Text- 1 Timothy 4:7 – “… Rather, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness”
Beloved, how much of God you will enjoy and how well you will grow and mature in your Christian walk is inherently tied to your spiritual disciplines.
Without spiritual disciplines, there are no ongoing activities or practices to service and maintain our spiritual life. Spiritual disciplines make our walk with God vital, sustainable and reproducible.
We have indicated some examples of spiritual discipline through the course of discussing this topic – Reading, studying, memorizing and meditating scriptures; communal fellowship. We have elaborated these two.
Yesterday, while I was explaining the dynamics of personal and interpersonal spiritual disciplines, I gave an example of one personal spiritual discipline we saw Jesus practice in the Bible – PRAYER.
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, Jesus went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” – Mark 1:35
Prayer is a very important spiritual discipline, so much so that Paul admonished us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing. This implies that we must bathe every moment of our lives – all the years, months, and days–with prayer.
Beloved, we must learn to cultivate a spirit that is customarily devotional by keeping our hearts attuned to God. That verse doesn’t literarily mean we must pray non-stop, but that we must pray continuously. That is, we should punctuate our moments with intervals of recurring prayer.
The great man of God, Smith Wigglesworth (1859 – 1947) had such a profound conviction and dedication to prayer. He was quoted as saying: “I never pray for more than 15 minutes at a time, but I never go more than 15 minutes without praying.” Little wonder he was such a powerful man of God.
Can you image for a moment what your life would be like if you can pay the price; what would become of you if you can dedicate your life to prayer with this level of intensity? Think about what God could accomplish in your life if you prayed this way.
“As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became bright as a flash of lightning” – Luke 9:29
What an incredible moment this passage portrays! As Jesus prayed, he was transfigured in front of his disciples. You see, that’s exactly what happens whenever we engage in prayer. It changes our outlook and appearance. We are transfigured!
PRAYER
Lord, teach me to pray effectually and fervently. Please Lord; make me a man of prayer!
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