Do you practice the spiritual disciplines, seeking to remain close and sensitive to God in all of life?
Are there specific activities that the Bible prescribes to us in order for us to remain close to God? Yes there are.
The Bible tells us to pray, read, meditate, and memorize the word of God, fast, journal, worship, share the Gospel, give our time, talent and treasures to God, and serve Him.
Quite a list, but unless a Christian has the heart-felt devotion to remain close to God, this list becomes legalistic and just something else to do. It robs us of the joy of being close to God.
A maturing Christian devotes time to God to get closer to Him because he/she wants to, not because he/she has to.
Peter Beck, Assistant Professor of Religion at Charleston Southern University has an outstanding post ontime management here. Here is a portion of it. The verse Beck is referring to is Ephesians 5:16.
Of this verse Jonathan Edwards once preached,
And hence it is that time is a thing so exceeding precious, because 'tis by that that we have opportunity of escaping everlasting misery and of obtaining eternal blessedness and glory. 'Tis upon the improvement of time that there depends an escape from an infinite evil and an obtaining an infinite good. And this puts an infinite value upon time.
I would encourage you to read the entire post and think deeply how you are spending your time. It has convicted me of areas of my week that I need to reduce while encouraging me to increase the amount of time in other areas of my life. Maybe it will do the same for you.
Books are a primary way of understanding a subject. Math, English, Science, Medicine, Theology, and Economics all start with a book introducing the concepts, theories, principles, and laws that pertain to that subject.
So how do we learn about God? Is it any different than any other subject? How do we really get to know God?
There are two primary ways God reveals himself to us: through his creation and through his word – the Bible.
Like anyone who you want to get to know, you have to spend time with him. God is no different. In order to know who he is, what he has done, is doing, and will do you have to spend time with him by reading his autobiography – the Bible.
He reveals the exact nature of his character, his promises, and his plan for the world and for you. When you make reading the Bible as a part of your lifestyle, you will get to know God as well as your best friend. As your relationship with him develops, he will pour more and more of himself into your heart and mind.
This article is a continuation of the prior one dealing with fasting. Donald Whitney outlines 10 reasons to fast in his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. We pick up with reasons six through ten in this article. 6. To Express Concern for the Work of God
Though many of us in North America may not have experienced this, imagine walking through a village in Rwanda or the Sudan after it was pillaged and savaged by ruthless murders and rapists. There are dead people lying along the roadside butchered by machetes with their limbs severed. The homes that they live in burned and destroyed. Everywhere you turn the stench of death waffles through the air.
You think, how can man do this? Where is God? Scenes like this would compel us to pray, but prayer might not be enough to satisfy our longing for healing. So we fast, weep and pray asking God to descend to this place of hell on earth and begin to heal it.
Nehemiah found himself in a similar situation. Jerusalem had been savaged by the Babylonians as the Jewish nation was exiled into captivity. Years later he traveled to Jerusalem and saw the devastation. Here’s how the Bible describes the scene in Nehemiah 1:3-4.
The tragedies you experience are probably not a graphic as the example, but may be equally devastating. Consider fasting as you ask for God’s healing.
Did you know fasting is mentioned in the Bible more than baptism? Surprising? It was to me. Fasting may be the most neglected of the spiritual disciplines. Most Christians routinely pray, serve, worship, study, and try to obey. Some memorize Scripture, evangelize, journal, and give.
But when it comes to fasting, many scratch their heads and wonder what it means and what good it will do. Maybe you are one of them.
In the broadest sense, fasting is abstaining from something (usually food) for a spiritual purpose. When we abstain, we are denying ourselves the very thing that sustains us or gives us pleasure. Our bodies and minds fight against it, yearning for the very thing that we are denying.
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But when it comes to fasting, many scratch their heads and wonder what it means and what good it will do. Maybe you are one of them.