The Habit of Discipleship

By Josh Hunt

© 2015 Josh Hunt. All Rights reserved. All Scripture NIV THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to the following people for helping me to make this a better book: Denette HalesElaine MullockDoug BelisleSteve Lee

Table of Contents

It comes down to this

Christian living comes down to making a handful of disciplines into habits. The disciplines are not Christian living; they are only the scaffolding that support Christian living. Christian living is not about doing certain religious things. Christian living is about walking in grace. It is about walking on purpose. It is about basking in acceptance. It is not about trying really hard to be good. It is not about trying hard to be good enough that God will accept me. It is quite the opposite of that. It is reveling in the fact that He has already accepted me. Christianity is about accepting the fact that God has accepted me. Nothing I could do could change that, but my heart is prone to forget.

This is why I need the disciplines. However, I don’t think discipline is quite the right word. That word—discipline—at least to me, suggests duty, or obligation. It suggests that I don’t really want to pray but I pray anyway. It hints that I don’t really want to spend time in the Word, but, because I am disciplined, I do it anyway. Discipline hints that I don’t really want to do something, but I do it anyway. This is not Christian living—not Christian living at its best.

Imagine a couple you know has an excellent marriage. They agree to coach you as your marriage is struggling. They tell you that the key to a great marriage is to maintain certain disciplines:

The discipline of a date night each week, whether or not you want to go out.

The discipline of kissing each other every day, even if you don’t want to kiss.

The discipline of an annual retreat where you get away for a couple of nights. Again, you must do this even if you do not want to—even if you don’t get along and don’t like being together.

You must make love consistently, at least twice a week. If neither of you feels like it, do it anyway.

The discipline of reading a book on marriage once a year. If it is not interesting to you, so be it; read it anyway.

Does this sound like a great marriage to you? Actually, if you have a bad marriage, these things may make things improve. But, it will be a

lot better when you do them because you want to, not because you have to.

In great marriages, couples don’t go out because it is their duty; they go out because there is nothing they would rather do than spend an evening alone together.

So it is with spiritual disciplines. We must maintain spiritual disciplines to grow as disciples. But, we will really grow when we do them out of joy rather than obligation.

We read of stories of disciplined athletes that get up early to torture their bodies. They drink slimy shakes and run till they throw up. Then they do it all again tomorrow. Somehow, we imagine that spiritual warriors are a little like that. They force themselves to do what they hate doing. Isn’t that Christian maturity at its pinnacle—doing consistently what you hate doing? John Ortberg mocks this kind of thinking:

You hear about someone who gets up at four o’clock in the morning to pray, and you feel guilty because you think you don’t pray enough. So you resolve to do that too, even though you are not a “morning person” — at four o’clock you are dazed and confused and groggy

and grumpy, and no one wants to be around you at that time of the morning. Even Jesus doesn’t want to be around you at four in the morning. But you think, Well, this is exhausting and miserable — I certainly don’t like doing it — so it must be God’s will for my life. It must be spiritual.1

Christian living at its best is when, “the things of earth grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.” Christian living is when the early alarm becomes a sweet hour of prayer. Christian living at its best is when I really do, “love to tell the story.”

There is a place for discipline, and discipline may be necessary for good habits to form. But, once they are formed, they become automatic. You don’t think about them. Disciples don’t think about whether or not to have a Quiet Time; this is just how they start their day. They have done it so consistently for so long that they don’t think about it. It is who they are. It is what they do. It is their normal.

Having a Quiet Time is either a habit, or I bet you didn’t have a Quiet Time this morning. If we

1 John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010).

think of discipline as forcing yourself to do something, a startling truth arises: discipline has a very small place in true Christian living. Habit is a huge part of Christian living.

Two habitsRead any book on the spiritual disciplines and you will be encouraged to participate in a long list of disciplines. I recommend two—one, really. I recommend you embrace the habit of the Word and prayer—the Christian Quiet Time.

If you read other books on the topic, you will find a much longer lists, including Donald Whitney’s list of twelve spiritual disciplines:

1. Scripture reading

2. Prayer

3. Worship

4. Scripture meditation

5. Evangelism

6. Serving

7. Stewardship of time and money

8. Scripture application

9. Fasting

10.Silence and solitude

11.Journaling

12.Learning2

Richard Foster has similar list:

1. Meditation

2. Prayer

3. Fasting

4. Study

5. Simplicity

6. Solitude

7. Submission

8. Service

9. Confession

10.Worship

11.Guidance

2 Whitney, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991.

12.Celebration3

Kent Hughes goes in a little different direction, but his list is even longer:

1. Discipline for Godliness

2. Discipline of Purity

3. Discipline of Marriage

4. Discipline of Fatherhood

5. Discipline of Friendship

6. Discipline of Mind

7. Discipline of Devotion

8. Discipline of Prayer

9. Discipline of Worship

10.Discipline of Integrity

11.Discipline of Tongue

12.Discipline of Work

13.Discipline of Perseverance

14.Discipline of Church

3 Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline.

15.Discipline of Leadership

16.Discipline of Giving

17.Discipline of Witness

18.Discipline of Ministry

19.Grace of Discipline4

All these things are fine and good. And, they may all come in time. But the length of the list can keep us from successfully living the Christian life. If I think that Christian living is about disciplining myself to do fourteen things I really don’t know how to do, or want to do… it seems as impossible as it is distasteful. Very few even try.

I suggest a different model. instead of making yourself do fourteen things you don’t want to do, get in the habit of one and only one thing: have a Quiet Time. Start your day with your Bible on your lap. Start your day in the Word and in prayer. As simple as this sounds, this one habit has the power to totally transform your life. If you will get in the habit of spending half an hour a day in prayer and in the Word, your life will be unrecognizable a year from now. 4 R. Kent Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man, 10th anniversary ed.; rev. ed. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001).

Christianity is about a relationship with God. A relationship is about communication. God talks to me; I talk to Him. God speaks to me primarily through His Word. I speak to Him through prayer. Once these two habits are in place, all the rest will follow as night follows day.

The role of church leadershipIf you are a church leader—perhaps you are a pastor, or you lead a small group—you would do well to concentrate on this point. Leading people to live Christianly comes down to this: leading people into the habit of a Christian Quiet Time.

I can summarize Christian living as one habit: the habit of the Quiet Time. There is much that will come after this—service and evangelism and all kinds of character development. But, it all flows out of the time alone with God in prayer and in His Word.

If we can get people to get the Quiet Time right, there is a good chance that all else will follow. If we don’t get the Quiet Time right, we might do more harm than good. What do I mean by that?

There is always a danger of inoculating people against the gospel rather than infecting them

with it. We give them a small dose of the gospel and they think they have the real disease. Thus, they are not interested in true Christianity because they think they have experienced true Christianity.

But, what they have experienced is a country mile from true Christianity. It is churchianity. It is bootstrapianity. It is the stuff of the Pharisees—the stuff that Jesus railed mercilessly against.

There is no Christian living without the Quiet Time. There is no Christian living without prayer. There is no Christian living without being transformed by the renewing of our mind. (Romans 12:2) This is done through time in the Word.

If you are a pastor, you can boil your job down to this: get people into the habit of a Quiet Time. If you are a small group leader, you can distill your job to this: help people form the habit of a Quiet Time. Once you do that, discipleship will follow as surely as night follows day. Simple, right?

Pastors: please read this paragraphI’d like to break this down to one practical, actionable habit for pastors. There are some other things for pastors to do, but this would be a good start: have an annual “Back to the Quiet Time” Sunday. Do it near the first of the year. Challenge people to read every day between January 1st and Easter. Provide a reading plan. Give away One Year Bibles. Encourage and model people buddying up in an accountability group from January 1st to Easter. Have some testimonies each week during January reminding people of the value of having a Quiet Time. Make a big push during the month of January to get everyone’s year started right.

Good habits: hard to form, easy to live withThere is a difference between simple and easy. It is simple to get from my house in New Mexico to Jacksonville, FL. Just hop on I-10, which runs through the south side of Las Cruces, where I live. Head east on I-10 for two days, eight hours, and fourteen minutes. Stick your toe in the Atlantic surf. Simple, but not easy.

Making disciples is simple: lead people into the habit of a daily Quiet Time. Simple, but not easy.

How hard is it to form a habit and make it stick? The medical community provides some insight into the incredible difficulty of making a habit stick.

Dr. Edward Miller is dean of the medical school and chief executive officer of the hospital at John Hopkins University. He gave a speech at Rockefeller University, an elite medical research center in New York City.

He talked about patients whose arteries are so clogged that any kind of exertion is terribly painful for them. It hurts too much to take a long walk. It hurts too much to make love. So surgeons have to implant pieces of plastic to prop open their arteries, or remove veins from their legs to stitch near the heart so the blood can bypass the blocked passages. The procedures are traumatic and expensive—they can cost more than $100,000. More than one and a half million people every year in the United States undergo coronary bypass graft or angioplasty surgery at a total price of around $60 billion. Although these surgeries are astonishing feats, they are no more than temporary fixes. The operations relieve the patients’ pain, at least

for a while, but only rarely—fewer than 3 percent of the cases—prevent the heart attacks they’re heading toward or prolong their lives. The bypass grafts often clog up within a few years; the angioplasties, in only a few months.

Knowing these grim statistics, doctors tell their patients: If you want to keep the pain from coming back, and if you don’t want to have to repeat the surgery, and if you want to stop the course of your heart disease before it kills you, then you have to switch to a healthier lifestyle. You have to stop smoking, stop drinking, stop overeating, start exercising, and relieve your stress.

But very few do.

“If you look at people after coronary-artery bypass grafting two years later, ninety percent of them have not changed their lifestyle,” Miller said. “And that’s been studied over and over and over again. And so we’re missing some link in there. Even though they know they have a very bad disease and they know

they should change their lifestyle, for whatever reason, they can’t.”5

“For whatever reason…” What reason? Bad habits—even life threatening bad habits—are extremely hard to break. Good habits are extremely hard to form. “Good habits are hard to form and easy to live with. Bad habits are easy to form and hard to live with. If we don't consciously form good ones, we will unconsciously form bad ones.”6

Making disciples is simple: get people to have a Quiet Time. But, never confuse this with easy.

Now, for some good news. Science has done a lot of research in recent years on how habits are formed. I wrote a whole book on this, and if you would like more information, see my book Break a Habit: Make a Habit. This books applies our knowledge of how to form a habit to forming the habit of a Quiet Time. Here is a summary:

One habit at a time. Because habits are so hard to form, we do well to work on one at a time. The reason we fail to keep New Year’s Resolutions comes down to one

5 Change or Die by Alan Deutschman6 Mark Matteson, Freedom from Fear: The Story of One Man's Discovery of Simple Truths That Lead to Wealth, Joy and Peace of Mind

letter—s. If we would work on one New Year’s Resolution (no s) we would have much better success. We need to have the humility to appreciate the difficulty of forming a habit and marshal all of our effort and skill toward one habit. Diffusing our effort across multiple domains will almost guarantee failure in all of them. Every New Year we are going to start reading our Bibles, start exercising, start eating better and lose some weight. Well, we might start. The goal is to finish. If you want to finish, concentrate on one habit at a time. Concentrate on the habit of having a Quiet Time, and don’t be distracted by any other difficult life changes. When you get this habit down, a multitude of life changes will flow out of it. There are many spiritual disciplines discussed in the literature: silence, service, solitude and fasting to name a few. These may come later. As you spend time alone with God, He may move you into all these things and more. By concentrating single-mindedly on the one discipline of a daily Quiet Time, you maximize your probability of success.

Bring a friend with you. Science and the Bible agree: we are profoundly influenced by the behavior of the people

we consider to be “our people.” If you want to develop a new habit, take a friend with you. There is a reason why Weight Watchers works. And, it is not because the diet itself is an amazing diet. It is easier to lose weight if you do so with a friend. If you want to develop the habit of a Quiet Time, bring a friend with you. If you attend a small group Bible study, you might ask the group if they would like to go through this book together, and encourage one another to have a daily Quiet Time. Neil Cole teaches another approach. He suggests you get together in groups of two or three once a week for accountability. When you get a fourth person, the group divides. Everyone in the group reads the same section of Scripture. This is a great way to apply the principle of bringing a friend with you. If you go it alone, you are almost certain to fail.

Make it as easy as possible. People who eat off of smaller plates consume fewer calories. One man wanted to develop the habit of running first thing in the morning, so he slept in his gym shorts. If you want to develop the habit of practicing the guitar and not watching so much TV, put the guitar closer to you than

the remote. Habits are hard. Don’t make it any more difficult than it is. If you have your Quiet Time in the same chair in which you watch TV, and you are tempted to watch TV rather than read your Bible, I have a simple solution. Put your Bible nearby and your remote control in the other room. It is not just about trying hard; it is also about adjusting your environment to make habit-forming easier. I keep a bowl of apples in the middle of our kitchen, and often munch on one or two through the day. If there were Snickers in that bowl instead of apples, I would eat Snickers and would weigh fifty pounds more. It is not about trying hard. It is about having apples instead of Snickers in the bowl. If you want to read your Bible every day, make it easy on yourself.

The power of a list. Come up with a long list of reasons you want to have a Quiet Time. You will be closer to God. You will sin less than you do. You will be an example to your kids. You will know the peace that passes all understanding. You will experience the John 10:10, abundant Christian life. You will feel the assurance of your salvation. You will live with a sense of purpose. On and on. With a strong

enough “why”, the “how” will nearly always take care of itself. Come up with a long list of reasons why you want to have a Quiet Time.

The principle of replacement. If you start spending a half-hour a day in prayer and the Word, what are you going to NOT do? We tend to think we will just cram it in. You won’t. Something has to go. What will it be? Think clearly about that or you will struggle with success. If you want to get up earlier, you will need to go to bed earlier. Something in the evening has to go. You will not sustain just living with a half-hour of less sleep.

Consider two good (and opposite) ways to form a habit. Depending on your personality, one of these may work better than the other. When you get in a cold swimming pool, do you dive in all at once, or wade in slowly? You can start a Quiet Time in either way. You can start with seven minutes a day and work up. Or, you can dive in full-force, committing to read the Bible in a year. The goal is about half an hour a day.

