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Have you ever had one of those days that seems like it’s getting worse as each hour passes by?
Maybe you wake up in the morning and you step on the dog’s tail, you head to the bathroom only to find out that you are all out of toothpaste. Then, as you leave the house and get into your car you realize that you were supposed to fill up with gas the day before but you forgot. The extra stop now means you will be late for a very important meeting. When you get to the office and start to print out some documents, the printer stops working because the ink has run out and there are no extra cartridges at hand. What a series of events so far and the day has just started. I would like to point out two words that we started out this blog with today: "seems like." When anything “seems like” something, it doesn’t mean that it actually is. How we react or respond to the series of events in our lives is very important not only for our sanity, but more importantly for our spiritual growth.
Most of us have heard about the life of Job and everything that he experienced. The Bible says that Job was a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1). Things were going very well for him and he ends up losing it all. Talk about not only having an off day but season. Even his wife couldn’t understand how he wouldn’t curse God through all of these events (Job 2:9). His response was, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” Job responded well. I imagine it was certainly not easy, but Job chose to respond and not react.
More and more, I am realizing that especially when we are in difficult situations, responding is the more effective way. When we react to things, we are often filled and fueled with and by our emotions. When we take the time to respond, we can ask God to help us respond in the best way. I encourage you to try it. In the days that seem off, but also in more challenging situations similar to what Job went through. Some people may ask why bad or challenging things happen and while that is a valid question, we may not get the answer. Having faith and exercising faith is about trusting God especially when we do not understand. It allows us to build that trust and surrender every area of our lives to God. So if we may not always get the answer, what does God’s Word say about life situations? There are different verses, but today let’s look at what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 While this may not answer some questions for us, it does give us some great perspective on how to respond to situations. To rejoice always, to pray continually, and to give thanks in all circumstances because this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus. To be able to live this out, we need to approach it appropriately and effectively which cannot be accomplished in our own strength. To be able to respond well, we need the Holy Spirit of God to help us. He is our comforter and our guide, who enables us to be more like Jesus. I truly believe that when we read God’s Word and do our best to live it out, great things happen. God’s Word is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12) and does not return void or empty (Isaiah 55:11). What are you spreading during this season? If you haven’t read our past blog about this very topic, you can read it here. You see, even with all of the trauma that Job endured He kept the faith and the Bible says that God blessed him even more than he was before everything was lost (Job 42:12-17). What season are you in? Does it seem like it will never end or get better? Whatever situation we are finding ourselves in, let us remember the words that Paul spoke to encourage the Thessalonian church. Those words are for us too. Be encouraged. God is with you. He will never leave or forsake you. Just lay down everything at His altar and receive His peace and His love with certainty. If there is anything we can believe with you for together in prayer, please contact us and we would be happy to pray. May God continue to uplift us, as we seek to be more like Jesus each day.
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In this week’s blog post, we are considering the habit or discipline of perseverance. In past posts, we have considered Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, stewardship as it relates to both time and finances, fasting, silence/solitude, journaling, and learning.
If you have not seen these posts yet, go ahead and click on the links to catch yourself up. And remember that the primary motivation for these spiritual habits or disciplines is taken from Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, where he says, exercise or discipline yourself toward godliness. This applies to us just the same today and he makes it clear that, if we wish to be godly, it will take work, discipline, and exercise. Just as an athlete, musician, or artist must exercise disciplined practice to become more proficient at their chosen field, so a disciple must exercise disciplined practice in these activities as means’ of grace to become more proficient at being godly. That is to say, as we become more disciplined in the practice of these habits, more of God’s grace is available to us which will change us. So what about perseverance? There are a great many things that require perseverance in our Christ-following life. And Scripture contains many references to perseverance, remaining steadfast, and not giving up or giving in. This encouragement can be applied to a great many areas of our life but we need to consider perseverance in the matter of the habits of grace or spiritual disciplines. There are three elements that have been mentioned briefly to this point in reference to other disciplines, but we are going to look more closely at them here. They are the role of the Holy Spirit, the role of fellowship, and the role of struggle in Christ-following. The Role of the Holy Spirit We need to constantly remind ourselves that despite the most diligent of attention to disciplining ourselves for the purpose of godliness, we cannot make ourselves more like Jesus.
That is what the Holy Spirit does, working through these habits or disciplines to bring us closer to Jesus and making us more like Him. Any emphasis on the disciplines of habits carries the risk of overlooking this important fact.
In The Discipline of Grace; God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges, he says: A major temptation in the self-discipline approach to holiness, however, is to rely on a regiment of spiritual disciplines instead of on the Holy Spirit. I believe in spiritual disciplines. I seek to practice them...But those disciplines are not the source of our spiritual strength. The Lord Jesus Christ is, and it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to apply His strength to our lives. (135) Wherever the Holy Spirit lives, His holy presence creates a hunger for holiness. His primary task is to magnify Christ (John 16:14-15), and it is He who gives the Christ-follower a desire to be like Christ. We have no such desire in our natural state. But in the Christ-follower, the Spirit of God begins to carry out the will of God to make the child of God like the Son of God (Romans 8:29). And He who began this good work in the life of the Christ-follower will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians1:6). So it is the Holy Spirit’s job to produce within us both the desire and the power for the habits of grace. And the reality that He does this in every believer is evident from 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline” (NASB). Therefore, even if your natural temperament or personality does not incline you toward orderly and disciplined habits, the supernatural presence of the Holy Spirit equips you with enough of a supernatural spirit of discipline for you to obey the command to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. Self-control, according to Galatians 5:23, is a direct product, or fruit, of the Spirit’s control in the Christ-follower’s life. And when the Christ-follower expresses the Spirit-produced self-control by practicing the habits of grace, the result is progress in godliness. Two things are clear: (1) the Holy Spirit will always be faithful to help each of God’s children to persevere in those things that will make us like Christ, and (2) we must not harden our hearts, but instead respond to His promptings if we would be godly. The Role of Fellowship That Christ-follower who only measures Christlikeness in terms of growth in his or her fellowship with God takes an incomplete measurement. Spiritual maturity must also include growth in fellowship with the people of God. John the apostle connected these two fellowships in 1 John 1:3: “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” New Testament fellowship is with both the triune God and with His people. Just as the human maturity of Jesus included growth in favour with both God and man (Luke 2:52), so will the spiritual maturity of those who seek to be like Jesus. One of the obvious reasons why we cannot take the habits of grace into isolation is that many of the habits - public worship, united prayer, participation in the Lord’s Supper, serving others, and more - simply cannot be practised without other Christ-followers. Also, one of God’s purposes for fellowship is to complement the personal habits of grace and to stimulate our growth in godliness through them. Consider this; as studying the Bible alone is one God-given habit of grace for growing in grace, so is studying the Bible with others. The habits of grace definitely have some nonpublic applications but they were never meant to be practised apart from fellowship in the community of faith. Hebrews 3:13 also warns us, “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today”, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” When we withdraw from the spiritual protection God provides for us within the fellowship, we are more easily deceived by sin. Without the tempering influence of Christ-followers with different gifts, insights, and experiences, those who withdraw from the exhortations or other Christ-followers miss out on the grace that God intends for them to receive only through the local church life. An old Puritan recommended that we associate with sanctified persons. They may, by their counsel, prayers and holy example, be a means to make you holy. The Role of Struggle Living the life of a Christ-follower is not easy. Even though trust and rest are core values of the Christian life, so are discipline and struggle. There are lots of forces that fight against the spiritual progress of those still on this side of heaven. Now, the way of Christ is not always an inner struggle or every moment a battle, but neither is it without lifelong opposition. That’s just the reality. And the struggle is natural, given the warfare that is going on for your very soul. We see in the verse that anchors this blog series that practising the habits of grace will be accompanied by struggle. Referring to the godliness mentioned in 1 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul wrote in verse 10, “For to this end we toil and strive.” The words toil and strive tell us that becoming like Christ involves something different than ‘let go and let God’, as some have taught. The word translated toil means to work until you grow weary. We get our English word agonize from the term translated here as strive. It literally means to struggle. Growth in godliness does not come by the work of the Holy Spirit alone, nor by our work alone, but by our responding to the grace the Holy Spirit initiates and sustains. This is the clear teaching of the New Testament. It warns us of the world, flesh, and the devil and how they constantly wage war against us. The Bible says that because of this triplet of opposition we will experience a struggle to overcome sin as long as we live in this body. While we live in the world, it will put its unending pressure on us. Jesus reminded us that the world hated Him and it will hate us if we discipline ourselves to follow Him (John 15:18-19). John also exhorted us, “Do not love the world” (1 John 2:15). Then he goes on to warn about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life as part of the world. There is no experience that can provide a lasting from all these worldly temptations except the experience of leaving this world. The flesh also pressures us against godliness. The reality of Galatians 5:17 is that “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” Sometimes it is no problem at all to obey God. There are moments when one of your greatest joys is to get into the Word of God and occasionally you might experience times of prayer that you wish would never end. But many times it is a struggle to engage in any of the habits of grace at all. So the Spirit will prompt you toward Christlikeness and the practice of the habits of grace and your flesh will rise up in defiance because these are opposed to each other. But even though disciplining yourself is often difficult and involves struggle, self-discipline is not self-punishment. It is instead an attempt to do what, prompted by the Spirit, you actually want to do. Rather than thinking of this as self-punishment, it is more scriptural to see it as one way of “sowing to the Spirit” as Galatians 6:8 encourages. In addition to the world and the flesh, you also have a personal enemy committed to your failure in the habits of grace - the devil. The apostle Peter reminded us. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). If it were possible to permanently avoid all spiritual struggle, Peter would have told us instead of exhorting us to be alert. Paul would have told us instead of telling us to put on the armour of God. It’s because we are in a battle, a conflict, a struggle that they tell us to watch out and put on the armour. There is no vacation from the struggle. Until we see our Saviour face to face. Then we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2). The Holy Spirit, true fellowship, and the recognition of the ongoing struggle in the Christian life will help you persevere in the practice of the habits of grace. And apart from such perseverance, the habits of grace are incomplete and ineffective. 2 Peter 1:6 makes a hard connection between self-control (discipline) and godliness, and that connection is perseverance. Without perseverance between the two, the relationship between the self-controlled practice of the habits of grace and godliness is like a battery full of power but poorly connected to a lightbulb. The light flickers inconsistently and without the full benefit of the power in the battery. But with a persevering connection between the two, the light shines brightly. In the same way, the light of the life of Christ will shine more steadily through you the more you persevere in the practice of the habits of grace. Such perseverance will make us the salt and light that we should be (Matthew 5:13-16). Have you thought about the importance of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship, and your struggle as essential to your growth in godliness? Which of these has been most helpful to you? Which has been neglected? How will you go about utilizing all three in the future? 
