I have a real stretching exercise for you in this issue of the Remnant. I hope that many of you will take the challenge that I will propose to you. You may learn some things that you never expected to learn. This is some of the design for the different spiritual exercises that are suggested in this magazine. Paul admonished Timothy to “ exercise thyself unto godliness” and also stated that it would be profitable. There are many different aspects to the profit that you will receive; however, you will never know what they are unless you step into the water and begin.
Some time ago I challenged the congregation at Charity to this very exercise that I will give to you. To my surprise, the whole church raised their hands and said they would do it. It was a very healthy experience and we learned some needful things about our fast-paced life and ourselves. I must say that it was a bit painful but very good for us. Here goes!
We were in the midst of several discussions on discipleship, which had stirred up many desires among us to receive some practical training in the Christian life. In response to these desires, I brought a message one Sunday morning on some of the basic disciplines in a Christian’s life. After I presented them, I challenged the church to a commitment to do them consistently for two weeks. They said “yes”, we want to try it for two weeks and see what happens. That is what I would like you to do— try it for just two weeks, every day, never miss, and see what happens. Let’s look specifically at each one of these basic disciplines.
1 Hour of Quiet Time
Everyone agreed on that Sunday morning that this is not an extreme task, but rather, this is surely a proper amount of time alone with God each day. One hour of meaningful, meditative, prayerful devotions each day for two weeks. You can’t miss no matter what. Nothing is going to get in the way of this hour with God for the whole two weeks. You must be willing to change other priorities to make this happen, or you will not learn what God has for you to learn. Who will do it? Let’s take the adventure and see what happens. Many people in our fellowship used it to push the reset button in an area of their life that they needed to set right for a long time.
Family Devotions
I asked for a raise of hands on this one also to see if I was demanding too much in this exercise. Not one person felt this was too high. “Yes”, they agreed that this should be a normal discipline in the life of a believer in Jesus Christ. This is mostly the fathers’ commitment, however, it requires mom and all the children to say, “amen, let’s do it”. Mom must be willing to work the schedule around this important daily activity. The children must be willing to sit up and lend their interest in whatever is being done during this time. The family altar should have a time of whole-hearted singing, a time of meaningful sharing from the Bible, and then a time of prayer for the day and for others. I will give you Sundays off on this one because we all go to church on that day. Two weeks of this beautiful exercise never missing will be a great blessing to all in the family. Dad, will you take the initiative and get the family back on track? This would be a good time to refocus the family. I know it is something that we all know we should be doing. We just get so busy, don’t we?
Husband & Wife Pray Together
Here is a discipline that most couples would like to do, but never get around to it. They say, “There just seems to be other things happening so much of the time, and we never can quite get together.” May I suggest to you that you try to make it happen at the end of the day, or at the beginning of the day. You can more easily do it then. Just take about ten or fifteen minutes each day and together pour out your heart to God. You might be surprised how many different blessings you will find. Some couples are quickly aware that they have some problems between them that keep them from this meaningful exercise. I am asking you to do this every day for two weeks. Who will rise to this very basic challenge in Christian married life?
Couples, Go on a Date
Now this will be a real tough one. Set aside some time each week for the next two and have a date. I’m not saying you have to go out to dinner somewhere. Just spend a couple of hours together building your marriage. The sisters in the congregation were coming to me and thanking me for this suggestion. Why? Do you think their husbands do not love them? No, they just don’t take the time. The men enjoy these times very much, but they don’t think of it as easily as a woman does. Now I want to give you some guidelines on this one. This time must be a courting atmosphere. No problem solving, no lists of things that need to be done, no complaints about something the other is doing that bothers you. This must be a building time. Hold hands, open doors, say words of blessing to each other. Make it a sweet date time and you will both be blessed, and the children will love it.
These four disciplines, for two weeks—what do you say, shall we try it? Come on, let’s try it and see what happens. You will be strengthened by God’s Spirit in the inner man. You will learn some things about yourself that are very revealing. You will get a new look at priorities and what really is important. You will begin to see some things about your schedules that might not feel so good at first. Let me share with you a little insight that I have gleaned as I travel around the country preaching in many churches. Most of the people are not doing these basic things of the Christian life. They all know they are very important, but they just don’t have time to do them. This is very sad to me. How can we grow and raise up a testimony for the glory of God if we are missing these basic disciplines? The answer is, “we cannot”.
It may be that we need to change our lifestyles to fit the Christian ethics that we all say we believe. You only truly believe that which moves you to action.
When the congregation at Charity all raised their hands to try it, I encouraged them to write down the experiences they had and the things that they learned during the two weeks. Would you do the same? We would love to hear from you. Write us and let us know how it went. We would like to publish a few of them for the benefit of others.
