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Prayer
Bible Study
Bible Meditation
Worship & Fellowship |
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Foundations - The Primary Tools in Every Seed Planters Utility Belt |
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Pray Unceasingly
Prayer is the best tool you have on your utility belt to call on God for strength, wisdom, endurance, joy, you name it. As you live your life, as you give your witness, pray unceasingly. Get a little chant going in your head throughout the day. You know the Jesus Prayer? It goes like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It’s a tradition for the Greek Orthodox church and what a great tradition. Start saying this little prayer throughout the day and soon it will be running through your head on auto-play.
The point is to call upon God, always. He is our strength, our wisdom, our source for everything, especially for being an effective witness. Here’s some good advice from God as He spoke through the apostle Paul: “Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. And Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:22. How powerful is that, huh? And, this: “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.” Colossians 4:2. |
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Read The Bible Daily
The Bible is a living, breathing, powerful tool. It is God’s word. And that word is alive. It is inerrant. It is God-breathed. Jesus is not just a teacher or prophet or composite of good attributes, or a caricature or a metaphor. The Bible is power. The Bible is truth (not subjective but objective) – the ultimate and only truth because the Bible is God. Words are powerful in and of themselves, yes. But the Word of God is the King Kong of powerful words.
Hear what God has to say:
“In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:1-5
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
As Christians, we need to be constantly growing, reinforcing, remembering, and applying God’s Word in our life and in our witness. It’s so very, very easy to get distracted. Without it, folks, we just drain away, we atrophy, and we forget. We do. But we cannot. Make it a point to work on reading God’s Word daily no matter where you are, no matter what time of day. |
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Memorize & Meditate
The Bible is full of wonderful verses of encouragement, direction, and strength that I encourage you take time to memorize. Spending time not just reading but memorizing will help you in your witness. When you are nervous or seeking just the right thing to say to someone, yes, the Holy Spirit will guide you, but the Word of God will be more effective in your witness when you already know it and know it well. The words just flow off your tongue as the Holy Spirit pulls them from the memory cells in your brain and plants them on your tongue. So make sure as you are reading the Bible, you are spending separate time to memorize God’s Words and make them your words.
And take time to ponder, to meditate on the Word of God. Read a verse, then go back and read it again. Think about what it is saying to you. Pray about it - for understanding and discernment. More than reading and memorizing, spend time with God immersed in His Word and open yourself up to let God in to speak in His gentle whisper. |
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Worship Together
I often read about people saying they have God in their life or in their heart but they don’t need church or “organized religion.” Religion has taken on a bad connotation it seems as well as has church and that’s a shame.
The bottom line is you need church. You need fellowship. Church may be a hospital sometimes, but really it’s a gym. You need to power up and refill your battery cells after being in the world for the last week. God dwells in your heart yes, but He really dwells in His church. (“For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20).
Christ instituted the church on earth when He sent the Holy Spirit to the apostles. Who wouldn’t want the chance to praise, pray, sing, learn, partake in Holy Communion, and dwell with God among your fellow believers? I don’t understand people who say they believe in God but do not “Honor the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” as God commands. Look at how believers acted amongst each other at the church’s formation: “And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. They worshipped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity – all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.” Acts 2:44-47.
That’s church, baby! If you're not in a church now, find one! |
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