Day Nineteen

Friday again......time to encounter another spiritual giant!

Today, we're going to be looking at the life of EM Bounds. This guy had a daily habit of waking up at 4am every morning and praying for 3 hours before he started his day! Wow! Can you imagine the connection he had with the Lord! (I also wonder what time he went to bed, and how many cups of coffee he needed, but that's another matter).

He was a lowly Chaplain in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and a humble pastor in Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, and Georgia. Although he was relatively unknown during his lifetime, today he is considered to be one of the greatest prayer warriors Christianity has ever known. He not only wrote several books and papers on the subject of prayer, he was also an avid practitioner. He prayed, because he believed in the power of prayer.

While you can read more about his life HERE, I'm including the first chapter from his book, "Purpose in Prayer" (don't worry, its too old to be copyrighted)...enjoy....

Purpose in Prayer by E. M. Bounds
Chapter 1

My Creed leads me to think that prayer is efficacious, and surely a day’s asking God to overrule all events for good is not lost. Still there is a great feeling that when a man is praying he’s doing nothing, and this feeling makes us give undue importance to work, sometimes even to the hurrying over or even to the neglect of prayer.

Do not we rest in our day too much on the arm of flesh? Cannot the same wonders be done now as of old? Do not the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth still to show Himself strong on behalf of those who put their trust in Him? Oh that God would give me more practical faith in Him! Where is now the Lord God of Elijah? He is waiting for Elijah to call on Him.—— James Gilmour of Mongolia

The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil everywhere. Prayer, in one phase of its operation, is a disinfectant and a preventive. It purifies the air; it destroys the contagion of evil. Prayer is no fitful, short-lived thing. It is no voice crying unheard and unheeded in the silence. It is a voice which goes into God’s ear, and it lives as long as God’s ear is open to holy pleas, as long as God’s heart is alive to holy things.

God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.

That man is the most immortal who has done the most and the best praying. They are God’s heroes, God’s saints, God’s servants, God’s viceregents. A man can pray better because of the prayers of the past; a man can live holier because of the prayers of the past, the man of many and acceptable prayers has done the truest and greatest service to the incoming generation. The prayers of God’s saints strengthen the unborn generation against the desolating waves of sin and evil. Woe to the generation of sons who find their censers empty of the rich incense of prayer; whose fathers have been too busy or too unbelieving to pray, and perils inexpressible and consequences untold are their unhappy heritage. Fortunate are they whose fathers and mothers have left them a wealthy patrimony of prayer.

The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on His great work upon earth. The great throes and mighty convulsions on earth are the results of these prayers. Earth is changed, revolutionized, angels move on more powerful, more rapid wing, and God’s policy is shaped as the prayers are more numerous, more efficient.

It is true that the mightiest successes that come to God’s cause are created and carried on by prayer. God’s day of power; the angelic days of activity and power are when God’s Church comes into its mightiest inheritance of mightiest faith and mightiest prayer. God’s conquering days are when the saints have given themselves to mightiest prayer. When God’s house on earth is a house of prayer, then God’s house in heaven is busy and all potent in its plans and movements, then His earthly armies are clothed with the triumphs and spoils of victory and His enemies defeated on every hand.

God conditions the very life and prosperity of His cause on prayer. The condition was put in the very existence of God’s cause in this world. Ask of Me is the one condition God puts in the very advance and triumph of His cause.

Men are to pray——to pray for the advance of God’s cause. Prayer puts God in full force in the world. To a prayerful man God is present in realized force; to a prayerful Church God is present in glorious power, and the Second Psalm is the Divine description of the establishment of God’s cause through Jesus Christ. All inferior dispensations have merged in the enthronement of Jesus Christ. God declares the enthronement of His Son. The nations are incensed with bitter hatred against His cause. God is described as laughing at their enfeebled hate.

The Lord will laugh; The Lord will have them in derision. “Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion.” The decree has passed immutable and eternal:
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said unto Me, Thou art My Son;
This day have I begotten Thee.
Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance,
And the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;
Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. (Ps 2:7-9)


Ask of Me is the condition a praying people willing and obedient. “And men shall pray for Him continually.” Under this universal and simple promise men and women of old laid themselves out for God. They prayed and God answered their prayers, and the cause of God was kept alive in the world by the flame of their praying.


Prayer became a settled and only condition to move His Son’s Kingdom. “Ask,and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened.” (Matt 7:7) The strongest one in Christ’s kingdom is he who is the best knocker. The secret of success in Christ’s Kingdom is the ability to pray. The one who can wield the power of prayer is the strong one, the holy one in Christ’s Kingdom. The most important lesson we can learn is how to pray.


Prayer is the keynote of the most sanctified life, of the holiest ministry. He does the most for God who is the highest skilled in prayer. Jesus Christ exercised His ministry after this order.

Daily Bible Reading - Acts 15:1-21; Joshua 23-24

Day Eighteen

Gasoline is now as expensive as milk. We pay about as much for a gallon of gas as we do for a gallon of milk.....and the milk's homogenized.....is my gas?

Prices at the fuel pump recently have caused many of us to consider ways that we can conserve gas. We're all having to think of ways to consolidate our errands so we don't have to get out in the car as much. Some are turning off their A/C (don't know how much longer that can last with the summer around the corner), and some have even decided to forgo vacation plans.

I'm trying something that I think is going to help our family reduce our expenditure on gasoline......"coasting"! That's right, coasting! I've discovered that if you time the ascent of a hill just right, you can coast down the other side of the hill without ever having to put your foot on the accelerator and burn that precious gasoline. Yesterday I must have coasted for 2 miles....I think the guy behind me must have thought it was more like 100 miles....he wasn't as excited about me saving gas as I was...go figure! :)

I'm anxious to see how much money we'll save this month, by coasting. Coasting seems to work in the realm of gasoline conservation....but how well does it work in the realm of our walk with Jesus? (you knew a spiritual twist was coming, didn't you!?)

I don't know about you, but in my life, I've proven to myself that I can NOT coast spiritually. I'm a creature of habit, and if I try to coast spiritually, I'm just going to stall. I'll stop making progress spiritually.

What does the Bible say about coasting spiritually? 1 Timothy 4:7 says to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness...train yourself! Philippians 2 tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The Bible doesn't say we can just coast spiritually...it says we should press on toward the goal to win the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14). The Bible talks about perseverance and discipline and obedience from a heart that is 100% sold out to Jesus Christ!

