Spiritual Disciplines Part 1

In the first chapter of Whitney's book we are immediately exposed to this truth...

"Discipline without direction is drudgery" (p.13). 

It is important for the Christian to understand that God intends to conform His children to the image of His Son (Rom 8:29). This process is called sanctification (Rom 6-8). It means becoming more like Christ. Growing in Godliness and holiness. I don't think any one bearing the name of a believer would consider this a bad thing. But the sad observation I have with most of the Church today is that there seems to be a lack of understanding among believers about how to grow in Godliness as well as an understanding that it is not merely a good thing but actually it is a command (Heb 12:14, 1 Peter 1:15-16). It is vital. We must pursue holiness! 

It is true that we are unable to make ourselves holy (Rom 8:8). But by the Spirit of God in us we can overcome sin and death. This is the meaning of God's Word when it says "... he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you" (Rom 8:9-11). We walk by the Spirit.

Whitney submits and I find his reasoning without concern, that the way in which the believer actively chooses to obediently pursue holiness is found in Paul's instruction to Timothy (1 Tim 4:7). Where the Scripture is translated here "train yourselves for Godliness" it can also be translated "discipline yourselves for godliness. Whitney maintains that "the only road to Christian maturity and Godliness [...] passes through the practice of the Spiritual Disciplines" (p.14). He encourages his readers that when this is remembered, the Spiritual Disciplines become a delight instead of a drudgery. 

"The Spiritual Disciplines are those personal and corporate disciplines that promote spiritual growth. They are the habits of devotion and experiential Christianity that have been practiced by the people of God since biblical times" (p.15).

The Spiritual Disciplines that will be covered in this book are:

• Bible Intake
• Prayer
• Worship
• Evangelism
• Service
• Stewardship
• Fasting
• Silence
• Solitude
• Journaling
• Learning

These are ways (and there are many more) in which we as believers participate with the Spirit of God in sanctification. "Think of the Spiritual Disciplines as spiritual exercises" (p.16). In any effort one understands that in order to become more effective, one must discipline oneself in practice. Whitney points out that there are three ways in which God uses to transform or conform us to Godliness. These are people (Proverbs 27:17), circumstances (James 1:1-4), and the Spiritual Disciplines. He is quick to note that only one of these are primarily under our control... the Spiritual Disciplines.

There are three main points of application:

• There is danger in neglecting the Spiritual Disciplines 
  

          - by neglecting the Spiritual Disciplines we face the danger of bearing little spiritual fruit.

• There is freedom in embracing the Spiritual Disciplines

          - any one who plays an instrument or plays a sport with excellence has heard... "Man, they make that look easy". But the truth is that the freedom they experience in their execution or demonstration of ability comes as a result of practiced discipline. 

• There is an Invitation to All Christians to Enjoy the Spiritual Disciplines

          - all in whom the Spirit of God dwells are invited to taste the joy of a Spiritual Disciplines lifestyle.

"Discipline without direction is drudgery. But the Spiritual Disciplines are not drudgery as long as we practice with the goal of Godliness in mind" (p.22). 

I pray that this has encouraged you to engage in the practice of growing in Godliness. 

Blessings!          

Do You Love Me?

Have you ever heard that song, 

Do you love me, (do you love me) 

Do you love me, (do you love me)

Do you love me, (do you love me)... Now that I can dance... 

I can mashed potato... I can do the twist! 

I love that song! It ask a great question. "Do you love me?"

Everywhere we go there are people. Some may be saved and some may not know Jesus. Do you know Jesus? Has he changed your life? Do you love him? 

I have been hearing about an atheist who is fairly well known. When reflecting on a experience he had where a Christian approached him to share the gospel... The atheist questioned in his own mind why this did not happen more often. He pondered, "If you really believe what you say you do about heaven and hell. If you really believe what you say you do about Jesus. Then how much do you have to hate someone to not try and tell them the truth?" 

This is a simple yet heavy question. At times it is so difficult to talk to others about Jesus. Why is it so difficult for us? I know that sometimes I fear how people may respond. Sometimes I don't know what to say. Many times I forget that I have a message of love, of good news to those who are perishing. Lately I have been encouraged to grow in my faith and sharing my faith in these ways:

Find 2-3 fellow Christians and make a commitment with one another to hold each other accountable. Pray for one another. 

Make a list of ten people in your life... (maybe family, maybe neighbors, maybe co-workers) who you are unsure about their salvation. Hopefully you can think of someone who doesn't know Jesus. They are out there. I promise. 

Commit to pray for these people everyday and ask God to give you the opportunity and ability to share the gospel of Jesus with these people. Pray for their salvation. When the time comes... trust God and do it. It might be awkward at first if you have not done it a lot but it will become more natural and you will be filled with joy and strength because of your obedience.

Commit to talk with your accountability friends at least once a week about who you and they are praying for. Pray for each other and even ask if you can pray for one another's list. 

Don't worry about how to do it. Just build relationships. Start conversations. Live out in your life what you believe in your heart. Share your heart with others.

I want to encourage whoever reads this to not keep the "Good News" to yourself! Jesus taught us to love God and love others (Mk. 12:30-31). If we do... then we must tell them of his love! 

Blessings!

Leaders Equipping Leaders

Hey friends! This week I am on Spring Break from my studies! Maybe you are too. I'm taking a one week long class entitled Training Local Church Leaders. To be honest, it is proving to must more difficult than I expected. So... 

I wanted to share with you an exert from one of my oral presentations. It is a little different than what you normally get from me on here. It's a lot more leadership focused. However, I believe that it will either challenge you to be a part of a healthy church body and or focus you on the call of all believers to make disciples for Christ! So read on...

