Make Growing Your Faith a Habit

In episode 110, “Make Growing Your Faith a Habit”, we bring on preacher, Pierre Cannings, to discuss what spiritual disciplines are and how we can use them to grow a deeper relationship with Christ. This interview is part of our Atomic Habits Mini Series (episodes 103-111). We are so excited to dive deep into what the term “spiritual discipline” means and how to apply it to your Christian walk.

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Pierre Cannings is the Assistant Pastor at Living Word Fellowship Church who oversees Youth, Missions, and Discipleship Ministry. He is also an adjunct professor at the College of Biblical Studies. After receiving a BA in Communication from Austin College, Pierre enrolled in Dallas Theological Seminary where he received a Masters in Theology. Go Roos!

What Does Spiritual Discipline Mean?

First, let’s take a look at what the phrase means, and then we’ll dive into what that looks like in daily life. Discipline means to train or put under strict discipline, so spiritual discipline would mean spiritual training. Pierre give amazing examples and analogies in episode 110, so be sure to scroll up and click play while you read these show notes.

If you’re training how you should (in any aspect of life), you will naturally miss is when you skip out on it. Training your body to work out every day will make you bummed when you miss out on burning all the calories. If you wake up and drink coffee every morning, you’ll miss it on the days you don’t have it.

There must be a mindset shift that occurs to help you stay mentally tough while you’re training. We restrict in certain places so that we can grow in others. If we restrict our intake of dessert, we grow a more healthy body. If we cut back on watching TV at night, we can grow ourselves by reading, or spending our time on more important things. Spiritual disciplines work the same.

What Are Spiritual Disciplines?

There are many forms of spiritual disciplines, but they all have one thing in common: growing closer to God. Pay attention to what makes you feel connected and growing in your relationship with Jesus. There are a ton of right ways to grow in your Christian walk, do what works for you. Here are a few examples of spiritual disciplines.

• Solitude
• Reading the Bible
• Prayer
• Meditation
• Fasting
• Worship

Again, the list goes on. There are many ways to grow closer to God, so it’s wise to explore your options, and do what works for you. Taking your life phase into consideration is important, and trial and error is fine! Pierre gives so many great examples of how this can look in episode 110. We also interviewed AJ Sherrill who wrote “Enneagram for Spiritual Formation” (affiliate), which takes into consideration your Enneagram number. How cool is that?! You can hear AJ’s episode HERE.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Pslam 139: 23-24

Make Disciplines a Habit

Your priorities dictate your day. Bottom line. This is a hard pill to swallow if you’ve been saying that you don’t have enough time. We know that you make time for what’s important. Be willing to rearrange and prioritize as the seasons of life go. Rely on your training from our mini series on how to reduce friction so you can stick with the process and see results. Make growing your faith a habit you love to enjoy.

In episode 110, we talk about where to start reading your Bible and high quality resources to help you know and understand what the Bible is saying. All of the resources are linked below for you to checkout. In addition, we discuss ways to pray along with fasting. Pierre references Matthew 14: 13-26 and Mark 6:30-32 along with great tips on how to do this. This podcast episode is full of wisdom, so make sure you listen (just scroll up).

We hope you enjoyed “Make Growing Your Faith a Habit”, and that you have practical, actionable steps you can take. Be sure to check out this entire Atomic Habits mini series about an easy & proven way to build good routines & break bad ones. You can do this! We’re here to help. Click the affiliate image below to get your copy of Atomic Habits.

Links from the Show

• The Spirit of the Disciplines (book affiliate link)
• Everything is Figureoutable Mini Series (episodes 40-51)
• Tyranny of the Urgent (book affiliate link)
• Joe Paris: Christianity & Science (episode 62)
• Biblical Concordance (affiliate link)
• Living Word Fellowship Church
• Pierre Cannings Instagram
• Acts 2 Houston non-profit
• LOGOS Bible Study Software
• Atomic Habits (book affiliate link)
• Atomic Habits Mini Series Page
• Witty & Gritty Patreon
• FREE Giftings & Passions Finder