Practicing is essential for
progress as
a musician. This practice develops skills, muscle tone, eye and hand
coordination, and a deeper understanding of music. Likewise practicing
spiritual matters will develop new skills, improve your inner health,
and give you a deeper understanding of life.
Here are some things you can do to develop your inner self:
- Christian meditation
- Daily devotional readings
- Daily Bible readings
- Daily prayer
- Meeting with Christians
Daily
Devotional Readings
There are many Internet sites where daily readings are available. Here are a few:
Daily Promises from the Bible
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Daily Bible readings
Why read the Bible? Consider what we say on this page.
There are many Internet sites where daily readings of the Bible are available.
If you have never read the Bible before we suggest you begin with the Gospel of John. This book introduces the life of Jesus as told by one of his disciples--John. There are several websites with Bible translations available. Here are two links on different websites to the 1st chapter in John: 1st link & 2nd link.
There are many excellent translations available to English speakers so the choice can be quite bewildering. If you have a choice of translations we suggest you read a modern translation such as the New King James Version or the New International Version.
This site has plans for daily Bible readings: http://cf.blueletterbible.org/reader/daily/
Daily Prayer
Setting aside a certain time of the day to pray is very helpful. Daniel, a great Jewish leader centuries ago, made it a practice to pray three times a day. Consider your schedule and when might be the best time to focus your prayers to God.
Prayer is simply conversation with God. A conversation involves both talking and listening.
There are several wonderful books for learning more about prayer. Two classics can be found for free on the web on a site devoted to digitizing Christian literature: the Christian Classics Ethereal Library www.ccel.org. Here are direct links to the two books:
Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer
Lawrence, Practicing the Presence of God
These two books are presented in several formats on the website: pdf, MP3 (audio file), Palm document, Word, etc.
Meeting with Christians
Practicing alone as a musician can get very lonely. If all you did was practice alone and never played music with others, you would miss out on some of the best experiences music has to offer. The same is true for spiritual practice. Meeting with others for worship, discussions, readings of the Bible, public prayers, messages from spiritual leaders, and encouragement will greatly help your inner life. In fact it is necessary for you to have a healthy life.
This site can't recommend a particular church, meeting, or fellowship but we can offer some advice for what to look for. Take a look at our mission statement. In it you will find statements that hundreds of Christian musicians advocate. We encourage you to find a group of practicing Christians who believe the same.
There are many Internet sites where daily readings are available. Here are a few:
Daily Promises from the Bible
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Daily Bible readings
Why read the Bible? Consider what we say on this page.
There are many Internet sites where daily readings of the Bible are available.
If you have never read the Bible before we suggest you begin with the Gospel of John. This book introduces the life of Jesus as told by one of his disciples--John. There are several websites with Bible translations available. Here are two links on different websites to the 1st chapter in John: 1st link & 2nd link.
There are many excellent translations available to English speakers so the choice can be quite bewildering. If you have a choice of translations we suggest you read a modern translation such as the New King James Version or the New International Version.
This site has plans for daily Bible readings: http://cf.blueletterbible.org/reader/daily/
Daily Prayer
Setting aside a certain time of the day to pray is very helpful. Daniel, a great Jewish leader centuries ago, made it a practice to pray three times a day. Consider your schedule and when might be the best time to focus your prayers to God.
Prayer is simply conversation with God. A conversation involves both talking and listening.
There are several wonderful books for learning more about prayer. Two classics can be found for free on the web on a site devoted to digitizing Christian literature: the Christian Classics Ethereal Library www.ccel.org. Here are direct links to the two books:
Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer
Lawrence, Practicing the Presence of God
These two books are presented in several formats on the website: pdf, MP3 (audio file), Palm document, Word, etc.
Meeting with Christians
Practicing alone as a musician can get very lonely. If all you did was practice alone and never played music with others, you would miss out on some of the best experiences music has to offer. The same is true for spiritual practice. Meeting with others for worship, discussions, readings of the Bible, public prayers, messages from spiritual leaders, and encouragement will greatly help your inner life. In fact it is necessary for you to have a healthy life.
This site can't recommend a particular church, meeting, or fellowship but we can offer some advice for what to look for. Take a look at our mission statement. In it you will find statements that hundreds of Christian musicians advocate. We encourage you to find a group of practicing Christians who believe the same.