Daily Examen

The Daily Examen is a technique of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to see God’s presence and power, and to discern His direction for us.
 
This practice has been used by Christians for hundreds of years. It is a prayer exercise and an awareness exercise. It is both a tool and a practice to connect intimately with the God who loves us and who is with us. So, even as you are doing the work of examination and awareness, you should do it with the sense of prayerfulness.
The Examen has seven steps:

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ONE: Awareness

Spend a couple of minutes in quietness to be present with God.

TWO: Gratitude

Become aware of what you have received during the day that was God’s gift to you. And being thankful for those gifts.

THREE: Desire

Ask God for what you deeply desire.

FOUR: Review the Day

Walk through your day in your mind, remembering both the experiences of the day and your responses (thoughts, words and actions).

Pay attention to where God was at work and speaking but you did not notice “in the moment”…

FIVE: Forgiveness

Ask for forgiveness and thank God for His grace as you repent of the faults and sins discerned. Seek healing concerning these things.

SIX: Amending and Anticipating

Prayerfully commit to moving forward, looking ahead to the next day.

  • How will you notice and enjoy God?
  • What will God’s grace have for you in the day to come?

Invite God into more of the day ahead. You might like to pray:

“Jesus, I invite you into my day tomorrow. Help me to be more aware of you. Guide my thoughts and footsteps and help me feel the joy of Your presence.”

SEVEN: Acknowledge

Take a final moment of rest and awareness of how God has been with you in this time of Examen.

Listen:

To help you practice Examen in your daily life, we’ve created an 8-minute audio file for you to listen to and use as your guide.

You can choose from a male voice, or a female voice:

Prayer of Examen - male voice (MP3)
Prayer of Examen - Female voice (MP3)
Prayer of Examen - male voice - no background music (MP3)
Prayer of Examen - Female voice - no background music (MP3)
Download:

Click on the image to download a written version of the Daily Examen:

Notes:
Awareness / quietness:
  • Position your body so that you can be comfortable and alert for the Examen. To help you be still focusing on your breathing can be helpful. It also may be helpful to repeat a word like “Jesus”, “Father” or “Yaweh”. Or you might like to pray, “The Lord is near”.
 
Repentance:
  • The Biblical word for repentance means “a transformative change of heart”.
  • Repentance in the context of discipleship is to recognise that you have been going in the wrong direction, away from God, and you are now turning back to God.
  • Repentance is a wonderful gift of God’s grace to us. It’s an ongoing invitation to turn our hearts and minds to God.
 
Grace:
  • What is God’s grace? “Grace is God acting in our life to do what we cannot do on our own.” Dallas Willard
  • The spiritual practice of Daily Examen helps us to recognise God’s action in our lives, which is grace.


Sin:

  • Any feeling or thought or speech or action that comes from a heart that does not treasure God over all other things.
  • In essence, sin is every time we push God away.
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