Category: Faith and Spiritual Growth

If you have struggled to keep a routine or to be disciplined in any way then you are not alone.

I believe that at the core of the human experience is this battle to overcome the sinful and slothful within us.

While many humans develop profound methods to achieve great things through grit, self determination, and yes, discipline. The most challenging disciplines of them all might very well be the spiritual disciplines. Why? Because you are not only up against flesh and blood, but the spiritual.

Meditating on God’s word Daily is a discipline of the Christian life that will come with it’s challenges.

Yet, the freedom that we experience when we meditate on the word daily in our lives is profound. When we have the word of God at the tip of our tongue every day to combat the works of the devil and the many challenges of daily life in the modern era. We are equipped to make wise and righteous decisions for ourselves, our families, and the kingdom.

Practical steps to Meditate on the Word Daily

In this modern era there are a million and one ways to go about this. So my first recommendation is not to get overwhelmed. Choose to take baby steps into a bible reading plan for one that allows for you to slowly digest the word daily. A devotional study via the YouVersion Bible App or Our Daily Bread devotionals are helpful for getting started.

Don’t let reading a devotional be the only way in which you digest the scriptures. You may first be intimidated by the scriptures, but that is okay. Simply reading the scriptures on its own is crucial for sparking your curiosity into its meaning and a path for which God works in our hearts. Don’t let the size nor the confusing language intimidate you, but rather let it fuel your curiosity and willingness to seek answers from trusted scholars and biblically based pastors.

Consider a tool such as the Fighter Verses scripture memory plan to memorize scripture. Committing the scripture to memory is a biblical practice for which you will never regret. Having the scriptures hidden in your heart for the spirit to draw upon in your moment of need is invaluable.

Consider journaling what you encounter in the scriptures and take time recording your thoughts about what you read. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Just spend time contemplating the scriptures. Ask God to reveal it’s meaning where its challenging to understand or your spirit struggles with.

You may even want to commit to writing down a passage of scripture each day, multiple times a day. Or, you may even want to have a nightly reflection of scriptures you read every night before you sleep.

Contemplate the ways in which you mull over things already in your life and then learn them or remember them? Does it help to develop a tune to what you are studying for memorization? We found scripture lullabies that are for our children to fall asleep to at night and I found myself humming the tunes of the songs all the time. These little simple things took my mind off of fleshly things and focused them on the scriptures.

Keep in mind there are a lot of options but what matters most is the joy in the journey of discovering and spending time with God in his Word. We develop this habit and practice because we love Him. We demonstrate our love for him by keeping his words. John 14:23-24

‘Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. ‘

John 14:23-24

Be blessed as you seek the Lord and learn his word.

What does it mean to cultivate a heart of worship?

In a time of endless distractions we can easily forget that we are creatures wired for worship.

It is in our nature to worship. So, what would it mean to cultivate something we are already wired to do?

This phrase is most often used in the context of developing a heart that is sensitive toward worshiping God and no other.

To cultivate a heart sensitive to worshiping God we mean to develop a heart that is no longer distracted by false gods and petty human distractions and we become laser focused on the true God of the universe and intimate with Him by drawing near to Him. The ways in which we draw near to God are regularly outlined in this Blog and are foundational to the Christian life. They provide fuel to the fire of our worship of God.

Practical Steps of Worship

Among the many practical steps I am going to outline there is nothing more important than recognizing our need to minimize distraction in order to spend time with someone worthy of our time and attention.

Consider this. I wouldn’t take my wife on a date only to sit a cross from her at dinner mindless of her and on my phone. I’m not going to cultivate much of a relationship doing that. In fact, I’m not cultivating much at all.

Spending time with God means we turn of the distractions and focus our attention on Him. Many people find that removing themselves from the daily rhythms of life helps this tremendously. Go outside. Take out the earbuds. Ask God to meet with you. Begin to pray.

All of these intentional acts tell God you are ready to spend undivided time with Him.

So, when your not distracted. Take the time in prayer and meditation of God’s word. Study His word and ask Him to reveal himself to you.