In this week’s blog post, we are considering the habit or discipline of learning. In past posts, we have considered Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, stewardship as it relates to both time and finances, fasting, silence/solitude, and journaling.
If you have not seen these posts yet, go ahead and click on the links to catch yourself up. And remember that the primary motivation for these spiritual habits or disciplines is taken from Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, where he says, exercise or discipline yourself toward godliness. This applies to us just the same today and he makes it clear that, if we wish to be godly, it will take work, discipline, and exercise. Just as an athlete, musician, or artist must exercise disciplined practice to become more proficient at their chosen field, so a disciple must exercise disciplined practice in these activities as means’ of grace to become more proficient at being godly. That is to say, as we become more disciplined in the practice of these habits, more of God’s grace is available to us which will change us. So what about learning? An examination of the New Testament word disciple shows that it means to not only be a “follower” of Jesus but also a “learner”. Are you a disciple of Jesus? To follow Jesus and become more like Him, we must engage in the spiritual discipline of learning.
The Wise Person
According to the book of the Bible written specifically to give us practical wisdom, one of the characteristics of a wise man or woman is a desire for learning. We read in Proverbs 9:9, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” Wise and righteous people can never get enough wisdom or knowledge. Unteachable people or those who are prideful about their learning only expose how shallow they are. The truly wise are humble because they know they still have so much to learn. And according to this verse, wise and righteous people remain teachable. They can learn from anybody, regardless of age or background. Give one of them instruction and he will be still wiser, he will increase in learning. The biblically wise are always looking to learn. In Proverbs 18:15 we read, “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” A wise person not only acquires knowledge, but he or she also seeks it. Wise ones desire to learn and will discipline themselves to seek learning opportunities. One other verse in Proverbs deserves a look. Proverbs 23:12 commands us, “Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.” No matter how much previous instruction you have received or how extensive your knowledge - especially about God, Christ, the Bible, and the Christian life - and regardless of how intelligent or slow you consider yourself, you still need to apply your heart and ears to learn, because you haven’t learned it all. A strong yearning for learning characterizes all those who are truly wise. The Great Commandment Jesus said that part of God’s greatest commandment is, Love the Lord your God...with all your mind” (Mark 12:30). What God wants most from you is your love and one of the ways He wants you to show love and obedience to Him is by godly learning. God is glorified when we use the mind He made to learn of Him, His Word, His ways, and His world. Sadly, many Christians do not associate learning with loving God. In fact, we live in a quite anti-intellectual age. That may sound strange in light of the infinite storehouse of information accessible through the Internet; the widespread availability and growth of online education; the almost daily, dazzling advances in technology; and the fact that there are more advanced academic degrees being awarded today than ever before. Perhaps it is precisely because of such things that people - including Christian people - are more averse to things intellectual. Smart kids may be unpopular just because they are smart. They’re dismissed as nerds and the social attention goes to the underachievers. Our culture seems to glorify the physical much more than the mental. Nobody sells posters of the top software engineers or the most accomplished carpenter., much less the leading theologians. There may be an intellectualism that is wrong, but it is also wrong to be anti-intellectual. We should love God just as much with our mind as with our heart and soul and strength. How can it all fit together? RC Sproul wrote, “God has made us with a harmony of heart and head, of thought and action...The more we know Him the more we can love Him. The more we love Him the more we seek to know Him. To be central in our hearts He must be foremost in our minds. Religious thought is the prerequisite to religious affection and obedient action.” Unless we love God with a growing mind, we will be Christian versions of the Samaritans to whom Jesus said, “You worship what you do not know” (John 4:22). A Requirement for Increased Godliness The Christian life begins with learning - learning the gospel. Nobody is made right before the God about whom he knows nothing. Nobody is made right with God unless he or she learns about Him and His message to the world, a message of good news called the gospel. To know God, people must learn that there is a God (Hebrews 11:6), that they have broken His law (James 3:10, Romans 3:23), and that they need to be reconciled to Him (2 Corinthians 5:17-19). They must learn that Jesus, God’s Son, came to accomplish that reconciliation (Colossians 1:19-20) and that He did so through His sinless life and His death on the cross as a substitute for sinners (Romans 3:21-26). They must learn about His bodily resurrection and their need to repent of their sin and to believe in Jesus and what He has done (Acts 17:30). Because apart from people learning these things, how are they to believe in Him of whom they have not heard (Romans 10:14)? This is essentially what the apostle Paul is talking about in Romans 12 when he says, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Transformation of the heart and life - growth in godliness - involves a mental renewal that cannot happen without learning. If you know little about godliness, you will grow little in godliness. To know it requires the Habit of Learning. Learning is By Discipline, Not By Accident As every dust bunny gets bigger the longer it rolls around underneath the bed, so every mind picks up at least a little more knowledge the longer it rolls around the earth. But we must not assume that we have learned true wisdom just by growing older. Job 32:9 says, “It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.” In other words, age and experience by themselves don’t increase your spiritual maturity. Becoming like Jesus doesn’t happen incidentally or automatically with the passing of birthdays. Godliness, as in 1 Timothy tells us, requires a deliberate discipline. Those who are not trying to learn will only get spiritual and biblical knowledge by accident or convenience. Occasionally they will hear a biblical fact or principle from someone else and profit from it. Once in a while, they may display a brief burst of interest in a subject. But this is not the way to godliness. The Habit of Learning transforms accidental learners into intentional learners. Now, it is a whole lot easier to be an accidental learner or a convenience learner than an intentional learner. We are born that way. And much of the technological advances of the last few years has served to entrench this accidental/convenience learning. Watching TV or video is so much easier than choosing a good book, reading words, creating your own mental images, and relating them to your own life. Television decides for you what will be presented, speaks the words to you, shows you its own images, and tells you what impact it wants to have on your life. Compared to that, books often appear too demanding for the contemporary mind. Honestly, it takes discipline to become an intentional learner. A Variety of Ways to Learn There are indeed people who have genuine difficulty reading, so there are methods of learning for these people, methods that learners who do thrive on learning will enjoy also. First, there is the option to listen to audiobooks. It’s so easy to listen and learn while getting ready for the day or while commuting, while driving around town or travelling long-distance, while exercising or working around the house. Much the same is true for audio or video recordings available on the Internet or through podcasts. Just make sure that you are listening to a reputable ministry, not just to someone whose speaking style you enjoy. If study guides are available, use them. Another way to learn without reading is to have meaningful conversations with spiritually mature Christians. This is a natural part of the discipling process. Those who are more mature than ourselves have much to teach us about godliness and obedience to the commands of Christ. While our attention is directed toward personal spiritual disciplines, we shouldn’t neglect the multiple opportunities for learning that are (hopefully) available to you through interpersonal spiritual disciplines in your local church. It is understood that COVID-19 restrictions have curtailed the face-to-face sort of learning opportunities at your church but these restrictions should be removed in time. If this post has triggered you to further discipline yourself in intentional learning, be sure to speak to your pastor about the role your church could play in helping you learn for the purpose of godliness. There you have it; learning as a discipline is a key component to increasing in godliness. Remember that learning has a goal. The goal is Christlikeness. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to Me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me”. There is a false or superficial knowledge that puffs up (1 Corinthians 8:1), but godly learning leads to godly living. John Milton, who wrote the poem Paradise Lost, wrote, “The end of learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love Him and to imitate Him.” Let’s pray that God would give us an unquenchable desire for the knowledge that leads us to love Him more and that makes us more like Jesus Christ. Will you develop the habit of learning? How will you start? When will you start? 
In this week’s blog post, we are considering the habit or discipline of journaling. In past posts, we have considered Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, stewardship as it relates to both time and finances, fasting, and silence/solitude.
If you have not seen these posts yet, go ahead and click on the links to catch yourself up. And remember that the primary motivation for these spiritual habits or disciplines is taken from Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, where he says, exercise or discipline yourself toward godliness. This applies to us just the same today and he makes it clear that, if we wish to be godly, it will take work, discipline, and exercise. Just as an athlete, musician, or artist must exercise disciplined practice to become more proficient at their chosen field, so a disciple must exercise disciplined practice in these activities as means’ of grace to become more proficient at being godly. That is to say, as we become more disciplined in the practice of these habits, more of God’s grace is available to us which will change us. So what about journaling? Let’s begin with an explanation. A journal is a place (physical or digital) in which a person records information important to him or her personally for the purpose of preservation and/or consideration. As a follower of Jesus your journal is a place to document the works and ways of God in your life. Your journal can also include an account of daily events, personal relationships, a notebook of insights into Scripture and/or a list of prayer requests and answers. A journal is one of the best places for tracking your progress in the other disciplines and for holding yourself accountable to your goals. The words ‘spiritual journal’ can sound quite exclusive – something artsy types do, not normal everyday disciples. Or they can sound quite old-fashioned and not something for twenty first-century disciples. But both of these impressions are unhelpful! A spiritual journal is an ordinary, honest record of what is going on in your life, how you feel about it, and your awareness of where God is in it all.
