Pray

In light of the last post about Discipline, I figured I'd talk about an important and difficult Spiritual discipline: PRAYER. It sounds crazy, but think about it; what is harder than genuinely praying before a God that you can't see/hear/touch/etc? Don't get me wrong, there's nothing I want more than to be in fellowship with my heavenly Father, I'm just being honest about the fact that it's not easy.


The WORK of prayer is, perhaps, the most difficult spiritual discipline because the adversary, the world, and our sin natures are all working against us connecting to our source of Life and Peace. And for that reason, it's so very important that we take time and do the spiritual work of prayer. If we don't pray and keep ourselves connected to the vine, how will we ever rise when we fall?
By the same token, prayer helps us to keep our mind "stayed on the LORD," and therefore, God will keep us in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). Even through hard times, through struggles and temptations, and more. When we fall, our immediate reaction should not be self-pity or fear, but it should be prayer. Adam and Eve hid from God after they sinned, we should not follow their example. After falling, our first reaction should be prayer and that way we can Rise again.
The humility of coming to God in prayer is implied in the very definition of the word; again from Websters:

(v). to make a request in a humble manner

       

(v). to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving

'Adoration, confession, supplication, thanksgiving' in a 'humble manner.' Consider how you pray. As the Preacher warns us in Ecclesiastes  - 

"Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few." 
(Ecclesiastes 5:2 ESV)

All this considered, I've made another motivational poster-this one's about "Pray"ing. This time, with a quote from Oswald Chambers, the author of the devotional "My Utmost For His Highest" (which I am reading through this year).

Discipline

As the school year gets rolling, I'm finding myself in need of a simple, yet challenging concept: Discipline. There's so much in this word, but I'll start with what Webster's says:

(n.) "Training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character."

This is one of several definitions, but I think it's interesting that discipline is a training. It does not happen over night. And it's not just for the physical, it also applies to the mind and the "moral character." There's so many areas of my life where I know discipline would be helpful. I'm fairly good at physical discipline (i.e. wake up/go to sleep/workout/good physical form/etc), and I'm getting better and disciplining my time management. But, discipline in relationships with people is a different matter. You can't just do X amount of push ups to get stronger here. You need to pray and seek God's help big time. Disciplining oneself in this area is difficult. 

It's hard to spend time with someone you don't really want to be around, but Jesus tells us to love. He even goes so far as to command us to love our enemies! On the flip side, it is a real challenge to limit your time with people you care about. Seeking God for balance in this area is key. Speaking of which, another area of Discipline that I have found challenging is spending time with God. This should be easy, right? Wrong. Jesus tells us that it will be hard. The world, the devil, and our own sin nature are going to do everything they can to prevent us from praying, reading Scripture, evangelizing, praising, etc. We must RENEW our minds, as Romans 12 tells us, so that we can be disciplined unto Godliness.

So, my prayer for this week is DISCIPLINE: Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. (Mark 12:30 - Love the LORD your GOD with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength) 

That said, I love the following quote by President Truman, so I put it on a motivational poster -  go figure. Enjoy!