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This article
is based on a book I read ten or 15 years ago.
I can’t remember the title of the book or
the author’s name, to give him the credit
he deserves. I hope he will understand. May the
God who knows all, bless and reward him for his
work!
Rabbi
Paul wrote to Timothy: Discipline yourself
for the purpose of godliness. For bodily discipline
is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable
for all things, since it holds promise for the
present life and also for the life to come
(1 Timothy 4:7-8). The Greek word translated "discipline"
is “gumnasia” from which we get the
words gymnastics or gymnasium. It means to exercise,
to discipline, to train. Unfortunately most
people spend far more time exercising their bodies
than they do training their souls for godliness!
People in the United States spend billions of
dollars each year and millions of hours on physical
exercise. You can see them by the thousands at
the health clubs, working out on machines, running,
jumping, lifting, sweating. Why are they exercising?
For the purpose of physically getting into shape,
so their bodies will look and feel good and run
at peak performance. We need to do the same thing
spiritually. We need to get into shape and stay
in shape spiritually, so that we will be godly,
useful and successful.
The
Discipline Of Taking In God's Word
We take
in God’s Word in a variety of ways. Rabbi
Paul instructed Timothy: Devote yourself to
the public reading of Scripture, to preaching
and to teaching (1 Timothy 4:13). The first
way to take in the Word of God is by hearing it
taught by your rabbi or pastor. You must develop
the practice of regularly attending a congregation
where the Word of God is faithfully preached.
Go to your congregation consistently, whether
you feel like it or not. Build that spiritual
habit into your life, as part of your routine.
Don’t forsake assembling together, as is
the bad habit of some. Hearing the Word of God
is not merely passive listening, but it is a discipline
to be cultivated. Pay attention to the teaching
and preaching. Think about it that day, and try
to think about the message during the week. Don't
just come and go and quickly forget the message.
If the message is taped, buy a tape and listen
to it during the week. We send out the weekly
message by email and add it to the website in
written and audio form, so read it and listen
to it during the week.
Read
God's Word On Your Own
Another
way to take in the Word of God is by reading the
Scriptures yourself. No factor is more influential
in shaping a person's moral and social behavior
than regular reading of the Bible. If you want
to be changed and become more like Messiah Yeshua,
discipline yourself to read your Bible every day.
Make time for it. A person can read through the
entire Bible in just 71 hours. The average person
in the United States watches that much television
in less than a month! Don't just open it at random
to someplace new each day. Use a plan. Simply
reading three chapters every day and five chapters
on Shabbat will take you through the whole Bible
in one year.
Study
God's Word
Not only
read, but also study God's Word. Be diligent
to present yourself approved to God as a workman
who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately
the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Look
up cross references, those little notes in many
Bibles that tell you to go to a related passage.
Find a key word and look it up in a concordance
and study that topic. Outline a chapter one paragraph
at a time. Do the same with an entire book of
the Bible. Do word studies, character studies,
topical studies, book studies. Don't settle for
spiritual food that has been predigested by others.
Experience the joy of discovering Biblical insights
firsthand through your own Bible study. Ask yourself
and answer these questions as you read a passage:
who, what, when, where, why and how does it apply
to my life? Ask yourself: is there some change
that I need to make as a result of what I have
read? Is there something that I need to do, something
that I need to stop doing? What would God have
me do as a result of reading this passage? Write
down your observations.
Memorize
God's Word
For thousands
of years the sons and daughters of God have found
it very profitable to memorize parts of the Scriptures.
I have treasured Your word in my heart that I
may not sin against You (Psalm 119:11), wrote
the Psalmist 3,000 years ago. If you memorize
the Word of God, you will find that it is available
when you need it most. An important spiritual
truth will come to your mind at just the right
time to help you in the midst of a spiritual battle.
Meditate
On God's Word
To meditate
on God’s Word means to ponder it, to contemplate
it, to think it over, examining it from a different
angle. You can become like the writer of Psalm
119:97 who exclaimed: O how I love your Torah!
