Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

The next spiritual discipline Whitney addresses is prayer. He regards Bible intake and prayer as the two foundational disciplines—others may be added on top of them, but if a Christian is lacking in either of the foundational two, then any other disciplines will prove fruitless. Scripture makes it clear that prayer is expected of Christians. Jesus regularly refers to the fact that his followers will be people of prayer, and the New Testament epistles give direct exhortations to that effect. Whitney quotes the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther on this point: “As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray” (82). Jesus himself made prayer the central spiritual discipline of his life, as portrayed in the Gospels, so Whitney believes that it is a necessary way of attaining a closer walk with God—if Jesus needed it, then certainly so do his followers. Whitney encourages his readers to pray even during times when they might feel discouraged, or when the answers they seek do not appear to be forthcoming, as prayer is still doing its hidden work in their hearts.

Prayer is a learned skill, and one only attains a deep capacity for it by praying.