How to Live Right When Your Life Goes Wrong by Leslie Vernick – The common denominator in all of our destructive behaviors is that we are acting on something that is not true. Gain a new perspective on the troubles God allows in your life. Come on a journey of personal growth and spiritual discovery as your heart is drawn back to a central tenet of the Gospel: Truth isn’t something you learn, but Someone you know. And the truth will set you free.
[31] So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, [32] and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32 ESV)
The great Louis Armstrong once said; “We all do ‘do, re, mi,’ but you have got to find the other notes yourself.” There is music and rhythm in everything around us. The blending of human and divine relationships is referred to as harmony. We were created with the opportunity to orchestrate our individual values with the Holy Spirit to create something that ultimately brings glory to the Father. That harmony is free from human limitation. However, even the simplest of melodies requires a disciplined blend of tone and tempo. So it is with the song that is our Christian walk. It requires a disciplined blend of prayer, Scripture reading, evangelism, serving, giving, and study. These elements, in growing measure, make it possible for us to join in the symphony. Our contribution is part of the pleasing harmony that is the body of Christ. Do you have a personal practice of these spiritual disciplines?
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; [8] for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. [9] The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. [10] For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:7-10 ESV)
“Godliness is simply the nature of God within us. Although it is only through God’s Spirit that we can have a changed heart, the Scriptures teach that we are to die to our old self and to discipline and train our new self to be like Jesus. We do this to be obedient, submissive, and pliant to his Spirit, just as Jesus’ nature was obedient, submissive, and pliant to God the Father.” (pg. 172)
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NLT emphasis added)
What do you think Paul meant by “I am not just shadowboxing”? What does “shadowboxing” look like?
“As Christians, we can have all the desire in the world to become more like Jesus, but having desire is only the first step.
…I can want to run a marathon until the day I die, but I will never be able to get my body to run a marathon, or even to run two miles in a row, unless I train my body to perform at the level my will desires. Most of us will never be top athletes or concert musicians, but in Christ our fullest potential is to develop the nature of Christ within so that our life glorifies God.” (pg. 174)
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25 ESV)
“We are creatures of habit. This is a good thing; God has made us that way. However, we have all developed wrong and sinful habits of responding, thinking, feeling, acting, believing, interpreting life, and expressing ourselves that need to be changed if we are to manifest our new nature in our bodies.” (pg. 176)
[A note of caution: Take care not to hear “You’re bad, God is good, work harder!”]
“Christian discipline is a process of learning to deny our fleshly nature and submit our thoughts, our emotions, our imagination, our will, our behaviors, and our desires to the renewing influence of the Holy Spirit.” (pg. 175-176)
PERSONAL PRAYER TIME
“As humans we live on the temporal plane. This is where we reside until we die. The faithful practice of prayer, however, keeps our hearts regularly tuned into the spiritual reality, or truth, all around us. The discipline of prayer helps transform our desires into God’s desires. Prayer is the process by which our heart becomes one with the heart of God.” (pg. 180-181)
“Love to pray. Feel often during the day the need for prayer and take trouble to pray. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of himself. Ask and seek and your heart will grow big enough to receive Him.” – Mother Teresa (she also said, “My secret is simple, I pray.”)
C.S. Lewis wrote that in prayer we must “lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.”
“You don’t know how many people have been strengthened because you asked God to encourage them; how many people have been healed because you prayed for their bodies; how many spiritual runaways have come home because you prayed for their souls. None of us may ever know the true effects of our prayers this side of death. But we do know this: History belongs to the intercessors.” (John Ortberg -The Life You’ve Always Wanted)
What are some of the ways you have grown through prayer?
PERSONAL SCRIPTURE READING
“The discipline of study involves the practical application – not just intellectual understanding – of spiritual truths.” (pg. 182) This discipline is the most effective in focusing our whole being, flesh included, on the things of God. To be completely focused on God is to be “single-minded”. James had a warning to the worldly:
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:7-8 ESV)
The unknown author of Psalm 119 urges us to store up the Word in our heart so that we may not sin against God. (Psalm 119:11) There are no pills for an empty heart or Scripture enhancing beverages. Filling up on the Word to eliminate double-mindedness takes discipline. Take some time to be honest about the obstacles you face to setting aside time to study/meditate on God’s Word. Acknowledge some of your successful strategies. What is a small step you can take to improve your spiritual discipline in this area?
One of the best study and devotional resources available today is YouVersion. (www.youversion.com or follow the link from the His Place page at originsnola.org) There is an online Bible, with an app for your smartphone, in any translation you can imagine, and a bunch of different languages. But the most unique feature is the roster of reading plans. If you are reviving your reading try The Essential 100, so you can see the big picture of God’s Word, and form a daily Bible reading habit in the process. The best plan for you? …Is the one you will read.
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, [7] and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. [8] For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3-8 ESV)
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