Whatever gets rewarded gets repeated. Ultimately, the Quiet Time

itself is its own reward. But, sometimes we need some scaffolding in place until the building can bear its own weight. Groups can do this nicely for each other. Perhaps you can reserve some time in your group for each person to share one insight from the Word. The reward, in this case, is having something to share each week.

Work through the dip. There will come a day when you will get discouraged. There will come a day when you want to quit. There might come a day when you do quit for a time. This is the dip. Expect it. Anticipate it. Plan for it. The dip is coming. Success in many arenas of life is learning to make it through the dip.

We measure what matters. The most successful plan I know for getting people to have a daily Quiet Time is the 2:7 Series, produced by the Navigators. You can find it on Amazon. It includes a one-page summary where participants are encouraged to write down brief insights from their daily Quiet Time. You can see at a glance how many Quiet Times you had in the last seven days. You can measure how many Quiet Times you had. When I first started doing this, I was shocked by how many blanks there were on my

pages. What you can measure, you can manage.

Goals. Brian Tracy says, “Success is about goal-setting; the rest is just commentary.” Set a goal to read through the Bible in a year. Set a goal to have thirty Quiet Times in a row. There is something about a goal that motivates.

When all else fails… One of my favorite verses is, “To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:29 (NIV) This verse contains the two-pronged secret to Christian living: trying hard and trusting with all your heart. Trust and obey. There are three words for “work” in the Greek and all three of them are in this verse. Paul is teaching us that to live the Christian life, we must try as hard as we can with a profound awareness that unless God pours His power in me, my trying is worthless. I am completely dependent on God to do His work through me. But, I try with all my might. When all else fails, pray that God will empower you. Trust in God. Ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to do what you cannot.

Having a Quiet Time is not enoughReading the Bible every day is not enough. Praying every day is not enough. We must be doers of the Word and not hearers only. We must read for application. The question is not, “What did you read in the Word today?” That is a start, but it is only a start. The question is, “What did you do about what you read in the Word yesterday?”

We will get into this in the last chapter, I just wanted to give a hint as to where we are heading.

Discipleship is very simple. It comes down to the habit of having a Quiet Time every day. A Quiet Time consists of two parts:

Time in the Word

Time in prayer

Let me say one more thing again. The Quiet Time is not discipleship. The Quiet Time is what makes discipleship possible. In some ways, it is the opposite. Being a doer of the Word is not discipleship. In some ways, it is the opposite. Let me explain.

Discipleship is about living in the flow of the Spirit. It is about the Holy Spirit living His life through us. It is not about trying really hard to be good. If you are living a life of trying really hard to be good, I know one thing: you are tired.

The Quiet Time is the infrastructure that gets us to the Spirit-filled life. Never confuse the infrastructure with the destination. The Quiet Time is the pipe that allows the water of the Spirit to get to us. Never confuse the water with the pipe.

That said, we need the pipe. Without the pipe, there will be no water. This book is about building the habits that will allow the Holy Spirit to flow through your life.

The Habit of the Word

Nothing will change your life like the habit of reading God’s Word.

It won’t feel that way at first. In fact, it might not feel that way for a long time. Perhaps that is why 80% of church goers don’t read their Bibles on a daily basis.7

If you start reading the Bible every day, you should know what to expect. It won’t feel like much at first. In fact, it won’t feel like much for a long time. There will be lots of days when it feels—dare I say it—a tad boring.

If you start reading your Bible every day, it won’t be a glorious, earth-shaking experience that makes you want to shout. If it were, everyone would do it. You might be thinking, “Why bother?”

Here is what you can expect. There will be a few days from time to time that will make you want to shout. There will be some days that you will 7 http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2012/september/80-of-churchgoers-dont-read-bible-daily-lifeway-survey.html?paging=off

see amazing insights in His Word. You will follow times in His Word with prayer that will be absolutely glorious. You will see application that will be life-changing. But, most days won’t be like that.

What will happen is that you will wake up a few months from now and notice that you are changing. Your heart is becoming more tender. You worry less than you used to. You curse less than you used to. You are more compassionate to others, both in heart and deed. You tip better at restaurants. You don’t yell at your kids as much.

It is a little like education. Ask a child what he learned today at school.

“Nothin.”

He is not trying to be aloof. He honestly cannot recall a single thing he learned. But, somehow, in a few years he will be able read and write. He will be competent in math. He will know something about history. What day did he learn any of this? You can ask him every day what he learned and every day he will tell you he didn’t learn anything. But, somehow, in a few years, he would have learned a lot.

So it is with reading the Bible. On any one day, it won’t mean much. But, keep it up for a time and it is life-changing.

Physical exercise works much the same way. Suppose you have not been in the habit of running. Go out and run for as long and hard as you can. Then walk some. Then run some more. Keep this up for about an hour. Tell me, do you feel better or worse? Was it a glorious experience that made you feel invigorated? Or, was it exhausting and made you want to lay on the bed and never do that again?

Suppose you take another approach. Get out and take a walk. Walk a little more than is comfortable—a little faster than is comfortable, and a little longer than is comfortable. Do this every day for six months. Now, tell me if you don’t feel better.

One more example. Suppose your marriage is, like a lot of marriages, starved for time. Marriage expert Willard Harley recommends a couple have at least fifteen hours a week of undistracted couple-time. This doesn’t count things like watching the kids together, or watching TV together. This only counts times of one-on-one communication. Let’s suppose you are under Harley’s recommended fifteen hours a week.

Let’s suppose you start going out on a date night once a week and spend three hours together alone every Friday night. The first Friday night may not mean all that much. In fact, if you have not been in the habit of talking, you might find you don’t have much to say. The habit of conversation becomes sweeter with practice. But, keep it up for six months and you will find you are closer. Much of life works this way.

How to read the Bible for life changeFor most people, the best time to read the Bible is first thing in the morning. I have known very few exceptions. The key to Christian living is to start your day with your Bible on your lap. Consider these verses:

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. Psalm 143:8 (NIV)

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22–23 (NIV)

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35 (NIV)

Getting up a half-hour earlier to have your Quiet Time means going to bed a half-hour earlier. Otherwise, you are so tired you won’t get much out of your time with God.

Pick a place that is free of distractions. You might want to get away from the computer and phone. The key is to read your Bible at the same time and the same place every day.

Jesus said to go to your closet to pray. The place matters. It doesn’t have to be a closet, although, Andy Stanley says he took it seriously and created a prayer closet under the stairs of his parents’ house.

My Quiet Time got exponentially better when I did one simple thing. I sat in a different chair. I work at home with a laptop in front of me. I found when my laptop was nearby, it was too much of a distraction. I was tempted to check my email, or respond to some beep on my computer. Sitting in a different chair and getting

away from the distraction of my laptop made a huge difference for me. Environment matters.

The goal is to make this a habit so that you are not wondering whether or not to do this every day. It is just like brushing your teeth. It is just something you do. Set a goal of 100 consecutive days. Don’t worry with the length of time you spend; just get your Bible open every single day. If you can’t spend thirty minutes, spend five.

If you are new to Bible reading, I recommend you start in the New Testament—perhaps the book of John. Whatever book you start in, read it straight through. Don’t read a few verses here today and skip somewhere else tomorrow. Starting in the book of John and reading straight through to the end of the Revelation is a great way to start.

At some point in your life you may want to read through the entire Bible. I recommend the One Year Bible. It breaks down the readings into an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, a reading from the Psalms, and a reading from the Proverbs every day. This way, there is something interesting every day. (The Bible is all inspired and equally inspired; it is not equally inspiring.) You may not want to read through the Bible every year, but it is good to do at least once.

Change up your reading every so often. If you get bored with a particular plan, change it up. Read somewhere different. There are numerous plans available.

Do I have to read every day? What if I miss?The key to developing almost any habit comes down to this:

Set a low bar

Go for ruthless consistency

Set a low bar—don’t try to read through the Bible in a year at first. Get the Book open every day. There is a verse in Nehemiah that says that, “Ezra opened the book…” This is the key to life-changing Bible study. Open the Book. Open it every day. You don’t have to read a lot. You do have to do it every day. Go for ruthless consistency. Don’t allow any exceptions. Get the Book open every single day.

Listening to the WordIf you get bored with reading the Word, mix it up. One way to do this is to listen to the Word.

Allow me to make a confession: I have never spent a full, uninterrupted hour reading the

Word. But, I have spent more than an hour listening to the Word. I have found that listening to a good, professionally produced recording of the Word will really make it come alive.

The recording I have used is the NIV Audio Bible (Dramatized). (Hint: I got it from www.audible.com If you sign up for a monthly subscription, you can get it using one “credit.” This is much less expensive than buying it out right.) It is dramatized so that when Mary speaks there is a female voice and when Jesus speaks there is a male voice. There are even background sound effects. If you would like a FREE copy of the Bible in audio, check out https://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/

The Habit of Bible StudyIf you get bored with Bible reading, mix it up. One way to do this is through Bible study. Bible study is essentially just bombarding the text with questions. You might start with the six writer’s friends:

Who?

What?

Where?

When?

Why?

How?

Who is writing? Who are they writing to? Who was Amnon? Who was Tamar? Who was Absalom? (OK, I will help you out here: all David’s kids.)

What is being said? What is not being said? What would I have expected it to say? What is said in similar verses? (The Bible is an excellent commentary on the Bible.) What does predestination mean?

Where was…? I love maps. Of course, this is easier than it has ever been. Google it. You might also look for pictures.

A good study Bible will go a long way in helping to answer many of your questions. Make it your goal to collect a library of good study Bibles. If you have the resources, you might look into some good Bible software. I use both Logos and WordSearch. E-Sword is another highly recommended Bible software, and its free. http://www.e-sword.net/

Memorizing the WordIf you get bored with Bible reading, mix it up. One way to do this is through memorizing and meditating on God’s Word. Nothing will drive steel into the soul of a believer like memorizing God’s Word. Would you like to sin less than you do? Memorize God’s Word. I love this verse: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11 (NIV)

Dallas Willard, professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, wrote, “Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That’s where you need it! How does it get in your mouth? Memorization.”8

Chuck Swindoll wrote, “I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture… No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper

8 “Spiritual Formation in Christ for the Whole Life and Whole Person” in Vocatio, Vol. 12, no. 2, Spring, 2001, p. 7)

and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified.”9

One of the reasons Martin Luther came to his great discovery in the Bible of justification by faith alone was that in his early years in the Augustinian monastery he was influenced to love Scripture by Johann Staupitz. Luther devoured the Bible in a day when people earned doctorates in theology without even reading the Bible. Luther said that his fellow professor, Andreas Karlstadt, did not even own a Bible when he earned his doctor of theology degree, nor did he until many years later. Luther knew so much of the Bible from memory that when the Lord opened his eyes to see the truth of justification in Romans 1:17, he said, “Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory,” in order to confirm what he had found.10

There are a number of good apps that can help you in Scripture memory. I use one where I can record whatever verse I want and it will play it

9 Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], p. 61).10 http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/why-memorize-scripture

back in a loop. Listen to any verse enough times and you will find it memorized.

Meditating on the WordI love this quote from Ortberg: “if you can worry you can meditate.”11

Amazing promises are given to the person who meditates on God’s Word:

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

Do you want it to be said of you: “whatever he does prospers”? Meditate on God’s Word. Ponder it. Consider it. Think about it. Think about the implications. Concentrate on each word in the verse. Think about the opposite. Think about what it doesn’t say. Ask why. This is meditation.

11 Ortberg, John. The Me I Want to Be. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010.

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:8-9 (NIV)

Do you want to be prosperous and successful? Meditate on God’s word. Ponder it. Chew on it, as a cow chews its cud.

Doers of the WordThe purpose of Bible study is not to become a smarter sinner. It is to change. We are transformed by the renewing of our mind, not by trying really hard to be good. We are to be doers of the Word, not hearers only. (Romans 12:2, James 1:22)

The key is to find a hundred small applications a year. Maybe not every day, but quite often we are to find something to do about what we read, hear, study, memorize and meditate on. Find something small. Find something you can do today. Find something specific. Find something

you can point to at the end of the day and say, “I did that.”

Do you want to develop a servant’s heart? Pick up some trash. Do you want to be a better listener? Put down your cell phone and don’t interrupt. Do something. Do something small. Do something today. Do something now.

Make a bookmark for your Bible that asks, “What do you want to do about what you read today?”

The Habit of Kingdom Praying

God speaks to us through His Word. We speak to Him through prayer. The best model for prayer is the model Jesus gave us:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Matthew 6:9–13 (NIV)

There are other classic prayers of the Bible that teach us to pray. One of the best ways to pray is to pray the prayers of the Bible. Beth Moore has written a whole book about the power of combining the Word and prayer. She gets almost charismatic in her enthusiasm about this combination:

God has handed us two sticks of dynamite with which to demolish our strongholds: His Word and

prayer. What is more powerful than two sticks of dynamite placed in separate locations? Two strapped together. Now, that’s what this book is all about: taking our two primary sticks of dynamite—prayer and the Word—strapping them together, and igniting them with faith in what God says He can do. Hallelujah! I’m getting excited just thinking about it!12

Look at three prayers and see what you can learn about prayer. First, a prayer of praise:

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:1–5 (NIV2011)

12 Beth Moore, Praying God’s Word (Nashville: B&H, 2009).

Here are just a few observations from this classic prayer of praise:

Loud praise is good praise.

Thanksgiving is God’s area code; praise is His address.

God is good. Following God is good. It is always in our best interest to live the Christian life.

Let’s look at a classic prayer of repentance:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:1–10 (NIV2011)

What observations do you see in this prayer? If you are in a place of repentance, this would be a good prayer to pray. Here are a few of things I see:

I am not a saint who sometimes sins. I am a sinner who occasionally doesn’t sin.

I need to be cleaned from the inside out. Create in me a clean heart.

All sin is ultimately against God Himself.