Sometimes I convince myself that I can coast because I've ascended a spiritual hill (a mountaintop experience like a great retreat or an awesome sermon that inspires me - preached by someone other than me of course)....and I convince myself that I can coast afterwards....but all that ends up doing is causing me to lose the steam that the mountaintop experience afforded me, and I soon find myself slowing down spiritually, and I'm not far from sliding backwards back down that hill.

See, the Christian life is like an ascent up a mountain. What happens if you take your foot off the accelerator when you're going uphill? Your progress quickly slows down, right? It doesn't take long for your car to start rolling backwards back down the hill, right? Same thing happens spiritually. If we decide to start coasting spiritually, what actually happens is that we start sliding backwards.....losing the spiritual progress that we've already made. We live in a lost world and we still have a sin nature, and sin is like gravity....it pulls you back down the hill. Bottom line is that you can't coast up a hill....you've got to keep your foot on the accelerator.

Yes, that uses more gasoline, but as long as we're in the Word and nurturing our relationship with God through an active prayer life and practicing regular confession of sins....we're promised a never ending supply of spiritual "fuel" with which to keep our foot on the accelerator.

So, enough with the metaphor. The point is...don't give up. Don't stop moving forward in your walk with Christ. Press on, discipline yourself, work out your salvation! You've been developing the habit of a daily time with God for 18 days now....don't start coasting...keep your foot on the accelerator!

Daily Bible Reading: Acts 14, Joshua 22.
Today is May 1st, and I've put a link on the right for you to go to the Daily Bible Reading Plan. Or you can access it HERE. See ya tomorrow!

Day Seventeen

Whew, all caught up! :)

Have you experienced any spiritual opposition yet in this Spiritual Boot Camp? Have you sensed a stronger than normal opposition in your life? It could be in the form of greater temptation, more readily available rationalizations to not continue with the Boot Camp, or whatever.

The fact is, Satan does not want you to develop the habit of daily time with the God of the Universe! Why not? Well, because he knows that if you develop that habit, then not only will you be more in tune with God during your quiet time, but you'll be more in tune with God throughout the day. You'll be more useful to God, more likely to glorify Him and His Son Jesus Christ, more spiritually aware of evangelistic opportunities that the Holy Spirit reveals to you....and Satan DOES NOT want ANY of those things to happen.

So, he attacks. He will try to lie to us and deceive us and frustrate us and tempt us.

We must be ready for those attacks, and so we must be ready to engage in spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is a huge topic, and if you don't know much about it, I would encourage you to do some study on it (for a good, short and practical paper on spiritual warfare, go to the International Training Partners website for a paper by Ken Williams, entitled "Being Effective in Spiritual Warfare").

For today, here are a couple of key scriptures that deal with this important topic:
Ephesians 6:11-17
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
James 4:7
1 Peter 5:8-9
Luke 10:19
Colossians 2:15
1 John 3:8
Hebrews 2:14
Matthew 16:18
Isaiah 54:17
Matthew 18:18
1 John 4:4
Romans 8:37

Read a couple of these scriptures this morning. Keep this list handy, and whenever you encounter what you believe may be spiritual opposition, pull this list out, and read through these scriptures, pray them back to God, and apply the principles in them. When spiritual attacks come, we need to recognize that the attack is for the attention of our mind and our will, and we MUST engage in that battle. We cannot afford to give any of that territory to the enemy. When those spiritual attacks come, and we just continue to go through the motions with our quiet time and try to ignore the attacks, that would be like seeing a thief come into our home at night, and begin to make their way into our children's bedroom, and we go back to bed and try to sleep...try to ignore that it is happening and keep doing business as usual.

It is not business as usual when spiritual opposition comes. It must be defended against, and these scriptures are our best weapons. Pull out your sword (the Bible), and engage in spiritual warfare Biblically.

Daily Bible reading for today: Acts 13:26-52, Joshua 20-21 (note, we'll have a new monthly scripture calendar beginning tomorrow...can you believe it's already May!?).

Day Sixteen

On day 16 (yesterday), we reviewed our memory verses. So far, we have memorized Psalm 1, and the first two verses of Series C of the Topical Memory System.

Spend some time this morning reviewing your scripture memory. We haven't spent time learning 1 Corinthians 2: 12 yet, so go ahead and go read that verse in its context.

Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. Meditate on that passage, and ask yourself the following questions?
What is Paul saying here?
What role does the Holy Spirit play according to this passage?
What difference should it make to us if we have been given the "Spirit that is from God"?
What is it that we have been "freely given", and what does it mean to "know" or "understand" what we have been freely given?

Now meditate carefully on verse 12. Say it slowly, thinking intently on each word. What is Paul saying? How can these truths encourage us in our daily walk with Christ?

Now, re-word this verse in your own words. Try to explain the meaning to someone else, or explain the meaning of the verse out loud without looking at it.

Review and memorize.

Daily Bible reading for today: Acts 13:1-25, Joshua 20-21

Day Fifteen

On Day 15 (the halfway point!!!!), we talked about how sin can interrupt our fellowship with God.

Ever feel like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling? Ever feel like there is distance between yourself and God.....that when you sit down to read His Word, nothing happens....when you pray, you sense distance and silence? The Bible says that our sin can hinder our prayer life as well as our connection to God (the very thing that we are trying to solidify through a daily quiet time; 1 Peter 3:12, Ps 145:19, Proverbs 15:29).

When we sense that this has happened, then we need to ask the Lord to reveal to us any sins we may have committed that we have not yet confessed to Him. 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, and will forgive us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Ask the Holy Spirit to shine the light of conviction on those unconfessed sins so we can "put them on the table", and confess them (agree with God that they are sin, and we were wrong and being unfaithful when we committed them). Use some of the following scriptures to help in this process:

Lord, examine my heart, and show me any unconfessed sin.....
Psalms 139:23-24 - Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. (24) See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalms 26:2 - Test me, O LORD , and try me, examine my heart and my mind

Lamentations 3:37-42 - (37) Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? (38) Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? (39) Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? (40) Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD . (41) Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: (42) "We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.


