Spiritual Disciplines

When the Going Gets Tough

“How do you keep going with these disciplines when it is tough?” Dawn asked us last week:

“I really wanted to try it out but circumstances have only served to discourage me. The alarm waking my 3 year old so I spend the whole 'quiet time' is spent trying to settle him and stop him disturbing the others, then both we both have a harder day because of the extra tiredness. How do you keep on? I am convinced it is a good thing but feel like I am letting my whole family down because I am tired and so discouraged. Sorry just wonder if I am the only one who can't work it out.”

You certainly aren’t the only one! All four of us know exactly how you feel! With small children, it is hard to do anything consistently. The only thing predictable about our days is that they are unpredictable! But here are a few ideas (all from Mom) that we’ve found helpful:

1. Change What You Can – Small, practical changes can make a big difference. Consider potential solutions like buying a quieter alarm clock or placing it where the kids are less likely to hear it. I’ve even set my phone alarm to ring and vibrate and then slept with it under my pillow! My husband and I have run “tests” to see what noises in the house (walking on hardwood, flushing toilet, opening closet) sound loudest in our kid’s rooms. And training our children to read books on their beds until a set time each morning has made a huge difference. However, some problems aren’t so easy to solve, that’s why it’s good to…
 
2. Have a “Plan B“ – If your ideal plan doesn’t work out, have a back-up plan in place. Plan “A” might be to meet with God before the children wake up; but if you’re up half the night with a sick baby, you need sleep in the morning! Plan “B” may be to read God’s Word and pray during your children’s naptime.

3. “Do What You Can”- If both “Plan A” and “Plan B” fail (which may happen often with small children!) then do what you can. Read this great story from Donald Whitney about how one mother’s hunger for God’s Word led to some creative solutions. Liberating and inspiring!
 
4. Try Again Tomorrow – Even if you only rise early two times each week you are doing more than if you never tried at all—that should encourage you!
 
5. Preach the Gospel to Yourself – This will lead to joy. God is not more pleased with us on the days we rise early or less pleased with us on days when we sleep late. We are accepted and approved because of Jesus Christ.
 
Finally, as Mom is fond of reminding us: this is a season. It will pass all too quickly and the three year old who wakes up early will be a thirteen year old who you can’t get out of bed in the morning. Until then, remember that God’s grace is more than sufficient (2 Cor. 12:19). He daily bears us up, and promises that "as your days, so shall your strength be" (Ps. 68:19, Deut. 33:25).

 

 

Coming Soon…

To cap off our sitting series, we’re excited to announce a new feature here at girltalk. Next Monday, February 1, we will officially launch our two clubs: The 5 O’Clock Club and The FAM Club.
 
The 5 O’Clock Club is for those who want to rise early (it doesn’t have to be 5 O’clock, that’s just the name of the club) to meet with God.
 
The FAM Club (Fast A Meal) is for those who want to fast one meal a week to pray for a family member’s salvation.
 
You will have the chance to put your name on the rolls, to share testimonies, and to read about God’s grace through these spiritual disciplines. We hope these clubs will provide encouragement and accountability to keep sitting at Jesus’ feet long after the sitting series is over.
 
Many of you are long-time members of one or both of these clubs. Or maybe you’ve let your “membership” lapse. Some of you have never heard of these clubs! But all of us need reminding and refreshing. So for the next few days we’re going to post information, encouragement, and the stories of two women who experienced the grace of God to rise early and to pray eagerly for unsaved family members. As you read, we hope you’ll prayerfully consider joining one or both of our clubs.
 
Next Monday we’re going to kick things off with a 28-day challenge, one that we will take ourselves: to rise early and/or fast one meal a week for the entire month of February.
 
You don’t have to take the 28-day challenge to join our clubs, but we hope it will help all of us—by God’s grace!—turn a good intention into a consistent practice. We’ll try and provide encouragement along the way and you can do the same for us through your testimonies.
 