It needn’t be in good English; it’s not being handed in for marking! It needn’t be written in a fancy book. You can do it – and there are good reasons why you should consider it.
Why Keep a Spiritual Journal? A spiritual journal achieves three things: it is a record, which aids reflection and thus becomes a means of responding to God’s call to deepening discipleship.
How to Keep a Spiritual Journal You can breathe a sigh of relief: there are no rules to keeping a spiritual journal! Find a system that works for you and be willing to adapt it as you go, so that it keeps working. If it enables you to record your day, reflect on God’s involvement and respond in some way then it is working! Having said that, here are a few thoughts to help you think through your own approach.
One final thought: although the journal is a private document, it could help you develop this habit – and perhaps reflect on your journal entries – if you shared your ‘journal journey’ with a close spiritual friend. Keeping a spiritual journal in company with others allows you to learn from one another’s experience and to support one another in developing the practice. Do you currently have a spiritual journal? If so, please share how this has helped you in your spiritual growth and relationship with God? If you don’t have a spiritual journal, we hope that you have been encouraged to start one and we would love to hear all about it! 
At this time of year, many people find themselves thinking more about thankfulness. But a look at Scripture reminds us that being thankful needs to be a foundation of our lives every day.
In fact, having an “attitude of gratitude” adds to our spiritual and physical health all year round - and it’s a mindset we can cultivate. We can certainly express our appreciation to family and friends, for employment, fun times and new things. But the Bible clearly instructs Christians to fix our eyes on the Heavenly Father, the true source of every good thing in our lives. He is the One who graciously gives us “good things” of all kinds, and our natural response should be thanking Him specifically.
How Can We Express Thanksgiving? “Enter His gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise His name” (Psalm 100:4). We can express our thanks privately anytime. But there’s something very special about gathering together to express gratitude to God. I grew up in a church where opportunity was often given for testimonies. People were invited to stand and share something God had done in their lives, or how coming to know Jesus changed their lives. Listening to stories always led me to be more aware and grateful for God’s presence in my life. Verses all through the Bible point us back to God as our Creator and Sustainer, and how we are to be a thankful people. The list of things we could praise Him for is endless. But here are just a few reasons to give thanks to God all year long. Don't be surprised if more blessings come to your mind as you read these. “Let us come before Him with Thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods” (Psalm 95:2-3). 1. His Love In 1 John, the disciple says straight out that, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). In Scripture, we see those that received and embraced His unconditional love for them humbly and joyfully thanked the Lord for it. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good” (1 Chronicles 16:34). “Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever” (Psalm 106:1). “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind” (Psalm 107:15). God’s love is just as strong for us today as it was for those in Scripture. He is still our Father, who seeks a relationship with us. His deep and abiding love should lead us to praise Him just like those we read about. How has God shown His love to you? 2. His Provision From the earliest days of the Israelite nation, God has delivered His people from, and led them through, all sorts of trials and hardships. So, many accounts tell of people responding with gratitude for how God watched over them in challenging times. Their trust grew stronger and led them to pray with expectation going forward. “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy and with my song I praise Him” (Psalm 28:7). “I thank and praise You, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power” (Daniel 2:23). “Do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-20). It doesn’t take much thought for us to come up with our own testimonies of how God has carried us in hard times. He wants us to recognize that He, and no one else, is our Provider, and to hear our response. In what situation has God provided for you? 3. His Forgiveness King David and the disciple Peter are two examples in Scripture of men who were impacted by their sinful choices, and later received the forgiveness of God. Both were deeply changed in the process. Others join with them in Scripture to express thanks for such amazing grace. “I will praise You, Lord. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away and You have comforted me” (Isaiah 12:1). “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits - who forgives all your sins” (Psalm 103:2-3). Every believer throughout the ages has been able to hold onto the same promise of receiving God’s forgiveness for sin. We too can feel that lightening of our spirit and respond with gratitude. What sins has God forgiven you for? 4. His Word Even before the Bible we have today existed, its teachings and truths were shared. Sometimes it spread by word of mouth, other times in written form. But whatever way it reached people, the Word of God changed minds and hearts and inspired gratitude in those that heard it. “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts” (Colossians 3:16). “At midnight I rise to give You thanks for Your righteous laws” (Psalm 119:62). Today, most of us are immensely blessed to have access to the whole Bible. On any given day, we can be impacted by the life-renewing power within its pages. God is pleased when we use this gift and thank Him for it. What Bible verse has made a difference in your faith walk? 5. His Creation God created the earth for His pleasure and ours and took great care in the process of making it. Every detail was intentional. King David was one of many who delighted in nature, seeing evidence of the Master’s hand all around him. “Give thanks to the Lord of lords: to Him who alone does great wonders, who by His understanding made the heavens, who spread out the earth upon the waters, who made the great lights - the sun to govern the day, the moon and stars to govern the night” (Psalm 136:3-9). We have the opportunity to appreciate God's handiwork as well. Looking up into a bright blue sky, sitting on the beach or a walk in the woods is a way to find refreshment and calm. What is your favourite spot in nature to spend time? 6. His People The Apostle Paul often expressed gratitude for his fellow Christians and for the encouragement and support they gave. He recognized that God was ministering to him through those believers while giving them a chance to know the joy of serving the Lord. Feeling the power of community brought out praises. “We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers” (1 Thessalonians 1:2). “I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all His holy people and their faith in the Lord Jesus” (Philemon 1:4). “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your face is growing more and more and the love all of you have for one another is increasing” (2 Thessalonians 1:3). The church was part of God’s plan for His people. Most of us who belong to a local church family can agree that there is comfort and strength to be found in fellowship. We are given chances to serve each other and help each other grow closer to our Lord. The sound of thanks coming from a congregation sounds sweet to God. How has being in a church family made a difference in how you live? 7. His Plan for Us The Apostle Paul wrote repeatedly that the followers of Christ have been set apart by God. He taught that believers have the privilege and responsibility of growing in holiness and of joining the Lord in His mission. Paul also mentions God's plan for us to share in numerous blessings through what Jesus did on the cross: victory over the enemy, restoration with God and an eternal Kingdom to enjoy. And we know from the covenant God made with Abraham that we are blessed like this in order to be a blessing (Genesis 12). “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere” (2 Corinthians 2:14). “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’” (Hebrews 12:28-29). “We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken your great power and have begun to reign” (Revelation 11:17). How has the knowledge of God’s plan for you now and in the future encouraged you? God Gladly Receives Our Praise In this age, we are even closer to seeing the return of Christ. That should awaken us to greater determination to be known as God’s children, and more gratitude for His wonderful promises. Saying “thank you” to God hardly seems like enough in light of all His blessings to us. But whenever we do that, He gladly receives our praises. Studying verses about thankfulness will bring us to a place of humility, and a place of joy, and that is how God wants us to live every day. “What shall I return to the Lord for all His goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people” (Psalm 116:12-14). 
In this week’s blog post, we are considering the habit or discipline of silence/solitude. In past posts, we have considered Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, and stewardship as it relates to both time and finances, and fasting.
If you have not seen these posts yet, go ahead and click on the links to catch yourself up. And remember that the primary motivation for these spiritual habits or disciplines is taken from Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, where he says, exercise or discipline yourself toward godliness. This applies to us just the same today and he makes it clear that, if we wish to be godly, it will take work, discipline, and exercise. Just as an athlete, musician, or artist must exercise disciplined practice to become more proficient at their chosen field, so a disciple must exercise disciplined practice in these activities as means’ of grace to become more proficient at being godly. That is to say, as we become more disciplined in the practice of these habits, more of God’s grace is available to us which will change us. So what about silence/solitude? Let’s begin with an explanation. The discipline/habit of silence is the voluntary and temporary abstention from speaking so that certain spiritual gifts might be sought. It is sometimes practised in order to read the Bible, meditate on Scripture, pray, journal, and so on. Though there is no audible speaking, there may be intentional, biblical self-talk or prayer to God. At other times you might choose not to talk at all but simply focus your mind upon God and to set your mind on things that are above (Colossians3:2), resting your soul in the love He displayed in Christ. The discipline/habit of solitude is the voluntary and temporary withdrawing to privacy for spiritual purposes. The length of the solitude may last only a few minutes or for days. As with silence, solitude may be pursued in order to participate without interruption in other disciplines or just to be alone with God and think. Three thoughts are helpful when thinking about silence and solitude. First, think of silence and solitude as complementary disciplines to fellowship. But don’t think of fellowship as those times when you simply socialize. Biblical fellowship involves talking about God and the things of God. It is probably true that we do much less of this than we think, even when we are at church. The emphasis here, though, is that fellowship requires interaction with other people, whereas silence and solitude do not. It seems that each of us is more inclined in one direction than the other. That is, we enjoy meaningful conversation with other Christians more than solitude or vice versa. But both have a place in the life of a biblically consistent believer. Without silence and solitude, we can be active but shallow. Without fellowship, we can be deep, but stagnant. Christlikeness requires both sides of the equation. Second, silence and solitude are often found together. Even though they can be distinguished as in the definitions above, we are referring to them as a pair. Third, recognize that our western culture conditions us to be comfortable with crowds and noise, not with silence and solitude, and to feel more comfortable at a mall than at a park. This is confirmed by the inability of many of us to ever be at home or in a car by ourselves without turning on some background noise. Technology now makes it possible for us to enjoy the benefits of news, music, educational content, and more whenever we want and wherever we are. More than any generation in history, we must discipline ourselves to enjoy the blessings of silence and solitude for the purpose of godliness.