Lord, I see my sin now, and I humbly confess it to You and turn from it (repentance):
Psalm 51

Psalm 32:1-5

If you sense there may be something between you and God, go through this process now. Read the scriptures, and spend time alone with God asking Him to reveal to you anything that is between Him and yourself. Once He reveals that to you, then go through Psalm 51 and Psalm 32, and confess those things to Him.....call them what they are (sin, wrong, inexcusable, etc.), then commit to turning away from those things, and walking in the righteousness of Christ.

Daily Bible reading for today: Acts 12, Joshua 15-17

Day Fourteen

On day 14 (2 weeks exactly!), we shared with one another what God is doing in us as a result of daily time with Him. Spend some time this morning, asking God to show you what He's doing in you. As a result of consistent, daily time in His Word and in prayer, He is transforming you into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the process of sanctification that Paul talks about. He's changing you, maturing you, growing you spiritually. Ask Him for a glimpse into some of the changes He has made and is in the process of making in you. If you've been consistent with this for 14 days, there will be changes. Ask someone close to you if they've seen any differences in you over the last week. Then thank God for working on you. Thank Him for bringing about changes in your character and attitude that will allow you to better glorify Him.

Daily Bible Reading: Acts 11:19-30, Joshua 13-14

Day Thirteen

OK, so I'm delinquent again. The good news is, I've had a daily time of Bible reading and prayer for seventeen days in a row! Part of me is embarrassed and sad to admit that it's been quite a while since I've had a daily quiet time for 17 straight days.....by the power of the Holy Spirit, I think I'm well on the way to developing thing into a habit. I'm so grateful to the Lord for His sustaining provisions. I'm not tired, I'm not weary....on the contrary, I feel refreshed each day, and much more in tune with God's gentle leadings. I sense that I am walking by faith more, and allowing myself to be led by the Holy Spirit throughout the day. What could be better than that!

Day 13
A great way to add some worship to your devotion time is to pray through a list of the names of God. There are lots of lists, and I've pasted one here for you to use. What I like to do is use one a day (you don't have to do this everyday...maybe just a couple of times a week to keep things fresh). I like to pick one, then look up the Bible reference, and then pray that scripture back to God. For example:

In John 14:6, Jesus self-titles Himself "The Way" (as well as the Truth and the Life, but we'll use "The Way" for an example for today). Now praise God for being "The Way"....

"Lord Jesus, thank You so much for being The Way. I worship You as the One who made a way for us to the Father. You didn't have to do that, but You willingly and voluntarily chose to offer Yourself on a cross on my behalf. You made a Way for me. I exalt You Jesus as the one and Only Way to forgiveness and a relationship with the Father. Thank You for making a Way for me....and help me to point others to The Way."

So, for today, pick a name, read the scripture, and pray that back to God. Worship Him!
Here's the list....(there's 102 of them, so it's long!):

Biblical Names of God:
Advocate - 1 John 2:1
Almighty - Revelation 1:8
Alpha - Revelation 1:8
Amen - Revelation 3:14
Angel of the Lord - Genesis 16:7
Anointed One - Psalm 2:2
Apostle - Hebrews 3:1
Author and Perfecter of our Faith - Hebrews 12:2
Beginning - Revelation 21:6
Bishop of Souls - 1 Peter 2:25
Branch - Zechariah 3:8
Bread of Life - John 6:35,48
Bridegroom - Matthew 9:15
Carpenter - Mark 6:3
Chief Shepherd - 1 Peter 5:4
The Christ - Matthew 1:16
Comforter - Jeremiah 8:18
Consolation of Israel - Luke 2:25
Cornerstone - Ephesians 2:20
Dayspring - Luke 1:78
Day Star - 2 Peter 1:19
Deliverer - Romans 11:26
Desire of Nations - Haggai 2:7
Emmanuel - Matthew 1:23
End - Revelation 21:6
Everlasting Father - Isaiah 9:6
Faithful and True Witness - Revelation 3:14
First Fruits - 1 Corinthians 15:23
Foundation - Isaiah 28:16
Fountain - Zechariah 13:1
Friend of Sinners - Matthew 11:19
Gate for the Sheep - John 10:7
Gift of God - 2 Corinthians 9:15
God - John 1:1
Glory of God - Isaiah 60:1
Good Shepherd - John 10:11
Governor - Matthew 2:6
Great Shepherd - Hebrews 13:20
Guide - Psalm 48:14
Head of the Church - Colossians 1:18
High Priest - Hebrews 3:1
Holy One of Israel - Isaiah 41:14
Horn of Salvation - Luke 1:69
I Am - Exodus 3:14
Jehovah - Psalm 83:18
Jesus - Matthew 1:21
King of Israel - Matthew 27:42
King of Kings - 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16
Lamb of God - John 1:29
Last Adam - 1 Corinthians 15:45
Life - John 11:25
Light of the World - John 8:12; John 9:5
Lion of the Tribe of Judah - Revelation 5:5
Lord of Lords - 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16
Master - Matthew 23:8
Mediator - 1 Timothy 2:5
Messiah - John 1:41
Mighty God - Isaiah 9:6
Morning Star - Revelation 22:16
Nazarene - Matthew 2:23
Omega - Revelation 1:8
Passover Lamb - 1 Corinthians 5:7
Physician - Matthew 9:12
Potentate - 1 Timothy 6:15
Priest - Hebrews 4:15
Prince of Peace - Isaiah 9:6
Prophet - Acts 3:22
Propitiation - I John 2:2
Purifier - Malachi 3:3
Rabbi - John 1:49
Ransom - 1 Timothy 2:6
Redeemer - Isaiah 41:14
Refiner - Malachi 3:2
Refuge - Isaiah 25:4
Resurrection - John 11:25
Righteousness - Jeremiah 23:6
Rock - Deuteronomy 32:4
Root of David - Revelation 22:16
Rose of Sharon - Song of Solomon 2:1
Ruler of God's Creation - Revelation 3:14
Sacrifice - Ephesians 5:2
Savior - 2 Samuel 22:47; Luke 1:47
Second Adam - 1 Corinthians 15:47
Seed of Abraham - Galatians 3:16
Seed of David - 2 Timothy 2:8
Seed of the Woman - Genesis 3:15
Servant - Isaiah 42:1
Shepherd - 1 Peter 2:25
Shiloh - Genesis 49:10
Son of David - Matthew 15:22
Son of God - Luke 1:35
Son of Man - Matthew 18:11
Son of Mary - Mark 6:3
Son of the Most High - Luke 1:32
Stone - Isaiah 28:16
Sun of Righteousness - Malachi 4:2
Teacher - Matthew 26:18
Truth - John 14:6
Way - John 14:6
Wonderful Counselor - Isaiah 9:6
Word - John 1:1
Vine - John 15:1

Daily Bible Reading for today: Acts. 11:1-18, Joshua 11-12.