And of course there will be fabulous prizes! The first 28 people to join each club and every 28th person after that will receive a prize.
 
So grab your mom, sisters, cousins, and friends and get them to join our clubs with you (oh, and did I mention they are free?).
 
Together, let’s rise early to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen eagerly to his teaching. And let’s bring unsaved family members before His throne of grace.

(P.S. - Tomorrow we’ll post the Pick One Spot contest winners. Yep, you read that right: We couldn't pick just one!)

Place and Method

"Most Christians neglect their Bibles not out of conscious disloyalty to Jesus, but because of failure to plan a time and place and method to read it" John Piper
 
Now that we’ve talked about time, let’s consider place and method for sitting at Jesus’ feet.
 
What’s the best place for reading our Bible? If at all possible, pick a secluded place. A quiet place. A place where you won’t be distracted.
 
And prepare your place. Have all your “sitting stuff”—your Bible, journal, commentary, book, pen, highlighter, Kleenex, etc.—readily accessible. Maybe even put everything in one basket. That way you won’t have to spend the first ten minutes (like I have before) wandering around the house to collect everything!
 
Finally, we need a method for reading our Bible. If we don’t have a good plan for reading and studying God’s Word, we will likely become discouraged or even disinterested—which can hinder us from keeping this discipline in place.
 
If you don’t have a good plan or know how to create one, let me encourage you to ask a godly friend or pastor for help. But here are two links you might find useful.
 
Bible Reading: Justin Taylor links to ten different Bible reading plans offered by Crossway Books and other sites and gives an overview of a few of them. I personally am using the Discipleship Journal plan in my devotions.
 
Prayer: This website contains Matthew Henry’s method of prayer which is simply praying the Bible. This site has been a wonderful help to me in my prayer life.
 
I hope these simple thoughts will spur you on to develop a good plan for sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to his teaching.

Plan a Time

To choose to sit at Jesus’ feet we need to deal with distractions and develop a plan.
 
“Many good things do not happen in our lives for the simple lack of planning” explains John Piper. “Most Christians neglect their Bibles not out of conscious disloyalty to Jesus, but because of failure to plan a time and place and method to read it.”
 
So do you have a time, a place, and a method?
 
Let’s talk about time.
 
There is no law in the Bible that dictates when to have a quiet time. In fact, we are to meditate on God’s Word day and night! However, there is biblical encouragement for rising early to seek the Savior.
 
Consider the psalmist who directs his prayer to the Lord in the morning and then watches for the answer (Ps. 5:3). The Proverbs 31 woman is famous for rising “while it is yet night” to provide food for her family. Finally, and most notably, Jesus himself rose early to pray. Mark 1:35 records, “Rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, [Jesus] departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

Referring to Bible reading and prayer, John Piper again offers this advice:

“I earnestly recommend that it be in the early morning, unless there are some extenuating circumstances. Entering the day without a serious meeting with God, over his Word and in prayer, is like entering the battle without tending to your weapons.  The human heart does not replenish itself with sleep.  The body does, but not the heart.  We replenish our hearts not with sleep, but with the Word of God and prayer.”

Compelling logic, is it not?
 
We don’t want to head unprepared into the daily fray. By rising early we can secure much-needed refreshment for our souls.
 
More on place and method this week…
 
(Portions of this post adapted from our book, Shopping for Time)

Dispensing with Distractions

Mary chose to sit at Jesus’ feet by deliberately ignoring distractions--namely, Martha and her anxious busyness.

But we need to be alert to what distracts us from keeping our daily appointment to read God’s word and pray.

Maybe it’s a hobby, the newspaper or a magazine, watching TV, listening to your ipod, staying up to late at night, loving sleep too much, blogging, keeping up with facebook, following twitter, texting, etc.

We must do whatever it takes to say “no” to the distractions that keep us from the one thing that is necessary: sitting at Jesus’ feet.

