Recently I asked my readers what topics they most enjoy reading on a blog for young Christian women. Your answers shocked me.
The overall category that got significantly more votes than anything else was … Christian disciplines.
While this surprised me, it was also exciting to know that girls want to learn spiritual disciplines and grow in their relationship with God.
What are spiritual disciplines?
A spiritual discipline is anything we do that requires discipline and causes spiritual growth. So while many Christian practices could be considered spiritual disciplines, I’m focusing on three main ones – Bible reading/studying, prayer, and memorizing scripture.
Why should we engage in Spiritual disciplines?
It’s exciting that girls want to discipline themselves and grow spiritually! But before we embark in this, it’s important to have a clear why.
Why do you read your Bible?
Why are you praying?
Why do you want to memorize scripture?
Not only does our reason for engaging in spiritual disciplines matter to God, it also determines whether we stick with them when life gets busy and predicts what results we will get from our diligence.
As we look at wrong and weak motives, seriously examine your heart to see if you’ve been sugar coating your own unbiblical why. Ask God to give you a real reason to read His word, pray and memorize the Bible.
Wrong Whys
- To earn salvation or gain favour with God.
We cannot earn our salvation and we can’t do anything to keep it. God is the one who has purchased us by the blood of Jesus Christ and we are saved by believing in His name. Paul exhorts us to continue in salvation the same way we received it (Col. 2:6) – not by religiously reading our bibles or praying, but by believing that He who saved us will also keep us and present us faultless before His throne. (Jude 24)
- To impress others.
We can so easily slip into this why without even realizing it. We want to look and sound like we have a relationship with God when in reality, we only have a relationship with our prayer time.
Jesus warns against doing spiritual things to be seen by men:
“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. … And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (Matt. 6:1, 5-6)
Can you spend time in prayer every day without telling anyone? Can you memorize scripture without constantly spouting it during conversations?
- To experience God.
It’s not wrong to seek wisdom and direction from God, His peace in pain, or joy in His presence. But when we pursue experiences of God rather than God Himself, we pursue His gifts while neglecting the giver.
We are told to seek after God, not the good things He does for us.
Weak why
One of the most common whys for spiritual discipline is obedience. While obedience isn’t a wrong reason to read the Bible and pray, it is a weak why; it can never supply lasting motivation or produce the ripe fruit of spiritual discipline.
God does command us to meditate on His word day and night (Josh. 1:8) and to pray always (1 Thes. 5:17). He also says that whoever does not do His commands does not love Him (John 14:23-24). As children of God, we must be obedient!
But this why is a cruel slave master that will leave us weary and discouraged, robbing all joy from spending time in the presence of God.
Strong Why
We need a why so powerful it removes the duty of obedience, moves us to obey even when it’s hard, and produces joyful spiritual growth. That why is knowing God.
This motive drove the apostle Paul’s life:
“I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him … that I may know Him.” (Philippians 3:8-10)
Seeking to know God through spiritual discipline will carry you through incredibly difficult and busy seasons when other motives cannot. God gave us spiritual disciplines so that we might know Him and promises that you “will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:13)
Let’s look at how prayer, Bible study, and Scripture memorization are actually a pursuit of God.
Knowing God through prayer
Prayer is primarily a means of talking to God. There are 3 ways we come to Him in prayer: praise/thanksgiving/adoration, confession, and request.
Praise and thanksgiving are ways we declare to God who He is and what He has done. We take our knowledge of God and praise Him for it – delighting in who He is. We thank Him for His creativity or praise Him for His great love.
Confession is admitting that we fall short of God’s character. By confessing our sin we recognize that God is perfect, just, holy and we are not.
Telling God our needs is a way of declaring that we believe God is who He says He is. We ask God for healing because we believe He is a healer. We ask God for wisdom because we believe He is all-knowing and wise. We ask God for provision because we believe He is able to supply all we need.
When you pray, seek to know God. Adore Him for who you know Him to be, confess when you fall short of His character, and ask Him to provide for all your needs according to His nature.
Knowing God through reading & studying the Bible
The Bible is a book about God. It tells the story of how He created everything and therefore owns everything; how man rebelled against God’s rule and how God made and executed a plan to bring man back into right relationship with Him; how God is working in the world to declare His glory and power and will one day re-establish His kingdom on earth.
Just as prayer is us speaking to God, the Bible is God speaking to us about Himself. As you read and as you study, look for the character of God in each story. Ask God to show you His nature and His greatness on every page.
Knowing God through memorizing scripture
When we read and study the Bible we try to learn who God is. When we memorize, we meditate on who God has already revealed Himself to be.
A while ago I started memorizing Ephesians. Chapter 2:4-5 says:
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”
The first time I read this, I learned that God is rich in mercy, that He has great love towards us, and that He has made us alive with Christ by grace. But as I memorized, I meditated on these characteristics of God. I thought about how God’s love has influenced His mercy. I realized just how great His love was to love me when I was deep in sin. I understood on a new level that God’s grace is the only way I was saved.
When you memorize scripture, meditate on God. Take the initial knowledge from your first read through and think about the depths and the implications of it.
When you pray, read the Bible, and memorize scripture, seek a deeper knowledge of God. Ask God to give you a hunger for Himself and trust that He will reward you with a deeper knowledge, and therefore deeper love for Him.
Wow! I love all the explainations in here! It really helps narrow in the focus of why we do what we do. It is so important to constantly check myself and make sure my motives are right! Normally it’s pretty easy to tell when I’ve lost focus because the joy is gone – just like you said.