Day Twelve

Friday is biographical sketch day! Yahooooo!

Today, we looked at the life of Jonathan Edwards. Honestly, the life and ministry of this great man of God was too extensive for me to type in a summary here. To get a glimpse and a summary of his life, read this biographical sketch from swordofthelord.com.

One of the things we noted about Jonathan Edwards is that although he is considered by many to be one of the greatest minds that America has ever produced, Edwards was not an ivory tower theologian. He always married the mind with heart in order to direct all of his affections to Christ and His Glory.

In considering some habits that may have aided him in his devotional walk with Christ, we noted that Edwards wrote his "Resolutions" as a young man, and made a commitment to read through those resolutions at least once a week, every week. Feel free to read through some of those resolutions to see the heart and will of this devotional and spiritual giant.

May his life and ministry inspire us to walk more closely with Jesus.

Bible reading for today: Acts 10: 34-48; Joshua 9&10.

See ya tomorrow!

Day Eleven

Time for some more scripture memorization. I can't emphasize enough how important scripture memory is. It hides God's Word deep into our heart and mind, and makes it accessible anytime....during trying times, in the midst of temptation, when others need encouragement, etc. Almost every one of the human authors that God used to pen Scripture quoted from another place in the Bible. As you read the biographies of devotional giants and those who lived out a genuine Biblical faith for the long haul, they all practiced the discipline of memorizing scripture. We should learn something from these men and women, and build scripture memory into our lives as one of the habits of our devotions.

We've already memorized Psalm 1 in Spiritual Boot Camp. Now, we're going to take a different turn, and start memorizing individual verses, topically. The benefit of memorizing verses by topic is that when that topic/issue arises in your life, you've got a scripture ready to pull out and remind yourself of what God's Word has to say about that topic/issue. For example, if I am feeling convicted to share my faith with someone, but I feel weird and awkward about it, I might remember Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Greek". Why do I remember that verse, because I memorized it as a verse having to do with "evangelism and witnessing".

The best resource I've ever used that helps with this is the Topical Memory System, put out by Navigators. For the next week, I'd like for us to memorize a couple of verses from this system. They are from Series C, under the heading "Rely on God's Resources", and the two we will memorize deal specifically with "His Spirit". Why is that important to know? Well, we know that we will be memorizing verses that have to do with relying on God's resources instead of our own. Do you ever run out of resources? Strength, patience, faithfulness, peace, provision, etc.? Isn't it good to know that God's Word has promises about the ways in which we can lean on Him and His resources in those times. So, this week's verses deal specifically with the Holy Spirit who is in us, who helps us and ministers to us when our resources are running low.

Here are the two verses (and I'm using the NIV, but you can use whichever translation you're most comfortable with):

1 Corinthians 3:16 - Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

1 Corinthians 2:12 - We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

Since you don't have the TMS yet, just write these out on 3x5 cards. Write "Rely on God's Resources - His Spirit" on one side, and the verse along with its reference location on the other. When you practice saying it, say the Series name first (Rely on God's Resources), then the topic (His Spirit), then the reference location (1 Cor. 3:16), then the verse itself, then say the reference location again (1 Cor. 3:16).

Practice these today, and everyday for the next week. In a week, these should be memorized. Don't forget to review Psalm 1. Remember, the three keys to scripture memory are review, review, and review.

Bible Reading for today: Acts 10:1-33, Joshua 7&8.

May the Lord bless you as you encounter Him!

Days Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten :)

I know its been a few days since my last post on here. Things have been busy, and with waking up every morning at 5:30am, I've not had the energy to do this late at night. For those who are following along at home or at work, or on the road, I apologize. Hopefully you've still been able to keep up with the daily Bible readings.

Today was day 10. I'll give a brief overview of the last 5 days...

Day Six
Read Philippians 2:12-13.
"(12) Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, (13) for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

What does it mean to "work out your salvation"? How does that happen? If we read all of Paul's letters, then we know that he is not saying here that we are to "work for our salvation". Salvation is by grace through faith, not a result of works (Ephesians 2:8,9); however, we were created in Christ Jesus to do works (Ephesians 2:10). So, yes, we were saved by grace, but there are still works to do...and somehow, it involves us working out our salvation. The part of our "salvation" that Paul is referring to here in Philippians 2 is our sanctification. We have already been justified by grace through faith...but now, the work of transformation in us requires some kind of interaction between "God who is working in us" (v.13), and we, who are called to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling". God is working in us, but He calls on us to do some work as well. Our work is the spiritual disciplines....the things that keep us connected to Him. Our daily quiet times are our most important discipline....and let's face it, sometimes it will be hard work. We've almost gone a week, and I bet each of us has had at least one day where it required some extra effort to get out of bed and sit down to have a Quiet Time. That's why these are called "disciplines"...we must discipline ourselves through hard work and effort and "exertion".

Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7-8 to "train yourself (discipline yourself) for the purpose of godliness". The word used there is the word from which we get the English word "gymnasium".

Here's the deal. God wants to transform us into people who will glorify Him and worship Him perfectly, and He is working in us to do that transformation, but He says, "you've got a responsibility in this as well......if this transformation work is going to take place...if its going to stick, then you've got to do some work as well. So, DO YOUR WORK! :)

Discipline yourself, train yourself, exert yourself....sweat, work, train, and God will "complete" the work He has begun in you (Phil. 1:6).

Reading for Day Six: Acts 7:23 - 8a


Day Seven
Day Seven was Sunday, and we spent time worshipping the Lord. A great way to integrate worship in your private devotions is to pray through scripture. Psalms are a great place to start, because they were written as poetry, and in some cases, even as songs. The psalms of praise and thanksgiving are perfect to pray through as a means of worshipping and celebrating the glory of God in your individual times with Him.

