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The Question here was:
How can I start implementing God in my every day life? I feel like I forget to pray and I only think about it on Sunday. Is there a good devotional book for "starters"?
My response:
Again, thank you for the thoughtful questions. This is another great point that you bring up.
I'd first like to say that having a desire to implement God into your everyday life is one of the biggest hurdles that any of us will face. But obviously our desire isn't always enough. Personally, I get distracted, I forget to remember, I get discouraged and I even ignore God at times. Other times I am tempted to believe that God is not relevant to what I am doing on a day to day basis.
I teach to the students that we are all called to have a Nuclear Relationship with God. By this I mean two things:
1. Our Relationship with God should be the most powerful thing in our life. It should not only affect us on Sunday mornings, but at all times. It should change how and what we eat, drink, treat others, what we watch on tv, what we listen to on the radio, how we interpret the world around us, etc. Far too often we trivialize our relationship with God and believe that it only affects parts of our lives that we have labeled "faith" already. I had an Islamic friend in college who was a devout Muslim. He would often make fun of American Christians by saying how he prayed 5 times daily at the Islamic calls to prayer facing east. He ate different foods on different days because of his faith. He abstained from all sorts of different kinds of eating, drinking, and partying. He would only date girls who held to the same standards of faith that he did, and much much more. He would make fun of Christians by saying that we treated God like a waiter who was supposed to bless us when WE asked, and help us when it was necessary to US, and we were allowed to forget Him anytime we were doing something that we knew He wouldn't approve of. He basically said that for American Christians, Christianity was only a label, not a lifestyle. Our faith should be more important to us than that. I believe that God wants more than that.
I also believe that He is not all about ritual. In Isaiah 1 and Micah 1 and 6, God makes it clear that ritual alone is empty and does not please God. When faith is only ritual for the sake of ritual, we take power away from it.
2. Our Relationship with God should be at our Nucleus. It should be in the innermost part of us. It should be the joining of our lives with God's will and desires. In essence, because of our love for God, we should allow God to change us. He should change our hearts and our desires. We should learn to love and value the things that God loves and values. This is not an easy practice at all. Just simply following the ritual would be easier than this. God doesn't want our ritual, He doesn't want us to be Religious, He wants us to love Him and have a relationship with Him.
Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and Ephesians 6:18 tells us to "Pray without ceasing." By this I believe that Paul believes that God is calling us to walk with the Holy Spirit's guidance. That we would see others through God's eyes, that we would be the hands and feet of Jesus as we care for others, that we live as though Jesus was fully with us at all times, because if Paul's teaching on the Holy Spirit is correct, He is.
It is a difficult calling. But something that we should strive for.
A couple of books that talk about this are:
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence (this book was written by a monk long ago, but is so interesting and fun, and pretty short.)
http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Presence-Brother-Lawrence-Resurrection/dp/0883681056/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237697904&sr=1-2
Dangerous Wonder by Michael Yaconelli This is one of my favorite books of all time. Phenomenal.
http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Wonder-Discussion-Guide-Yaconelli/dp/1576834816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237697981&sr=1-1
As for devotionals, a couple that I really really like are:
Reflections for Ragamuffins by Brennan Manning. This devotional is based on one of my favorite books of all times "The Ragamuffin Gospel" also by Manning. I would suggest that book and that devotional above anything else I could think of.
http://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Ragamuffins-Devotions-Writings-Brennan/dp/0060654570/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237697824&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Ragamuffin-Gospel-Brennan-Manning/dp/1576737160/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237697824&sr=1-3
The Message Remix: Solo is also outstanding. This takes scripture from Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of scripture and applies it so well to daily life.
http://www.amazon.com/Message-Remix-Solo-Uncommon-Devotional/dp/1600061052
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
http://www.amazon.com/My-Utmost-His-Highest-Language/dp/1596445009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237697717&sr=1-1
This is one of the most, if not the most famous devotionals. It has been modernized lots of times and is a great read as well.
Hope all that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Blessings
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