Disciplines of godliness - part 3

So how do we become disciplined in prayer?  I think to be disciplined in prayer we need to consider ‘what’ of prayer and the ‘when’ of prayer.   

Let us start by considering the ‘when’ of prayer.  Firstly, we want our prayer life to be continuous.  Paul commands us in 1 Thessalonians 5v17 to “pray continually”.  Of course it is impossible to have a continual prayer dialogue with God, but the prayer called for here is not so much the articulation of words but the posture of the heart.  John Wesley described this much better than I could saying, “His heart is ever lifted up to God as all times and in all places.  In this he is never hindered, much less interrupted, by any person or thing…His heart is ever with the Lord.  Whether he lie down or rise up, God is in all his thoughts; he walks with God continually”.  

Secondly, we want to have a focused time of prayer.  Throughout the gospels we see examples of Jesus taking himself away to pray.  He knew the importance of a daily uninterrupted time with God.  This will vary for all of us. You want to find a time when you will not be disturbed and you are ready and awake.  Now I know the lives that we live mean that often our days can be quite varied and it can be difficult to set aside a similar time each day for God.  But I do wonder whether we use that as an excuse to let ourselves away with not coming to God each day.  If I really tried, I would be able to find time in my day.  It doesn’t need to be the exactly same time each day but it over the course of a week I should endeavour to consistency.  However, I do think it is a good habit to begin your day with prayer, even just a short time.  C.S. Lewis - “The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals.  And the first job of each day consists in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice…letting that other, larger stronger, quieter like come flowing in.”

So what about the 'whats’ of prayer?  In order to ensure that our prayer-time has balance, it is good to remember that there are different kinds of prayer which should find a place in our devotion.  Before we look at specifics it is important we understand that our prayer time cannot be reduced to a few simple rules.  Our times of prayer should be dynamic and personal.  There is no prescribed order.  Life's rhythms mean we might spend more time in one that the other.  So with the following headings how you might personally incorporate these into your prayer time will vary to someone else, I think a good quality prayer life will have all of them.  .  

• The look up at God: this is worship.  This is giving God the glory which is due his name.  It is the best antidote to self-centredness.  Jesus taught us to do this.  The Lord’s prayer begins with concern for God’s glory and not our own needs.  We concentrate on the hallowing of his name, the spreading of his kingdom and the doing of his will.  This is not easy to do.  We so often want to run straight in with our list of wants and needs.  It takes real effort to turn our minds inside our and gaze on God. 
• The look in at ourselves: this leads to confession.  The word of God should expose our sin, selfishness, pride and greed.  So in turn, God’s word should lead us to repentance and confession.  We need to be honest about our true nature and bring before God our daily sins and the sins his word has revealed to us.  After we recall our sins we must confess, humbly ask and gratefully receive God’s forgiveness and then dwell on them no longer. 
• The look round at ourselves: this is intercession.  Jesus prayed for His friends and His enemies.  Paul prayed for Christians who’d been converted through him, the churches he’d founded, friends he worked with. We too must remember others in prayer.  It is the best service of love we can give them.  I finding keeping a prayer list the most helpful way of doing this – pray for family, friends, work colleagues, your church, and your small group.  Pray also for our country, world issues, Christians around the world.  This list could go on.  So before you start thinking you need to pray for hours to get through them all, come up with a system.  Some people/issues you might want to pray for daily, others weekly and others monthly.  However often you pray be specific.  Use the Bible to help you pray for other – Paul’s prayers in his letters are really useful.
• The look back at the past: this is thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving differs from worship in that in worship with praise God for what he is in Himself, while in thanksgiving we thank Him for what he has done for us.  Thanking him for his love shown through Jesus, the grace he has shown to us.  The hope of glory we have in the future.  The many and numerous ways he blesses us every day.
• The look on to the future: this is petition.  Petition has a real place in our prayers.  Jesus told us to ask out Heavenly Father to supply all our needs and Paul wrote that we were “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” to let our “requests be made known to God”.  The purpose of such petition is neither to inform God of our needs, as if He were ignorant of them, nor bully Him to meet them as if He were reluctant to do so. We need to pray for our sakes, rather than His.  We ask for guidance to know God’s will and strength to do it.