Praying through scripture simply involves reading through a phrase or part of a verse at a time, and praying the meaning back to God. With whatever sentiments that phrase of scripture hits you with, pray those sentiments back to God in a spirit of worship and thanksgiving.

On this day, we took Psalm 100, and prayed it out loud phrase by phrase, and prayed those sentiments back to Him. Try that on your own. Here's an example of how it might go:

Psalm 100:1 - "Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth"
Lord, You are most worthy of praise. In fact, you are worthy of the praise of the whole earth. Everything your created was created for the purpose of worshipping You and celebrating Your awesome glory, and that is good and right, because You are perfectly worthy of all that worship. When we behold You in Your glory, we shout for joy....it causes a response of joy in our heart to see and behold you as the God of all Glory!

Now, you try it. Go through Psalm 100, reading a phrase, and then praying it back to God. This can be done with others in a group setting, but it can also be done alone with just you and the Lord.

Reading for Day Seven: Acts 8:1b - 25


Day Eight
One week down! Starting on week 2! Congratulations!

Read this passage from John 15:

John 15:1-11 (this is Jesus speaking):
(1) "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. (2) He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[1] so that it will be even more fruitful. (3) You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. (4) Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (5) "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (6) If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (7) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. (8) This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (9) "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. (10) If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. (11) I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

What does it mean to "remain in Him"? The New American Standard translates that word as "abide in Him". That means to stay connected to Him, to stay in Him and intimate with Him. Remember Brother Lawrence? That was a picture of someone who stayed connected with Christ all day long.

As we talked a couple of days ago about "working out our salvation", we emphasized that having the discipline of a daily time with God requires effort and exertion. What we must remind ourselves is why we do it. Why do we work so hard to develop that daily habit? Its so that we can stay connected with Jesus. Its so that our intimacy with Christ is stronger and deeper...more solid. And we believe that a genuine daily encounter with God through His Word and through prayer is critical to strengthening that connection to God. That keeps us in Him...it keeps us "abiding" and "remaining" in Him.

See, God causes the growth in us, not us. But if we don't "abide" in Him, then the growth will never happen. The branch cannot grow if it is not connected to the vine...it cannot cause itself to grow. It must be connected to the vine or else it will never grow. The vine "works in" the branch by sending it nutrients. As long as the branch is securely "abiding/remaining" in the vine, the branch will be healthy and green and fruitful.

Our quiet times, along with our other regular spiritual disciplines, keep us connected to Him, and as long as we're connected to Him, He'll be working in us to cause the growth that is necessary to transform us into better worshippers and better magnifiers of His glory!

Reading for Day Eight: Acts 8:26-40. If you're following along in the Bible Reading, you may also want to start reading out of Joshua....Joshua, chapters 1 & 2 today.


Day Nine
Scripture memory day! How are you doing with Psalm 1? Today we memorized verses 5 & 6.

Guess what!? There are only 6 verses in Psalm 1, so once you memorize verses 5 & 6, you're done. You've just memorized an entire Psalm!

Read through the whole Psalm a couple of times, then try to say verses 1-4 from memory (if you've been reviewing them every day, you should be able to do that). Now read through verses 5&6 several times. Read slowly, pausing to meditate on each word. Close your eyes and allow the Lord to create a mental picture of what is being described. What do you see? Who do you see? What are they doing? Read the verses 5&6 again, and make sure you have a solid grasp of what is being said, and how that impacts you.

Now, write the verses on a 3x5 card, and begin reviewing. By Thursday, you should be able to say the whole Psalm from memory!

Reading for Day Nine: Acts 9:1-25, Joshua 3 & 4. (remember, don't try to read too much during your quiet time.....just enough for the Lord to speak to you, and stop and listen to Him)


Day Ten
OK, now we're caught up, here's what we did this morning....

Read the following scriptures, and note how the word "meditation" is being used. What is being meditated upon? How should meditation take place, and when is the meditation taking place?

Joshua 1:8
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.

Psalms 1:2
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalms 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalms 48:9
Within your temple, O God,
we meditate on your unfailing love.

Psalms 77:11-12
I will remember the deeds of the LORD ;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. (12) I will meditate on all your works
and consider all your mighty deeds.

Psalms 104:34
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the LORD.

Psalms 119:15
I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.

Psalms 119:23
Though rulers sit together and slander me,
your servant will meditate on your decrees.

Psalms 119:97-99
Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long. (98) Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
for they are ever with me. (99) I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.

Psalms 119:147-148
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I have put my hope in your word. (148) My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promises.

Psalms 143:5
I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.


From these (and other verses), we can draw the following principles about Biblical meditation:
1. It is completely different from a transcendental Eastern meditation. Eastern meditation is an "emptying of your mind", while Biblical meditation is a focusing of your mind on God, His works, and primarily His Word.
2. Our meditation, the things we think intently on, should be "pleasing to the Lord". If what we are thinking intently on is not pleasing to the Lord then it is not Biblical meditation, and we should take those thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).
3. We are to meditate at all times, including "all day and night". How can we meditate all day and night if we have not planted His Word deeply into our thought life? So, scripture memory and meditation go hand-in-hand, and complement one another. Meditation on scripture helps us to memorize it, and memorizing scripture keeps it in our mind so that it can be recalled and "meditated on" even when we don't have our Bible with us.
4. Meditation should not be a forced discipline. In reading through the above scripture you get a sense that one should do it out of love. We love the Word of God so much, that we can't help but meditate on it. We love God so much, that we can't help but meditate on His amazing works and wonders.

In your daily quiet times, as you encounter the Lord through your reading of His Word. Don't get so caught up in getting through your "assigned" meeting that you miss what God is trying to say to you. Meditation requires slowing down and allowing Him to speak to you. Read, and ponder. Picture what you're reading, and listen to the Holy Spirit. Chew on the words, chew on the principles, and get every last ounce of nutrients out of this nutrient-rich Book!

Reading for Day Ten: Acts 9:26-43; Joshua 5 & 6.

See ya tomorrow.....for day eleven!

Day Five

On Friday mornings during Spiritual Boot Camp, we will have a small diversion from our regular stuff, by hearing about people in history who have achieved a level of intimacy and spiritual devotion to Jesus Christ that we would aspire to. These biographical sketches will be of people whom I consider to be devotional giants....and although not perfect by any stretch, they do exemplify the habits of spiritual devotion to Jesus that we're trying to develop here in Boot Camp.

