Practices for Abiding

At Furnace Brook we are developing a "Rule of Life" to help us grow as disciples of Jesus Christ. For more information on developing your personal rule of life (and to download a helpful pdf with a printable form to fill out) go to this website from our friends at Bridgetown Church. 
This past Sunday we talked about the importance of "abiding" in Jesus and developing those practices that would help us to abide. And Joel rattled off a list of possible practices that you might consider trying out as part of your rule of life, whether on a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis.
Here they are in greater detail:
1. Silence. Set a time for 2 minutes or five minutes are go by the calendar (do 12 minutes on the 12th.) Eliminate distractions. Put your phone away. Pray a simple prayer ("Speak Lord, your servant is listening", for instance) then practice a posture of openness to the Spirit until your timer goes off.
2. Sabbath. Be in church on Sunday. Keep the Sabbath holy by treating it differently from other days. Exult in leisure. Once a month or so consider taking an extended Sabbath. 
3. Practice good digital fitness. Set a limit on your screen time. Do some digital fasting. Put your phone away at 8:00pm. 
4. Scripture. Find ways to get scripture content that work for you in your situation. Do you want to follow a rigorous reading plan that gets you through the whole Bible in a year? Do that. Do you want to listen to five minutes of scripture from your phone in the morning? Do that. Do you want to spend a week memorizing one verse? Do that. 
5. Edifying material. There are books to read, podcasts to listen to, sermons to watch on YouTube. Edification seldom happens by accident.
6. Use the Daily Examen.
7.  Use Wesley's Questions for Self Examination.
​8. Employ the Daily Office. 
9. Practice intentional gratitude. Consider doing something like building a gratitude cairn where every rock you place on the cairn represents a thing you are grateful for.

What are some other practices that are part of your rule of life or that you are considering adopting to help you abide in the Lord?

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