Well, another year has come and gone, and many events have taken place in our lives. Some have been happy. Some have been sad. But nonetheless, the days have continued to advance and so our march to our appointed time continues as well. To some that may sound morbid, but to me it is a truth that encourages me and spurs me on. I wonder, did you accomplish the things in 2010 that you hoped to accomplish? Are you doing today the things that you hoped to be doing? Are your relationships what you desire them to be? Is your knowledge of God increasing, and are you content in knowing Him and Him alone?
Many people will make all sorts of resolutions in the next few days determining that they will do this or that. Some of you may even make spiritual resolutions. I think this can be a very good thing. I am convinced that life changes are both great opportunities and great dangers. When major changes in our lives take place, such as schedules, jobs, children, etc. we have the opportunity to set up new habits as well as the danger of letting good habits go. While the change for one year to the next is not the most eventful time for most of us, it is significant enough a milestone in life that we can take the opportunity to develop new habits.
There are some very basic or core habits of a Christian life that we should be conscious of and seek to develop. You might think that 2011 will be the year that you actually read through the bible and pray everyday. I would agree that these are very good goals. Indeed, if your Christian life has no other consistent disciplines in it (fasting, meditation, etc.) it should at least have consistent bible reading and prayer. Nevertheless, many believers struggle in these basic areas. I want to give you a few helpful tips concerning these spiritual disciplines in the hope that with them you can finish 2011 with a sense of accomplishment, but more importantly, with a realization that you know God more than you did at the start of the year.
Bible Reading
- Truly do consider a “read through the bible in a year” program. There are many available online and many study bibles have one in the appendix or elsewhere. Try the ESV Online Bible for a daily reading or listening tool. Bible Gateway actually has the plans set for you and can even email your reading plan to you daily.
- Don’t get discouraged if you miss days. It really isn’t as important that you finish the bible in a year as it is that you are reading the bible regularly and completely. We need to expose ourselves to the whole council of God on a regular basis, but not from a legalistic perspective. If you miss a day for any reason, don’t worry about it do it the next day and don’t feel like you have to catch up; you can if you want, but you don’t have to.
- Read with an eye and heart open for a particular meaningful passage which you can share with another person along with why it seems important to you.
- Read with an eye and heart open for a particular passage that you can talk to God about. This will focus your prayers clearly on truth.
Prayer – There are several ways to approach a disciplined prayer life. Here is how I approach mine.
- Find somewhere to record the things or people that you want to pray for. Break it up into the seven days of the week. (An Outlook or Google Task list could be a great place for this – I use Logos Bible software)
- Record your prayer request as the subject; in the notes field place more specific notes about the prayer requests and updates as they occur.
- You may pray for some things every day, several days a week, once a week, or less often as you see fit – schedule the task that way as a recurring task.
- Add scripture references to the notes if there are certain passages that apply to the request.
- When the prayer is answered remove the recurrence, mark it as complete and change the category to answered prayer (you can use color coding if you like).
- The idea with this system is that it enables you to have a plan for praying, allows you to easily add prayer requests as they come to you, keeps you focused on others and their needs, prompts you to follow-up with people who have asked you to pray for them (your looking for answers to prayers and or new focus for your prayers as circumstances have changed), stay focused on the things you have identified as needing prayer, and seeing God answer prayer.
- Try to see and pray for the spiritual needs in addition to the physical needs in your own and other’s prayer requests.
- If you miss a day or two, don’t worry just catch up – here you will want to catch up, not stay behind, but the system makes that easy to do.
The key to both of these methods is that you have a consistent plan for staying engaged in bible reading and prayer, but you do not have the pressure to perform. If you approach this as a checklist, I warn you, you will soon fine it tedious and unfruitful and should you get behind you will likely quit altogether. But, if you approach this as a tool for your growth and know that you can pick it up and use it whenever without any sense of failure when you aren’t able to do so, I think you will find it helpful, refreshing and enjoyable as you learn more about God and talk with him more regularly.
Blessing to you in 2011.
It strikes me this morning that we are told by Peter to always be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15) and that this instruction presumes that there is hope in us. I have to ask the question about how one develops and maintains a hopefulness in this life that would demand an explanation from those outside of Christ. This brings me to Christ’s instruction to the woman of Samaria. He said to her, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).
It seems then that one develops just such a hope by drinking in Christ. In other places in John’s gospel it is described as abiding in Christ. But how do you drink in Christ? How do you abide in him? Well, the answer is not very difficult to give, but we know that it is difficult to follow sometimes. What I will say is that the more you do this thing, the more your well will overflow and yet the more you will want to be filled even more.
At the most basic level, the answer then is bible reading and prayer. It is essential that we fill our minds and hearts with words of truth from the Bible, that we consume them as the very words of God, for man does not live on bread alone but on these very words of God. It is also essential that we speak to God about everything in our life. We must learn to carry on an ongoing conversation with Him about everything, and I mean everything. By reading His word and conversing with Him we are indeed drinking from the well that fully satisfies and gives a hope that demands an explanation.
May God bless you richly as you come to His fount of many blessings, Amen.
Today is the day that it is because God is! It is a bit messed up because we sin, but it is today because God is. He made it. He made the sun that rises and the life that beats in my heart. And yet I woke up this morning feeling quite despondent. I call it my funk. I’m not a very pleasant person when I wake up in a funk.
Why do I wake up this way, and how do I change?
Well, I know exactly how to answer both questions and really the answer applies to so much more than just waking up happy. The answer can alter your very life. I need to change my focus.
Revelation 4:10-11 says that “the twenty four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying ‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created.’”
When I wake up in a funk, it is usually because my focus is on me, my life and the things in it that I don’t like. When the twenty four elders “wake up” their focus is on God in all his glory. My attitude stinks, and I grumble. Their attitude is joyous, and they worship.
You see, I have to take the focus, my gaze, off of me. In fact, if I continue to focus on me this morning and everything I don’t like about my life, I am going to fall; I am going to sin. I don’t see the elders sinning when they are focused on God and worshipping him.
Everyday we must strive to redirect our focus heavenward. A heavenward focus is the key to a joyous life and overcoming sin. For this reason I remind myself daily of the need to converse with God in prayer and commune with him in his Word. There is nothing like seeking God in the midst of my funk to take my funk away make me joyful. So this I do, setting my eyes upon the throne of God, I renounce myself and give glory and honor to the one who is worthy of all praise.
