How Does It Work?

If I desired to be the best golfer in the city of Corona, but didn't do anything to make that possible, I would embarrass myself on the golf course when my friends showed up to 'see my skills!!" (With the best Napolean Dynamite voice possible)

Everything that you and I encounter is the result of a system. Circulatory System, Endocrine System, Solar System and many other examples give us a result based upon an order of how things function or operate together. The way you get ready for bed or for the day is a system. The way a golfer gets ready to swing or putt is a system. Basketball players have a routine or a system for how they shoot free-throws. The way we get a baby ready for a nap or put them to sleep is DEFINITELY a system or routine.

Your spiritual growth is no less affected & influenced by the invisible but very powerful systems that you put into place. You have to marry things that you want done to a system or it will never be done. Systems create desired behaviors in people, work environments, marriages, families, churches, teams, etc. The question is never whether or not you have a system affected your behavior the question is do you know what the system is & is it in a battle with your actual desired behavior or outcome? 

Take a look at how you prepare your heart for a church service, a night out with your spouse, a sermon, or a ministry & you'll find the need to address a routinue or system. If we are to be the spiritually developping people God has called us to be, we have to have a routine that we put into place that will give us the desired outcome.
Otherwise, its just wishful thinking.