I’ve been pondering a post like this for a little while. And while I thought about just writing something else about COVID-19, our responsibility to love our neighbor as ourselves, the extreme differences between the inconveniences we are facing and the every-day-lives of many people around the world – I decided to go with this. Because I think right now, we all need a little help with staying focused, with spiritual contemplation, with centering in the midst of chaos and uncertainty.
So, I want to share some of my own spiritual practice – particularly those that are held in place by apps. Ironic? I don’t know. I think Jesus is all about cultural adaptation. And we live in a culture driven by apps. I think He’s cool with that, so long as they are used for our good and for His glory.
I have a more extensive Rule of Life – a framework of practices that help me to stay open to the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. But several of those practices include apps, and those are the things I want to share with you. I have several apps on my phone that I use occasionally, but I want to share with you the ones I use regularly. I wanted to provide you with links to the app in the App Store, but some aren’t in there on the computer. Instead, for those that have a website, I will link to that, and you can download it there. And, I’ll put a picture at the end of the ones I use, which will help you identify them in the app store you use.
Every morning, I start my day with Lectio 365. This is a devotional app that combines prayer, Scripture reading, and reflective questions. It is produced by 24/7 prayer, which is the modern-day continuation of the Moravian movement. If you don’t know about the Moravians – you should look them up. I listen to this app every morning while I shower and get ready. I have a waterproof blue-tooth speaker in my shower, and that lets me listen without ruining my phone – which I did actually do a couple of years back. Bad idea. Each devotional starts with a prayer of Pause, to “recenter my scattered senses on the presence of God,” followed by a Psalm of rejoicing, a Scripture with reflective questions (read twice), and ends with a prayer of yielding to the will of God. You can’t go wrong starting your day here.
After I’ve gotten ready and made my coffee, I try to engage in a form of prayer. I love to use prayer beads, which I’ve mentioned here before, but there’s no app for that for Christians (that I’ve found yet), though there are apps for the Rosary and the Tasbeeh (Muslim prayer beads) and Mala (eastern mantras). Christians need to get on the stick here. Another favorite prayer technique – that does have an app – is centering prayer. Centering prayer is a prayer practice that turns prayer into a two-way conversation, rather than a monologue. In centering prayer, you sit in silence, allowing your soul to settle, and listening for the Lord to speak to you, while you keep your mind quiet to hear Him more easily. To help keep your focus during centering prayer, it is often helpful to use a “breath prayer,” a simple phrase that brings your focus back to Jesus when your mind starts to create to-do lists or plan the upcoming day. Something simple that you can pray in a breath, such as “Abba, I am here.”
Then throughout the day, particularly when the day is super stressful (like most of the past few have been), I have recently started using the Pause app. This one was introduced to me recently by a dear friend and was developed by John Eldridge. You start with a one-minute pause. John guides you through it, as you stop what you are doing, and focus your attention on Jesus. The app allows you to build up to a 10-minute pause, which has longer periods of silence, and more reflection. But you have to work up to that by completing 3 each of the 1-minute, 3-minute, and 5-minute. It’s a good way to stop the crazy cycle in your brain, if you ever have that.
I also try to pray the hours – which I don’t do very consistently, but I try. In our office (well, we’re not in the office right now, so it’s a Zoom room – but same idea) we stop for prayer twice a day – 9:00 am and 12:30 pm. Doing that as a corporate practice is really helpful (try getting a few friends to join you in that for a week or so – I think you’ll like it!). But even when we aren’t praying together, I have an app that reminds me to pray at 7:00 am, 12:30 pm, 5:00 pm, and 10:00 pm. It’s called Daily Prayer. This app walks you through an opening prayer, a confession, a Scripture reading (you can even have the app read it to you if you prefer audio), the Lord’s Prayer, and a closing prayer. It only takes a few minutes, and it’s a great way to stop what you are doing and center your heart and mind on Truth and on Jesus (who IS the Truth).
Another prayer practice I have is praying for my kids every day on the minute of their birthday. The app for this is just the reminders on my phone, synced with my computer. Whatever I’m doing, a reminder will pop up on the minute of each child’s birthday, so that I can stop and hold that child before the Lord. For example, my oldest son’s birthday is March 25th, so at 3:25 every afternoon, a reminder pops up on my phone to pray for Josiah. The one tricky thing with this one is that my reminder app only allows you to set reminders on the 5-minute mark, so that’s the only kid I have that has a birthdate that complies. The rest get a reminder on the nearest 5-minute mark. Sometimes that prayer could be longer and involve cognitively worded prayers. Sometimes, it might be just holding that child up by name before the Lord, allowing the Holy Spirit to intercede for him or her.
And every evening, I end my day with the practice of Examen. I was recently challenged by a spiritual director to do this in writing to solidify the habit, and that has been good. But there are 3 apps that I have used for this as well. My favorite is Pray As You Go, because it is audio. Besides the daily devotionals, they also have several verbal examen prayers that I enjoy a lot. Especially if I am feeling too tired or overwhelmed to write something. I also like Reimagining the Examen, which offers various examen prayers that are written that you can walk through by reading. Fuller Seminary has also produced an Examen app that uses video. I personally find this distracting, but some might prefer it.
And then there is one last practice that I do fairly regularly. When I have a lot of things going on in my mind, which is a fair amount of the time, I find it useful to use an app to help me turn off my thoughts and get to sleep. For this, I typically use Pray As You Go again, but I use either the devotional piece, the retreats, the imaginative contemplations, or prayer series. They are currently running a series called “Pray As You Stay” for this season of self-isolation. They also have an audio retreat for Lent (because yes, despite how unusual it is, we are still in Lent.)
There are two more apps that I use less regularly, but do enjoy. I use these when I go on retreat, or when I need to spend a bit more time centered on Jesus, or when things start to feel chaotic around me. One is called Sacred Space. This one is a series of short, themed reflections and prayers, accompanied by soft music that you can customize. The other is similar. It’s called the 3-minute Retreat. This one has beautiful pictures, accompanied by instrumental music and a time to breathe and focus on Jesus, a short Scripture, a reflection, some reflective questions related to the Scripture, and a guided prayer. These 2 apps are great little breaks from stress, worry, or just busy days.
In addition, I use a couple of Scripture apps at times. I personally prefer to read the Bible in paper, but sometimes I don’t have it with me, so the apps suffice. My go-to is the ESV Bible app, but when I want to check different versions, I use YouVersion – also called The Bible App. If I just want to listen to the Bible – which is particularly when I’m stressed, I go to Dwell. I participated in the crowd-funding for this app – and I love it. There are thematic playlists, short listens, long listens, beautiful art, and a choice of voices. If you can spring for the premium version, do that.
And that is a peek through the window into my fusion of technology and contemplative practice. Would love to hear if you have apps that you use to help you draw closer to Jesus! Put your suggestions in the comments!
Here’s the picture of my apps, in case you need a reference.
