Daily Exercises for Spiritual Renewal
A new spiritual formation E-book has been published and is available on Amazon-Kindle. It is also available as a paperback. For an overview of this spiritual formation guide:
Daily Exercises for Spiritual Renewal is a daily guide, in the Christian tradition, that provides both structure and flexibility for growth in your spiritual life. While many people desire to have a deeper spiritual life, they need a better framework to focus on key practices that will deepen their life of prayer, their interaction with God’s Word, their worship, and their communion with God. These daily exercises provide a basic structure, but also include flexibility. Rather than another book on prayer or the spiritual life, this should be considered as a daily guide that you can use as a helpful framework. Reflections on key areas are included, as well as 40 days of Gospel readings, and 40 days of readings on God’s character and attributes.
The Daily Exercises for Spiritual Renewal uses the outline below as a guide. This outline provides a guide, while various sections in the outline are also hyperlinked to helpful readings and materials later in the book. Once you are finished with any of these additional readings, you can return to the outline.
FIRST STEPS
☐ Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance & direction
☐ Time for giving thanks
☐ Select a Gospel Reading {Or, a reading on God’s Attributes and Character}
STEPS OF RENEWAL AND DEVOTION
☐ Time of examination / confession / commitment
☐ Reflect on Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection
☐ Prayers of surrender & prayers of devotion to God ☐ Worship
PRAYER IN ALL SEASONS
☐ Intercessory prayer:
☐ Pray for people to come to know Christ ☐ Pray for family
☐ Pray for the local church ☐ Pray for work situations
☐ Wider needs: international, national, & local
☐ Pray for improvement of specific relationship(s) in your life
☐ Pray for a friend’s need
IN TIMES OF DIFFICULTY, STRESS, OR ADVERSITY
☐ Confess to God your need of grace
☐ Prayer for healing ☐ Prayer for deliverance ☐ Prayer for barriers to be broken
☐ Prayer for assurance of God’s will & guidance ☐ Ask for strength & comfort
☐ Turn matters over to God ☐ Worship
IN TIMES OF ENCOURAGEMENT OR FAVOR
☐ Pray about future opportunities, challenges, and decisions
☐ Renew your humble dependence on God
☐ Focus on others; pray about how you can help others. ☐ Worship
MORE AREAS OF PRAYER
☐ Spirit empowerment: Ask for power of the Spirit, (1) to lead you beyond areas of
selfishness; (2) to empower you to minister to others; and (3) to enter into and express more of the fruit of Spirit, in order to help others.
☐ Asking for wisdom: “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all
generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you” (James 1:5 NRSV).
☐ Prayer for the future: Ask for fruitful work, open doors of opportunity, and ways to use your gifts in service and ministry.
SPECIAL FOCUS TIMES
☐ Extended worship time: Worship music / worship media / singing and praise
☐ Our Father...The Lord’s Prayer as a guide for prayer:
Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
☐ Christ-like character qualities
☐ Journaling
REFLECTION AND CONCLUSION
☐ Time of reflection, listening to God
☐ Concluding praise & thanks
☐ Connecting to additional spiritual disciplines
Daily Exercises for Spiritual Renewal is available at:
M. A. Erickson
