Spiritual Disciplines: bible intake and meditation… day 4

I will finish up with a testimony.

I have been saved for approximately 12 years now and probably since day 1 (of salvation) I have always decided that I was going to read my bible every day and finish the bible in one year... And each year I would look back with intense disappointment and see that I had not been faithful in reading my bible each day and had long since given up trying to get through the bible in a year. So then come January, I would renew my pledge and start over only to fail again. 2 ½ years ago I again started out my January with my yearly pledge to read my bible daily and get through the bible in a year. Something was different that year though... (Of course I didn't know it until December). Each day I would read God's word and try to journal something about what I read. I found it easier to meditate upon God's word and found that it was becoming more of a natural part of my life to read God's word daily. I would pray more and my thoughts were more focused on the Lord. Did I stop sinning? Clearly not. However, I do find my thoughts more captivated with the glories of Christ. I do find it easier to be gracious to others and to be encouraging. I find my heart filled in silent song to God and musings about Him more often. I think much deeper on the things of God and I am lead by His word and Spirit more... If nothing else I am certainly convicted of sin more often. (The Holy Spirit is using that ammunition to fight sin within me!) God is faithful to His promises and He promises that His word will not return void, but it will accomplish the purpose for which He intends it (Isaiah 55:11). And if we are His children, we know that His will for us is our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

In my opinion, I have grown more spiritually over these last 2 ½ years of consistently practicing the spiritual disciplines (especially the reading/meditation of God's word with prayer) than I have over the previous 10 years in the Lord. I have found my faith strengthened... (Go figure… for faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17) and I have found obedience to Him easier, especially when I can sit down and read God's word while pondering a decision of how to respond to a situation. So I know by faith in God as well as by personal experience that His word is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword... it is able to do the work of cutting away the really sneaky sin that is hidden deep down inside of me... for the purpose of making me more like God... so that I will grow more in loving God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength... because He loves Himself like that!

So this begs the question: why don't more people persevere in pursuing a love for God through His ordained means, the spiritual disciplines (which will bring us into the obedience and joy which we so long for)? I think that partly, I was just too lazy for 10 years...it was dull work going through Leviticus to this new believer... (shame on me) and I was short sighted, not seeing God in all of His word (but rather only where it was easy to see Him). However, I think I was also so busy trying to put out "fires" of sin in my own life that I didn't recognize that the long term solution to all the fires was a lifelong plan of pursuing God daily in His word. I didn’t see that the living water of God's word studied in faith consistently, would start to extinguish the flames of the sin that was burning in my life. Ultimately, I will look back on those times and say God is good, and He is still at work in my life. But I praise His name that He has given such simple ways to pursue love for Him... ways that even I can understand. (I think).

I hope this has not been too confusing or exhausting... May we all be encouraged to chase hard after a greater love for God, expecting with all hope that He will bless us and fill us with love for Him and joy in Him... if we come to Him through Christ who is the living word of God as revealed to us in the Holy bible by the Holy Spirit.

Here too, are some helpful hints that Jasmine found from John Piper:

Dr. Piper says: "Many good things do not happen in our lives for the simple lack of planning.... Most Christians neglect their Bibles not out of conscious disloyalty to Jesus, but because of failure to plan a time and place and method to read it"

Regarding time: "I earnestly recommend that it be in the early morning, unless there are some extenuating circumstances. Entering the day without a serious meeting with God, over his Word and in prayer, is like entering the battle without tending to your weapons. It’s like taking a trip without filling the tires with air or the tank with gas. The human heart does not replenish itself with sleep. The body does, but not the heart. The spiritual air leaks from our tires, and the gas is consumed in the day. We replenish our hearts not with sleep, but with the Word of God and prayer."

Regarding place: "Pick a place of seclusion…. It needs to be secluded so that you are not distracted, and so that you can speak out loud and sing and cry. If your family situation or home does not have such a place, then create it, not by space, but by rule.... One saintly mother with a large brood of children would use her apron to make a tent for her head and her Bible at the kitchen table and the children were taught, when mother is in her tent, make no noise."

Regarding method: "There are many ways to read the Bible. Any is better than none. Coming to the appointed place and time with no plan for how to read the Bible usually results in a hit-and-miss approach that leave you feeling weak, unreal, and discouraged. For many years I have read through the Bible once each year following 'The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan'.... The design is to read daily from two Old Testament and two New Testament books. I find this variety helpful. Others don’t, and would rather use some other approach. That’s fine."

Finally, I would highly recommend that you get a copy of Donald Whitney's book "Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life". God has used this mightily in the lives of many believers. May you all be blessed and may your love for God greatly increase as you pursue Him through the spiritual disciplines!

Here is a link to Donald Whitney's website: http://www.spiritualdisciplines.org/