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!
No comments:
Post a Comment