It is my meditation all the day. Psalm 1
tells us that if your delight is in the Lord’s
teaching, and if you meditate in His Word day
and night, constantly thinking about it, contemplating
it, turning it over and over in your mind, you
will be like a beautiful tree planted by streams
of water which yields its fruit in its season;
you will be vibrant and healthy and whatever you
do will be successful. Reading the Word of God
so that it simply passes through your mind, just
as water passes through a pipe, is not as fruitful
as meditating on it, considering it, pondering
over it and then applying it to your life. It
is better to read a smaller part and meditate
on it than read several chapters and not meditate.
When you memorize Scripture, you can meditate
on it any time - day or night, whenever God brings
it to your remembrance.
The
Discipline Of Prayer
Colossians
4:2 says: devote yourselves to prayer.
When you make something a priority, when you are
willing to sacrifice for it, when you will give
it your time and attention, you know that you
are devoted to it. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 commands
us to pray without ceasing. Discipline yourself
to turn your mind and your thoughts throughout
the day to talking with God, to talk to Him about
things that are interesting to you. Thank God
for the interesting things that come to your attention
and pray about everything that strikes you powerfully.
Thank Him, praise Him for the Supreme Being that
He is, and for the wonderful things that He has
done, is doing now, and will do forever. Intercede
for yourself and others, our congregation, the
Jewish community, the Messianic Jewish movement,
the church, the world, our government. Pray that
what you have read in the Bible becomes part of
your life.
Try to
cultivate special periods of time alone with the
Lord. Get alone for five or ten minutes and pray.
Yeshua had the clearest channel of communication
with God the Father, and yet He often withdrew
to secluded places for special times of prayer.
Why then
do so many believers pray so little? They think
that God is not answering their prayers. Discipline
yourself to pray anyway, believing that it is
your understanding of prayer that is deficient,
and not God's faithfulness or ability to answer.
Sometimes we lack the sense of the nearness of
God, and this is a discouragement to us. Discipline
yourself to pray anyway. There are times when
our lives are quite manageable and we sense little
need to pray. Too often we only pray when something
big happens that we can't quite handle on our
own. Discipline yourself to pray for the little
things as well as the big things.
The
Discipline Of Fasting
Fasting
is a voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual
purposes. We are expected to fast. Yeshua told
us when the groom was taken from us, then we,
the bride, are to fast. Yeshua said: when
you fast ... instructing us what to do and
what not to do when we fast, not if
we fast.
Fasting
strengthens our prayers. There is something about
fasting that sharpens the edge of our intercession
and gives extra fervor to our prayers. If you
feel a special burden for a person, group, place
or situation, you might want to fast and pray
for it.
We fast
for God's guidance. Before Paul and Barnabas were
sent off on their first missionary journey, they
and the congregation fasted and prayed (Acts 13:3).
Fasting
is done to seek God's help or protection. Ezra
called a fast when he led a group of exiles back
to Jerusalem. He fasted for protection. Queen
Esther fasted before she went in before the king,
for her life was in danger.
Fasting
humbles us before God. It reminds us that we are
weak creatures, totally dependent on the great
Creator. There are times when you might want to
express humility before God. Fasting is one of
the best ways of doing so.
Fasting
helps with repentance and returning to God. Fasting,
along with confessing our sins, can help us make
sincere changes in our behavior. In Joel 2:12,
the Lord says to Israel: return to Me with
all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.
The people of Nineveh listened to the prophet
Jonah, and they fasted and repented, and God averted
the judgment.
Fasting
is good to help overcome temptation and dedicate
yourself to God. Yeshua fasted 40 days and nights
before He was tested by the Adversary. In the
spiritual strength of that long fast He prepared
Himself to overcome a direct onslaught from Satan
himself. There might be times when we know a trial
or a testing or a period of temptation is coming.
It is good to fast beforehand.
Fasting
can be done simply to express love for God - that
He is more important to us than our daily bread.
Channa the prophetess never left the Temple, but
worshiped day and night, fasting and praying.
Fasting can be an expression of finding your greatest
pleasure in life from God Himself, that you love
God more than food, that seeking Him is more important
to you than eating.
There
are different kinds of fasts. An absolute fast
is the abstention from all food and drink, like
Ezra did (Ezra 10:6). One fast can involve abstaining
from food, but not water. A partial fast is a
limitation to the diet but not abstention from
all food. The Bible describes a supernatural fast.
Moses up on Mount Sinai fasted for 40 days without
any food or water. There are private fasts, and
congregational fasts. There are national fasts.
