Four Simple Disciplines

Written by Grant Edwards
Originally published in 1997

When I first became a Christian I found prayer and Bible study boring. It was too easy to fall asleep during prayer, especially since I lacked discipline and tried to pray at night in bed; and it was too difficult understanding the Bible -- no real surprise since I started reading it like a novel from beginning to end... Genesis (not bad)... Exodus (okay)... Leviticus... (you've got to be kidding).

So I prayed, "Lord make me want to pray and make the Bible come alive." It didn't take long before the Lord answered both requests. Disciplines are addictive, and something like prayer and Bible study, if pursued with diligence, will feed the soul, fill the spirit, and quench the heart in such a way that spiritual hunger pangs soon result if the diet is forsaken. I was witnessing to everybody and experiencing a joy in being used by the Spirit, a joy far surpassing anything from my hedonistic years. And not only prayer, Bible study, and evangelism, there was fellowship. And, I do not mean the "sitting in a pew on Sunday only to act like everyone else during the rest of the week" fellowship, but truly the "clap your hands, laugh yourself silly, walk together, overthrow the deeds of the devil" fellowship.

The first lesson that I learned was that nobody who consistently practiced the disciplines of prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and evangelism fell away from the Lord. These practices didn't earn God's favor, but allowed the grace of God to strengthen and encourage the new believer to grow strong enough to resist the flesh and defeat the evil one.

More to come from Grant Edwards as he shares about his journey to learn how to reach and keep the harvest. Look for the next edition titled: Integrity Relationship. Other related articles include Learning to Disciple and Discipling Another To Love Jesus.