 

The church's main goal is to glorify God. The church's mission is to make disciples (Mt. 28:19-20). The Scriptures are clear that in order for this to happen leaders are to equip others to understand and fulfill their role in the body of Christ. 

In The Leadership Baton, author Jeff Jones says, "If we evaluate pastors primarily on how well they are doing ministry as individuals, we are emphasizing the wrong criterion" (p.35). The goal of the pastor is to equip. It is imperative that leadership development remain (or become) a high priority for any congregational body and it's leaders, if they hope to be biblical and effective in their ministry. "Without leadership the church is unable to fulfill it's purposes of ministering effectively to those within and reaching those on the outside, nor can it render the glory to God that he deserves" (Pastoral Ministry, MacArthur, ch.17). An underdeveloped leadership within the context of the local church is a recipe for a direct contradiction of Paul's exhortation for a mature body of Christ. 

"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelist, the shepherds and teachers (pastors), to equip he saints for the work of ministry, for building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," (Eph. 4:11-13). 

It is the responsibility of all believers to make disciples. This is a biblical principle. The fact that we call ourselves Christians is synonymous with the identity of disciple-makers (PM, MacArthur). But pastors and leaders are to set an example and create a culture for developing leaders by realizing and fulfilling their calling to equip. Paul disciples Timothy to live by example when he says, 

"Let no one despise you (...) but set an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity" (1 Tim. 4:12).

This exemplary discipline of leadership must be a part of every believer's heartbeat or DNA. It must be a part of the church's culture. "As [we] work to develop a culture of leadership development, remember that [we] will create in a church what[we] model" (Baton, p.35). It is understood that most churches have no intention strategy for developing leaders. Understanding that "Strategic thinkers determine the most important long-term goals, and then develop plans to reach those goals" (p.61), leads one to acknowledge thee need for alignment among those involved in leading. Often there is a common goal of discipleship with varying philosophies about of discipleship. This even happens in the context of a local church among leadership. It is the equivalent of a car being out of alignment. This of course is a recipe for disaster as well (thought borrowed from Simple Church, Eric Gieger). 

I suggest that the most effective to equip those following is to faithfully equip by example. This will lead to the Church becoming what Paul describes as one working properly, building itself up in love (Eph. 4:16). 

(end of exert)

It is my hope and prayer that this has been encouraging to you as you seek to live obediently to the call on all believer's lives to reach the world with the love of Christ and His Gospel! 

Blessings!

Why Pray?

I want to talk about prayer... I have recently had my attention directed to prayer by a lecture from Dr. Daniel Henderson. I humbly share these thoughts... 

Jesus said, "When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward" (Matt. 6:5).

He was discussing motive. What is my motive for praying? What is your motive for praying?

We pray for many reasons. Here are some that I have heard and lived out myself:

     - Guilt

     - Approval (from God and others)

     - Need

     - Crisis

     - For peace

There are many reasons we pray. Paul taught that we should "pray without ceasing"

(1 Thess. 5:17). We should. But what motivates us to do so? 

The problem with the above mentioned motives for prayer is that they cannot motivate us to "pray without ceasing." 

Most prayer times that I've been a part of center on this question... "Does anyone have any prayer request?" This question sparks what honestly is nothing more than gossip masqueraded as prayer! Even then it usually about physical things instead of Spiritual. Before we know it... we have spent 30 mins talking about each other's family members or people who have fallen into sin until we look at our watches and say "Well, it's getting late... we better pray." This is not what God intended for prayer. 

 A little further in Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus teaches what is commonly referred to as the Lord's Prayer. I have heard the prayer described in categories such as:

Who God is - v.9

How we respond - v.10

What we need - v.11-12

Where do we go - v.13

or...

Reverence

Response 

Request

Readiness 

Why is it so easy to spend all of our time focused on request? I believe it is because we don't know how to pray. Prayer is an act of worship. God knows our questions and needs. He doesn't mind hearing them... but we should never neglect spending time worshiping God for who he is by constantly bringing our "grocery list prayer request before him." How selfish we are!

If our motive to pray is simply because we feel we must, or to be approved, or because we have a problem... then we are not truly men and women of prayer. 

Daniel Henderson said, "The only enduring motive for prayer is that God is WORTHY to be SOUGHT!" There is a difference in seeking God's face to know him and seeking God's hand for our needs. 

Prayer is worship. We were created to worship. Live it... 

Blessings    

Do You Know God?

For those who are checking this today... I thank you and I am so blessed that you are encouraged enough by this to check it without an email reminder. The only purpose I have in sharing this weekly devotional thought is to encourage and edify the body of Christ. I pray that what I share here will be completely saturated in God's Word. I pray that God will by His Spirit guard your heart from any error that may come from my understanding. I want to point you to God's Word. 

Do not substitute reading this blog post for the sanctifying truth that is the Scriptures. Be in the Word! We must spend time with God if we hope to know Him. God speaks to us through His Word. Right now I am reading through the gospels. You can find reading plans on websites like... 

www.biblegateway.com  

I was encouraged just yesterday by someone with the thought... 10, 10, 10

This means to spend 10 mins reading God's Word, 10 mins praying to God, and 10 mins listening to Him in quite solitude. This is a strategic way to spend 30 minutes with God. Do this everyday. I suggest that you do it in the morning... if you already do this...

try... 20, 20, 20! Keep growing! We can't know God without spending time with God! 

With this said... I want to ask for your forgiveness that I am not prepared to share a deeper devotional thought today. In a effort to only edify the body of Christ I will never post something that I have not spent enough time grasping myself. I pray that God will use this short message to encourage all who read it. Anything else would be a waste of time. 

Suggested Scripture Reading: Proverbs 3:5-6, 4:23

I plan to post a devotional for this week by Friday... I will send an email to those who I have an address. 

Blessings!