So, as they follow the example of Christ...we follow them.

The first biographical sketch is of a 17th century monk named Brother Lawrence.

Brother Lawrence was born Nicholas Herman, in France, in 1610. His parents believed and followed God closely, and young Nicholas grew up under the teachings of the Gospels. As a young man, he served in the armed forces and went off to war. He was taken prisoner and falsely charged with espionage by German troops. He was shortly thereafter acquitted of those charges, and released. He rejoined his battalion, only to be severely injured in his leg; an injury that would leave him in pain and with a significant limp for the remainder of his life.

After leaving the army, Nicholas encountered God in a profound way, and accepted the teachings of the Gospel and committed himself to walk in the footprints of Jesus Christ at the age of 18. A few years later, he joined a monastery in Paris where he was given the name Brother Lawrence, and where he lived for the rest of his life. His duty for most of his years there was that of cook. After fifteen years, his duties were shifted to the sandal repair shop but, even then, he often returned to the busy kitchen to help out.

Brother Lawrence is known in Christendom as a devotional giant because of what he called "practicing the presence of God". Brother Lawrence did not limit his devotional life to a few minutes with God in the morning, but sought to bring Jesus with him throughout the day as he performed his daily (and humble) duties. Lawrence discovered the joy of a life fully devoted to Christ, and sought to commune with the Lord continuously throughout the day, out of deep and genuine love for Him.

The following are some excerpts from a book entitled "The Practice of the Presence of God". This book is still available today, and I highly recommend you buying it and reading it (see link below). It contains the record of conversations between Lawrence and a good friend, letters written by Lawrence to other friends and associates, as well as a few notes on spiritual devotion written by Lawrence himself.

Read through these, and discover some tips that will help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ:

On making our conversation with God continuous throughout the day (1 Thess 5:17).....
Brother Lawrence related that we should establish ourselves in a sense of God's presence by continually conversing with Him. It was a shameful thing to quit His conversation to think of trifles and fooleries. We should feed and nourish our soul with high notions of God which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.

Brother Lawrence said that in order to form a habit of conversing with God continually and referring all we do to Him, we must, at first, apply to Him with diligence. Then, after a little care, we would find His love inwardly draw us to Him without any difficulty.

And why did he practice God's presence....what was his motivation?

I do not advise you to do it from that motive. It is not pleasure which we ought to seek in this exercise. Let us do it from a principle of love, and because it is God's will for us. Were I a preacher, I would, above all other things, preach the practice of the presence of God. Were I a director, I would advise all the world to do it, so necessary do I think it, and so easy too. Ah! knew we but the want we have of the grace and assistance of God, we would never lose sight of Him, no, not for a moment. Believe me. Immediately make a holy and firm resolution never more to forget Him. Resolve to spend the rest of your days in His sacred presence, deprived of all consolations for the love of Him if He thinks fit. Set heartily about this work, and if you do it sincerely, be assured that you will soon find the effects of it.

The emphasis on growing in intimacy with Christ and love for Him, and not just growing in consistency....even of Quiet Times (see yesterday's post):

Brother Lawrence said that many do not advance in Christian progress because they stick in penances and particular exercises (like Quiet Times) while they neglect the love of God which is the end. This appeared plainly by their works and was the reason why we see so little solid virtue. He said there needed neither art nor science for going to God, but only a heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but Him and to love Him only.

The foundation of his spiritual life?
Brother Lawrence told me that the foundation of the spiritual life in him had been a high notion and esteem of God in faith (in other words, the revelation of the exalted position of Christ; God in all His glory). When he had once well established his faith he had no other care but to reject every other thought so he might perform all his actions for the love of God. He said when sometimes he had not thought of God for a good while he did not disquiet himself. Having acknowledged his wretchedness to God, he simply returned to Him with so much the greater trust.

On having an awareness of his own sinfulness...
He said he was very aware of his faults, but not discouraged by them. He confessed them to God and made no excuses. Then, he peaceably resumed his usual practice of love and adoration.

These are excerpts from an older version of the book, compiled by Brother Lawrence's friend, Joseph de Beaufort, and later translated into English. I have a copy of a newer, abridged version, published by Whitaker House in 1982. If you would like to buy that book from Amazon (no, I don't get any kickbacks :))....then CLICK HERE.

OK, time for you to hear from the Lord. Today's passage is Acts 7:1-22. Pray, Read, Apply, and Yield. Don't forget to review your memory verses (Psalm 1:1-4).

May the Lord impress Himself upon you, and may He give you the grace to practice His presence throughout your day today! See ya tomorrow!

Day Four

Today we're gonna do a bit more scripture memory. Remember, hiding God's Word in our heart keeps us from taking detours from God and His ways. We told throughout the Bible of the many benefits of meditating on Scipture (Deut 6:6-10, Joshua 1:8, etc.)

For the first couple of weeks in Boot Camp, we're going to be memorizing Psalm 1. If you've been with us all along, you've already been memorizing the first 2 verses....now go back and memorize verses 3 & 4:

3 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.

4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.


The psalmist is using metaphorical language to describe the person who "delights in the law of the Lord", who "meditates on his law day and night" (verse 2)....and this is the same person who "does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers" (verse1). THAT person, "is like a tree planted by streams of water".

Now, go through this verse line by line, thought by thought, asking these questions:

- Why is he planted by streams of water? How does a tree get planted?
- What is the water? What does it represent?
- How does the water help the tree? What are the results?
- What does "in season" mean?
- Who is "the wicked"?
- Chaff is the useless part of the grain, that was thrown away....why does that represent the "wicked"?
- What is "the wind"? What affect will "the wind" have on the "tree planted by streams of water"?

Write these 2 verses on another 3x5 card, and keep that with you throughout the day. Repreat it often. Write it out often. Pray it back to God (more on praying through scripture later in boot camp).

OK, time for us to go to His Word and hear from Him. Todays passage is Acts, chapter 6. P.R.A.Y., and then pray! :)

For His Glory!

Day Three

I'm a bit tardy in getting Day Three up here...but, better late than never! :)

Today we want to step back a second and ask ourselves a fundamental question.

Why am I participating in this Spiritual Boot Camp?

Not that I want to discourage you from participating at all.....but, I want us to have the right motivations for doing what we're doing. So, why are you participating in this boot camp? Seriously, stop for a moment, and ask yourself that question.

