Created to BeSample

Spiritual Disciplines

By Josh Morris

Imagine for a moment I invited you into my home for a time of fellowship so we could grow in our friendship with one another. You accept this invitation, knock on my door, and come in expecting good conversation and possibly a time to gather around my table and enjoy a meal together. How would you feel if once you were inside, I invited you yet again to come into my home? What if I wondered out loud whether you were really there or not? All the while, you are standing right there with me and responding with reassuring proclamations of your presence. How many times would it take for me to ask you to come into my home when you’re already in my home before you’d think I’d lost my mind? 

Does this story sound familiar? Unfortunately, this absurd scenario bears far too much resemblance to my relationship with Christ when I was a young believer. For many years after I invited Jesus to be my Lord and Savior and to live in me, I wondered if He really responded to my invitation. Was He really there? Of course, He was! In Revelation 3:20, we read, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

He stands in the home of our hearts crying out for us to invite Him in so He can enter into relationship with us. Yet we often doubt His presence, so we continue to invite Him in even though He is already with us. It’s a cycle that repeats itself over and over. 

So how do we stop this pattern? We trust and believe what He said in His Word is true. We do this by applying ourselves to the spiritual disciplines of reading our Bibles, praying, and fasting. Not only is it important we commit to these disciplines, it’s important we stay focused on their purpose. They aren’t pointless traditions. They are at the heart of our relationship with Jesus and help us realize when we invite Him into our lives, He truly is with us. Not just for a time but forever.

Allow yourself to move past any doubt of His presence in your life, and instead, approach reading the Word, praying, and fasting with excitement as you are transformed into His disciple. Enter into moments of prayer basking in the light of true communion and conversation. Enter into fasting with the understanding that He denied His flesh while on earth and suffers with us in all the trials that beguile us. Let’s commit to stop doubting His presence in our lives and instead start building a loving relationship with the One who lives in us.

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, Thank You for coming into my home and never leaving. I want to live in Your presence and build a lasting relationship with You. Draw me to You and help me to see the spiritual disciplines as a way of growing closer to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Memory Verse

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3 (NIV)