Walking with Christ requires building a spiritual foundation of spending quality time with Christ. This requires establishing habits in your life that necessitate intentionality, scheduling and consistency. What are you waiting on? Delayed obedience is disobedience. Psalm 119:60 states, “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.” Habits are not built in a day, but they do require starting today. Charles Swindoll reminded us that, “Discipline is control gained by enforced obedience.”Sometimes you must force yourself to do what you know you should do, even when you do not want to do it.
Yes, spiritual disciplines charge a fee that must be paid today for things to change and be different tomorrow. Chuck Swindoll continued, “When I see the word discipline, I think of punishing workouts that produce results everyone admires… and no one enjoys.” Results require establishing goals and having a game plan if you expect a positive outcome. The means (spiritual discipline)leads to a very satisfying end (spiritual intimacy with God). One example of this is where I Thess. 5:17 challenges us to, “Pray without ceasing.” That sounds like an unattainable goal, but is it?
You must begin by praying. The best way to learn how to pray is by praying. Read the Scriptures on how to pray, but also study the recorded prayers from men like Nehemiah, David, Daniel, Paul and Jesus. What can you learn from them about what you should be praying and how you should be praying? Talk to others who have worked to develop a strong, lasting prayer life and learn from them. Seek out prayer partners who will pray with you and for you on a regular basis. Find and read excellent books on prayer. Commit to discipling and teaching other people how to pray more effectively.
Rejoice in the truth that detailed training is not required to simply talk to God. He is ready and available to communicate with all who seek Him. Life lesson number one is learning the importance of prayer. Life lesson number two is to accept who God created you to be and stop trying to be somebody else. Quit comparing yourself to others because God made you distinctively you for a reason and for His purposes. If you cannot be who you are trying to emulate and you cease being you, who are you? The answer is confused. You must know yourself to lead yourself.
Stop coveting other people’s gifts and embrace the gifts God has given you. The lesson to learn is to be you but be you in Christ. What is the Holy Spirit inside of you saying? What is His plan for you? What is His purpose for you? What is His mission for you? Quit listening to the lies of the devil that you are a loser, worthless or that you will never amount to anything. The truth is that God loves you and you are unrepeatable. Yes, you are one of a kind. Jeremiah 1:3 says, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.”
The lesson to learn is to stop comparing yourself to others, stop coveting other people’s gifts by embracing yours and stop condemning others when they are different than you. Take a closer look at I Cor. 12:21-27 in how God has gifted the body for His honor and glory. In verse 21, Paul reminds us, “And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.” Maybe it has become cliché, but it is still true: we are better together, and that is how God intended it to be. Make sure you are practicing all the “one anothers” of the Scriptures.
Life lesson number two sets the stage for number three: learning to respect other people’s temperaments, personalities, experiences, challenges and how everyone is built by God differently. This embraces the process of sanctification while allowing for sanctified diversity. Celebrate and encourage the different roles of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher as given in Ephesians 4. Do not look at these as a title or position, but rather as giftings and functions. Speak for yourself, not others, and take ownership for how you are serving Christ in your own God-given opportunities.
Lesson four is knowing your boundaries and limitations. You cannot fix everyone nor everything. Respect each person’s individual journey, meet them where they are at and then travel with them more as a tour guide than a travel agent. Every person is only an expert (and that is debatable) on themselves, and you should be careful to speak of your struggles in the first person. Instead of saying, “We all get depressed,” which can easily shift the blame to the crowd, try stating it this way: “I certainly struggle with getting depressed sometimes.” This requires you to own your own individual challenges.
Stop trying to fix, save, advise, correct and set everyone else straight. First, focus on your own spiritual walk, then respect each person’s journey and where they are in that process. Begin to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to work within them. A great way of handling others is illustrated by how you would treat an injured bird if you were holding it in your cupped hands. If you squeeze the bird too tightly, you will probably suffocate it, and it will not thrive. However, if you drop the bird, it will be left to the survival of the fittest. “Two are better than one…,” according to Eccl. 4:9.
Yes, hold each other up and encourage one another to promote love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24), but do not intrude on what God is doing inside of them and how He is guiding them. You are responsible to them, but you are not responsible for them. That is a delicate line and will require a lot of spiritual discernment through the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