Following are just a few of the reasons to pursue silence and solitude.
1- To follow Jesus' example Scripture teaches us that Jesus pursued periods of silence and solitude, some for only a few minutes or hours, and at least one for several days. Check out the following references: Matthew 4:1 - the primary purpose of this event was for Jesus to encounter and conquer the devil’s temptations. But it is worthy to note that the Holy Spirit led Jesus to this experience during a lengthy period of fasting and solitude. Matthew 14:23 - Here He sent the multitudes and His disciples away so He could be alone with the Father. Mark 1:35 - After a night of healing and casting out demons and before it was daylight again He went to spend time alone in prayer. Jesus knew that had He waited until after sunrise, He would have been surrounded again by the curious eyes and urgent voices of the whole city. Luke 4:42 - Imagine, people are clamouring for your help and have many real needs, and you are able to meet all those needs. Can you ever feel justified in pulling away to be alone? Jesus did. So, if it was necessary and possible for Jesus, how much more for us? The point should be obvious: To be more like Jesus we must discipline ourselves to find times of silence and solitude. Then through these habits or disciplines, we can pursue the many blessings that Jesus experienced through them. 2- To minimize distractions in prayer One of the more obvious reasons for getting away from the sounds and surroundings that divert our attention is to better focus the mind in prayer. In addition to the examples of Jesus in the previous section, other biblical examples of this might include Elijah going to Horeb, the mount of God (1 Kings 19:8) where he heard the low whisper of God (1 Kings 19:11-13). Consider Habakkuk entering a guard post and keeping watch to hear from and answer to God (Habakkuk 2:1). Or look to the apostle Paul going to Arabia after his conversion where he was presumably alone with God (Galatians 1:7). Many of us realize the addiction we have to noise. The portability and accessibility of technology is a mixed blessing. While we should be grateful for its massive benefits, we should also recognize its invasive and distracting tendencies. The more we use audio and video technology, the more we need to learn the discipline of silence and solitude. 3- To express faith in God The simple act of silence before God, as opposed to coming to Him in a wordy fret, can be a demonstration of faith in Him. Twice in Psalm 62 David displayed this kind of faith. In Psalm 62:1-2 he affirms that his soul waits in silence for God alone because he knows Him to be his rock, his salvation and his fortress. Then in Psalm 62:5-6 he challenges his soul to wait in silence for God alone, again because He is his rock, salvation and fortress. Sometimes, the prayers we speak can be filled more with fear and doubt than faith; silence before the Lord can sometimes express more faith and submission to God than words. 4- To regain a spiritual perspective One of the very best ways to step back and get a more balanced, less worldly perspective on matters is through the discipline of silence and solitude. When Zechariah was told by the angel that he and his elderly wife would have a son, he doubted. In response, the angel told him that he would be silent and unable to speak until the day the baby was born (Luke 1:20). During this time of silence and solitude, his perspective was changed and when the child was born, his mouth was opened again and he gave glory to God for what He had done (Luke 1:57-64). 5- To learn control of the tongue Learning to keep silent for short periods of time can help us better control our tongue all the time. There is little doubt that controlling our tongue is critical to Christlikeness. The Bible says that the religion of the person with no tongue control is worthless (James 1:26). Proverbs 17:27-28 connects the Christlike qualities of godly knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and discernment with the power to rein in one’s tongue. Ecclesiastes 3:7 refers to control of the tongue in two ways. One is the ability to restrain it and the other is the ability to use it. Godliness, therefore, involves learning whey you should not talk as well as when you should. James 1:9 also describes power over the tongue in terms of the ability to keep it in check. This applies to our online social media speaking as well as what is done with our lips. And remember that the great purpose for practising these habits or disciplines is godliness, that we might be more like Jesus, that we may be more holy. Austin Phelps, in his book The Still Hour wrote, “It has been said that no great work in literature or in science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often long alone with God." So let’s do it. Let’s spend time in silence and solitude with God for the purpose of godliness. 
In this week’s blog post, we are considering the habit or discipline of fasting. In past posts, we have considered Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, and stewardship as it relates to both time and finances.
If you have not seen these posts yet, go ahead and click on the links to catch yourself up. And remember that the primary motivation for these spiritual habits or disciplines is taken from Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, where he says, exercise or discipline yourself toward godliness. This applies to us just the same today and he makes it clear that, if we wish to be godly, it will take work, discipline, and exercise. Just as an athlete, musician, or artist must exercise disciplined practice to become more proficient at their chosen field, so a disciple must exercise disciplined practice in these activities as means’ of grace to become more proficient at being godly. That is to say, as we become more disciplined in the practice of these habits, more of God’s grace is available to us which will change us. So what about fasting? Most of us who have some experience in the church know what fasting is, even if we don’t really understand what it is. Is fasting so important that it should be considered a discipline or a habit that leads to godliness? Should I fast? What happens if I do fast? How does fasting accomplish its purpose for me? We will look at these questions in this post. What is fasting? Christian fasting is a believer’s voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes. Other types of fasting - despite the benefits they may produce for the mind and body - could not be classified as Christian fasting, and fasting by a non-Christian obtains no eternal value. It is for believers in Christ because the habit or discipline must be rooted in a relationship with Christ and practised with the desire to become more like Christ. Believers should fast according to biblical teaching and according to the biblical teaching and purposes that are God-centred. It is voluntary in that fasting should not be imposed or coerced. And fasting is more than just the ultimate crash diet for the body; it is abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.
Fasting is expected
For those who may be unfamiliar with fasting, the most surprising part of this post may be the discovery that Jesus expected that His followers would fast. Look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:16-18: “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” So, by giving us instructions on what to do and what not to do when we fast, Jesus assumes that we will fast. This expectation is even more obvious when we compare these words with His statements in the same passage about prayer and giving. Matthew 6:2-3 - “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Matthew 6: 5-7 - “And 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. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Few of us doubt that Christians are to pray and to give. In fact, Christians often use this passage to teach Jesus’ principles and expectations about praying and giving. And since there is nothing here or elsewhere in Scripture to indicate that we no longer need to fast, and since we know that Christians in the Book of Acts fasted (Acts 9:9, 13:2, 14:23), we may conclude that Jesus still expects His followers to fast today. Fasting is to be done for a purpose There must be more to a biblical fast than simply abstaining from food. Without a spiritual purpose for your fast, it’s just a weight-loss fast. Without a purpose, fasting can be a miserable, self-centred experience about will power and endurance. Having a biblical purpose for your fast may be the single most important concept to take from this post. In real life, here’s how it works: As you are fasting and your head aches or your stomach growls and you think, I’m hungry! your next thought is likely to be something like, Oh, right - I’m hungry because I’m fasting today. Then your next thought should be, And I’m fasting for this purpose: (insert biblical purpose here) . Without a clear biblical purpose, fasting becomes an end in itself. Every hunger pang only makes you figure out the time left before you can eat. This kind of thinking disconnects the experience in your mind and heart from the gospel and descends into the deception that perhaps your suffering will earn God’s favour. The Bible shows us many purposes for fasting, but they can be pared down to 10 major categories. Notice that none of the purposes is to earn God’s favour. It is a fool’s errand to try to impress God and earn His acceptance. Fasting has no eternal benefit for us until we have come to God through repentance and faith (Ephesians2:1-10, Titus 3:5-7). Then, as a Christian, you should fast for at least one of these biblical purposes.
What has been your past experience with fasting? Why do you think that there is so little said about fasting? What will you do to incorporate fasting into your habits of grace? We would love to talk with you about this. Reply in the comments section or give us a call at 1-800-784-7077. Matthew 6:17-18 - “But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” 
In this week’s blog post, we are considering the habit or discipline of stewardship as it relates to money. In past posts, we have considered Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, and stewardship as it relates to time.
If you have not seen these posts yet, go ahead and click on the links to catch up. And remember that the primary motivation for these spiritual habits or disciplines is taken from Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, where he says, exercise or discipline yourself toward godliness. This applies to us just the same today and Paul makes it clear that, if we wish to be godly, it will take work, discipline, and exercise. Just as an athlete, musician, or artist must exercise disciplined practice to become more proficient at their chosen field, so a disciple must exercise disciplined practice in these activities as means’ of grace to become more proficient at being godly. That is to say, as we become more disciplined in the practice of these habits, more of God’s grace is available to us which will change us. The previous post in this series was supposed to be about Stewardship generally, but there was so much material when considering both the time and money aspects that I decided to split it into two posts. So this is the second post, dealing with stewardship of money. Now, the Bible relates not only our use of time to our spiritual condition (that is to say that our spiritual condition is closely related to the use of our time) but also our use of money. The disciplined use of money requires that we manage it in such a way that our needs and those of our families are met. Actually, the Bible condemns as a hypocrite any professing Christian who fails to care for the physical needs of his family because of financial irresponsibility, slothful mismanagement, or waste. “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever,” 1 Timothy 5:8). So how we use our money for ourselves, for others, and especially for the sake of God’s kingdom is from first to last a spiritual issue. Now, why do you suppose that God would consider the biblical use of money and resources a crucial part of our growth in godliness? For one thing, it is a matter of pure obedience. There are a whole lot of verses in the Bible that speak about our use of wealth and possessions. If we ignore it or take it lightly, our ‘godliness’ will be a deception. But as much as anything else, the reason our use of money and the things it buys indicates our spiritual maturity and godliness is that we exchange such a large part of our lives for it. Because we invest most of our waking days working in exchange for money, in a very real sense our money represents us. Therefore, how we use it reveals who we are because it makes plain our priorities, our values and our heart. To the degree we use our money and resources Christianly, we prove our growth in Christlikeness.