There is a regular yearly fast, Yom Kippur, when
every Jewish person is expected to fast.
The
Disciplines Of Silence And Solitude
Just as
there are times when we abstain from food, we
also may benefit by abstaining from conversation
and interaction with other human beings. The Lord
calls us to family, to fellowship, to community,
and yet there are times when our souls would do
well with a period of silence and solitude. Some
of the greatest men of God, like Moses and Paul,
were transformed by years of virtual isolation
in a remote wilderness. It is good to get alone
with God. Messiah Yeshua often was found by Himself,
going off to a solitary place, praying and communing
with God. Yeshua said to His disciples, come
with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get
some rest (Mark 6:31).
Western
culture has conditioned us to be comfortable with
noise and crowds, not silence and solitude. Most
people in our society do not enjoy solitude. We
are simply not used to it. We don't like being
alone with our own thoughts. But in solitude we
can often hear the voice of God better. Solitude
and silence can help us come to grips with the
reality of God: be still and know that I am
God. When we are quiet, our minds naturally
start thinking about important issues, things
that we’ve done wrong that we need to rectify,
things that we need to do. Silence and solitude
can help us confront the realities of our sin,
of death and of judgment - ideas that are frequently
drowned out by all the distraction in the world.
Maybe that’s why so many people don’t
want to be still. When they are quiet and their
minds drift to these important considerations,
they feel alone, insignificant, temporary, far
from God, guilty, scared, small, vulnerable and
confused. And so they avoid silence. They fill
their lives with the noise of people and relationships,
entertainments and pleasures, drugs and alcohol,
to avoid the frightening silence.
From solitude
comes strength. Silence reminds us that there
is God, and there is our self, and that the multitudes
are not necessary - only God is. Solitude builds
faith and courage. Through silence we can worship
God. One of the best ways to draw near to the
Lord is to be silent. Our words will always fall
short of expressing His greatness. He is far beyond
all the blessings, praises and songs that we can
ever utter. To simply come before Him in adoring
silence is a wonderful way of expressing our worship.
The prophet Habakkuk said: The Lord is in
His holy Temple. Let all the Earth be silent before
Him. In Psalm 62 King David expresses this
idea when he prays: My soul waits in silence
for God only; from Him is my salvation. He only
is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I
shall not be shaken. David did not have to
speak or say anything, only wait silently with
trust and confidence in a spirit of worship.
Silence
is helpful to learn control of the tongue. Learning
how to control what we say is critical to godliness.
Ya’akov (James), the brother of Yeshua,
tells us that the religion of the person who can't
control his tongue is worthless. If anyone
thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not
bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart,
this man's religion is worthless (James 1:26).
He who restrains his words has knowledge ... even
a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is counted prudent
(Proverbs 17:27-28). James also tells us that
if anyone does not stumble in what he says,
he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole
body as well (James 3:2). Practicing the
discipline of silence makes it easier to control
all of ourselves. It has a life-wide impact.
Locate
special places for having periods of silence and
solitude. Find a place without any T.V. or radio,
bring your Bible and a good book, and pray and
seek and wait on God. Taking a walk and praying,
admiring the Lord’s beautiful handiwork,
can provide this kind of solitude. Engaging in
a hobby that does not require too much use of
the mind, like gardening, can provide this kind
of solitude and silence. Going to a place with
a special view, like mountains or forests, deserts
or oceans, has a way of helping us make contact
with the Creator in a special way. Gazing at the
stars on a clear night can be an aid to worship,
as the Psalmist observed: when I consider Your
Heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and
the stars, which You have ordained (Psalm
8:3).
The
Discipline Of Serving
The Hebrew
word “avodah” means both service and
worship. Develop the discipline of serving. Too
many are expecting their walk with God to be an
exciting adventure, when the reality is that more
often than not the Lord has a series of tasks
for us to do that aren’t too exciting. Serving
the Lord can mean washing the dishes after an
Oneg, or sweeping the floor, cleaning up, setting
up, running errands, providing transportation,
visiting the sick. Serving the Lord rarely involves
glamorous public ministries. Most spiritual leaders
will tell you that 20 percent of the congregation
do 80 percent of the work. How can any child of
God sit on the sidelines and watch others do the
work of the Kingdom of God and His Messiah? And
yet it is the same people time after time who
serve, and it is the same people time after time
who don't. Don’t serve only when it is convenient.
