4 Spiritual Disciplines to Cultivate in 2024
The new year brings a host of inevitable New Year’s resolutions.
Our goals say a lot about our priorities. And for 2024, I hope all believers will make a conscious effort to grow in their walk with the Lord.
But with so many things competing for our attention, it can be difficult to know which pursuits will be the most worthwhile.
Should I read more books written by Christian authors? Or perhaps devote more time listening to Christian podcasts or sermons? Should I start saving money to attend this year’s big Christian conference?
The Lord Jesus didn’t recommend any authors, podcasts, or conferences to his disciples in the Great Commission. In fact, he impressed upon them that he had given them all that they needed.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
Luke records the early church prioritizing the basics of the Christian faith.
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42
Reading books, listening to sermons, and attending conferences are not bad things. But the truth is that God has already given every Christian the necessary tools for spiritual growth: His Word, prayer, and the sacraments.
These three tools are often called the “ordinary means of grace.” They are the ordinary means by which God ministers to us, sanctifies us, and makes us more like Christ.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism sums it up well in Question 88:
88. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?
A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.
It can be easy to overthink spiritual growth but thankfully, by God’s grace, it isn’t complicated.
So in light of these simple, yet God-ordained means of grace, I encourage you to pursue 4 spiritual disciplines this year.
1 | Faithfully attend church
If you want to grow spiritually, you must faithfully attend a gospel-preaching church.
Only in the context of Lord’s Day worship is the Christian able to receive all of the means of grace. The Lord builds, sustains, and molds his children through years of sitting under faithful preaching, joining in corporate prayer, and regularly participating in the Lord’s Supper.
Of course, there will be memorable sermons and forgettable ones, days where your prayers easily roll off your tongue and days when you don’t know what to pray. There will also be days where you may feel the richness of God’s mercy in Christ and some days where you feel apathetic and indifferent.
Our spiritual growth is like building physical endurance. Sporadically running once or twice a month isn’t going to prepare you to run a marathon, but consistently running over the course of weeks, months, and years, will build the necessary endurance to run the race.
In a similar way, for the believer, one Lord’s Day worship service will not make or break your spiritual growth. Rather, faithfully attending Lord’s Day worship week after week will have cumulative effect on your spiritual growth. The Lord will bless your faithfulness over time! Do not despise the day of small things!
May we all adopt David’s heart in Psalm 122 and say, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’”
2 | Read your Bible
Speaking of the Psalms, the longest Psalm – Psalm 119 – is a poem dedicated to the beauty, majesty, and glory of God’s Word. The Psalmist understood what we must understand as well, that God’s Word is glorious because it reveals his character to us. In short, God’s Word is how he reveals himself to humanity.
Most Christians understand that they should be spending time in God’s Word (after all, this is a well-worn yearly suggestion). However, there can be an impulse to bite off more than we can chew.
A good practical suggestion is to start small and pick up easy wins. Before you commit to finally reading through the whole Bible in 2024, perhaps you should try reading through the Psalms or the New Testament first.
Here are a few helpful plans to get you started.
The Psalms
60 Days in the Psalms
In this plan you’ll read through all 150 Psalms in two months.
A-Psalm-A-Day Reading Plan
In 150 days, you’ll read all 150 Psalms.
Psalms & Proverbs 31-Day Reading Plan
You’ll read through both the Psalms and Proverbs in a month.
The New Testament
Read through the New Testament in 90 Days
Over the course of three months, you’ll read through the entire New Testament.
ESV 6-Month New Testament Reading Plan
In six months, you will read through the New Testament.
The Navigators 5x5x5 Reading Plan
This plan only requires reading 5 days a week and over the course of a year, you’ll read through the entire New Testament.
Read through the New Testament in a Year
This plan breaks up the New Testament into very small digestible chunks, making reading the New Testament in a year quite doable.
The Whole Bible
The 5-Day-a-Week Reading Plan
Because it’s only five days a week, it’s easy to make up if you miss a day here or there. Additionally, it’s quasi-chronological, so you’ll often read a Psalm that corresponds with the events of Israel.
Straight-Through the Bible
You’ll read from Genesis straight through to Revelation over the course of a year.
Chronological Bible Reading Plan
In this plan, you’ll read through the entire Bible in a year according to the Bible’s chronological order.
The Robert Murray M’Cheyne Reading Plan
Over the course of a year, you’ll read through the New Testament and Psalms twice and the Old Testament once.
Professor Grant Horner’s Bible Reading System
If you’re really up for a challenge this year, consider Professor Horner’s Bible Reading System. Of his plan he writes, “Every year you’ll read through all the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice, Paul’s letters 4-5 times each, the OT wisdom literature six times, all the Psalms at least twice, all the Proverbs as well as Acts a dozen times, and all the way through the OT History and Prophetic books about 1 ½ times.”
All that to say, if you’re serious about digging into the Word this year, there are plenty of options out there for you!
3 | Memorize Scripture
Another worthwhile goal is to spend time committing Scripture to memory. There will always be struggles and pressing issues, but memorizing God’s word will not be in vain.
Joshua 1:8 tells us, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.”
Not only should we read and study God’s Word but we should “meditate on it day and night.”
But again, Scripture memory isn’t something that most Christians need to be convinced is important. More often than not, we need helpful practical guidance to point us in the right direction.
There are many helpful tools that can help you in your quest to memorize Scripture.
The Navigators have built a helpful topical memory system.
Another great resource is Quizlet. Quizlet is a study tool that helps students commit information to memory. In Quizlet you can build your own Scripture memory study set or find Scripture memory sets that others have created.
If committing Scripture to memory as a family is important to you, then you might benefit from the Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System.
4 | Pray
Prayer is an important yet often neglected spiritual discipline. Every Christian would probably readily confess that he or she doesn’t spend enough time in prayer.
I’m often reminded that in Jesus’ introductory lines to the Lord’s Prayer he assumed that his disciples would be men of prayer. “And when you pray…” Not only are Christians expected to pray, but it’s also helpful to know what prayer is and why we should do it.
Prayer “is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 98).
The shorter catechism’s definition is incredibly helpful whenever we think about prayer or how we should approach it. Instead of resigning to a life of prayerless defeat, we should consider some practical ways to jumpstart our prayer lives.
The same practical wisdom applies here as well. Consider starting small and then building upon it. You may even want to evaluate how you're spending your time and think about reclaiming fifteen minutes for prayer. Instead of mindlessly scrolling through your phone at the end of the day, use fifteen minutes of that time to thoughtfully pray for your family, church and friends. One friend in our church told me that he’s going to commit a portion of his family’s time around the dinner table to taking prayer requests so that he can know how to pray for his wife and children.
But if you’re still looking for more resources on prayer here are a few:
Matthew Henry’s method for prayer - According to the website, “The aim of the online publication of this “old-made-new” monograph is to assist and encourage modern Christians in both public and private prayer.”
The Valley of Vision - This is a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions. I’ve always found the Valley of Vision to be a great primer for personal prayer.
Here are a few helpful book suggestions on prayer:
If God Already Knows Why Pray? By Doug Kelly
Pray with Your Eyes Open: Looking at God, Ourselves, and our Prayers By Richard Pratt
Persistent Prayer by Guy M. Richard
Of course, God’s grace covers our shortcomings, but committing more time and energy to knowing, serving, and loving him more is always a worthwhile New Year’s goal. I hope that we will all devote more of ourselves to the Lord this year by cultivating worthwhile spiritual disciplines.