Develop a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving in these moments. As the scriptures reveal. God provided payment for your sin by the blood of Jesus. Don’t let that pass you by. Reflect on the sheer grace and mercy of a loving God that would provide redemption for His very creation that rejected Him.

Commit to acting in your faith by obedience to the Lord.

In fact, Jesus expressed this act of devotion in John 14:23-24 saying,

‘Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. ‘

John 14:23-24

This is really profound and certainly can impact our worship by acting in obedience.

Worship is a posture of love and devotion. It is not some mindless, emotional, meditative, trance believers find themselves in once a week.

Our worship is fueled by our knowledge of God the Father and then lived out by our obedience to Him.

Cultivating a heart of worship means that we spend time not just in prayer and meditative states listening to the wind, but that we are discovering Him by how He has revealed himself to us through his word and the words of Jesus.

We quite literally express our love and devotion to Jesus by keeping his words.

This will cultivate a heart of worship aimed at Him and no other. Keep him at the center of your worship and you will not go wrong.

A few years ago I found myself constantly asking God, “Why?” Things were just not panning out as I thought they would and I honestly thought I had been heading the way God wanted me to head. It was confusing and depressing.

I found myself disillusioned and angry too.

“God, why didn’t things go the way I thought they would?”

“God, I thought I was going the right way. Why didn’t it work out the way I thought?”

I’ll never forget my childhood pastor explaining to me that God would have me get on a bike in my life to get me to one point and then He’ll ask me to get off that bike and on to another one to go a different direction.

In my childhood mind, it made no sense, but now I get it.

The confusion of getting off one bike and on to another is for real.

The bike might be a career, or a goal, or vision for your life, for which you may have to get off completely in order to actually get where God wants you to be.

Mind blown.

But, that doesn’t mean we don’t go through ALL the emotions that come along with the disappointment of having to completely shift and change “bikes.”

Dealing with uncertainty is at the core of navigating life as a human and learning how to cope with all that accompanies uncertainty in a healthy way is at the center of growing and maturing as an adult but also as a believer.

I don’t think that God intends us harm when He moves us through life on one “vehicle” only to call us to shift to a different “vehicle” once we’ve reached a destination. His heart in these matters for our hearts is pure and kind and loving. His goal is to refine us like gold. To purify our hearts through life’s many twists and turns.

At the core of a Christian’s life are the truths about God’s involvement with our lives and world events as His presence and intimate involvement directly shapes our perspective and transformation.

It’s the lives of those we find in the scriptures that we can gain insight and wisdom with regards to our hope and our trust in God’s sovereign hand.

Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, and then later came to rule in Egypt as God’s steady hand moved him into position during famine and reunited him with his family once again. Joseph’s journey was certainly filled with emotion and instability, but God’s faithful hand provided that He was put into God’s purpose and plan at just the right moment. Despite it all. Joseph remained faithful and trusting in God’s work.

We struggle to trust God’s plan for a few reasons I believe.

1. We want to be the masters of our own destiny.
2. We naturally have a fear of the unknown.
3. We only have a limited perspective of our lives.

Now, at the risk of sounding trite, Christians often run to “solve the problem” by quoting scripture and telling each other to just have faith.

This can also have the opposite effect of comfort and bring more guilt and shame.

So, what do we do?

I think it helps to give ourselves permission to feel what is taking place first and to let compassion in for all the emotions that surround life’s twists and turns.

God sees it all. He can sit with you without judgment and let you process. He knows your needs. He fashioned you. He knows the weight you carry. In fact, he invites you to come to Him.

Matthew 11:28-30 says:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Maybe you are in a place where you don’t understand what God is doing. You are weary and burdened. He invites you to bring it to Him and to lay it at his feet.

He is trustworthy and good. He will not pile on. In fact He promises to give you in return a light yoke that is easy. He will provide for your spirit exactly what it needs to carry it. All is needed is to come and trust.

Maybe you need help processing these things. Maybe you need a safe and trustworthy mentor or coach to just sit with you and give you the space to talk it through.

I know time and time again that just hearing the words come out of my mouth began the healing I truly needed.

We are here to serve you if you are looking for a coach. Reach out to us by emailing [email protected] and we will see if working with us will be the right fit for you in this season of life.

Be blessed.