As you've read through this series I hope you have seen the importance of cultivating godliness disciplines in response to all God has done for us in Christ.  Why don't you read the series with a friend and hold each other accountable to any godly disciplines you want to cultivate?  Ask for God's help and thank him that he has given us all we need to live the godly life he has called us to.  

Disciplines of godliness - part 2

The second area we must be disciplined in cultivating a life shaped by submission.  Submission is one of those terms that can be widely misunderstood and can have negative connotations associated with it.  It can be regarded as degrading or belittling.  We can assume that to submit is to be a doormat and just blindly agree to what another person commands of us.  We can also have a narrow view of submission.  Thinking submission has something to do with marriage and a woman’s relationship to her husband (which it does), or perhaps a woman’s role in the church (which it does).  But we can think if we are not married or not active in the church, submission is something we don’t need to think about.

So what is submission and what does it mean for us as Christian women?  Put simply submission is yielding to the authority of another.  And for Christians the authority that we must yield to is God’s.  The gospel reveals the truth that Jesus is Lord.  Peter Jensen, former archbishop of Sydney, puts it this way, “There was a monumental difference between  Jesus and the other prophets of the Bible.  Not only did Jesus bring a message from God; he himself was the chief content of the message he brought.  He announced the kingdom and he revealed that he was its King.”  The message of the Bible is clear: Jesus is Lord and as such when we commit to follow him we submit our lives to his loving rule.  We bring everything in our lives into submission under His will.  We loosen the grip we have on our plans for our lives and instead place ourselves in God’s hands.  We allow him to call the shots.

There are many pictures of submission in action in the Bible.  But I find Mary, the mother of Jesus’ submission beautiful in its simplicity.  A young girl is chosen by God.  A angel brings her the message that she is to bear a child, the long-awaited Saviour.  And what is Mary’s response?  Her answer is wonderful in its brevity and so full of trust, “I am the Lord’s servant…May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1v38).  There is no further questioning, no argument, no fuss.  A 19th Century Free Church Minister, Alexander Moody Stuart commented that if Abraham is the great example of faith in the Old Testament, then Mary is the supreme example of faith in the New.  I would tend to agree.  Against all human reckoning, compromising her personal reputation, risking the loss of the man she loved, she believed God. 

And before Mary’s example of submission becomes something we use to beat ourselves with we need to see where her submission comes from.  Her song in Luke 1 reveals why she was able to respond with such submission.  We see a heart and mind steeped in Scripture, a passionate concern for the nation and for God’s glory.  She sang of God’s goodness, his grace, his mercy, his power and his promise to his people.  Mary knew God, knew what he had done and what he promised to do.  Because she knew God she was able to willingly submit to him whatever the personal cost to her.  Which is why if we have live a life disciplined in understanding the gospel, the natural next step is a life disciplined in submission.  It is the only natural outworking of the gospel.  The gospel calls all believers to willingly to submit to what we know and trust about God.  As we get to know him better and trust him more we will more and more readily submit to him as we know he is good and faithful.  We will know he has our best interests at heart in all he asks us to do.  

How do we become disciplined in living a life of submission?  By firstly recognising that submitting is an ongoing, daily choosing of God’s ways over our own ways.  We will struggle with submission all our lives.  Our hearts want our own way so we need to choose to follow God’s way.  I think we need to be proactive in recognising the areas where we most readily struggle with submission and having God as king.  
Secondly, we need to look at all the roles we fulfil that require us to submit in a godly way: child, employee, citizen, wives, church members and children of God.  Do we know what God requires of us?  Do we know what his word says?  In order to submit to God’s will we need to know what his will is. 