One more. This one a prayer of asking:

LORD, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven?

You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’ “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 2 Chronicles 20:6–12 (NIV2011)

Here are a few things this prayer teaches me about prayer:

It is a good idea to start with praise, even in an asking prayer.

It is always good to include Scripture in prayer.

Ask: what is in it for God? Ask big, God-glorifying prayers!

Whole books have been written on all the prayers in the Bible. Great stuff. Let’s concentrate on Jesus’ model prayer. This is how Jesus taught us to pray. It doesn’t get any better than this. Let’s walk through this classic passage to mine its insights on prayer.

Our FatherThis first phrase is quite routine to us, but would have been quite shocking back in the day. No Jew ever dared to call Him Father. It was true of Bilquis Sheikh, a modern Muslim woman living in Pakistan. Miraculously—and no heart of stone that God changes is not a miracle—she came to faith in Christ. She wrote up her story in the book, I Dared to Call Him Father. She says:

No Muslim, I felt certain, ever thought of Allah as his father. Since childhood, I had been told that the surest way to know about Allah was to pray five times a day and study

and think on the Quran. Yet Dr. Santiago’s words came to me again. “Talk to God. Talk to Him as if He were your father.”

Alone in my room I got on my knees and tried to call Him “Father.” But it was a useless effort and I straightened in dismay. It was ridiculous. Wouldn’t it be sinful to try to bring the Great One down to our own level? I fell asleep that night more confused than ever.13

Paul used even stronger language when he referred to God as Abba Father There is a tricky issue of language that explains this unusual word.

The New Testament was written in Greek, but the people writing it, including Paul, spoke Aramaic as their first language. There is something about the mother tongue—the language you were raised on. They say if you don’t learn a language as a child, you will never speak it without an accent. This unaccented language—the mother tongue—was Aramaic for Paul.

13 Richard H. Schneider and Bilquis Sheikh, I Dared to Call Him Father: The Miraculous Story of a Muslim Woman’s Encounter with God (Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen, 2003).

When Paul searched the Greek language to find a word that described his relationship to God, he couldn’t find one.

My wife is half Mexican. Her father speaks Spanish as his first language. When he addresses his daughter, he often uses a term from the mother tongue, “mijo” (pronounced “meho”). There is no word in the English language that communicates the tenderness he feels for his daughter.

So Paul taught us to pray, “Abba.” Commentators have suggested such substitutes as “Daddy.” I think this goes too far. Let me explain why.

It is possible to make two mistakes in our thoughts about God. They correspond to the mistakes we can make in our thoughts about ourselves—either not needing forgiveness, or being too bad to be forgiven. We can think of God as so Holy, so transcendent, so “other,” that we dare not approach Him. Or, we can think of Him as our buddy, the Old Man Upstairs. This is so disrespectful I hesitate to write it. The Bible says He dwells in unapproachable light and that we can boldly come near the throne. (1 Timothy 6:16; Hebrews 4:16) Reverence and intimacy come together in addressing God as our Father.

He is Father, not just Sovereign One. He is not Buddy. One more thing.

Notice it is Our Father. Again, there are two errors to be avoided. One error is to be so dependent on the corporate body that we don’t think we can come to God except at church. Another expression of this error is when people want the pastor to pray for them because they think the holy man’s prayer is somehow more powerful. Your access to God is as good as Billy Graham’s.

On the other hand, consider the application of these verses:

Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. Matthew 18:19–20 (NIV)

“Again” suggests that Jesus taught this often for emphasis. There is something about two or three. There is something about praying with the group. There is something about the church praying together. Our Father reminds us that we can and should pray alone, but we should not pray only alone.

The Habit of WorshipProper praying starts with praise. It doesn’t start with asking. It doesn’t start with confession or repentance. It starts with praise. This is what Jesus taught, and it is what is modeled throughout scripture. Here are a couple of examples:

When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.” Acts 4:24 (NIV)

The context is the early church under heavy persecution. God’s people are in trouble. They do not start their prayer by asking for help or protection. They start their prayer with praise.

Example #2:

Then I said: “LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments. Nehemiah 1:5

The context is this: God’s people are in trouble. Nehemiah is with the exiles in Babylon.

Jerusalem had been destroyed seventy years earlier. Some Jews had gone back, but were unable to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. Without a wall, the people were unable to establish a safe presence in Israel. They were in trouble. Nehemiah doesn’t start by asking for help. He doesn’t start by asking for guidance. He starts with praise. The great prayers always start with praise. One more.

Example #3:

And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. 2 Kings 19:15–16 (NIV2011)

God’s people are in trouble. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) They are surrounded by Sennacherib and Assyria’s army. They cry out to God. They start with praise. Great prayers always start with praise.

Here are some practical ways to make praise a part of your prayer life:

Simple and direct. Start with something like this: “God, you are awesome! Powerful, kind, good, loving, wise, smart, big, everywhere, all-knowing… incredible!”

Pray the Psalms. Many of the Psalms lend themselves to use in prayer. They are not Psalms to be read so much as they are Psalms to be prayed. Here is one example: “LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” Psalm 8:1–4 (NIV)

Names of God. The various names of God are a great way to worship the Lord. You can learn the actual Hebrew names for God if you wish, or just pray

through their English equivalents. Praise God that is He is The God Who Heals, or, if you wish, Jehova-Rapha. You can worship Him as Jehovah-Jireh, or simply worship Him as the God who provides.

Names of Jesus. Similarly, worship Jesus as the Door, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Good Shepherd.

Attributes of God. Worship God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, everywhere God that He is. (If you want, you can use the theological words: omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent). The better you know God, the better you can worship Him. Don’t just say the words, reflect on His attributes.

Worship with song. This is easier than it has ever been. Pop some headphones on and have your own private worship service. Don’t like the worship style at your church? You can hand select each song in your own private worship service. If you can get some time where you can turn the music up loud and sing loud, all the better. If you are set up to send videos

off the Internet to your TV, there are some great live worship services online. Google it. Want a low-tech approach? Buy a hymnal and hum through a few hymns to yourself.

Make your own song. If you play an instrument, worship God with your instrument. If you give it your best, God will be pleased, as any father would be pleased in listening to his child.

Worship in nature. There is something about a mountain, something about a sunset, something about a tree. Worship Creator God for His handiwork.

Thy Kingdom ComeThis is perhaps the most commonly prayed prayer, and the least understood: “Thy Kingdom come.” Churches put a lot of emphasis on teaching people how to avoid Hell and make it to Heaven. Jesus put the accent on bringing Heaven to earth. He taught His disciples to pray that the Kingdom of God would come on earth. As in Heaven, so on earth.

Pray that King Jesus would be the King of your life, your job, your family. I call it the “whatever

prayer” and it goes like this: “Whatever You want me to do, wherever You want me to go, whoever You want me to love, I will love, I will go, I will do. You are Lord; I am slave. You are boss; I am servant. You are King. May Your kingdom reign in every corner of my life.”

This is, in a way, a prayer for missions. It is a prayer that King Jesus would be King over the whole earth. Oh, how we need Him to be King. When King Jesus is recognized as King, there is love and joy and peace and goodness.

When I pray this prayer, I add this, “And Lord, anything You could use me to do to make this world a little more like Heaven, I am willing to do. Lead me into those things You would have me to do today that would make this world a little more like Heaven.” What does God normally lead us to do?

We start with the inner circleThe Bible says, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8 (NIV84) The principle is this: discipleship starts at home. Service starts at home.

When I think about how I can help bring the kingdom of God to earth, I think about my inner circle first. I think about how I can make my wife’s life more like Heaven. That means doing things like vacuuming the floor and emptying the diswasher.

I think about my kids. How can I help bring the Kingdom of God to my kids today? How can I help their life be a little more like Heaven? Day after tomorrow, I will be watching my two-month old grandchild so my son and his wife can play a round of golf. This will make my life a little more like Heaven, as well as theirs.

I walk nearly every day. Often, I take some grocery bags and fill them up with trash that I find along the way. It is a small thing, but it is one small thing I can do to help this world be a little more like Heaven. I don’t think there will be trash on the streets of Heaven. I pick up the trash on my streets to make my streets a little more like Heaven.

Imagine a world where everyone did this. Imagine a world where everyone got up and prayed, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Use me this day in a hundred ways to make this world a little more like Heaven.”

There are a couple billion people on planet earth who call themselves Christians. Imagine that 10% of them got up and prayed:

Thy Kingdom comeIn my life, be the KingIn my world, be the KingAnything I can do to helpI am willing to do.

Be King in my lifeBe King in my worldAnything I can do to help

I want to live in a world like that.

AskIf you want something, ask. God might just give it to you. He has promised to give us everything we need. The truth is, He will give us a whole lot of stuff we want but don’t need—just like I do with my kids. Ask.

My day job is writing Bible Study lessons. They are written in a question and answer format and are called Good Questions Have Groups Talking. Here is one of my favorite questions to ask in a group: Do you think our prayers are too big and bold—praying selfishly for too much? Or do you think our prayers are too small and timid? (Just

for fun, you might copy that question to your Facebook wall and see what your friends think.)

I think our prayers are too timid. We pray for Aunt Susie’s ingrown toenail when we need to pray for world revival. We pray to get through this financial hump when we should pray that earth would become a little more like Heaven. God, make us people of big, bold prayers.

I doubt many of us understand what a powerful weapon we hold in prayer. John Bisagno writes:

When we pray, Satan trembles. When we pray, heaven’s gates open wide. When we pray, desperation fades and trials wither before us like grass before the scorching sun. When we pray, power comes, love fills our heart, and life is filled with song.14

Poets will get this truth straight when the rest of us struggle to grasp it. Consider the words of Rueben Morgan in this song made popular by Hillsong United:

You said, "Ask and you will receive Whatever you need"

14 John Bisagno, The Power of Positive Praying (Nashville: B&H, 2015).

You said, "Pray and I'll hear from Heaven And I'll heal your land" You said, “Your glory will fill the earth Like water, the sea.”You said, "Lift up your eyes The harvest is here, yes the Kingdom is near" You said, "Ask and I'll give the nations to you" Oh, Lord, that's the cry of my heart Distant shores and the islands will see Your light, as it rises on us15

Don’t just pray for Aunt Susie’s ingrown toenail. Don’t just pray for traveling mercies. Pray for your city. Pray for the advancement of the Kingdom. Pray that earth would be more like Heaven. Pray for the nations. Pray: Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

ForgivenessWhen you get to this part of the prayer, what do you think of?

15 http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/hillsonglive/yousaid.html

And forgive us our debts,as we also have forgiven our debtors.

It is possible to go off the rail on either side. Thinking either of these thoughts will get us into trouble:

I can’t think of anything I need forgiving for.

I have been too bad; God can’t forgive me.

To combat the first error, we need to think deeply about the holiness of God. It is the one attribute of God that is repeated three times, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” When we think deeply about the holiness of God, we are reminded of our own sinfulness. We cry with emotion, “Forgive us… forgive me!” We say with Isaiah,

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5 (NIV)

If we think we are too sinful to be forgiven, we need to look long at the cross. Why did Jesus go

there except to pay for your sins? No sinner is beyond the reach of grace. You are not the first.

Sometimes, I will think through a list of my sins

I confess my sin of selfishness.

I confess my sin of greed.

I confess my sin of discontentment.

I confess my sin of lust.

I confess my sin of prayerlessness.

I confess my pride.

It does our soul good to think deeply about our sin. People who think deeply about their sin think much of the cross. They worship from a deep place of gratitude because they know they have been forgiven much.

This kind of praying also helps us with another issue—forgiving others. Jesus told a story about this. A man was forgiven a zillion dollar debt. After his debt is forgiven, he finds a man who owes him a few thousand. He insists the man pay back every penny. When the man who forgave the zillions hears about it, he is enraged.

That is how God feels when we refuse to forgive others—even if they have hurt us deeply. The man who refused to forgive was owed a considerable amount—100 days’ wages (100 denarii). How much do you make in four and a half months? Imagine someone owed you that much.

Somewhere along the line, you will get hurt so badly that you find yourself unable to forgive. Here is God’s solution: spend some time every day meditating on what a sinner you are and how gracious God has been to forgive you. All your sins can be forgiven if you will just ask.

White as snow, white as snow Though my sins were as scarlet Lord, I know, Lord, I know That I'm clean and forgiven

Through the power of Your blood Through the wonder of Your love Through faith in You I know that I can be White as snow16

When I think deeply about the zillions I have been forgiven, it becomes easier to forgive 16 http://www.ap0s7le.com/list/song/1279/Leon_Olguin_/_Kelly_Willard/White_As_Snow/

others. When I meditate daily on the much that I have been forgiven, sins against me seem small by comparison.

The habit of temptation avoidanceAsk that God would help you to avoid temptation. If you can avoid the temptation, you can avoid the sin. As with kingdom praying, commit to doing your part. Ask that God would lead you not into temptation, and seek to avoid any temptation. I love this poem:

Autobiography in Five Chaptersby Portia Nelson

II walk down the street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalkI fall in.I am lost...I am hopeless.It isn't my fault.It takes forever to find a way out.

III walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I pretend I don't see it.

I fall in again.I can't believe I'm in the same place.But it isn't my fault.It still takes a long time to get out.

IIII walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I see it is there.I still fall in...it's a habitMy eyes are open; I know where I am;It is my fault.I get out immediately.

IVI walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.I walk around it.

VI walk down another street.

If you can avoid the temptation, you can avoid the sin. Pray. Do your part.

If you are tempted by pornography, install porn filtering software.

If you are tempted by alcohol, stay far, far away.

If you are tempted to abuse your body, keep sweets out of the house.

If you can avoid the temptation, you can avoid the sin.

R.R.P.P.M.M.Let me close this section with a summary. The key to Christian living can be summarized in one sentence: start your day with your Bible on your lap. The key to Christian living is the Christian Quiet Time.