Let’s consider how the Scriptures teach us to discipline ourselves ‘for the purpose of godliness’ in the specific area of using our money for the sake of Christ and His kingdom.
Ten New Testament Principles of Giving 1. God owns everything. 1 Corinthians 10:26 - For “the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.” Exodus 19:5 – “…for all the earth is mine;” Job 41:11b – “Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.” God owns, everything, including everything you possess, because He created everything. This means that we are simply managers or, to use the biblical word, stewards of the things God gives to us. As a slave, Joseph became a steward when Potiphar placed him over his household (Genesis 39:5-6). Since slaves own nothing, Joseph owned nothing. But he managed everything Potiphar owned on his behalf. His management of Potiphar’s resources included the use of them to meet his own needs, but Joseph’s main responsibility was to use them for Potiphar’s interests. That is our task as stewards. God wants us to use and enjoy the things He permits us to have, but as stewards, we have to remember that they all belong to Him and should be used for His kingdom. God has specifically said that He owns not just the things we possess, but even the money under our name in the bank and the cash in our wallet or purse. He said in Haggai 2:8 that the silver is His and the gold is His. So the question is not, “How much of my money should I give to God?” but rather “How much of God’s money should I keep for now?” 2. Giving is worship. Philippians 4:18 – “I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.” In this verse, Paul calls the money that the Philippians gave a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. This is a comparison to an Old Testament sacrifice people gave in worship to God. In other words, Paul said their act of giving to the work of God was a way of worshipping God. Have you ever thought of giving as worship? You know that praying, singing praises, participating in the Lord’s Supper, thanksgiving, and listening to Him speak through His word are all worship, but did you realize that giving to God is one of the biblical and tangible ways of adoring and worshipping Him? Giving goes way beyond being a duty or an obligation. Biblical giving displays a heart worshipping God. 3. Giving demonstrates faith in God’s provision. Mark 12:42-44 - And He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And He called His disciples to Him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” This poor widow gave everything she had, all she had to live on because she believed God would provide for her. We, too, will give to the extent we believe God will provide for us. The greater our faith that God will provide for our needs, the greater will be our willingness to risk giving to Him. And the less we trust God, the less we will want to give to Him. Your giving is perhaps the most tangible indication of how much you believe that God will provide for your needs. Examine yourself and ask God how He thinks you are doing. 4. Giving should be sacrificial and generous 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 - We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favour of taking part in the relief of the saints — and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Paul describes these Macedonians as people living in extreme poverty. And yet their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity. They gave not only according to their means but beyond their means. Like these people, our giving should be sacrificial and generous. Remember this; giving is not sacrificial if you don’t have to sacrifice something to do it. Many professing Christians give only token amounts to the work of God’s kingdom. A much smaller number gives well. Probably only a small few actually give sacrificially. 5. Giving reflects spiritual trustworthiness Luke 16:10-13 - “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” In these verses, Jesus reveals that your giving is a reflection of how trustworthy we are with spiritual resources. If we are not faithful with the money God entrusts to us (and that certainly includes the giving of money for Christ’s kingdom) the Bible says that God will not treat us as trustworthy to handle spiritual riches. This is why your financial records tell more about you than almost anything else. If after your death, to learn more about your commitment to Christ, a biographer or your children were to scan your financial record of what you did with your money, what would they conclude? Would your footprints prove your spiritual trustworthiness? 6. Giving – Love, not legalism God doesn’t send you a bill and your church doesn’t send you a monthly statement of your account to remind you to make the necessary payments as though you had an obligation. We don’t give to God and to support the work of His kingdom to fulfill some supposed ‘eleventh commandment’. Love to God should motivate giving to God. How much you give should reflect how much you love God (and it probably does). In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul reports to the Corinthians how some of their fellow Greeks in macedonia were such good and faithful givers. 2 Corinthians 8:7-8 - But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. Paul didn’t exercise his authority as an apostle of Jesus and command the Corinthians to give. No, instead of dictating a law of giving, he said that giving is a way of proving the genuineness of your love for God. God wants you to give, not as a formality or an obligation, but as the overflow of your love for Him. 7. Give willingly, thankfully and cheerfully 2 Corinthians 9:7 - Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God doesn’t want you to give with a grudge – that is, you give, but you would rather not. He takes no pleasure in gifts presented resentfully, regardless of the amount involved. God is not a divine landlord, tapping a greedy, outstretched palm, demanding His due, having no concern for how you feel about it. God doesn’t want you to give to Him out of a reluctant compliance to the reality that He owns it all anyway. He wants you to give because you want to give. Somebody has said that there are three kinds of giving: grudge giving, duty giving and thanksgiving. Grudge giving says ‘I have to’; duty giving says ‘I ought to’; thanksgiving says ‘I want to’. Some give because they can’t keep it. Others give because they believe they owe it. And a happy few give because they can’t help it. God wants you to enjoy giving. 8. Giving – an appropriate response to those in need Acts 11:27-30 - Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. The Christians (disciples) in Antioch, some three hundred miles to the north of Jerusalem, gave money to help feed and meet other needs of their unknown, fellow Christians in Jerusalem. This example gives a biblical precedent for our taking special collections in church, such as collections for international and home missions, world hunger, disaster relief, and so on – even for taking a spontaneous offering for any appropriate need. Giving is an appropriate response when we become aware of those in need. 9. Giving should be planned and systematic 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 - Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. This collection for the saints was a special offering for the poor Christians suffering in Jerusalem because of a famine. But even though the collection targeted a specific need, Paul instructed the Corinthians to give toward that need on a weekly basis (a recurring gift) for some time in advance of his arrival to Corinth. He knew that in the long run, greater efficiency and effective results from giving in a planned and systematic way than haphazardly whenever a need arises. Since many needs are ongoing – like missions, feeding the hungry and maintaining the ministry of the local church – systematic giving will meet those needs more consistently than an unceasing series of special offerings. 10. Generous giving results in bountiful blessing Luke 6:35 - “…give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” 2 Corinthians 9:6 – “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” These verses are not an endorsement of the ‘prosperity gospel’ that teaches financial wealth here on earth as a result of your giving a lot to those ministries. “Prosperity preachers”, I believe, pervert the gospel, misrepresent God and mislead their listeners. But I do believe that these verses and others indicate that earthly blessings of an unspecified nature will be given to those who are faithful stewards of God’s money. Much of God’s blessing for our giving, however, will not come in this life. And it takes faith to believe that giving money here lays up treasure in heaven. It takes faith to believe Jesus correctly said that it’s more blessed to give than to receive. These passages are true and at a definite time in a real place God is actually going to reward us bountifully for what we have given generously and cheerfully. Regardless of your interpretation of these passages, regardless of how much God rewards you here for your giving and how much in heaven, the bottom line is clear: God will bless you bountifully if you give generously. If you want to know about the many opportunities to give at OMS Canada, please click here. 
Think for a moment: What events have produced the most stress in your life last week? Have they involved the feeling of being overloaded with responsibilities at home, work, school, church, or all of the above? How about stress related to paying bills? Running late for an appointment? Going with too little sleep? Juggling your finances? Waiting in a traffic jam on the highway or a runway? Facing unexpected car repair expenses? Running short of cash before payday?
Each one of these anxiety producers, like so many other daily issues, relate to either time or money. The clock and the dollar are such substantial factors in so many parts of life that we need to consider their role in any serious discussion of godly living. We will look at the stewardship of our time this week and at stewardship of our finances next time. The Disciplined Use of Time As we have discussed already, godliness is the result of a biblically disciplined spiritual life. But at the heart of a disciplined spiritual life is the disciplined use of time. To be like Jesus, we must see the use of our time as a spiritual discipline. Having so perfectly ordered His moments and His days, Jesus was able to pray to the Father at the end of His life, “I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave me to do” (John 17:4). As with Jesus, God gives us both the gift of time and work to do during that time. The more we grow to be like Jesus, the more we understand why the disciplined use of the time God gives is so important.