Next we need to go back and preach the gospel to ourselves.  We need to revisit what God has done in Jesus.  As we reflect on his mercy, compassion and faithfulness through the cross our only response should be to do what God wants for us.  And we need to look to Jesus.  Jesus is the ultimate example of submission.  In the garden of Gethsemane we see Jesus completely submit to God’s will.  His prayer reveals Jesus’  intense desire to submit to God’s will no matter what it cost him.  Doing the will of God was more important than life itself.  Do we have the same attitude?  If not learn from Jesus.  Follow his example.

Finally, practicing the discipline of submission will not happen without prayer.  As we face again and again the choice between God’s will and our own, we need to ask for God’s help to bring our will in line with his.  It is only through prayer that our will bends to God’s.  E. Stanley Jones, a missionary, explained it like this, “If I throw a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore?  Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.”  Prayer then is not about getting God to do my bidding, but the shaping and bending of my will until it aligns with His.  

Therefore, if we want to live a life of submission which comes from an understanding of the gospel, we must be disciplined in cultivating a life fuelled by prayer.  Tomorrow we will finish this series look at how we can be disciplined in prayer.  

Disciplines of godliness - part 1

So if Paul commands us to train ourselves to be godly, what are the disciplines of godliness we need to train ourselves in?  

Firstly, we need to get rid of every association, habit and tendency that impedes godliness.  The writer of Hebrews talks about shedding of hinderances saying, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”.  In her book Disciplines of a Godly Woman, Barbara Hughes shares this example, “I used to be unable to begin my day before I read the morning news.  I finally noticed that I consistently headed for the front porch for the newspaper before I reached for God’s word.  It seems like a simple thing, a newspaper, but I found I had to cancel my subscription in order to pursue a better habit”.  
What is weight you down today?  Those things will have to go.  We need to be disciplined in removing any obstacles.  It might be a habit, something we watch or read, a part of our daily routine or a person.  We need to think like Greek athletes who laid aside even their clothing to avoid encumbrances.  Whatever the cost, if it hinders our godliness, we must get rid of it.

Secondly, as we rid ourselves of hinderances, we need to cultivate godly habits in their place.  In future brunches we look at how we can disciplined in our character, actions, thoughts and speech.  However, I think there are some foundational godly habits we need to cultivate first.  Without these, we won't grow in godliness at all.  These areas are; knowing the gospel, living in submission and living a life fuelled by prayer.  We will consider each on in turn but as we work through them we will see each one is closely intwined with the other.

To start let's look at being disciplined in knowing the gospel.  In some ways this feels a little like it goes without saying but if we don’t get this then we have no hope moving forward.  The gospel is unrelenting in seeking to convert every area of our hearts and lives.  It is all-encompassing.  It must be the foundation and centre of our lives.

What is the gospel?  It is what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15v1-4, “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.  By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”  Paul keeps it simple: Jesus Christ died for our sins and was resurrected from the dead.  That is it.  Nothing more, nothing less.  If we believe anything other than this, we believe in vain.  

So why we must be disciplined in knowing the gospel?  The gospel shapes everything about us.  It firstly defines us.  It tells us who we are.  It tells us that we are made in the image of God and we are made distinct as women.  It tells us that we are of great value to God.  The gospel brings dignity and value to our humanity and it brings purpose and meaning.  We learn that we are sinners but we can become children of God and members of his family.  Secondly, it motivates us.  The gospel gives us purpose in life, “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3v17).  It shows us where we fit into God’s plan for the world and detail what we are to do with our lives.  It gives meaning to whatever we do, because we are doing it all in the name of Christ.  It is the foundation for every single thing you are and do.  Finally, it satisfies us.  Do not doubt the simple gospel is everything you need and more.  

How do we become disciplined in knowing the gospel?  Ultimately we need to preach it to ourselves everyday.  If the gospel is what defines us, motivates us, satisfies and spurs us on to godliness we should create ways to immerse ourselves in the truths of it everyday.  In the midst of busy lives with the demands of work and family how do we do this?  I’m going to highlight five simple ways which C.J.Mahaney shares in his book, “Living the Cross Centred Life”. 