Willow Creek did a massive study of spiritual growth and published it in a book called Reveal. Here is what they found: “If churches could do only one thing to help people at all levels of spiritual maturity grow in their relationship with Christ, their choice is clear. They would inspire, encourage, and equip their people to read the Bible—specifically, to reflect on Scripture for meaning in their lives.”17

Cole and Ross’s research showed a similar finding, “Current research into the spiritual lives of seventy thousand Americans—of all ages, from nearly every corner of the nation—is 17 Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, Move: What 1,000 Churches Reveal about Spiritual Growth (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).

proving something many Christians have doubted: There’s power in God’s Word. A majority of those we surveyed showed us that consistently engaging the Bible is the key to knowing God intimately, getting unstuck, and growing spiritually.”18

So, what is a Christian Quiet Time? Consider the memory device “R.P.M.” with each letter doubled: R.R.P.P.M.M.

R — Read the Word. Start with the book of John. Finish one book before you go to the next. Eventually, read through the Bible in a year.

R — Reflect. This was what the Willow Creek study revealed—it is not just reading the Word, but reflecting on it that makes the difference. Spend ten minutes reading and five minutes reflecting on what you read. Ask the questions based on the writer’s friends: Who? What? Why? Where? When? How?

P — Pray. Pray about what you read about. God speaks to us through His

18 Arnie Cole and Michael Ross, Unstuck: Your Life. God’s Design. Real Change. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2012).

Word. We speak to Him through prayer. Walk through the Lord’s prayers and other great prayers of the Bible.

P — Praise. Nothing gets the heart right like worship. Spend some time adoring the great God that we serve. Think about His attributes. Think about his Names. Put on some music.

M — Memorize. Want to sin less than you do? Memorize God’s Word. Hide it in your heart.

M — Meditate. I love John Ortberg’s saying: “If you worry, you can meditate.” Think. Ponder. Consider. Mull over.

Living the Christian life is simple: have a daily Quiet Time. Simple, but not easy. All the forces of the evil one will come against you as you seek to develop this life-changing, God-glorifying habit.

For people who get to the other side, it is just that: a habit. It is not a discipline in that it is something they make themselves do even though they don’t want to. It is just what they

do. It is on auto-pilot. It is as automatic as brushing their teeth every day.

Martin Luther was a great man of God, and a great man of prayer. He has a famous quote on prayer, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” He is also a great example of the idea that prayer was, for Luther, simply a matter of habit. Luther would arise at six each morning and pray with the children, and they would recite the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, and then sing a psalm.19

Robert Murray McCheyne provides a similar example. For him, Quiet Time was habit. He combined the three-fold chord of prayer, the Word, and music to form a powerful devotional life. Warren Wiersbe says, “To begin with, McCheyne was careful and consistent in his devotional life. It was his happy custom [read: habit] to spend time before breakfast reading the Scriptures (three chapters a day), singing hymns (he was an excellent musician), and praying.”20

19 Warren W. Wiersbe, 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2009), 13.

How do we make the life changing practice of the Christian Quiet Time into a habit? That is the subject of the rest of the book.

20 Warren W. Wiersbe, 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2009), 83.

One Habit at a Time

If you are new to the idea of having a Quiet Time, or if you have struggled with consistency in a Quiet Time, I have a challenge for you: 100 uninterrupted days of Quiet Times.

The Quiet Time does not have to be a long time. Set a low bar; go for unwavering consistency. 100 uninterrupted days. No exceptions. If you miss a day, start counting again. By the time you get to 100 days, you will find that the habit of Quiet Time is a part of your routine.

There is a commonly held idea that forming a habit is much easier than it is. I just Googled the question, “How long does it take to form a habit?” Here is what I got:

21 days. That is what most people think. Read the fine print above. It points to the science that reveals it takes closer to three times that amount: closer to 66 days, depending on the habit. Getting into the habit of doing 50 sit-ups a day is harder—and takes more time—than getting into the habit of drinking a glass of water every day.

Successful change agents over-determine success. That is, they don’t just ask, “What is the minimum requirement?” They ask, “How can I ensure success—guaranteed?” They recognize up front that they may have to struggle for two or three months before the habit becomes automatic.

Not that you won’t have to continue to be vigilant after the first 100 days. But thoughts of having a Quiet Time will be automatic after 100

days. You will have to make a conscious decision NOT to have a Quiet Time.

One thing at a timeI recommend you work on this habit, and only this habit during this 100 days. Don’t work on diet. Don’t work on getting on a budget. Don’t work on an exercise plan. Work on this one thing: 100 uninterrupted days of Quiet Time.

Developing a habit is hard—extremely hard. Once made, it is relatively easy to maintain. As the saying goes, good habits are hard to form and easy to live with. Because they are hard to form, you want to concentrate all your effort toward this one habit.

Remember the study cited in the first chapter? When people are facing life-threatening consequences if they don’t change their ways, only a few are able to do so. They are put under the knife and have their chest cut open to repair a damaged heart. They are told that if they don’t lose weight, start exercising, and eat better, they will die. Only about 10% are able to change. Change is difficult.

Because change is difficult, I recommend you focus on one change at a time.

Odds are, some other good things might come during these 100 days. Science has discovered that willpower, (or, what the Bible calls self-control) is like a single muscle that controls multiple domains. When you strengthen your willpower by having 100 uninterrupted Quiet Times, you strengthen a central muscle that will help with every domain. Kelly McGonigal has studied willpower extensively. He summarized the benefits of developing willpower this way:

People who have better control of their attention, emotions, and actions are better off almost any way you look at it. They are happier and healthier. Their relationships are more satisfying and last longer. They make more money and go further in their careers. They are better able to manage stress, deal with conflict, and overcome adversity. They even live longer. When pit against other virtues, willpower comes out on top. Self-control is a better predictor of academic success than intelligence (take that, SATs), a stronger determinant of effective leadership than charisma (sorry, Tony Robbins), and more important for marital bliss than empathy (yes, the secret to lasting marriage may be

learning how to keep your mouth shut).21

Since willpower is so beneficial, why doesn’t everyone develop it? Because it is hard. It is hard even when your life is on the line. Alan Deutschman explains:

Then the really shocking news was presented by Dr. Edward Miller, dean of the medical school and chief executive officer of the hospital at Johns Hopkins University. He talked about patients whose arteries are so clogged that any kind of exertion is terribly painful for them. It hurts too much to take a long walk. It hurts too much to make love. So surgeons have to implant pieces of plastic to prop open their arteries, or remove veins from their legs to stitch near the heart so the blood can bypass the blocked passages. The procedures are traumatic and expensive—they can cost more than $100,000. More than one and a half million people every year in the United States undergo coronary bypass graft or angioplasty surgery at a total price of around $60

21 The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal Ph.D.

billion. Although these surgeries are astonishing feats, they are no more than temporary fixes. The operations relieve the patients’ pain, at least for a while, but only rarely—fewer than 3 percent of the cases—prevent the heart attacks they’re heading toward or prolong their lives. The bypass grafts often clog up within a few years; the angioplasties, in only a few months. Knowing these grim statistics, doctors tell their patients: If you want to keep the pain from coming back, and if you don’t want to have to repeat the surgery, and if you want to stop the course of your heart disease before it kills you, then you have to switch to a healthier lifestyle. You have to stop smoking, stop drinking, stop overeating, start exercising, and relieve your stress. But very few do. “If you look at people after coronary-artery bypass grafting two years later, ninety percent of them have not changed their lifestyle,” Miller said. “And that’s been studied over and over and over again. And so we’re missing some link in there. Even though they know they have a very bad disease and they know they should change their lifestyle, for whatever reason, they can’t.”22

22 Change or Die by Alan Deutschman.

Devoting at least seven minutes a day for 100 uninterrupted days doesn’t sound all that difficult. It is. Concentrate. Focus. Don’t work on anything else.

The rest of this book will give you additional tools to help you be successful. In fact, people who are successful at breaking habits or making habits overdetermine success. That is, they do more than they think is necessary to insure success.

You might think that all you have to do is set your nose to the grindstone and decide to have 100 uninterrupted Quiet Times. People who are successful at this have a holy reverence for the power of the flesh to stop them from achieving this goal. They humbly acknowledge that their flesh is weak and they need all the help they can get.

Overdetermining success works like this. Suppose you wanted to set aside $1000 dollars over the course of a year to have some Christmas money in December. By putting aside $20 a week, you can have $1000 in fifty weeks. Sounds easy enough. People who have tried it know better.

They know that life gets in the way. They know that stuff happens. They know that unexpected expenses come up. They know that cars break down. They know they might have to dip into that fund for an unexpected expense. They know they might not be able to set any money aside during June when they take their summer vacation.

So, if they are serious about saving $1000 for Christmas, they overdetermine success. They set aside $30 or $40 a week on a normal week, knowing that there will be some abnormal weeks. And, when I say abnormal weeks, I don’t mean weeks where an abnormally large amount money comes in.

I am reading through the Bible this year, using a straightforward plan of reading about two and a half chapters a day. But, I overdetermine my success. I know there will be some off days. I know there will be some times I miss. So, when I can, I read two daily readings. I try to stay a bit ahead so that I never get behind.

Leo Babauta knows the power of focusing on one habit at a time. In his popular book, The Power of Less, he tells how he was able get more done than he would have ever imagined:

1. Take up running

2. Begin eating healthier

3. Become organized and productive

4. Train for and run two marathons

5. Work two jobs and double my income

6. Become an early riser (I wake at 4 a.m.)

7. Become a vegetarian

8. Complete two triathlons

9. Start a successful blog—Zen Habits

10.Completely eliminate my debt

11.Save a substantial emergency fund for the first time

12.Simplify my life

13.Declutter my home

14.Lose forty-plus pounds

15.Write and sell two successful e-books

16.Write the first draft of a novel

17.Quit my day job and work from home

18.Start a successful second blog, Write To Done, for writers

19.Publish this book23

How did he do it? By focusing on one habit at a time. In his own words:

“There are only a few rules you need to follow to make this challenge a success. If you follow these rules, it would be hard for you not to form a new habit by the end of the 30 days.

Do only one habit at a time. Do not break this rule, because I assure you that if you do multiple habits at once, you will be much less likely to succeed. Trust me – I’ve tried both ways many times, and in my experience there is 100% failure for forming multiple habits at once, and a 50-80% success if you do just one habit at a time – depending on whether you follow the rest of these rules.

Choose an easy goal. Don’t decide to do something really hard, at least for now. Later, when you’re

23 The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life by Leo Babauta

good at habit changes, you can choose something harder. But for now, do something you know you can do every day. In fact, choose something easier than you think you can do every day. If you think you can exercise for 30 minutes a day, choose 10 minutes – making it super easy is one of the surest ways to ensure you’ll succeed.

Choose something measurable. You should be able to say, definitively, whether you were successful or not today. If you choose exercise, set a number of minutes or something similar (20 minutes of exercise daily, for example). Whatever your goal, have a measurement.

Be consistent. You want to do your habit change at the same time every day, if possible. If you’re going to exercise, do it at 7 a.m. (or 6 p.m.) every day, for example. This makes it more likely to become a habit.

Report daily. You could check in every 2 or 3 days, but you’ll be more likely to succeed if you report daily. This has been proven over and over again in the Challenges.

Keep a positive attitude! Expect setbacks now and then, but just note them and move on. No embarrassment in this challenge.”24

Let’s get specificGod speaks to us through His Word; we speak to Him through prayer. I’d invite you to consider the following schedule in reading during your 100 day challenge. John – Galatians total exactly 100 chapters:

John 21 chaptersActs 28 chaptersRomans 16 chapters1 Corinthians 16 chapters2 Corinthians 13 chaptersGalatians 6 chapters

Total: 100 Chapters

I’d invite you to read this section of the Bible during this 100 day challenge. From there, you might want to just keep reading, or skip to a section of the Old Testament.

24 The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life by Leo Babauta

During your prayer time, I’d invite you to walk through the Lord’s Prayer, praying through each section.

Address God as Father. Consider that He is both approachable and lives in unapproachable light. We approach Him with reverence, humility and confidence.

Pray for the advancement of the Kingdom. Pray that your world will become a little more like Heaven. Ask God if there is anything you can do to help.

Ask. Ask big, bold, audacious, awesome prayers.

Weep over your sin; bask in His forgiveness.

Ask God to help you not sin today. Sin is the stuff that messes up your life. If you know when you are tempted to sin, make a plan to avoid the temptation. If you can avoid the temptation, you can avoid the sin.

This simple practice of having a daily Quiet Time will change the trajectory of your life. You will look back years from now and see that this was the turning point that made all the difference. Concentrate all your effort toward this one, single goal: 100 consecutive days of Quiet Time.

Donald Whitney has written a classic work in this field. He says:

No Spiritual Discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture.25

The power of focusPaul O’Neil became CEO of the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) in October of 1987. Alcoa was born when its founder invented the process of smelting aluminum. They manufactured everything from the foil that goes around a Hershey’s Kiss and the metal in a Coca-Cola can to the bolts that hold satellites together.

But, when O’Neil took over, things weren’t looking so shiny. Alcoa’s management had made misstep after misstep, unwisely trying to expand into new product lines while competitors stole customers and profits away.

Within a year of O’Neill’s speech, Alcoa’s profits would hit a record high. By the time O’Neill 25 Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991), 28.

retired in 2000, the company’s annual net income was five times larger than before he arrived, and its market capitalization had risen by $27 billion. Someone who invested a million dollars in Alcoa on the day O’Neill was hired would have earned another million dollars in dividends while he headed the company, and the value of their stock would be five times bigger when he left.

What was O’Neil’s secret? How did he turn the company around? What was the key to the profitable turn-around?

Safety.

By focusing on one thing that everyone could rally around, all the other dominoes of change fell into place. O’Neil says, “I decided I was going to start by focusing on one thing. If I could start disrupting the habits around one thing, it would spread throughout the entire company.”26

Charles Duhigg writes about this in his excellent book, The Power of Habit. Safety was what Charles Duhigg calls a keystone habit. Duhigg says, “Some habits have the power to start a chain reaction, changing other habits as they 26 The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

move through an organization. Some habits, in other words, matter more than others in remaking businesses and lives. These are ‘keystone habits,’ and they can influence how people work, eat, play, live, spend, and communicate. Keystone habits start a process that, over time, transforms everything.” 27

In the world of spiritual maturity, the Christian Quiet Time is a keystone habit. Once this habit is in place, everything else will follow.