Maybe you said..."Because I just feel better when I spend time with God". OK, I do too....but is that the best reason? Is it really all about us?

You might have said...."so that my daily time with God is more consistent". OK, that's a good goal. In fact, that's the whole premise behind the idea of a "spiritual boot camp"...to develop the habit of a daily time with God....but again...why? Why do we want our daily time with God to be more consistent? The habit of a daily devotional with Jesus is the "means to an end".....what is the end?

This gets to our purpose...our reason for existing.

We were made for God's pleasure. We exist to glorify and worship our Creator King. The Lord doesn't exist for us....we exist for Him.

This must have bearing on our spiritual habits as well. We spend time daily with our Lord because He enjoys our time with Him...not simply because we enjoy it. We have daily times of intentional devotion in His Word and in conversation with Him, because He gets a kick out of it! He loves us that much! And, in that daily time, He transforms us into men and women who will be better able to display His amazing glory to a lost world. Its like Moses on the mountaintop. He spent time with God in all His glory, and then came down from the mountain, with the shikanah glory of God all over his face......the Israelites knew something of the glory of God and worshipped that King of Glory because of what they saw on Moses' face.

When we spend consistent, quality time with God, He moves in us and changes us into people that will be able to display the glory of God to others.

So, why are we here...in Spiritual Boot Camp? Its so that we can glorify and worship God better, and better reflect our great God to those who don't know Him! The cool thing is it also blesses us and comforts us and gives us peace and hope, and all that...BUT, its not about that....its about glorifying and worshipping our King.

Now, we are also convinced that we'll be better able to do this if our walk with Christ is closer...and our walk with Christ WILL be closer if we spend more time with Him....if our times of spiritual devotion are more consistent...daily....a habit!

Building habits is simply a matter of doing things over and over again. Doing things the same way, helps to develop certain actions into habits. When you woke up this morning and showered (IF you showered :))...you probably started lathering-up the same part of your body that you always start with....and you probably didn't even realize it. It was habit. You didn't have to think, "OK, so now, which part of my body will I start cleaning first?"...you just did it.

That's what we want our quiet times to become.....something that is such a part of our day that we don't have to make a decision to do it....we just do it, because it's a habit. Now, at the beginning, since it's not a habit for many of us yet...we'll need to start by making an appointment with God.

Most of us make appointments all the time. We schedule meetings with peers, and clients and supervisors...we make appointments with the doctor, the hairdresser, and the CPA (oops, tax day is over now!). We make appointments with people all the time, and if we're courteous, we always keep those appointments....we show respect to the other person by showing up, and showing up on time, and showing up prepared to participate in whatever the meeting is about.

Why should our time with the Lord be any different. Make an appointment with Jesus for tomorrow morning! Set a time....set a place. To help with habit building, it should be the same time every day, as long as you can help it. TO help with habit building, it should also be the same place every morning. If you're doing Spiritual Boot Camp here at church, then for the next 27 days, your appointment will be at 6:15 in the morning, here at the church. If you're doing this at home or at work, then your appointment will need to be scheduled according to that schedule and place...;..but try as best as you can to make it the same time, and the same place. TRUST ME....this REALLY helps with habit-forming....at least for the remainder of this boot camp.

Think about your "Quiet Time place".....where will you have your quiet time? Is it your favorite chair in your den or family room? If you've got kids that may wander in, you may want to move that chair into your bedroom, or get a different chair. If it a bean bag in the corner of your Study....a warm spot on your back porch that catches the morning sun? Wherever it is....schedule meeting with the Lord there.....and be prepared for your appointment! Put your Bible there, along with your spiritual notebook. Maybe open your Bible to the text for the next day. Put your pen out where you won't have to go look for it. Set you coffeepot to start dripping 10 minutes before your appointment....do whatever you can think of, and as much as you can, to make yourself ready for your appointment with the Savior!

OK, enough from me....its time to hear from God.

Today's text is Acts 5:17-42. Pray. Read. Apply. and Yield! May the Lord meet you right where you are, right now!

See ya tomorrow!

Day Two

Welcome to day 2! Don't think of it as 28 days to go...but that you've gotten up for 2 days in a row, and that you're on your way to developing a habit that will reap a lifetime of spiritual intimacy with your Lord! (OK, so I'm a "glass is half full" kind of guy).

I hope that you heard the Lord say something to you yesterday from your Bible reading. Feel free to comment on here and share with others what the Lord said to YOU.

This morning, we are going to start some scripture memorization.

Why is it important to memorize scripture? Well, the psalmist says "I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you" (Ps. 119:11). So, one reason is that if we have scripture in our heart and mind, it can keep us from giving in to temptation. After all, when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert, how did He resist those various temptation? Go read the story (Matthew 4, Mark 1, and Luke 4)....Jesus quoted scripture! Another reason, is that God's Word provides incredible guidance and direction in life. Psalm 119 says "Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path" (v. 105). If His Word is embedded into our memory banks, we'll have that guidance and direction ready for any situation (including those situations where others need to hear wisdom from God - we'll have scripture ready to give to them). Finally, God's Word comforts and encourages us to live lives that worship and glorify our great King. How awesome to have those principles ingrained into our heart and mind so that we can be re-focused to God's agenda any time, any place!?

There are two primary kinds of scripture memory. The first is to memorize specific verses that contain specific truths/principles for specific situations. I call this topical scripture memory, and the very best resource I have ever used or seen to help with this kind of scripture memory is The Topical Memory System. Through this system, you'll memorize 60 verses, organized and categorized by topic so that you can remember them whenever relevant situations arise in your life. Its available in most Christian Bookstores, or online at CBD. (click here).

Another kind of scripture memory is where you just memorize an entire passage of scripture. This is harder because it usually includes larger portions of scripture; however, it probably more closely resembles how the early church memorized scripture as much of Biblical teaching was transferred primarily via verbal transmission (in other words, they memorized the gospel accounts and Paul's letters and such, and would recite them to one another).

For the next couple of weeks, we're going to be memorizing Psalm 1. If you are doing this at home, follow these simple steps at home this morning, before you start your Quiet Time.....

1. Read Psalm 1 several times - read it out loud too. There's something about hearing the spoken Word...makes it more real. Read it through slowly, pausing after each natural break in the verse.

