Daily Meditations from John N. N. Ng'ang'a: 5th to 9th July 2010--Spiritual Discipline
Day 1
Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. NIV
Personal quiet time is a basic requirement for your walk of faith. I have been a Christian for over 40 years. Whenever I check the biblical basics, I always discover that God still has issues He still needs to straighten in my life.
It is my prayer that I will sustain implementation of the basic lessons of Christian walk that I learn. I pray that I do not fall off before the end of the journey. That is why I endeavor to allocate time to writing out my meditation at least once a week and sharing them with my friends as well as my spiritual children. This will make me accountable and not fail to sustain the effort.
Day 2
Acts 15:37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. NIV
'As we all know dangers exist in corporate guidance as well in individual guidance .Perhaps the most menacing danger is manipulation and control by leaders .' (CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINES BY RICHARD J. FOSTER CHAPTER 12: DISCIPLINE OF GUIDANCE. Page 187)
Disagreements in scriptural view between spiritual people such as Paul and Barnabas or Paul and Peter show us that one needs to have direct contact with God despite enjoying corporate guidance.
We may have questions on which was God's voice in the occurrences. Was it Paul's or Barnabas? Was God telling them to drop off Mark or to continue with him in the team? But, as Foster points out above, one can get it wrong when it comes to individual guidance. What we think is God's voice could be the devil's disguised as an angel of light. This is the reason why Christians must compare whatever they are hearing with what God has already revealed in the Bible, knowing that He cannot contradict Himself. ANGEL FIRE.COM gives a list of question on how leaders control their congregation and says [i]
"My purpose in posing these questions to those who name the name of Christ is to bring focus to the fact that you continue to allow yourself to be abused, or to abuse, by documented manipulative and intimidating tactics that continue to control human behavior. This has been going on in the institutional church system for over 1,700 years. "Isn't it time to get real and be all that you can be in Jesus Christ by following the teachings recorded in the Bible for our benefit?"
The website also refers to an article entitled "FREE IN CHRIST! - WE ARE FREE TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER IN CHRIST" which is a reminder of our freedom in Christ to love one another as God loves His church, and our freedom to be families meeting for the purpose of Holy Spirit liberty for an abundant life in Christ. Included in that article is a discussion of how churches utilize professional people to install lighting and sound systems to induce altered states of consciousness and guaranteeing that will increase tithes, offerings and attendance as it robs individuals of their ability to correctly perceive, analyze and interpret what is happening to them. [ii]
Once we are conscious of this manipulation we must be careful to question the corporate guidance but without sinking into the opposite error of rejecting all corporate guidance. Foster is right. There are dangers in corporate guidance but the Word of God refers to its existence.
This is the message of Matt 18:19-20
19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.".NIV
We need to know God wants to protect us from error by putting us into his local body, the church.
Day 3
'When we continue to offer the discipline, that discipline becomes a means of grace through which God works and moves to transform that dead portion of our body into life in the image of Christ ' .( INVITATION TO A JOURNEY: a Road Map for Spiritual Formation BY Mulholland Jr., M Robert. CHAPTER 10 : THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE page 133)
The writer is telling us that any spiritual progress can only be made with God's help and not by our discipline.
Yet he also says that we need this spiritual disciplines as taught in the scriptures because God uses them to bring spiritual transformation. It is the balance that is required so that we do discipline without expecting them on their own to bring spiritual transformation but rather praying to God that he would use them to bring the transformation He is also saying that we need to continue in the disciplines and not just do it as a seasonal thing if we hope to benefit from them. How easy it is to just start something and then expect to hold God at ransom to do his part! We need to continue even when initially we do not see any results.
The dead portion of our body is quite intriguing. It means that despite being born again and spirit filled, we still have a part of us that is the old nature trying to pull us back. We must accept that the battle for our soul is on from the day we get born again. It will end the day we die. Only then shall we have victory over the presence of sin.
It is important to be aware of this battle so that we do not relax our guards at whatever stage because the devil will use this old nature get us back to old habits
Day 4
Rom 6:16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. NIV
'In the spiritual life, only one thing will produce genuine joy, and that is obedience. (CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINES BY RICHARD J. FOSTER CHAPTER 12 : DISCIPLINE OF CELEBRATION page 192)
Today's preachers are into 'wealth and health' gospel for all who trust in God. We hardly talk of the sufferings or the joy of sharing in Christ's suffering.
We need to balance the gospel by including this in our preaching but again we must also talk of the celebration expected of all Christians.
We must mention that Christ says that because he won the battle, we are supposed to enjoy what he obtained by this death on the cross. We must celebrate the victory and not live as if Christianity is to be endured rather than be enjoyed.
But then to share in this celebration, we must accept the lordships of Christ. Christ's instruction is not to be debated but obeyed. We cannot call him Lord and then question his instructions. We must instead obey them and this will bring us true joy.
It is when we know we are in tune with the Lord that we gain the confidence that we are on the winning side. That is, even if the situation may be unfavourable, if we are in tune with the Lord we shall know He can deal with whatever challenge. This will give us joy even before we see the victory.
This is the reason why we must choose the way of obedience. Only then we shall have chosen the way of perpetual celebration. Jesus won all we require for godliness. Hence we are assured of winning all challenges. This gives us confidence to face the future, and do so with joy.
Day 5
2 Tim 2:2-3 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. NIV
One other spiritual discipline is that of mentoring. Mentoring is a process of sharing our lives (1 Thess 2:8-12). We seek to influence others for the better. It is a process of multiplication and the method used by the early church (2 Tim 2:2; Titus 2:2-5)
Mentoring involves one to one interaction.
Each of us has a worldview which has been influenced by upbringing, culture, formal education among others. You can only tell someone's world view by spending time with them. Only until your world is transformed into a biblical worldview, the disciplining process is incomplete. This cannot be done from a crusade meeting, but when we mentor the disciple on one on one.
Often, the excuse many have against mentoring is that of lack of time. It is possible to create time to mentor others or be mentored so long as we put our mind and heart to it.
[i] http://www.angelfire.com/in/HisName/afraid.html
[ii] ibid