27 The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

You Can’t Take This Journey Alone

Behavior is contagious. If your friends smoke, you are more likely to smoke. If your friends quit, you are more likely to quit. If your friends gain weight, you are more likely to gain weight. If you friends lose weight, you are more likely to lose weight.

The key to consistency in a daily Quiet Time is to surround yourself with people who are having a daily Quiet Time. There are two ways to do this. You can invite your existing friends to take the journey with you, or you can get some new friends. But, know this: if your friends don’t have a consistent Quiet Time, odds are that you won’t either. Here is the science:

The findings are based on the results of the 2009 Shape Up Rhode Island (SURI) campaign, a 12-week statewide online weight loss competition designed by study co-author Rajiv Kumar, M.D. Participants joined with a team and could compete against other teams in three divisions: weight loss,

physical activity and pedometer steps. The weight loss competition included 3,330 overweight or obese individuals (BMI of 31.2 or greater), representing 987 teams averaging between 5 and 11 members each. The majority of these individuals enrolled in all three divisions.

Weight loss outcomes were clearly determined by which team an individual was on. Participants who lost clinically significant amounts of weight (at least 5 percent of their initial body weight) tended to be on the same teams, and being on a team with more teammates in the weight loss division was also associated with a greater weight loss. Individuals who reported higher levels of teammate social influence increased their odds of achieving a clinically significant weight loss by 20 percent. This effect was stronger than any other team characteristic, Leahey said.28

Teenage pregnancy is contagious. If you are a teenage girl and your older sister gets pregnant you are twice as likely to get pregnant as well.29 It is not all that difficult to understand why. If

28 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120214122124.htm 29 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14442709

your older sister gets pregnant, getting pregnant just becomes your normal. Getting pregnant is no longer a shocking, scandalous thing that “those people” do, it is what our people do. We are profoundly affected by the behavior of the people that we consider to be, “our people.”

What does the Bible say?If you are a Christian, you won’t be surprised to learn that God knew this before science knew it. I would like to look at a few verses that speak to this reality.

As previously mentioned, I write Bible study lessons for a living. I call them Good Questions Have Groups Talking.30 I love examining the Scripture through a question and answer format. Let’s do that with this verse.

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. Ephesians 2:21 (NIV)

The “whole building” is a reference to the church. “Rises” is a reference to the spiritual growth of Christians. So, here is the question: what does this verse teach us about spiritual growth?

30 http://www.mybiblestudylessons.com

There may be a number of right answers, but one thing it teaches us is this: we grow as we are joined together. The word picture in this verse is that of bricks stacked on top of each other. If you want to make a really tall stack of bricks, you will need to put mortar between the bricks to connect them together. Connected, they can rise far higher than they could if they were just a pile of bricks. William Barclay explains:

The second picture Paul uses is that of a building. He thinks of every church as the part of a great building and of every Christian as a stone built into the Church. Of the whole Church the corner stone is Christ; and the corner stone is what holds everything together.

Paul thinks of this building going on and on, with each part of the building being fitted into Christ. Think of a great cathedral. Down among the foundations there may be a Saxon crypt; on some of the doorways or the windows there may be a Norman arch; one part may be Early English and another Decorated and another Gothic; some may have been added in our own day. There are all kinds of architecture; but the building is a unity because through it all it has

been used for the worship of God and for meeting with Jesus Christ.

That is what the Church should be like. Its unity comes not from organization, or ritual, or liturgy; it comes from Christ. Ubi Christus, ibi ecclesia, Where Christ is, there is the Church. The Church will realize her unity only when she realizes that she does not exist to propagate the point of view of any body of men, but to provide a home where the Spirit of Christ can dwell and where all men who love Christ can meet in that Spirit.31

In the same way that bricks grow into a building only when connected, we grow only as we are connected together. If you want to develop a habit of having a Christian Quiet Time, get a friend to take the journey with you.

Next verse.

This verse uses the same underlying Greek word, plus one more. Again, look for what this verse teaches us about spiritual growth. What do we learn about growing in Christ from this verse?

31 Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT).

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16 (NIV))

This verse makes essentially the same point. We grow as we are joined and held together. We never grow in isolation. It is almost impossible to develop a new habit alone. It is relatively easy to do so with a friend.

The essential point is the same, but the metaphor is different. Instead of thinking of bricks and how they need to be connected by mortar to form a building, now he is thinking of parts of the body. A hand cannot grow by itself. A heart—as important as it is—cannot grow if isolated from the body. The big toe might not seem like it is all that important until you try to balance without one. No body part can function without the body. Every body part needs every other body part.

Next verse.

This verse makes the same point in the opposite way. It speaks about those who don’t grow. Why don’t they grow?

He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Colossians 2:19 (NIV)

The body grows as it is held together. Perhaps you remember the old campfire illustration. The coals stay warm if they are close together. Separate one coal from the rest and it will soon be cold as the night. Try to form a habit on your own and your chances are about as good as that coal staying warm when it is separated from the fire.

A classic verse on this is from the pen of the wisest man who ever lived.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV)

I draw your attention to the word, “if.” “If a man falls down.” Question: what are the odds this will happen? What are the odds that you start having a Quiet Time, are successful for time, and then fall off the wagon?

Answer: it is almost certain. (See the chapter on The Dip.)

Question: what happens next?

Answer: it all depends on whether you have a friend on the journey with you. If you have a friend on the journey with you, he can pick you up. If you don’t have a friend on the journey with you, the likelihood is you will not complete the journey.

It is almost impossible to start a new habit alone. It is relatively easy to do so with a friend.

The science on the influence of a friendStanley Milgram did some fascinating research back in the early 1960s. The country was reeling in the discovery of the details of the atrocities that the Nazis had inflicted on the Jews. It was horrible enough that Hitler would think these thoughts, much less carry them out. The really troubling thing was this: that he could talk ordinary rank-and-file soldiers into carrying out these atrocities.

In the back of our minds, we all wondered: would rank-and-file American soldiers also be capable of such horrific deeds? Were Germans fundamentally different? Were they more evil or did the same blood run through all of us? Stanley Milgram wanted to know.

Milgram placed an ad offering $4.50 for an hour of people’s time. The ad said that it was to conduct an experiment on learning.

When people showed up, they were put in pairs. They were asked to select a piece of paper that said either “Teacher” or “Learner.” The trick was this. Both pieces of paper actually said “Teacher.” The other person in the pair was actually a confederate of Dr. Milgram. This ensured that everyone who came would be assigned the role of teacher.

The learner was strapped into a chair so that he was physically prevented from leaving. Some ominous-looking bands connected to some electric wires were attached to his arms. The teacher watched as the experimenters strapped the learner in.

Next, the teacher was shown a scary machine with buttons and knobs. He was instructed that he was to ask a question to the learner. If the learner got it wrong, he was to give him an electric shock. To test the system, the teacher gave himself a mild electric shock—45 volts. This mild shock was simply to convince the teacher that the shocks were real.

Each time the learner got a question wrong, the teacher was to flip a knob so that the electricity was increased. At around 300 volts, the learner would begin crying and begging for mercy. The teacher was instructed that the experiment

required him to continue. A few questions later, the learner would go silent. The teacher was to continue— all the way up to 450 volts. There are a number of haunting videos of this on YouTube. Do a search for Stanley Milgram. Here is one

example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr5cjyokVUs

Of course, there actually was no electricity. The learner in the experiment was a confederate of Dr. Milgram and an actor. The experiment was to test whether ordinary citizens would give a potentially lethal shock to someone simply because an authority figure in a white lab coat asked them to do so.

Before conducting the test Dr. Milgram asked a number of ordinary citizens as well as experts in psychology and sociology how many people they predicted would go all the way up to the potentially lethal 450 volts. Predictions ranged in the neighborhood of 1 or 2%.

The actual number?

65%

65% of participants gave an innocent victim a potentially lethal shock simply because someone in a white lab coat asked them to do so.

As an aside, this is a stunning illustration of the biblical teaching of the blackness of man’s heart. We live in a culture that would like to believe that we are all basically good. There might be a

few bad apples among us and we would like to imagine that we are basically good. This experiment demonstrated what the Bible declares to be true: we are sinners—really bad sinners.

But, the point I want to make came out of the follow-up study. In one later version of the experiment, Dr. Milgram involved a second confederate who sat alongside the teacher. In one condition the second confederate encouraged the teacher to go along with the administration of continually higher levels of shocks. In another condition, the second confederate encouraged the teacher to stop. To what degree would the influence of a second person affect the teacher’s decision to keep shocking or not? The difference was huge.

If the second confederate encouraged the teacher to keep shocking, compliance rates moved from 65% to 90%.

If the second confederate encouraged the teacher to stop, compliance dropped to 10%.

We are profoundly influenced by the people around us. Lesson: if you want to stop a habit or start a habit, bring a friend on the journey with you. If you are serious about developing the life-

changing habit of the Christian Quiet Time, take a friend with you.

Don’t believe the evil one when he whispers to you that you are strong and you can do it and you don’t need a friend and you are all that. Believe your heart is as black as the Bible says it is. Believe your strength is as weak as the Bible says it is. Believe you need a friend as the Bible says you do. Believe that you can only grow as you are mortared into the building. Believe that you can only grow as you are connected to the body.

Neil Cole’s Life Transformation GroupsNeil Cole has helped thousands of people into a daily Quiet Time using a system he calls Life Transformation Groups. What is a Life Transformation Group? In Neil Cole’s words…

A Life Transformation Group is a simple way to release the most essential elements of a vital spiritual walk to people who need Jesus. This tool empowers the common Christian to accomplish the uncommon work of reproducing spiritual disciples who can in turn reproduce others. An LTG is made up of two or three people, all of the

same gender, who meet weekly for personal accountability for their spiritual growth and development. It is recommended that a group not grow past three but rather multiply into two groups.32

The beauty of the system is this. You don’t have to wait for your church to start a program. You don’t have to wait for anything. Just call a friend and ask them to join you for lunch. With only two of you involved, it is fairly easy to coordinate schedules. If you want to invite a third person, all the better. If you get a fourth, you create a second group.

Cole recommends that participants in the group read a healthy chunk of Scripture together—twenty to thirty chapters a week. Ideally, you all agree to read the same passage of Scripture— say, the book of John one week, and the book of Acts the next.

In addition to reading scripture together, Life Transformation Groups use ten questions to guide their weekly conversation:

1. Have you been a testimony this week to the greatness of Jesus Christ with both your words and actions?

32 https://www.cmaresources.org/index.php?q=ltg

2. Have you been exposed to sexually alluring material or allowed your mind to entertain inappropriate thoughts about someone who is not your spouse this week?

3. Have you lacked any integrity in your financial dealings this week, or coveted something that does not belong to you?

4. Have you been honoring, understanding and generous in your important relationships this past week?

5. Have you damaged another person by your words, either behind their back or face-to-face?

6. Have you given in to an addictive behavior this week? Explain.

7. Have you continued to remain angry toward another?

8. Have you secretly wished for another’s misfortune so that you might excel?

9. Did you finish your reading this week and hear from the Lord? What are you going to do about it?

10.Have you been completely honest with me?33

This plan could be adapted in any numbers of ways, although, Neil Cole’s is a proven formula. (If you would like to read up on Cole’s approach, see Cultivating A Life For God: Multiplying Disciples Through Life Transformation Groups.) Some adaptations to Cole’s approach might include things like texting buddies that text what you read and what it meant to you each day. You could use an on-line video platform to talk briefly about what you read and what you learned. A simple email group where you hit “reply to all”each day is another idea. It is easier than ever to connect. Use the power of community to over-determine your success.

The wisest man who ever lived said, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 (NIV) Have the humility to embrace the truth that you likely won’t develop a life-changing habit alone. Ask a friend to take the journey with you.

33 http://www.covenanteyes.com/2008/05/19/character-building-accountability-questions/

Environment matters

You can’t have a Quiet Time unless it is quiet. Environment matters. People who eat off small plates eat fewer calories. Really.

Brian Wansink found that plate size affects the amount of food a person will eat during a meal before deciding that he or she is satisfied. Smaller plates left people satisfied with smaller portions. If you want to eat fewer calories, change the dishes sitting in your cupboard. He also learned that the positioning of snacks and whether packaging is clear or opaque can increase or decrease consumption by 50 percent or more. A candy jar placed on a desk rather than a few feet away on a bookshelf can double the amount of candy consumed—once again, propinquity at work. Ice cream with a clear top in the freezer is much more likely to be eaten than the same treat in a cardboard box.34

34 Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, First Edition: The Power to Change Anything, First Edition by Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler

If you put a bowl of Snickers bars on the table in front of me, I would eat them. If you put an apple on the table in front of me, I would eat the apple. Eating an apple instead of Snickers is not about trying really hard to not eat Snickers. It is about what you put in the bowl. The Bible calls this the way of escape. We don’t successfully deal with temptation by trying really hard. We do it by finding the way of escape, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)

Find the way of escape.

If you can avoid the temptation, you can avoid the sin. Temptation is not a sin. However, every time we can avoid temptation we will avoid sin.

Movie goers who eat out of big containers of popcorn eat more—a lot more—than movie goers who eat of smaller containers of popcorn. Even though the popcorn was old and stale and tasted horrible. Even though they had just eaten lunch and were not hungry. Environment matters.

If you want to read the Bible more and watch TV less, put your Bible closer to you than the remote control. This way, you won’t be as tempted to watch TV and you will be tempted to read your Bible.