Be dedicated to serve the Lord at all times, whether
it is convenient or inconvenient. If you don’t,
you will never grow much spiritually.
The
Discipline Of Giving
Giving
is a duty. It is an obligation. Giving should
be disciplined, planned and systematic, not just
a spur of the moment thing based on a pitch or
appeal by some ministry or charity. Not only should
we be giving generously to our congregation, but
also to other good ministries that are reliable
and doing the work of the Kingdom of Messiah.
So, know who you are giving to; make sure they
are reputable. And, we should be giving tzadakah
(charity) to individuals whom the Lord brings
across our path, as well. I recommend that you
dedicate ten percent of your income to tzadakah.
The
Discipline Of Evangelism
Sharing
the Good News about God and the Messiah may not
seem like it at first, but it too is a spiritual
discipline. Messiah Yeshua commanded each one
of us to be witnesses to His reality. In spite
of this, in the United States, most Christians
never witness to others! We must set our minds
to consistently engage in evangelism. Make a decision
that you will share the truth in all kinds of
situations and circumstances, whether you feel
like it or not. Be ready “in season and
out of season” to share your faith. Don't
wait for witnessing opportunities to occur, for
someone else to open up the conversation in a
spiritual direction - take the initiative and
make witnessing opportunities happen! Prepare
yourself to be able to give a decent answer for
the hope that you have. Know why you believe and
how to explain your faith intelligently to those
who ask.
Other
Aids That May Help Us Draw Nearer To God
Eating
Or Drinking
Eating
or drinking a special food that you like can help
you draw nearer to God. For example, Isaac wanted
to bless Esau. To help him get in the Spirit,
he told Esau to hunt game for him and prepare
a savory dish that he loved to eat, so that his
soul could draw near God and bless his son. I
love a hot, steaming cup of coffee or tea. It
gives me a warm, comforting feeling inside, and
when I see the steam rising, it reminds me that
my life is like a vapor, and I will soon see God
face to face, enter into His presence and encounter
His eternal reality. I find that an occasional
glass of wine or a cigar may help me contemplate
the Creator of all things.
Fire
Others
have noted that burning candles or lighting a
fire can help them in their private worship. Perhaps
this goes back to the seven-branched golden menorah
that gave light in the Temple. Maybe it goes back
to the altar, where the sacrifices were burned
and ascended upwards to Heaven. Fire may remind
them that they are to be on fire for the Lord,
their lives like a living sacrifice; or that the
Lake of Fire awaits those who ignore God.
Water
Some of
my best times of worship involve water, in the
form of a bath, a shower, steam, or sitting by
a lake, stream or ocean. As I contemplate water,
I think about the Creator of this truly amazing
substance, and how my life is like a vapor, and
as deep calls to deep my soul is drawn toward
God.
Music
Many testify
that listening to good music aids them in their
worship and getting into the Spirit. In 2 Kings
3, Yehoshaphat asked Elisha for help during a
war. Elisha told the king to bring him a musician.
When the musician played, the hand of the Lord
came upon him and he was able to hear the word
of the Lord.
Special
Clothing
The Jewish
people use a tallit (prayer shawl) and t’fillin
(phylacteries) as aids to worship, feeling closer
to God. Both are reminders to be committed to
doing what the Lord requires. When I put on my
tallit, I think about wrapping myself with robes
of righteousness provided by the Messiah. When
I wrap the t’fillin on my hand, I think
about the Lord’s promise to the Jewish people
found in Hosea 2:19-20: I will betroth you
to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in
righteousness and in justice, in love and in compassion,
and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness
- and that the Lord wants a warm, loving, close
personal relationship with me that is based on
His Word.
Remember,
you are a temple of the Living God. God dwells
in you in a very special way. Just as the Jewish
people dedicated the Temple to the Lord - which
involved work and effort and sacrifice, so that
it was in good shape, maintained in good order
and kept clean - so must we, with effort and discipline,
be dedicated to the Lord. Are you dedicated to
the Lord? Does your life reveal it, your choices
show it, your schedule allow for it, your finances
reflect it?
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