So, here are ten biblical reasons to use time wisely:
1. Use time wisely because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16) Paul exhorts the Ephesians to ‘make the best use of time because the days are evil.’ This curious phrase may have been prompted by persecution or opposition that the Ephesian believers may have been facing (Acts 19:23-20:1). But even without the persecution known by believers of Paul’s day, the world we live in makes it difficult to use time wisely, especially for the purpose of godliness and biblical spirituality. Our days are days of active evil. Great time-thieves act as servants of the world, the flesh, and the devil. They may range in form from high-tech, socially acceptable preoccupations to simple, idle talk or uncontrolled thoughts. But the natural course of our minds, our bodies, our world and our days leads toward evil, not Christlikeness. The use of time is important because time is the stuff of which days are made. If we do not discipline our use of time for the purpose of godliness in these evil days, these evil days will keep us from becoming godly. 2. The wise use of time is preparation for eternity. You must prepare for eternity in time. That statement can be taken in two different ways. One means that during time (in this life) you must prepare for eternity because there will be no second chance once this life is over. Regardless of when or how death occurs, there is a specific day on the calendar when all my preparation for eternity will indeed be over. And since that day could be any day, I need to use my time wisely because it’s all the time I have to prepare for where I will endlessly live beyond the grave. The second meaning of the phrase “You must prepare for eternity in time,” is that you must prepare for eternity before it is too late. 2 Corinthians 6:2 is the spiritual alert that must be sounded at this point. “Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Right now is the right time to prepare for where you will spend eternity. If that is an uncertain or unsettled matter for you, take the time to settle it now. You have no guarantee of any more time than this moment to prepare for eternity. 3. Time is short. The more scarce an item is, the more value is assigned to it. Gold and diamonds would be worthless if you could pick them up like gravel along the roadway. In just the same way, time would not be so precious if we never died. But since we never live more than one breath away from eternity, the way we use our time has eternal significance. Even though many years of life may remain for you, the fact remains, “You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Even the very longest life is short in comparison to eternity. You can probably remember a happy or tragic event from your childhood or teenage years as vividly as if it happened yesterday. The reason you can is that it simply hasn’t been that long ago. When you think that a decade as only 120 months, a great chunk of time suddenly seems much shorter. So, regardless of how much time remains for you to develop more Christlikeness, it really isn’t much. Use it well. 4. Time is passing. Not only is time short, but what does remain is passing. Time is not like a bag of ice in the freezer, from which you can take a little now and again as you need it and save the rest for later. Instead, time is really like the sand in an hourglass – what’s left is continuously slipping away. John put it very plainly: “The world is passing away along with its desires” (1 John 2:17). Passing along with the world is our time in it. As a child, time seemed to drag on. Now I find myself saying what I remember my parents saying: “I can’t believe another year is over! Where has the time gone?” It seems that the closer we get to the end, the faster it comes. If I don’t discipline myself for the purpose of godliness now, it won’t be any easier later. 5. The remaining time is uncertain. Not only is time short and passing, but we don’t even know how short it actually is nor how long before it does all pass away. That’s why the wisdom of Proverbs 27:1 tells us, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” Thousands have died and gone into eternity today, including many much younger than you, who just hours ago had no idea that today was their last day. Had they known that, their use of time would have become far more important to them. Neither youth nor strength, stardom nor stature obligates God to give us one more hour of time. Regardless of how long we want to live or expect to live, our time is in His hands (Psalm 31:15). Obviously, we must make some types of plans as though many more years do remain for us. But a proper recognition of reality calls us to use our time for the purpose of godliness as though it were uncertain we would live tomorrow for that is a very certain uncertainty. 6. Lost time cannot be regained. Many things can be lost and then regained. Many men and women have declared bankruptcy only to amass an even greater fortune later. Time is different. Once it is gone, it is gone forever and can never be regained. God offers you this present time to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. Jesus said in John 9:4, “We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” The time for godly living is now while it is day. For each of us, night is coming and none of us can stop or slow the approach of that night. Despite how we may have squandered time in the past, the will of God for you is found in the words of Paul: “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Through the work of Jesus to repentant believers, God will forgive every second of misused time. And it pleases Him for you to discipline the balance of your time for the purpose of godliness. 7. You are accountable to God for your time. There is hardly a more sobering statement in the Bible than Romans 14:12: “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” The words ‘each of us’ applies to Christians and non-Christians alike. And, even though believers will be saved by grace and not by works, once in heaven our reward there will be based on the basis of our works. The Lord will cause each one’s work to be ‘shown for what it really is,’ and for each, it will be either that he will receive a reward or he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved but only as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:13-15). Not only will we be held accountable for our use of time, but our eternal reward will be directly related to it. Hebrews 5:12 shows us something of how God will hold us accountable at the Judgement for our use of time in disciplining ourselves for the purpose of godliness. In these verses, God criticizes these Jewish Christians for failing to use their time in a way that develops spiritual maturity: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food.” If, as here, God holds believers still on earth responsible for not disciplining their time for Christlikeness, He will surely do at the Judgement in heaven. Deciding to discipline yourself to use your time for the purpose of godliness is not a matter for delay or deliberation. Each hour that passes is another for which you will give an account. 8. Time is so easily lost. Apart from the fool, there is no other character in the book of Proverbs that draws the scorn of Scripture like the slothful sluggard. The reason? His lazy and wasteful use of time. The sluggard never has time for the things that really matter, especially things that require discipline. And before he realizes it, his time and opportunities expire. “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man” (Proverbs 24:33-34). Notice that it’s just a ‘little’ sleep, a ‘little’ slumber, a ‘little’ folding of the hands that brought the ruin of lost time and opportunity. It’s so easy to lose so much, just a little at a time. You don’t have to do anything at all to lost time. 9. We value time at death. Just as the person without money values it most when it’s gone, so do we at death value time most when it is gone. Most pursue a course of life based more on pleasure than on the joy found in the way of God’s disciplines. God warns them through His Word of the regrets that will cut their hearts when their time runs out. “At the end of your life you groan when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.” (Proverbs 5:11-13). If, like this man, you suddenly understood you had no more time, would you also regret how you’ve spent your time in the past and present? The way you have used your time can instead provide great comfort to you in your last hour. Won’t you be glad then for every moment you spent reading Scripture, praying, worshipping, evangelizing, serving, fasting, and so on for the purpose of becoming like the One before whom you are about to stand in judgement? Why not do something about it while you still have time? 10. Time’s value in eternity. It is doubtful that in heaven we experience regret, but if we did it would be for not using our earthly time more for the glory of God and for growth in His grace. Hell, on the other hand, will howl forever with agonizing laments over time so foolishly squandered. Let us learn the true value of time by encountering the truth and discipline our time for the purpose of godliness. After all, if you have given your life to Christ, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). “Your” life and “your” time belong to God now. The best and most joy-filled way to spend them is to use them the way God wants. So how are you doing with your time? We will all have some room for improvement. What can you do this week to make better use of your time for the purpose of becoming more Christ-like? Let us know in the comments. We would love to pray with you about this most important matter. 
In this week’s blog post, we are considering the habit or discipline of serving. In past posts, we have considered Bible intake, prayer, worship, and evangelism.
If you have not seen these posts yet, go ahead and click on the following links to catch up: https://www.omscanada.org/blog/bible-intake https://www.omscanada.org/blog/the-habit-of-prayer https://www.omscanada.org/blog/the-habit-of-worship https://www.omscanada.org/blog/the-habit-of-evangelism And remember that the primary motivation for these spiritual habits or disciplines is taken from Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, where he says, exercise or discipline yourself toward godliness. This applies to us just the same today and makes it clear that, if we wish to be godly, it will take work, discipline, and exercise. Just as an athlete, musician, or artist must exercise disciplined practice to become more proficient at their chosen field, so a disciple must exercise disciplined practice in these activities as means’ of grace to become more proficient at being godly. That is to say, as we become more disciplined in the practice of these habits, more of God’s grace is available to us which will change us. And one very powerful way to become more proficient in godliness is through serving God and others. The act of serving can be as public as preaching or teaching, but more often than not it will appear as hidden as nursery duty or cleaning the kitchen after an event.
Serving usually looks as unspectacular as the practical needs it works to meet.
And that’s why serving must become a Habit of Grace. The flesh schemes against its hiddenness and sameness. Two of the deadliest sins – sloth and pride – hate serving. So, if we don’t discipline ourselves to serve for the sake of Jesus and His kingdom and for the purpose of godliness, we will serve only occasionally or when its convenient or self-serving. However, not every act of service should be disciplined serving. Much of our service should flow naturally from our love for God and love for others. Like our worship and evangelism, our service should also often just flow from inside of us as a result of the life-transforming presence and work of the Holy Spirit. But because the Spirit of Jesus within us causes us to yearn to be more like Jesus, and because of the persistent sinful tendencies toward selfishness in our hearts, we must also discipline ourselves to serve. Those who do will find serving one of the most certain and practical means of growth in grace. Every Christian is Expected to Serve When we are called to God, none of us is called to idleness. When we are born again and our sins are forgiven, the blood of Jesus cleanses our conscience according to Hebrews 9:14 in order for us to “serve the living God.” Every believer’s Bible tells him or her to “serve the Lord with gladness” (Psalm 100:2, NASB). There is no place for spiritual unemployment or spiritual retirement. And the believer should find ample motivation because God mentions at least six in the Bible.
Every Christian is Gifted to Serve In 1 Corinthians 12:4 and 11 we read about the different varieties of spiritual gifts given to believers and that the Holy Spirit determines by His sovereign will which gift goes to which believer. “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit…All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills.” And Peter makes it clear in 1 Peter 4:10, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.” So every Christian has received at least one gift and that gift is given for service. Let’s diligently practice the discipline of service. And your service is no doubt needed more now during this time of pandemic. Are there particularly vulnerable people within your network who need your service? Are there those who might be susceptible to depression? Who could you call and encourage? So let’s be about the business of serving. 
In this week’s blog post, we are considering the habit or discipline of evangelism. In past posts, we have considered Bible intake, prayer and worship.