But, what if we are tempted and we resist? All is well then, right? Not so fast. Through research we have learned that self-control is like a muscle. It grows tired over time. You may resist the Snickers successfully, but you have worn down the self-control muscle. Here is how one writer put it:

In study after study, no matter what task he used, people’s self-control deteriorated over time. A concentration task didn’t just lead to worse attention over time; it depleted physical strength. Controlling emotions didn’t just lead to emotional outbursts; it made people more willing to spend money on something they didn’t need. Resisting tempting sweets didn’t just trigger cravings for chocolate; it prompted procrastination. It was as if every act of willpower was drawing from the same source of strength,

leaving people weaker with each successful act of self-control.35

So, if you’re trying to lose weight, don’t leave a bowl of Snickers around the house. Rid yourself of as many temptations as possible. If you can avoid the temptation, you can avoid the sin. And even if you don’t avoid this sin, you make yourself weaker to face the next temptation.

If you want to have a Quiet Time every day, pay attention to the environment. Externals matter.

Learning to play the guitarShawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, tells of his struggle to break the habit of watching so much TV and start the habit of practicing the guitar.

The average American spends 35 hours a week watching TV. (All the while complaining about how busy we are.) They have done research on this. The more TV you watch, the more likely you are to be depressed.36

35 McGonigal, Ph.D., Kelly (2011-12-29). The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It (p. 57). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.36 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/health/research/10beha.html?_r=0

Shawn didn’t want to be normal. He wanted to learn to play the guitar. But he just couldn’t make himself do it. Trying hard to practice wasn’t working. Trying hard to not watch so much TV wasn’t working. He would get home from work, plop down in his easy chair, grab the remote, and start flipping channels. He would say to himself, “I really need to stop watching so much TV.” Or, “I really need to practice the guitar.” Then he would flip the channels.

Shawn found a way of escape. He didn’t find success by trying really hard, he found success by walking down a different road.

He took the remote and put it in a closet in another room. He took the batteries out. He put them in still another room. He got a guitar stand, and set it up in the middle of the living room.

The next day, he comes home from work. He plops down in the easy chair. He goes to grab the remote, only to find it is not there. He remembers that he has hidden it in the closet and the batteries are in a different room. He thinks about how much trouble it would be to go and get the remote, find the batteries, and turn on the TV. He grabs the guitar instead. He has found the way of escape. Here is what he learned:

The point is that whether it’s a strict diet, a New Year’s resolution, or an attempt at daily guitar practice, the reason so many of us have trouble sustaining change is because we try to rely on willpower.37

The way of escapeIf you want to start a habit or stop a habit the key is not to try really hard to do this or stop doing that. Trying hard is overrated. Not to say there is not a place for trying hard. But trying hard is like a spare tire. You need a spare tire because every now and then you have a flat. But, if you live your whole life on a spare tire, you are in trouble.

Developing a new habit starts with identifying one habit and working on one habit at a time. The next step is to find a friend to take the journey with you.

The next step is to find a way of escape.

37 Achor, Shawn (2010-09-14). The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work (p. 152). Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Allow me to misquote the verse we looked at earlier. See if you can catch where I got this wrong:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will provide supernatural strength so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV—misquoted)

Did you catch it? Here’s the real verse. See if you can find the difference:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

Success is rarely about trying really hard. It is about finding the way of escape.

If you want to develop the habit of the Quiet Time, work with the environment, not against it.

How I get the environment to work with meI was born twenty years too early. I love all things electronic and computerized. For this reason, I am tempted to read my Bible on my laptop. That way, I can click on a word and see the underlying Greek or Hebrew. I can quickly open a commentary or Bible dictionary for deeper insights. I can pop over here or there for greater understanding.

But, popping over here or there is exactly what I don’t need during my Quiet Time. My Quiet Time is doing better than at any time in my life because of this discovery. I am now reading out of a paper Bible. Gasp! How old school, I know! Not on a tablet. Not on a Kindle, not on a laptop. Not on a phone. On a paper Bible. Here is why, in one word:

Distractions.

When reading the Bible on my laptop, which I did for years, there are too many distractions. It is too easy to pop over and check my email. I am distracted by various beeps that signal some kind of notification. One went off while I was typing the last sentence. There is another. I don’t need that when I am spending time alone with the Almighty.

Have you ever gone to lunch with someone who was constantly checking their phone for messages? How did it make you feel? I can’t help but think I grieved the Holy Spirit for years because I was constantly checking this and that while having my Quiet Time. The Almighty is worthy of my undivided attention.

I work at home. When I work, I sit in the most comfortable chair in the house. When I have my Quiet Time, I sit in a different chair. This small change signals me that I am not at work. This is Jesus time.

Some people prefer to sit outside. The freshness of the air and the beauty of the great outdoors enhances their time alone with God. When I am outside I am distracted by bugs and by the fact that it is a little too hot or a little too cold. That environment doesn’t work for me.

A good part of my wife’s consumption of Scripture is done listening to the Word when she is driving and when she is getting ready in the morning. She is a school teacher and often works twelve-hour days. In addition, she has a half-hour commute. Time is precious. She redeems the time by listening to the Word during preparation and driving time. Some of this listening is the Bible itself. In addition, she listens

to good Christian audio books, and other Christian programing. She worships with Christian worship music.

My brother-in-law does a good deal of his praying while running and walking. He runs and walks about ten miles a day, taking about three hours. This is the best time and place of prayer for him.

When Dawson Trotman, founder of the Christian organization called The Navigators, was converted to faith in Christ in 1926, he began memorizing one Bible verse every day. He was driving a truck for a lumber yard in Los Angeles at the time. While driving around town he would work on his verse for that day. During the first three years of his Christian life he memorized his first thousand verses.38 This is a good example of taking advantage of whatever environment is thrown at you. He could have complained that he didn’t have time to memorize the Word because he was so busy with his truck driving job. Or, he could use the environment to enhance his walk with God.

38 Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991), 44–45.

Before long, memorizing scripture as he drove became a habit. It was just something he did. It was not a discipline in the sense that it was something he forced himself to do. It was just his normal.

Sometimes, you have to get creative. Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley, had nineteen children. She was committed to solitude. In the middle of her busy day, she would pull her apron up over her head and have her quiet time. When the apron went up, the children knew mom was praying and reading her Bible and they left her alone.39

The 80/20 rule and discipleshipAround the turn of the last century (1900ish) Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto (1848-1923) made an observation that has made a dramatic impact on economics and management. It is named in his honor: the Pareto Principle. He observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the people. 80% of the wealth is controlled by 20% of the people. 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people.

John Maxwell has discussed the Pareto Principle in numerous books. He offers these examples:39 David Jeremiah, The Power of Encouragement (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books, 1997), 60.

Time—20 percent of our time produces 80 percent of the results.

Counseling—20 percent of the people take up 80 percent of our time.

Products—20 percent of the products bring in 80 percent of the profit.

Reading—20 percent of the book contains 80 percent of the content.

Job—20 percent of our work gives us 80 percent of our satisfaction.

Speech—20 percent of the presentation produces 80 percent of the impact.

Donations—20 percent of the people will give 80 percent of the money.

Leadership—20 percent of the people will make 80 percent of the decisions.

Picnic—20 percent of the people will eat 80 percent of the food!40

Apply this rule to discipleship. 80% of our disciplemaking is caused by 20% of our effort. What is the 20%?40 John C. Maxwell, Go for Gold: Inspiration to Increase Your Leadership Impact (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008).

For me, the most effective discipleship I have ever been involved in is with a program called the 2:7 Series, produced by the Navigators. (Named from Colossians 2:7, “rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”) The most effective part of the 2:7 Series was the way it encourages people to read the Bible every day.

The 2:7 Series has some nearly blank pages at the back of each book (there are six books). The pages have a place to write down what you read each day and how God spoke to you. There are seven boxes on each page so you can see at a glance how many Quiet Times you had in the last seven days, which were very motivating.

Habakkuk wrote, “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets…” Habakkuk 2:2 (NIV2011) There is something about writing things down.

I have just released a book based on this observation. It consists of 365 nearly-blank pages. It is dated so page one has January 1, page 2 has January 2 and so forth. There is a place to write down what you read, one key verse of the day, and one application. It is called Transformed. http://amzn.com/1512012106

Transformed is a great tool for keeping me on target of having a daily Quiet Time. But, it has another usage as well. It is a great tool for making disciples. Making a disciple comes down to this: getting someone consistent in having a daily Quiet Time. Getting together once a week and discussing what you read each day would go a long way toward that end.

What is your environment for a Quiet Time? Is it quiet? Is it free of distractions? Is it conducive to spending time with the Almighty?

Environment matters. It matters in every arena of life. We go to a nice restaurant not only for the food, but for the environment. We pay more for a nice hotel because the bed will be comfortable and because there will be pictures on the wall and locks on the outside doors. Environment matters.

Jesus went to a solitary place to pray. Why? Environment matters.

Jonathan Edwards was passionate about the things of God from the time he was a child. Did habit matter to him? “He prayed five times each day.” Did environment matter? “With some of his

friends he built a ‘booth’ in the swamp, and there they would gather together to discuss spiritual matters and pray.”41

41 Warren W. Wiersbe, 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2009), 31

The power of the list

With a strong enough “why”, almost anything is possible.

With a strong enough “why”, the “how” will nearly take care of itself.

With a strong enough “why”, we can memorize Scripture, be consistent in our Quiet Time, and become mighty in prayer.

When it comes right down to it, we are just not motivated enough. We don’t want it enough. It doesn’t mean that much to us. We don’t have a strong enough “why”.

How do we get a strong “why”? Let me list three ways:

1. Make a list of all the reasons you want to have a consistent Quiet Time. Make the list long. Make it emotional. Make it matter.

2. Make a list of all the bad things that will happen if you don’t have a consistent

Quiet Time. Again, the longer the list, the better.

3. Make a list of all the good things that will happen if you do have a consistent Quiet Time. Did I mention to make the list long?

We are all influenced by two things: pain and pleasure. Managers know to motivate with both the carrot and the stick. Parents motivate with rewards and punishments. We do well to motivate ourselves the same way—by getting in our head a long list of the reasons why we want to be consistent in our Quiet Time and what bad things will happen if we don’t.

Here are nine reasons to have a Quiet Time that you might consider:

1. To follow the example of Jesus. If Jesus needed to spend time alone with the Father, so do we.

2. To develop an intimate relationship with God. Any relationship is built on time spent in communication. It is impossible to develop an intimate relationship with God without daily time with Him.

3. To be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We are not changed by trying hard

to be good. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

4. To enjoy answered prayer.

5. So that we will sin less than we do. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11 To hide Gods Word in your heart takes time.

6. Because God wants to hear from you. God is excited about spending time with you. He is eager to walk with you. Don’t disappoint Him.

7. So we will worry less than we do. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry, everything to Him in prayer.42

8. For the sheer thrill of enjoying the privilege of spending time with the Almighty. Imagine it! God wants to be with me! It is often the best hour of my day.

9. It is a positive example to everyone I seek to influence.

42 http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh526.sht

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Here is a list of bad things that might happen if I don’t have a Quiet Time:

1. I will miss out on an intimate relationship with God. There simply is no other way.

2. I will never grow as a Christian except that I spend time with the Father.

3. I will never know the joy-filled, abundant, John 10:10 Christian life.

4. Many prayers will go unprayed, and thus, unanswered.

5. I will be a terrible example to my kids and others I seek to influence.

I think you get the idea from here.

Motivation is 90% of almost everything. With a big enough WHY the HOW almost takes care of itself. A list helps us with that. I love the title of Simon Sinek’s book: Start with Why. Speaking of book titles, here is another great one: Keith Holden’s The Power of Raaargh! I haven’t actually read that one, but you gotta love the title. With a strong Raaargh! in your gut, you can break any nasty habit. A list can help with that.

The Bible and listsTwo examples come to mind with reference to lists, one positive, and one negative. In one example we see someone use a list to sin, in the other we see someone avoiding sin with a list. First, the negative. Notice how many reasons Eve had to take of the fruit:

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6 (NIV)

Eve looked at the apple and saw that it was good food. Who doesn’t love a good apple? But wait, there’s more: not only was the apple good food, it was also pretty. Who doesn’t like pretty food? Chefs train to prepare tasty food, but also food that looks tasty. In expensive restaurants, presentation is everything. The apple tasted great and was presented well.

But wait, there is more: it was desirable for gaining wisdom. Everyone knows that apples make you smart. Tastes great. Looks great. Makes you smart. With these three reasons, who could resist? The rest, as they say, is history. A

list drove Eve—and the human race—down a dark road.

Now, a positive example. Look how Joseph was able to resist sex with Potiphar’s wife through the power of a list.

But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. Genesis 39:8-10 (NIV)

I count four reasons why Joseph refused to go to bed with her. How many did you count?

If you want to motivate yourself to be consistent in your Quiet Time, get a long list of reasons why. Advertisers do it all the time. But wait, there’s more:

It is on sale.

It gets great gas millage.

It comes with a money-back guarantee.

It is shiny.

It is comfortable.

It is small.

It is big.

It sounds great!

It tastes great!

It looks great!

You will look great!

How many reasons do you need? Advertisers know you need more than one. You should know it too. If you want to be consistent in your Quiet Time, get a long list of reasons why. Motivation is 90% of almost everything.

Think about a three-ring-circus. You are mesmerized by the activity in ring #1. Maybe it is an elephant or a trapeze artist. You watch in amazement. But, then the activity slows down. You start to get bored. Or, you would get bored except for the stuff going on in ring #2. Now that is amazing. You watch that for a while until it

starts getting boring. Something in ring #3 catches your eye. This goes on all night keeping you interested and entertained all night long as your mind flits from ring to ring to ring.

Lists do that for us. We think of one reason and it motivates us for a while. But, after a while that reason loses its spunk. No worries, we have a second reason, and we meditate on it for a while. Until we don’t. We get bored but now we have a third reason, and a fourth to fifth. This is the power of the list.

This is one reason why I produced the nearly blank book Transformed. It will give you one more reason to have a Quiet Time each day: so that you don’t have any blank pages. You want 365 pages filled out in your book. You don’t have to spend a lot of time every day. Consistency is what matters. Get the Book open every day. Write something down every day. You don’t want to see any blank pages.

Jesus’ listIf you would like to see an example of a list providing motives for someone doing the hard thing, look no further than the example of Jesus. Jesus went to the cross and suffered excruciating pain when at any moment he could have called 10,000 angels to come and rescue Him.

