) Start quietly, but don't finish your personal constitution in isolation. Instead, consider that sharing and refining personal constitutions can help the individuals involved and the community of Christ! Decades ago, around once a year, believers I knew shared perceptions concerning one another.  I remember being completely surprised at good things and deplorable things other people saw in me. Such confrontation encouraged us to discern and to develop “the better angels of our nature.” Here in February—between New Year resolutions, reviewing finances and taxes, spring cleaning, and daily news involving the national constitution—right now is as good a time as any to begin. Effort now is an investment that can grow to help you and others rationally face life’s persistent questions.

In a previous post I cautioned concerning psych self-assessments and the Christianized versions, Spiritual Gifts Inventories. Too often these quizzes are not used as collaborative tools to build coworker communities. In isolation they become mirrors to confirm vanity, self-loathing, or sloth.

“Personal Constitution” is the term Peter Covey floated in his 1989 business-oriented best-seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  The practice of forming such a mission statement, credo, prime directive, philosophy, or rule of life is far from new. In subsequent posts I'll link to diverse personal constitutions from such eminents as Socrates, Confucius, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards, the Wesley brothers, Ignatius of Loyola, and others.

Besides constructing your motto, be aware of Biblical statements of purpose, including:

• “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua
• “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” Jesus. Also: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” And: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
• “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul. Also: “My purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.”

• “All I know is that I used to be blind, but now I can see!” That guy in John chapter 9

I advocate putting in both introspection and discussion with friends that will lead to you recognizing your values, ambitions, and principles; finding perhaps your “Life Verse”, and certainly your individual spiritual gift or gifts. Again! Your spiritual gift is not so much an ability given you. Your spiritual gift is you yourself given to the church. Thus, discovery is not just a matter of pondering and conversing. Discovery includes introspection, extrospection, patiently doing, sometimes failing, and persisting in faith, hope, and love. I urge that such efforts to consolidate your values, goals, and practices do not displace your compassion, attention, and gratitude. Keep on appreciating God and the specific principles he has given his people. “Your word is a light for my feet and a light on my path.” (Psalm 119)