1 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.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 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.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.


2. Meditate (more on meditation later, but for now, it's simply thinking intently about God's Word - not eastern meditation where you empty your mind...but Biblical meditation where you FILL YOUR MIND with God's Word) - meditate on each phrase of verses 1 and 2 (that's all for today). Ask the Lord what each phrase means. Try to picture a mental image of what each phrase is saying. How does this meaning make you feel?

3. Write out verses one and two on a 3x5 card - I find it helpful to actually write the verse out. Some people like to use pre-printed cards or computers, but again, there's something about actually writing the words of scripture out. To help me memorize it, I'll often write a verse out several times....aids greatly in memory retention!

4. Review these verses over the next few weeks.

OK, now we're ready for today's devotional. Remember, the point here is to listen to what the Lord wants to say to "you" on "this" day.

Follow the P.R.A.Y. acrostic, and go through Acts 5:1-16.

May the Lord meet you, right there....right now! See ya tomorrow!

Day One

Welcome to the Spiritual Boot Camp! Whether you are joining us in person, or are doing this at home or work on your own, I pray that these next 30 days will help to develop the habits necessary for a lifetime of spiritual growth and intimacy with Jesus Christ.

Today, I want to give you a general outline or framework for a daily Quiet Time. There are many of these out there, and you may already have one that you use regularly. Regardless, consider using this for the next 30 days to guide your daily time with God.

It goes by the acrostic P.R.A.Y.

P - Pray. Begin your time with the Lord in PRAYER. Thank Him for keeping watch over you and your family during the night...thank Him for the fact that He never sleeps...thank Him for waking you up and ask Him to keep you awake! :) Pray expectantly for God to speak to you through the Holy Spirit who is in you. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you through His Word, and for you to have spiritual ears to hear whatever He is trying to tell you. Tell the Lord that the next few minutes are your little sacrifice of worship to Him..they are you gift to Him, and that you desire for Him to be glorified through this time.

R - Read. I strongly encourage you to utilize a Bible Reading Plan. If you don't have a plan for what you are going to read, then you will waste time looking for something to read, searching the Bible for a passage that will speak to some need you have. That's not the purpose of a Quiet Time. Do that when you face a decision or have a particular issue that you need the Lord's insight on. The purpose of your daily time with God is for you to just spend time with Your Lord and honor Him with your devotion, and for Him to speak to you and for you to position your spirit toward Jesus throughout the day. For this reason, have a plan for what you are going to read....and by the way, make sure the reading is from the Bible! Sometimes in your quiet times you'll want to use a devotional book or guide. These are fine, but they cannot substitute for God's Word. These books usually will guide you through a passage of scripture, and my encouragement would be for you to actually open your Bible and go through that passage in your Bible rather than just reading it from your devotional guide.

For the purpose of the next 30 days, we'll use a daily reading plan that I've been using for a while. There are lots of choices out there (just do a Google search on "daily Bible reading plans", and you'll find plenty). This one is one that several in our church already use, and is posted on our website. Go to that page by clicking here.

As you READ the passage of scripture from your reading plan, read "prayerfully". Be spiritually attentive to what the Spirit is talking to you about. Usually there will be one or two verses that God uses to particularly to teach you something....or that He wants you to meditate on more (we'll discuss Biblical "meditation" more later in the boot camp). Once you are finished reading, I like to actually write down those one or two verses in my Quiet Time Journal (a simple notebook you keep with you to write down what God teaches you from His Word). After writing down those verses, jot down what they mean and what God is specifically teaching you through them. This brings us to the "A" of our acrostic...

A - Application. God never teaches us anything that does not require some kind of response from us. As a result of the passage He just led you through, is there some sin in your life that He wants you to confess? Is there a promise He wants you to claim? Is there an action He wants you to take, a prayer He wants you to pray, a need He wants you to trust Him for? Whatever it is, write it down. What good is scripture if we don't apply it...if we don't allow it to effect some kind of change in our life? God's Word will never return void....unless we allow it to go in one ear and out the other. This practice of intentionally making an application of scripture to our life will keep God's Word and our relationship with Him fresh.

Y - Yield. Once you've made an application of scripture, now it's time to make a commitment to it. Daily we shouldyield ourselves to God's authority and leadership in our lives. We are His....the sheep of His pasture...the clay in the hands of the potter. We must re-commit ouselves to Him daily, and remind ourselves daily that we are not our own....we have been bought with a price....and surrender to Him. We surrender ourselves not only to the one thing God has just taught us in our Bible reading, but we surrender our day to Him, our schedule, our routine. We humbly ask Him to give us the privelege of glorifying Him throughout the day.

My practice is to go through this P.R.A.Y. acrostic each day in the morning, and only THEN do I bring my prayer requests to Him. Usually our prayer requests are our laundry lists of things we want God to do for us. God certainly wants us to bring these things to Him; however, far too often when I begin with my prayer requests (before reading His Word and yielding myself to Him), I find myself being focused on myself and my needs, rather than being focused on the Lord and whatever it is He wants to speak with me about. So, I wait until the end to go through my list of prayers and requests.

So, now that we've covered a basic framework, let's actually use it. The Bible reading for today is Acts 4:23-37. Go ahead and get alone, and go through this P.R.A.Y. acrostic suing that passage of scripture. Don't forget to record God's insights in a notebook/journal.

May God be glorified in us and through us today. See ya tomorrow morning!

Why a boot camp?

The purpose of this 30 day "boot camp" is to develop the habit of a daily time with God. Whether we call it a "devotional", a "quiet time", or whatever, every follower of Jesus needs consistent daily interaction with Him; hearing from Him through prayer and Bible reading. Not only that, but because our primary purpose is to glorify Him, we should set aside time each day to intentionally and thoughtfully worship Him and position our mind and spirit in an a posture of worship for the whole day.

While there will be some teaching during this time, the bulk of our time together will be spent with the Lord. We'll do some minimal teaching/training, but the purpose is to develop the habits that will last a lifetime....long after these 30 days are over.

That being said, I am praying expectantly that God would use the next 30 days to do a deep heart work in each of us....that we will find ourselves more devoted and more in love with Jesus at the end of our time....that we'll have clearer insights into God's will for our lives...and that we'll be better equipped to be lifelong worshippers of Jesus Christ!

To Him Be ALL Glory!