If you have not seen these posts yet, go ahead and click on the following links to catch up: https://www.omscanada.org/blog/bible-intake https://www.omscanada.org/blog/the-habit-of-prayer https://www.omscanada.org/blog/the-habit-of-worship And remember that the primary motivation for these spiritual habits or disciplines is taken from Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, where he says, exercise or discipline yourself toward godliness. This applies to us just the same today and makes it clear that, if we wish to be godly, it will take work, discipline, and exercise. Just as an athlete, musician, or artist must exercise disciplined practice to become more proficient at their chosen field, so a disciple must exercise disciplined practice in these activities as means’ of grace to become more proficient at being godly. That is to say that, as we become more disciplined in the practice of these habits, more of God’s grace is available to us which will change us. Only the joy of being lost in the worship of God is as exhilarating and intoxicating as telling someone about Jesus Christ. And those who do embrace this habit or discipline report that some of the most rewarding times have been during missions trips when they have done nothing but talk about Jesus, on the streets and in homes, with one individual or group after another, all day long. I can put you in touch with several MFM team members who will tell you that this is true. Yet, nothing causes more foot-shuffling eye-shifting anxiety among disciples like talking about our responsibility to evangelize. I know many believers who are confident that they are obedient in the area of Bible intake, giving, or serving, but I don’t think I know of a single person who would say, “I am as evangelistic as I should be.” What I want us to see is that godliness requires that we discipline ourselves in the habit of evangelism. I’m convinced that the main reason that most of us do not witness for Jesus in ways that would be effective and relatively fear-free is simply that we do not discipline ourselves to do it. Evangelism is expected Most of us reading this post will not need convincing that Jesus expects each of us to be involved in sharing the gospel with those around us. Because there are many methods of evangelism, it is not expected that believers would all do it the same, but He does expect all disciples to be fishers of men. What do I mean by evangelism? It is always good to make sure that we are all on the same page in terms of what we are talking about and having a common understanding of the terms will help us understand what is being said. Evangelism is presenting Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to unbelievers so that they might come to put their trust in God through Him, to receive Him as their Saviour, and serve Him as their King in the fellowship of His church. More concisely, we could say that all New Testament evangelism is communicating the gospel. Anyone faithfully relating the essential elements of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ is evangelizing. Evangelism occurs whether the words of the gospel are spoken, written, sung, or recorded. Jesus has commanded us to witness. Consider these five references:
And consider this final exhortation from Peter. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) I think that we usually view this reference in terms of establishing the priesthood of all believers. But we may also identify it as one that challenges each of us to a kind of prophet-hood of all believers. God expects each of us to “proclaim the excellencies” of Jesus Christ. Evangelism is empowered So, if it is so obvious that we are to evangelize, why do almost all western Christians seem to be disobedient? Some may think they need a lot of specialized training to witness effectively. They might be afraid to speak about Jesus until they are confident in their knowledge of the Bible and/or their ability to deal with every potential question or objection. Think about the blind man that Jesus healed in John 9. What if he had felt this way? Would he ever have felt ready to witness to the hoity-toity Pharisees? No way! And yet, within hours or minutes of receiving his sight he gave a compelling witness to his new reality; “He put mud on my eyes and I washed, and I see.” “Once I was blind, but now I can see!” Sometimes we may be afraid that if we speak about Jesus that people will think we are strange and reject us. And for many, this will probably be true. Jesus told us that this would be the case in at least some of our interactions with unbelievers. But it is not a good reason to do nothing. Another reason for inaction might be the fear of not being successful in witnessing. So, what exactly does it mean to be successful at witnessing? When the person you are witnessing to comes to Christ? I mean that’s what we want to see, isn’t it? But if we measure evangelistic success only in terms of conversions, does this make Jesus or Paul or the other apostles unsuccessful when many people rejected what they preached? Obviously not. So we also are not failures. We will not be held to a higher standard. We need to learn that sharing the gospel is successful evangelism. Certainly, we should also be passionate for souls, and plead with God to see more people saved, but ultimately only God can produce the fruit of evangelism called conversion. We are like the postal service. They measure success by the careful and accurate delivery of the message, not by the response of the recipient. Whenever we share the gospel accurately and clearly, we have succeeded. In the truest sense, all biblical evangelism is successful evangelism, regardless of the results.
Remember this; the power of evangelism is the Holy Spirit. From the instant that He indwells you, He gives you the power to witness. Jesus made this very clear in Acts 1:8 when He said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Jesus expects evangelism from every Christian because the Holy Spirit has been given to empower every Christian to evangelize. All believers have been given the power to be witnesses of Jesus Christ.
Not only is the witness empowered by the Holy Spirit, but the very gospel we share is also embedded with the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul said in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” This is why people can be converted whether they hear a teenage teacher at VBS share the gospel, or a seminary trained PhD; whether they read it in a book by a scholar like CS Lewis or a simple gospel tract. The gospel is empowered by God. Therefore your evangelism is empowered. We can be confident that some will believe if we will faithfully and diligently share the gospel. Abundant gospel sowing is our responsibility. And the seed we sow, the gospel, is empowered by God Himself. Evangelism is a habit or a discipline While evangelism is a natural overflow of the Christian life and every Christian needs to be able to talk about what God has done for him or her and what He means to him or her, it is also a discipline in that we must discipline ourselves to get into situations where evangelism can occur. We must not just wait for witnessing opportunities to happen. Jesus told us in Matthew 5:16 to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” The implication is that you will be in a place where this light can be seen. Again, I think the main reason we don’t witness is that we simply do not discipline ourselves to do it. Yes, there may be those unplanned or unexpected opportunities that God brings our way to give a reason for the hope we possess (1 Peter 3:15). But I still believe and contend that unless we make evangelism a discipline or a habit, most Christians will seldom share the gospel. So let’s make evangelism a discipline and a habit. Let’s all become recipients of the soul-winners crown. Since evangelism is expected, will you obey the Lord and be a witness? Since evangelism is empowered, will you believe that God can use your words in the salvation of others? Since evangelism is a discipline, will you plan for it? Without discipline, our best evangelistic intentions often go unspoken. May we discipline ourselves to live so that we can say with the apostle Paul, “I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” (1 Corinthians 9:23 ESV) 
In a past series of blog posts on the ‘Call to Missions’ we concluded that if one is properly relating to God and pursuing godliness, there is little to fear in terms of missing God’s call, whether to missions or any other pursuit. If you haven’t read that post yet, click here to go to it now.
We then determined that the way to ensure that one is properly relating to God and pursuing godliness is through the practice of the spiritual disciplines or habits of grace. We composed a list of ‘habits of grace ‘that are biblical, that is, they are taught or modelled in Scripture. The first was Bible Intake. The second was Prayer. And this post is Worship. One spiritual discipline that we are called to do as Christians, but is often confused or unclear, is worship. Often when we hear that word, our first thought is music, the singing part of our Sunday gathering. While that is an aspect of it, worship is a far greater discipline that should engage multiple areas of our lives.
Worship is difficult to define well. So let’s look at it first.
In John 20:28, when the resurrected Jesus appeared to Thomas and showed him the scars in His hands and side, worship happened when Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and my God.” In Revelation 4:8, we read about four creatures around the throne who worship God day and night without ceasing and saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” Then in verse 11 the twenty-four elders around the throne of God in heaven worship Him by throwing their crowns at His feet, falling before Him and saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.” In the next chapter, thousands and thousands of angels, elders, and living creatures around the heavenly throne of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, cry out with a loud voice in worship, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!” (5:12). Immediately following comes worship from “every creature” saying, “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!” (5:13). To summarize, to worship God means to ascribe the proper worth of God, to magnify His worthiness of praise, or better, to approach and address God in a worthy way. As the holy and almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and the Sovereign Judge to whom we must give an account, He is worthy of all the worth and honour that we can give Him and then infinitely more. You see, the more we focus on God, the more we will understand and appreciate His infinite worth. As we understand and appreciate this, we can’t help but respond to Him. Just like a gorgeous sunrise or a breathtaking mountaintop view sparks a spontaneous response, so we cannot encounter the worthiness of God without the response of worship. Therefore, worship is focusing on and responding to God appropriately. But how does the invisible God reveal Himself to us here and now so that we might focus on Him and respond appropriately? First, He has revealed Himself in a general way through Creation (see Romans 1:20), so the right response to that stunning sunrise (I am a morning person) or the spectacular mountain view is to worship the Creator of such beauty and majesty. Second, God has revealed Himself flawlessly through His written Word, the Bible (see 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21), and His incarnate Word, Jesus Christ (see John 1:1, 14 and Hebrews 1:1-2). In response, we should seek God through Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible. As we do so and the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of our understanding, we will see God revealed in Scripture and respond with worship. That is why all worship of God – public, family and private worship – should be based on and include much of the Bible. The Bible reveals God to us so that we may focus on Him, and to the extent that we focus on Him, we will worship Him. So if there is little focus on God, there is little worship of God. Conversely, much revelation of God fosters much focus on God, which in turn results in much worship of God. Now, since worship is focusing on and responding to God, whatever else we may be doing we are not worshipping if we are not thinking about God. You may be singing holy, holy, holy but if you’re not thinking about God while singing it, you are not worshipping. You may be listening to someone pray, but if you aren’t praying with him or her and thinking of God, you aren’t worshipping. Worship often includes words and actions, but true worship goes beyond them to the focus of the mind and heart. Worship is the God-centred focus and response of the soul. It is being preoccupied with God. So no matter what you are saying or singing or thinking or doing at any moment, you are worshipping God only when He is the centre of your attention. And whenever you do focus on the infinite worth of God, you will respond in worship as surely as the moon reflects the sun. This kind of worship is not in vain. So let’s daily cultivate a lifestyle where we consciously work to make God the centre of our attention and respond appropriately in worship. This is an especially important habit of grace for those who may be considering a role in cross-cultural missions because the missionary’s role among the nations is to create worshippers where there are none. As John Piper states in the book, “Let the Nations be Glad”, missions exists because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions because God is ultimate, not man. With this in view, Psalm 96 becomes an example of God’s people summoning the nations to worship the Lord. “Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; tell of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For the gods of the people are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendour and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” What do you think about worship? Has this post challenged what you believe? Let us know in the comments section below. 
In this week’s blog post we consider the second habit of grace that needs to be built for the purpose of godliness. That habit is prayer.
Prayer is second only to God’s Word in importance when it comes to disciplining oneself in spiritual things. We know that through His Word God speaks to His church and to His people. There is nothing more important for us to hear than the Word of God. He is a speaking God and His Word is written for us. But, not only is God a speaking God, He is also a listening God. His ear is continually open to us. He stands ready to hear every prayer of His children, even when our prayers are weak. God speaks to us through His Word and He listens to us in prayer. However, despite its importance of prayer to the Christian, surveys and anecdotal evidence would seem to indicate that a large percentage of professing Christians spend little time in sustained prayer. Short sentence prayers get offered here and there throughout the day but it is rare that more than just a few minutes is spent in conversation with God. We must come to grips with the fact that, if we wish to be godly, if we wish to be like Jesus, we must pray.
