I’ll never forget the night Joe showed up at our home Bible fellowship. After 15 years of dealing drugs and heroin addiction, he had come to a dead end and was ready to give his life to Jesus Christ. In the ensuing weeks and months, for Joe, all things truly became new in Christ. To this day, rarely have I ever witnessed such a dramatic change in someone’s life.
The Scriptures describe the “new nature” we receive spiritually when we turn over the reins of our lives to Jesus and make Him Lord. As life moves from being all about me to all about Him, it’s remarkable how our thoughts, desires, and priorities begin to change, aligning more with His.
To help us on this journey, the Bible provides us with practices to keep us on track. These habits, or spiritual disciplines, include the following: [1]
- Peruse the parchments. Just as daily physical food is necessary to sustain life in our bodies, spiritual food is equally as important. Are you feeding on the Word of God—reading the Bible—daily?
- Pray plentifully. Through prayer, we express our devotion and love to our Heavenly Father. We pour out our thoughts, desires, feelings, concerns, burdens, and disappointments—as well as our gratitude and praise. Any worthwhile relationship requires communication. Prayer opens the door to His blessings.
- Preach provocatively. Are you sharing the good news of Christ with others? The best way to help people is by pointing them toward their own relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Speaking the truth in love allows blessings to flow freely—to others and back to ourselves.
- Provide payment. A tried and true tenet of Scripture is to give, or sow financially into fertile ground of our choosing (usually places that are teaching and helping others grow in Christ.) As we give, we receive—a principle that works in all of life, including our finances.
- Pastor people. From the Greek, the word fellowship means full sharing. Availing ourselves to Christian fellowship is an important part of our spiritual growth and well-being. No one is meant to go it alone. We are a family of believers in Christ, and we’re to encourage and support one another in our faith journey.
Periodically reevaluating our priorities—or pray-orities—and incorporating spiritual disciplines such as these into our lives provides not only growth but also great joy.
All of life is enriched, in His presence.
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[1]A prominent pastor once used these alliterative titles to preach these pertinent points for practical production and peak performance. He provides permission to post them here.
Beautifully put, and I love it that the Lord is who makes changes in all our lives when we practice these principles. They may not be so dramatic as Joe’s but they are dramatic in the sense that we are being made more Christ-like.
Thank you, Cheryl, for sharing these practical and true reminders that challenge us to press on. God bless you!
I agree – the Word of God gives us all the life principles we need to live and become more like Christ. It is a lifetime journey for sure, but faithfulness to these basics is key. God bless you, Mary!
Thanks for an excellent summary of how to live our best for the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Powerfully Presented”. 🙂
Thank you!
Thanks, Cheryl, for this timely reminder . . . and I like the play on words as well as the Max Lucado quote. How wonderful that we have a Father who invites us to His throne of grace to find grace to help in time of need.
Amen to that! Blessings, Sarah.
Pray-orities how clever ~ I Love It! And those “5 Spiritual Disciplines” are important. Speaking of prayer, that reminds me of a quote from Max Lucado: “Our prayers may be awkward, our attemps may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.”
Good quote! Thanks for sharing, Tony.