(Matthew 26:53) Why did He do it? Why did He stay on the cross? He had a list.

1. Jesus died for the joy that was set before Him. (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus looked forward to the joy of spending eternity with you and me so much that He couldn’t stand the thought of missing out on that. For the joy set before Him—His own joy—He stayed on the cross. Looking forward to the coming joy He would experience motivated Him to endure the cross. It is an amazing thing that Jesus was motivated by the joy of spending eternity with you and me. Athletes motivate themselves the same way, although, to a much lesser degree. Athletes like to say, “No pain; no gain.” They see the joy before them that motivates them to endure the pain.

2. Jesus died because He loves us. John 3:16 is perhaps the most famous sentence in any language. God loves the world so much that He sent His one and only Son to die. Very rarely would someone die for someone else. (Romans 5:7) It is an expression of ultimate love. There are very few people I would die for. You only die for people you really, really love. (Romans 5:8) God really, really loves you,

and Jesus’ death is an expression of that love.

3. Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins. We tend to divide the world into two categories: sinners, and really bad sinners. We know we are sinners—no one is perfect. But, we think of ourselves as not really bad sinners. The Bible has no such category. We are all really bad sinners. We are all capable of the worst of sins. We are all guilty enough to secure us a place with the worst of sinners. Jesus stayed on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

We have a God-given instinct that tells us that when someone sins, someone has to pay. We feel this way because we are created in the image of a God who is just. This sense of justice tells us that when there is a crime, someone has to pay. You feel it every night when you watch the evening news and you see some horrible act of violence. You feel it again when there is a courtroom drama and a criminal gets away with murder. There is something in you that just screams, “That’s just wrong! He is going to pay for what he did!”

I love this song:

He paid a debt He did not owe;I owed a debt I could not pay;I needed someone to wash my sins away.And, now, I sing a brand new song,“Amazing Grace.”Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.43

4. Jesus died to turn aside the wrath of God. God takes sin very seriously. He is a Holy God and cannot stand to look at sin. Your sin makes God mad. Very mad. So mad He will send you to hell if it is not dealt with. So mad that when Jesus took on our sin, “the Father turned his face away.” This is why Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) Romans 5:9 says we are saved from God’s wrath. Only through the cross could the penalty of our sins be atoned for.

The wrath of God is not a very popular subject. We would like to imagine a God who has been tamed. Sit in enough Bible study classes and you will hear someone say, “Well, I like to believe in a God that is…” They go on to describe a God who is a little bit like Santa Claus. We want a nice

43 http://www.touchjesussongs.net/lyricspage15.html

God who is always sweet. This is not the God of the Bible. (By the way, this results in a Christianity that is always nice. For many, to behave Christianly means to behave kindly. This is often a good idea, but there does come a time to turn over some tables.)

Presbyterians recently started a debate about this. They rejected the hymn, “In Christ Alone” when the hymn writers would not allow them to change the words from, “And on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied” to, “the love of God was magnified.”

We may or may not like the idea, but the Bible clearly teaches that God is a God of wrath. And Jesus died on the cross to turn aside the wrath of God.

5. Jesus died for the glory of God. John MacArthur called the glory of God, “The reason for everything.” I tend to agree. It is the reason you should want to break a habit, or make a habit. Jesus died as He lived, for the glory of God.

The classic passage on this is Philippians 2. Read this familiar passage and look for why Jesus went to the cross.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:6-11 (NIV)

You may have found a number of reasons why Jesus went to the cross, but I draw your attention to the last line: “to the glory of God the Father.” This is, ultimately, what motivated Jesus and what should motivate us: the glory of God. It is the reason for everything.

Whatever reasons you put on your list to have a consistent Quiet Time, add this to it:

I want to have a Quiet Time for the glory of God.

The Principle of Replacement

Toward the end of your life, you will look back and see there was a B.C. section and an A.D. section.

B.C. was before Christ was a daily part of your life. It was before the consistent daily Quiet Time provided a conduit through which you could be filled with the Spirit.

A.D. is really A.D.Q.T. — After Daily Quiet Time. This is when abundant Christian living began. This is when the crucified life was discovered. This was when Spirit filled-living began.

But, if you are going to carve out thirty minutes a day to do nothing but commune with God, something has to go. What will it be?

Will you just discipline yourself to get up earlier and live on thirty minutes less sleep? I doubt it. And, even if you did, I don’t think it would be a good thing. The Bible says, “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.” Psalm 127:2 (NIV)

Modern science has confirmed what God has always known: life is better with rest. Notice the word must in this verse: “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.” Exodus 34:21 (NIV) If we follow the Lord’s command, these are some benefits we can expect to enjoy:

1. Sleep Helps You Form Memories

2. Sleep Helps Solidify Learning

3. Sleep Helps Clean Up Your Brain

4. Sleep Helps Reduce Risk of Depression

5. Sleep Can Aid Test Performance

6. Sleep May Boost Athletic Performance

7. Well-Rested People Take Fewer Sick Days

8. Sleeping Well Helps Avoid Weight Gain

From weight to immunity to brain power, the science of slumber continues revealing just how important and beneficial sleep is to our overall well-being.44

44 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/firas-kittaneh/8-new-ways-sleep-benefits_b_6437974.html

Cutting our sleep is probably not a good idea. What about family time? Should you cut out on that? Marriage research recommends couples spend fifteen hours a week in couple time. This doesn’t count time with the kids or time watching TV. For many of us, if we cut down on family time, our marriages will suffer.

What about work? Most don’t have the luxury of cutting out there.

Perhaps you spend a good deal of time on a hobby of some kind. This seems rare in my experience, but perhaps it is true of you.

Maybe you exercise so much and so consistently that you can cut down on exercise to spend time with the Almighty. Again, this is rare.

Maybe you can double up some of your time.

Maybe you may can do as my wife does—listen to the Word as you get ready in the morning or as you drive.

Maybe you may can do as my brother-in-law does—pray and exercise.

Perhaps you can cut some TV watching out. NYdailynews.com reports that the average American watches five hours of TV a day.45 Excessive TV watching is linked to all kinds of bad consequences including depression, loneliness and poor health. It might even shorten your life.46

If you are one of the millions of Americans who watch five hours of TV a day, this is definitely a place to consider a change.

The real point I am trying to make is this: you can’t add thirty minutes to your day to spend time with God. You have to take thirty minutes from something else. This is the principle of replacement.

The Bible and the principle of replacementThe Bible says, “Overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21) It does not say to overcome evil by thinking about how much you would like to do that forbidden thing, sitting on your hands and doing nothing. It says overcome evil with good. 45 http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/average-american-watches-5-hours-tv-day-article-1.1711954 46 http://deadline.com/2015/01/binge-watching-linked-to-depression-and-loneliness-1201362817/http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/binge-watching-tv-may-harm-health/

This is the principle of replacement. Nature abhors a vacuum. Paul said we must put off the old and put on the new. (Col.3:9, 10). We don’t put on the new over the old. We don’t put off the old without replacing it with the new. How is the new different?

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:25-29 (NIV)

Replace falsehood with truth. Replace bad anger with good anger. Replace stealing with honest work and generosity. Replace unwholesome talk with helpful talk. Verses 31 – 32 say to replace bitterness, rage, anger, and so forth with kindness and compassion.

Jesus told the story of a demon possessed man whose demon was cast out. It left him and went to find a place to rest. It couldn’t find any. When the demon came back, it found the house (man) swept clean and empty. The demon goes and gets seven of his demon buddies and they all occupy the man together. Jesus says, “And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” Matthew 12:45b (NIV)

The emphasis of the story seems to be that the man’s life was unoccupied when the demon came back. Had he filled his life with godly things, the demon would not have come back.

This is how the author of Bod 4 God, Steve Reynolds lost a hundred pounds and kept it off. It is how I lost fifty pounds and kept it off by doing what Steve suggests. What is Steve’s magic formula? The principle of replacement:

Focus on adding good things to your diet until they crowd out the bad foods. Instead of pursuing one diet after another, I began to replace bad foods with good ones. I’ve done it to the point that now I’ve crowded out the bad foods. My kryptonite back then was Krispy Kreme donuts. I could polish off a couple of them without thinking.

Now I crave the good stuff—apples, bananas, and so on.

Instead of a bagel, I eat a protein health bar

Instead of ice cream, I eat nonfat yogurt

Instead of diet sodas, I drink water during the day

I went from eating no fruit to eating an apple a day

I went from eating a hamburger and fries to eating chicken salad with a small amount of lowfat dressing

Instead of using mayonnaise on sandwiches, I use mustard

Instead of fried chips and dip, I eat baked chips and salsa

Instead of eating lots of beef, I eat lots of chicken and some fish

Instead of white bread, I eat whole-grain bread

Instead of fried foods, I eat baked foods (reduces the amount of fat)

Instead of vegetable oil, I use olive oil (a monounsaturated oil—the good kind of fat!)

Instead of high-fat creamer, I use fat-free creamer47

What are you going to do your Quiet Time instead of?

Changing the way we do churchThere is an interesting passage in 1 Corinthians that speaks to the way we do church. It is tucked away in a passage that deals with speaking in tongues. I am Baptist, so the whole passage makes me a little nervous. If it makes you nervous, set aside the issue of tongue speaking for a moment. Look for how this passage speaks to how we do church. What should the order of worship look like? Who should do the teaching? How many should participate in leadership?

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn,

47 Bod 4 God: The Four Keys to Weight Loss by Steve Reynolds

or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God. Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 1 Corinthians 14:26–29 (NIV2011)

Notice the phrase, “each of you…” This suggests that at some of our church meetings, each person should come prepared to bring a presentation of some kind. It might be an insight from a Quiet Time, a reading from a book, or a song. I discovered an awesome Chris Tomlin video during my Quiet Time this morning. I might bring that to my meeting.

Here is what I suggest. Replace (or repurpose) one of your church meetings with a meeting where each one—everyone—is expected to bring something to the meeting.

I have tinkered with playing both guitar and piano over the years. The only time I have really

made any progress is when I had an outlet—a weekly place where I played with a group. When I played as part of a worship team, I was motivated to practice. I like practicing OK, but need an outlet to keep me motivated. I don’t like practicing enough to practice when there is no place to play publically. I need an outlet.

I think a lot of people feel this way about Quiet Time. As long as they have an outlet—someplace where they can share what they have learned, then they are motivated to continue. Without an outlet, they miss days, then they miss more days. Before long, they are not having a Quiet Time at all.

What I suggest is based on the principle of replacement. I suggest we replace one of our church meetings with a meeting where people can share what they have learned. Another way to accomplish this might be through a Facebook group. Encourage each person to share one insight from their daily reading each day.

Hebrews 10:24 is a classic verse:

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24 (NIV2011)

We take this to mean: go to church regularly. But, look carefully at what kind of meetings are spoken of here. This is not a sit-in-straight-rows-and-watch-the-same-events-happen-on-the-same-stage meeting. This is a one another meeting. This is circles, not rows. This is participation. Replace or repurpose one of your sit-in-straight-rows meetings with a Hebrews 10:24 meeting. A meeting where everyone comes ready to bring something that will be an encouragement to the group.

A classic psychological study was conducted in the late 1960’s called the Marshmallow Study. They sat a child in a room with a marshmallow and told him he could eat it if he wanted. However, if he waited fifteen minutes, he could get two marshmallows. (There are some great videos on YouTube where they have recreated these studies.) About half the kids were able to wait and enjoy two marshmallows.

The interesting part of the study was the follow up study done seventeen years later, when these kids were now 20. They found that the kids that waited for the second marshmallow were doing better in life by every measure imaginable. Their BMI was lower. They were healthier. They had better relationships. They were happier. They

were wealthier. They went to better schools. They averaged 210 points higher on their SAT.

Delaying gratification predicts all things good. And, here is the good news: delaying gratification can be learned. And it is learned through the principle of replacement.

Researchers learned that they could teach kids to distract themselves. They could replace their boredom with playing with something, or coloring, or any number of things. When they replaced their boredom with activity, they were able to wait fifteen minutes and enjoy the second marshmallow.

And, the changes stuck. Kids that were taught to replace boredom with something else were able to retain this skill on future tests.

Your life will be forever changed when you embrace the single habit of the consistent Quiet Time. But, this time must come from somewhere. You have to stop doing something. What will it be?

Work through the dip

Discouraged yet? Want to quit yet? Missed a few days? Missed a few months? Have you hit the dip yet? The dip is when you have long since run out of that initial energy that got you going and you are too far from the finish line to be motivated by that. The dip is when it gets hard. The dip is when people quit. The dip is what separates winners from losers.

Marriage has a dip. You start out giggly and in love and everything is roses. Love covers a multitude of sins, and when you are in love you can gladly look past anything. You might even find his rudeness cute or his messiness charming. You won’t find it cute or charming when you hit the dip. The dip is when people call divorce lawyers.

If you start an exercise program you will most certainly hit a dip. It’s exciting at first, even fun. It’s energizing to join the gym. It’s exciting to buy a bike. It’s fun to get started. When the dip comes, this all changes. Fun turns into drudgery. The workout turns into work. Welcome to the dip.

If you decide to continue your education, you will hit the dip. Enrolling is fun. Buying books is exciting. Getting started is an adventure. But, somewhere along the line it will just be work. You have hit the dip.

People who attempt to have a consistent Quiet Time always hit a dip. Maybe in a week. Maybe in a month. Maybe in three months. Everyone hits a dip.

Maybe because you get busy. Maybe because you get bored. Maybe because you get distracted. Everyone hits a dip.

Seth Godin wrote an excellent book on this—The Dip. I found this helpful graph that summarizes Godin’s thesis:

You are excited at first and progress moves forward rapidly. Then you hit the dip. Things get hard. Most people quit. I found this graphic that sheds some additional light on the dip.

Notice the dashed line that says naïve curve. This is what we naïvely think will happen as we move forward— onward and upward, steadily up and to the right. We imagine that each day we

will find exciting, life-changing insights from the Word. This will happen some. It won’t happen every day. Usually, we hit a dip.