Prayer is Expected
Those who have been brought under the authority of Christ and the Bible know that the will of God is for us to pray. And we also know that the will of God is good. This expectation is seen in the words of Jesus in the gospels; Matthew 6:5, “And when you pray…” Matthew 6:6, “But when you pray…” Matthew 6:7, “And when you pray…” Matthew 6:9, “Pray then like this…” Luke 11:9, “And I tell you, ask…seek…knock.” Luke 18:1, “And He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray,” God’s word makes it clear that prayer is expected; Colossians 4:2, “Continue steadfastly in prayer.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” These verses are commands for the Christian to pray. Commands. This means that too little time, too many responsibilities, too many kids, too much work, too little desire, too little experience, and so on are not excuses that exempt one from the expectation to pray. Martin Luther put it this way; As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray. So why do so many of us confess that we do not pray as we ought? Sometimes it is just simply a lack of discipline. Prayer is never planned, time is never set aside just for prayer. While lip service is given to the priority of prayer, in reality it always seems to get crowded out by things that seem more urgent. Often we do not pray because we are not convinced anything will actually happen if we pray. Naturally, we wouldn’t admit this publicly, but if we felt certain of visible results within sixty seconds of every prayer, there would be holes in the knees of the pants of every Christian (and not because the pants were bought with holes in the knees). The Bible does not promise a visible answer to every prayer but it does promise that every prayer is answered. Since prayer involves communication in the spiritual realm, many prayers are answered in ways that cannot be seen in the material realm. In addition, where there is little awareness of real need, there is little need for real prayer. The truth is that we believe we can get along pretty well in Canada without any sort of divine intervention. We generally have jobs, shelter, friends, family, healthcare, and safety. What more could we need? In pride and self-sufficiency, we may live for days as though prayer is needed only when something comes along that is too big for us to handle on our own. But this view is short sighted in that it assumes that the temporal things are the only things about which we need to pray. Listen to the prayer requests that people most often present and they will be for things like health, family, work, finances, etc., all temporal things that really have no kind of eternal significance. Why do we pray so little for the things that really count, like the battle against sin, the lack of faith, the need to evangelize, and the lack of spiritual fruit? Above these needs there is always a need to pray until Jesus returns or calls us home. Prayer is Learned Another reason why Christians pray so little is because they haven’t learned about prayer. If you are discouraged by the command to pray because you feel like you don’t know how to pray well, the fact that prayer is learned should give you hope. This means that it is okay to begin the Christian life with little knowledge or experience of prayer but as you are discipled, prayer should be a part of what is taught, learned and practised. I grew up on a dairy farm in Ontario and 4-H clubs were a popular activity for kids. The 4-H motto was, “Learn to do by doing.” This is certainly true of prayer. If you have ever learned a second (or subsequent) language, you know that you learn it best when you actually have to speak it. The same is true of the ‘foreign language’ of prayer. There are many good resources to help you learn to pray but the best way to learn how to pray is to pray. Learn to do by doing. Another way that one learns to pray is by meditating on Scripture. Here is the simple but extraordinarily powerful truth. Meditation is the missing link between Bible intake and prayer. Although often separated, the two should be united. Typically, we read the Bible, close it, and then try to shift gears into prayer. But many times it seems that the gears of Bible reading and of prayer do not mesh properly. We blow the shift (trucker talk) and lose momentum and give up on prayer. Instead, there should be a smooth, almost unnoticeable transition between Scripture input and prayer output so that we move even closer to God in those moments. This happens when we insert the link of meditation in between. There are a couple of Psalms that make an explicit link between meditation and prayer. Psalm 5:1 says, “Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to You do I pray.” The Hebrew word translated groaning may also be translated meditation, as it is in the King James. In fact, meditation is used for the same Hebrew word in Psalm 19:14; “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Notice that both verses are prayers, pleas to God that consisted of David’s words (as we would expect in prayer) but they also involve meditation. In each case, meditation was the catalyst that moved David from considering the truth of God into talking with God. Meditating on God’s Word can also serve to move us into a conversation with the author of the Word. Prayer is Answered Probably no principle of prayer is more taken for granted than that prayer is answered. Matthew 7:7-8; “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Andrew Murray makes the observation that asking and receiving is a fixed eternal law of the kingdom. If you ask and do not receive it is always because there is something amiss or wanting in your prayer. Hold on; let the Word and Spirit teach you to pray aright, but do not let go of the confidence God seeks to awaken. Everyone who asks receives…Let every learner in the school of Christ therefore take the Master’s Word in all simplicity…Let us beware of weakening the Word with our so-called human wisdom. So, despite what we see in response to our prayers, let’s not become so accustomed with our shortcomings in prayer and to the perception of asking without receiving that our faith in the force of Jesus’ promise is diminished. Prayer is answered. So, how is your prayer life? Is prayer a natural thing or is it a chore? Do you see prayers answered or are you in danger of weakening the promise of answered prayer? Let us know by leaving a comment. And if you want some prayer requests to practice your prayer skills, click here to find out how to become a prayer partner of OMS Canada. 
Do you get enough Bible?
In a past series of blog posts on the ‘Call to Missions’ we concluded that if one is properly relating to God and pursuing godliness, there is little to fear in terms of missing God’s call, whether to missions or any other pursuit. If you haven’t read that post yet, click here to go to it now. We then determined that the way to ensure that one is properly relating to God and pursuing godliness is through the practice of the spiritual disciplines or habits of grace. We composed a list of habits of grace that are biblical, that is, they are taught or modeled in Scripture. And the first habit we will examine is Bible intake. No habit of grace is more important than the intake or consumption of God’s Word. There is simply no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture.
And the reasons should be obvious. In the Bible we learn who God is and who Jesus is. The Bible tells us about God’s law and shows us how we have all broken it. In the Bible we learn how Jesus died as the sinless substitute for lawbreakers and how we must repent and believe in Him to be right with God. In the Bible we learn God’s way and His will. We learn how God wants us to live and what brings joy and satisfaction in life. None of this information is available anywhere else. Therefore, if we want to know God and be godly, we must know the Word of God.
While most of us would nod in agreement with the last paragraph and honour God’s Word with our lips, we must confess that our hearts (and eyes, ears, hands, and minds) are often far from it. Regardless of how busy we become with all other things, as Christian we must never forget that the most transforming practice available to us is the disciplined intake of Scripture. So how do we take in Scripture? There are a broad range of ways to consume the Word of God. Let’s look at a few. Hearing God’s Word The easiest of the disciplines related to intake of God’s Word is simply hearing it. It may seem silly to include this as a discipline, but it will usually require developing the practice of regularly attending a Bible-believing church where the Bible is faithfully preached. Luke 11:28 - But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” Simply listening to God-inspired words is not the point. The purpose of all methods of Bible intake is to do what God says and grow in Christlikeness. The method of intake Jesus encourages in this verse is hearing God’s Word. Romans 10:7 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ. Gifts of faith are often given to those who discipline themselves to hear the Word of God. 1 Timothy 4:13 - Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Here Paul is instructing Timothy to make provision for the people to hear the Word of God by reading it to them. Reading God’s Word The EFC’s Canadian Bible Engagement Study published in 2014, reports that less than 5% of Canadians read the Bible every day and only 14% report reading the Bible at least once per month. Jesus often asked questions about people’s understanding of the Scriptures, sometimes beginning with the words “have you not read…?” (Matthew 19:4, Mark 12:10). His assumption is that those claiming to be the people of God would have read the Word of God. And a case could be made that this question implies a familiarity with the whole Word of God. Since “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16), shouldn’t we read it? In Revelation 1:3, God promises a blessing to those who read and heed His Word. But only those who discipline themselves to do so will receive the blessing. We must draw on God’s endless store of grace from day to day as we need it, not from time to time. Two practical suggestions are: First, make the time every day to read God’s Word. The time will never be available or convenient, so we must make it a priority. It is a matter of discipline and motivation. Second, use some sort of reading plan. A google search for Bible reading plans will yield 109,000,000 results. Pick one and stick to it. Studying God’s Word If reading the Bible can be compared to cruising the width of a clear, sparkling lake in a motorboat, studying God’s Word is like slowly crossing the same lake in a glass-bottomed boat. The motorboat crossing provides an overview of the lake and a speedy, passing view of its depths. The glass-bottomed boat of study, however, takes you under the surface of Scripture for an unhurried look of clarity and detail that is normally missed by those who simply read the text. Ezra 7:10 - For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. Ezra disciplined himself to study God’s Word. Acts 17:11 - Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. According to the late RC Sproul, we fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, or because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy. If you are new to the concept of studying God’s Word, I would suggest that you visit www.mission119.org and begin to study it there. Memorizing God’s Word There is probably not a Christian anywhere who would disagree that Scripture memorization is a good thing to do. But when asked to memorize Scripture, most of these same people will look at you like you have two heads. They associate all memorization with the memory efforts required of them in school. It was work, and most of it was uninteresting and of limited value. Frequently heard, also, is the excuse of a bad memory. But what if I offered you a thousand dollars for every verse you could memorize in the next week. How would your attitude toward Scripture memorization change? Would it improve? Think about this: any financial reward would be minimal when compared to the accumulating value of the treasure of God’s Word deposited into your mind. When the Word is stored in your mind, it is available to the Holy Spirit to bring to your attention when you need it most. That’s why the author of Psalm 119 wrote, “I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (verse 11). There is much more that can be said about Scripture memorization and perhaps we will tackle that as a separate blog post at some later date. Stay tuned for that. Next time, however, we will look at meditating on Scripture and applying the Word of God. What do you do to make sure your Bible intake is adequate? How much is adequate? Leave us a comment and let us know. |
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