1. Memorise the gospel - what a better way to preach the gospel daily than to have to readily at hand in our memory.  We want to have the truths of the gospel stored in our hearts so that no matter where we are or what we are doing we can pull them out and be strengthened.
2. Pray the gospel - To pray the gospel simply begin by thanking God for the forgiveness of our sins, made possible through Jesus.  Thank him you’ll never be separated from his love.  Thank him for the cross.  
3. Sing the gospel - Where you find it, make cross centred worship a regular part of your daily routine.  What a wonderful idea as a way to start your day.
4. Review how the gospel has changed you - one of the best ways we can draw near to cross is to remember we have been saved from and how God is changing your life for His glory.
5. Study the gospel - Spending time in God’s word increasing our understanding of the gospel.  

Living a godly life

Imagine you receive a call from the management of the British Commonwealth Team.  They want to offer a position on the team.  You can choose the sport.  The one you've always dreamed of playing!  And this offer comes with no conditions on your part.  They know you are no athlete so your position is not based on how you perform.  No, it is a lifetime contract that will never be revoked.  Whatever you do, however you perform you will always be able to say you are a key player on that team.  So after the initial shock and excitement, how do you respond?

Do you do nothing? You know your status is that of a commonwealth athlete and nothing can change that so why bother to do anything else?  Or do you make the most of the amazing gift you’ve been given and attend every training opportunity possible?  Keep your fitness at its peak.  Give 100%.  I’m sure you’d agree that only by taking the latter approach would we make the best of the opportunity and fully show our gratitude to what we have been given.

As Christians I think we can sometimes respond to God’s grace in the former approach.  We know God has given us an amazing gift of lifetime membership into his kingdom.  We know he has called us to himself, forgiven us for all the wrongs we have done.  We know he has given us new birth and new life safe in him.  We know our status has changed from sinner to righteous.  But yet we do nothing to further our growth as Christians.  We do nothing to demonstrate our gratitude for all God has done for us.  We sit content in our salvation.  

However, in his second letter Peter wants to challenge us that our response should be something more.  We should not want to rest content where we first started as Christians but instead, in verse 5 of chapter 1 he says to us to “make every effort to supplement your faith”.  His challenge is to get us to see that we can’t just wait around for God to wave his magic wand to make us Christ-likeness and sinless.  He doesn’t work like the fairy Godmother in Cinderella.  Instead God expects us to play our part and work at growing in Christ-likeness/godliness.  He want us to “do” and take action. 

In 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 7, Paul ups the challenge.  He write to Timothy to encourage him to be a good servant of Christ.  He writes this, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.”  Paul’s goal for Timothy is that he would train himself to be godly.  The word train is derived from the very ancient Greek world from which we get the English word gymnasium.  By New Testament times it referred to exercise and training in general.  In a sense, Paul is saying, “gymnasticise yourself for the purpose of godliness.”  He’s calling for a spiritual workout.  And Paul values this spiritual workout so much more important than any other physical or mental preparation we might do.  He goes on to say, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” 

But do we have this attitude towards our godliness?  Do we give our spiritual wellbeing the same serious commitment and discipline?  Many of us will understand this in physical terms.  If we want to lose weight, we make a commitment to follow a specific diet.  We decide what foods we are going to avoid, we make goals.  We might start training at the gym or join an exercise class.  But I’m not sure we consider our spiritual lives in the same way.  I know I don’t.  

Of course we must consider this area of being discipline in godliness with the right motivation.  One reasons I think we avoid speaking openly about the need to be disciplined is a fear of legalism.  If we consider spiritual discipline as a series of rules to follow, in a desire to be godly and remain in God’s good books, we will have missed the point and be on the road to utter failure.  Back in 2 Peter 1, Peter starts verse 5, by saying “for this very reason”.  To remind us that we are not striving to gain entry to God’s kingdom or to keep hold of our salvation.  Instead we make every effort in response to and because of everything that God has done for us, promised to us and the immense privileges he has given us.  In the same way we would want to make every effort in response to an amazing, we should also be striving to be the best we can be in the response to God’s amazing gift of grace.  

So what are the disciplines of godliness we need to train ourselves in?  Come back tomorrow for part one!