Notice something else about this graphic. The best place to quit is just before you enter the dip. The most common place to quit is at the end of the dip. Things are actually just about to get better when people quit.

It is not an altogether bad idea to quit. At least, it is not a bad idea to quit one particular approach to Quiet Time. You might start reading through the Bible in a year. You get to Leviticus. Ugh.

Don’t quit the idea of a Quiet Time. Don’t quit a relationship with Jesus. But, you might quit that approach to a Quiet Time.

We learn by doing. We might not know that something is not a good fit for us unless we try. It is not a bad idea to try for a time, and if it doesn’t work out, quit. But, if we quit, we ought to do so sooner rather than later. The last thing we want to do is work through the dip for a long time and then quit. This is all pain and no gain. Sadly, it is the path most often taken.

I was lifting weights with a friend of mine during one period of my life. I hit the dip and was ready to quit. My friend was my cheerleader. “You got to push! One more! You can do it! Come on! One more rep!”

I put the weights on the bar. It occurred to me in that moment that I didn’t want to do one more rep. I didn’t want to be a bodybuilder. I just wanted to do a little exercise. My favorite verse is that verse that says, “physical training is of some value.” (1 Timothy 4.8) Note the word, “some.” Some value. It is not of ultimate value. It was not all that important to me then or now. So I quit. I have never regretted that decision.

You cannot be really good at everything. You can’t be an expert in everything. You do well to concentrate on one or two things and dabble in other things or quit altogether. I choose to dabble in weight lifting. I have never regretted that decision.

But, if you don’t quit you have to work through that dip. To have a consistent Quiet Time, you will have to work through the dip.

Nehemiah hits the dipNehemiah is my favorite Old Testament book. It is a story of a man with a displaced heart. He is a Jew but he lives in exile in the city of Susa. He asked some friends about his homeland and discovers it is a mess. He takes a big risk to ask the King if he can lead a team of people to go back and lead his people to rebuild the wall.

Nehemiah goes back to Jerusalem and rallies the troops. All goes well for a time. “So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.” Nehemiah 4:6 (NIV)

They rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem until it reached half its height because this is what we do in the early part of the project. We work like they worked—with all our heart, and we get

results like they got results—quite a bit done in a short period of time. Then, they hit the halfway mark. They hit the dip. “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.” Nehemiah 4:10 (NIV)

When they hit the dip, they felt they couldn’t go on. All they could see was rubble. Rubble. Rubble. Rubble.

Odd thing about this rubble. There was no more rubble now then there had been when they started. But now, in the dip, all they could see was rubble. They had actually made quite a bit of progress. But, all they could see was rubble.

Nehemiah tried to cheer them up: “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” Nehemiah 4:14 (NIV)

Verse 21 says, “They continued the work.” It is interesting to me that it does not say that they had a burst of enthusiasm. It doesn’t say that they suddenly got super motivated. He just said they continued the work.

People who are consistent in daily Quiet Time are very familiar with this word: continue. They know about the dip. They have been there. How did they get through it? How did they work through to consistency? Continue.

Motivation is overratedSometimes, you will hear someone say they just can’t find the motivation to work out or read their Bibles or work on their marriages. We don’t need motivation, we just need to do the work. Motivation is overrated. We say we need to be motivated when we don’t. Unmotivated work will do just fine. You’ll take off just as many calories on an unmotivated run as you will on a motivated run. Motivation is overrated; continue the work.

Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” By the way, I think we should get tempted to get weary from time to time. I think it is a good thing to work hard enough that sometimes we are tempted to get weary. But, the command is that we not give up. We keep working. We keep at it whether or not we feel weary.

I love what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:58 (RSV), “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be

steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” When you feel like quitting, be steadfast. When critics oppose you, be immovable. Don’t just do the work that God has called you to do, abound in it. Your labor in the Lord is not in vain even if you struggle to find the motivation.

One more passage:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Hebrews 12:1-4 (NIV)

Can I paraphrase that last line for you? I think if this were written today, it would read, “Don’t be

a crybaby,” “Cowboy up,” or, “Sissies need not apply.” I think the writer would have appreciated the speech where Winston Churchill said, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”48

If you can get a friend to take the journey with you, it might help. It might make it easier if you have it firmly in your mind why you want to have a consistent Quiet Time and what it will cost you if you don’t. Make a long list and keep that list prominently before you. You want to try to find the way of escape and make it as easy as possible to have the Quiet Time.

This book is dedicated to the cause of having a consistent Quiet Time easier. But, let’s not sugarcoat it. It won’t ever be easy. If going to school was easy, everyone would be doctors. If losing weight was easy, everyone would be thin. If being consistent in daily Quiet Time was easy, everyone would do it. This is work. This is war. There is an enemy who is out to kill, steal, and destroy.

When Paul described Christian living, he used words like straining and striving. For Paul,

48 http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/92-blood-toil-tears-and-sweat

Christian living was pushing and struggling and sometimes failing and trying again. I love this quote from Roosevelt:

It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or the doer of deeds could have them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the Arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but he who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great devotion; who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls, who know neither victory nor defeat.” — Teddy Roosevelt49

Nothing of significance is ever done by people that just feel like it. I doubt the SEAL Team that took out Bin Laden felt like training. I doubt Michelangelo felt like painting every day. Great

49 http://www.rightwingnews.com/quotes/rwns-favorite-success-quotes-2/

achievements are accomplished because people work through the dip. They do when they don’t feel like doing. They practice when they don’t feel like practicing. I doubt Mother Teresa always felt like helping. She had this inscribed on the wall of her home:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.50

50 Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists by Courtney E. Martin.

If all else fails, try this

Why is it so hard to develop the habit of a consistent daily Quiet Time? Why did the God of the universe who could have made us any way He wanted make us so it is so hard and so few succeed? Why did He make the way so narrow? Why is Romans 7 such a universally familiar condition?

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? Romans 7:21-24 (MSG)

We could blame ourselves—the flesh, the fall, the world, culture, or the devil. But, God is sovereign and He could’ve made us anyway He wanted. Why did He make us so that taking time to commune with Him is so hard?

Why do we struggle so to take those pounds off and it is so easy to put them back on? Why have so many of us started reading the Bible every day, only to neglect the habit. Every Thanksgiving we intend to develop the habit of gratitude but in a few weeks, we are grumbling and complaining again.

There may be a number of answers to this perplexing problem, but the one I want to focus on today is this: God wants to draw us to Himself. He wants our soul cry to be…

I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;Every hour I need Thee;Oh, bless me now, my Savior,I come to Thee.51

Perhaps you wish your experience was like Charles Stanley. His testimony is that having a consistent Quiet Time was not a struggle for him:

Discipline comes easy for me. I have always enjoyed getting up early in the morning. I like to exercise. I love to study. I have been taking vitamins and eating right for years. I have had high moral and ethical standards since I was twelve. All that to say,

51 Annie S. Hawks

Christianity suited me just fine. I liked everything about it. And judging from my public behavior, I was a great Christian. I never fought with my family. It was easy for us to pray together. Everything was great—on the outside.

With that view, I graduated from seminary in May 1957 and charged out into the world to make things happen for God. When people would come to me for counseling, I had the same answer for everybody. Whether it was marital problems, moral issues, spiritual strongholds, it didn’t matter; I had the cure-all answer: “Just confess your sin and get with the program!” After all, what else is there to the Christian life? God has made His plan perfectly clear, hasn’t He? Now all we need to do is to get out there and make it happen. At least, that is what I thought.52

He spends the rest of the book explaining that this actually worked against him. At the end of the day, he was not becoming a good Christian. He was only becoming a good Pharisee. Then he discovered the wonderful, Spirit-filled life. 52 Charles Stanley, The Spirit-Filled Life: Discover the Joy of Surrendering to the Holy Spirit (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2014).

Only by prayerThere is an interesting story in Mark 9 that sheds light on the question of why consistency in Quiet Time is so difficult. A man has a son who is possessed by an evil spirit. He brings the son to the disciples who are unable to cast out the demon. When the spirit saw Jesus, it threw the boy to the ground in convulsions. He rolled around, foaming at the mouth. It was an awful spectacle. Heartbreaking.

Jesus tenderly asks, “How long has he been this way?”

We learn something about Jesus in this question, by the way. He is not only interested in doing for us, he wants to relate to us. He wants to converse with us. He wants to talk.

After Jesus heals the boy, His disciples ask Jesus, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

Jesus said, “This kind can only come out by prayer.”53 A.T. Robertson said, “They were powerless because they were prayerless.”54

53 Or, as some manuscripts have it, “prayer and fasting.”54 Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Mk 9:29). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press

It is interesting that Jesus uses that little phrase, “this kind.” “This kind” suggests that there is more than one kind of demon. There are demons that are easy to cast out, and there are demons that are hard to cast out.

Similarly, there are habits that are easy to break, and there are habits that are almost impossible to break. For most Christians, developing the centrally important habit of the Quiet Time seems almost impossibly difficult. Some habits will not be broken, even if. . .

You get a friend to take the journey with you.

You have a really strong “why.”

You do all you can to avoid the temptation, knowing that if you avoid the temptation you can avoid the sin.

You have a clear, specific, measurable, motivational, goal.

You try really hard.

You set in place a system of reward.

You have a motivational measurement system.

You work through more than one dip.

Some habits will only be broken through prayer. I love this two-line story:

“Pastor, I think we should really pray about that.”

“Has it come to that?”

So often, prayer is a last resort. I haven’t put this chapter on prayer last because it is least important; I have put it last because I want these ideas ringing in your head when you put down this book.

Research has confirmed what Christians have long believed to be true: some habits will only be broken through prayer. This quote is interesting because of its source. This comes from a secular book on what science had learned about habits:

Researchers began finding that habit replacement worked pretty well for many people until the stresses of life— such as finding out your mom has cancer, or your marriage is coming apart— got too high, at which point alcoholics often fell off the wagon. Academics asked why, if habit replacement is so

effective, it seemed to fail at such critical moments. And as they dug into alcoholics’ stories to answer that question, they learned that replacement habits only become durable new behaviors when they are accompanied by something else.

One group of researchers at the Alcohol Research Group in California, for instance, noticed a pattern in interviews. Over and over again, alcoholics said the same thing: Identifying cues and choosing new routines is important, but without another ingredient, the new habits never fully took hold.

The secret, the alcoholics said, was God.

Researchers hated that explanation.55

But why?But why? Why did the God of the universe set things up this way? Why did He make it where

55 Duhigg, Charles (2012-02-28). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Kindle Locations 1478-1485). Random House, Inc. Kindle Edition.

habits are so hard to break that we have to rely on prayer?

Michael Catt is the pastor behind such movies as Fireproof and Facing the Giants. He offers an explanation to this question, “Most of us never seek the Lord until we are forced to.”56 God desperately wants to enter into a relationship with us. He wants to walk with us, and talk with us, do life with us. But, much of the time we are happy to ignore Him. Until we are desperate. Until we have a problem that we can’t solve. Until it is our child who is sick. Until we run out of money. Until we have a habit we just can’t master.

Then, we cry out to God. We don’t just pray, we beg. We plead. We fast—not as some religious ritual, but as an act of desperation. God desperately wants us to be desperate for him.

Following God and growing in discipleship is a two-fisted endeavor. We work as if it all depended on us, we pray as if it all depended on God. Paul spoke of striving and straining and boxing and pushing and doing all he could, all the while knowing that all he could do was not enough. Paul said, “It is no longer I who live, but 56 Catt, M. (2009). The Power Of Desperation: Breakthroughs In Our Brokenness. Nashville: B&H

Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) And he said, “straining toward what is ahead, I press on.” (Philippians 3:13, 14)

Here is one of my favorite questions to include in my Bible Lessons:57 Is Christian living active or passive?

I heard a pastor once say he works all day to win people to Christ and when he lays down at night he “sleeps like a Calvinist.”

This is the way: to strive and strain and get a friend and set goals and measure what matters and work through the dip and do it all knowing that if God does not show up, if Christ does not strengthen, if Christ does not live His life in me, it is all for naught.

Christianity is not passive. It is not, as some say, “Letting go and letting God.” At least, that is not all there is to it. There is much, much more. There is striving and straining and trying and pushing. Paul compared Christian living with a boxing match. It is intense. It is working with all you’ve got.

57 Good Questions Have Groups Talking www.joshhunt.com

But, Christianity is not a self-help program. It is striving and straining but it is not merely striving and straining. It is striving and straining knowing that if God does not empower me, I will never break this habit. It will break me.

God allows unbreakable habits into our lives to drive us to desperately seek Him.

Jerry Bridges uses an airplane to illustrate this point:

Visualize that aircraft as though you were looking down on it from above, as shown in the following illustration.

You see the fuselage, where you are sitting, the two wings, and the tail assembly. As you look at the

two wings you see the words dependence on the left wing and discipline on the right wing. This airplane illustrates one of the most important principles in the Christian life. Just as the airplane must have both wings to fly, so we must exercise both discipline and dependence in the pursuit of holiness. Just as it is impossible for an airplane to fly with only one wing, so it is impossible for us to successfully pursue holiness with only dependence or discipline. We absolutely must have both.58

One of my favorite metaphors for Christian living is that of a moving sidewalk like they have in many large airports. These are not designed for you to stand passively and let the moving sidewalk carry you along. They’re designed so that you do the walking on the sidewalk. But, the sidewalk is moving, so that it carries you along much faster than you would moving under your own strength.

58 Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace: God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006), 129–130.

So it is with following God. We walk as fast as we can, knowing that underneath us is the power of God moving us along.

Of course, the illustration is not perfect. Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing. No true, spiritual progress can be accomplished without the Holy Spirit working through me. It is not that I would do slightly better if the Holy Spirit empowered me. I can do nothing without Him. I think God makes having a Quiet Time difficult for most of us so that we believe that in our soul.

I close with a prayer that God will richly bless you as you desperately pray that He helps you walk consistently with Him. The habit of prayer and Bible reading makes that possible. May God richly bless you as you seek to follow Him.