A while back, I found that the Internet was becoming a distraction. I was using the five minutes it took for my coffee to brew each morning to quickly check my email, or headline news, or maybe a blog or two, before starting my devotions.

I’d check a headline and then I just had to read the story; or I’d check a blog I enjoy, and I just had to check out the link they recommended, or I’d get caught up not just looking at my email, but answering it.  

Before I knew it, five minutes would turn into twenty minutes and then my quiet time would be cut short.

So, I knew I needed to make a choice. I had to choose to say no to this distraction! I resolved to not look at email or blogs or headline news until after my time of Bible study and prayer.

What about you? Is there a distraction in your life that you need to say "no" to?

Whatever it takes ladies, let’s be ruthless about not allowing anything to distract us from seeking God through His Word and prayer.

How We Sit

To recap our “sitting” series, we’ve considered:
 
WHAT we are to sit and listen to: Jesus’ teaching. It is the one thing that is necessary.
 
WHERE we are to sit and listen: at Jesus’ feet, with humble hearts, eager to listen and learn.
 
WHEN we need to sit: even in busy seasons we must consistently seek God through His Word and prayer.  

WHY do we sit: because we need God's grace, not as a way to earn His approval.
 
The final question is HOW. How do we sit at Jesus’ feet?
 
Then answer is in Luke 10:42: “Mary has chosen the good potion.”
 
Mary didn’t just think about sitting and listening or talk to others about it. She chose to sit and listen. We must choose to sit and listen.
 
“It’s easier to serve than commune” observed the great preacher Charles Spurgeon. It’s easier to do what Martha did than what Mary did. So we need "great grace" to follow Mary’s example—to choose to sit and listen.
 
Two things will help us to choose the good portion:
 
1. eliminate distractions
2. develop a plan

More to come...

Do not sit at Jesus’ feet…

…as a way to earn God’s approval. It can’t be done. No string of quiet times in a row can meet the standard of a holy God. No amount of Scripture reading or prayer can earn His forgiveness.
 
Jesus Christ is the only person who ever met with God’s approval. He lived a perfect life and died in our place, receiving the wrath of God that we deserved. He rose again, and stands “before the throne of God above”—the perfect, spotless righteousness of those who trust in Him.
 
As believers we are justified—declared righteous, forgiven, and accepted by God—through grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone. We do not earn or forfeit our justification before God based on our performance.
 
Our good works, our faithfulness to sit and listen, our diligence to seek the Lord through prayer and Scripture do not add to Christ’s finished work.

Ephesians 2:8-9 sets the record straight: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

We must keep this truth ever before us as we resolve to sit at the Savior’s feet. It is necessary and beneficial; but it is never, never, never a means to earn God’s forgiveness or acceptance.
 
 B.B. Warfield empathically hammered home this point when he said:

“There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God.  We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot be accepted at all.  This is not true of us only when we believe.  It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live…It is always on His ‘blood and righteousness’ alone that we can rest.”

Are you discouraged or condemned by your failure to sit and listen?
 
Then revel in this truth: We have a Savior who died for our sins. His blood and righteousness alone makes us acceptable to God.

Try Again This Year

When CJ leaves for work at the end of the day, he tells Tony, his assistant, and Nora, his secretary: “We’ll try again tomorrow,”
 
That’s short for: “Well friends, we worked hard today, but once again we failed to accomplish everything we hoped. Maybe we even made mistakes, used poor judgment, or experienced setbacks. We are frail and finite creatures. Only God gets His to-do list done. And only God does it perfectly, every day. So, let’s humbly acknowledge our weakness and insufficiency in contrast to His strength and sovereignty. But let’s not give up in despair. If God wills, let’s come back tomorrow and by His grace, do our best to serve Him faithfully, for His glory!”
 
Let’s try again tomorrow.
 
I think CJ’s little phrase can help us in the New Year.
 
Are you discouraged by unfulfilled resolutions from years past? Maybe you’ve already failed to keep your resolutions for 2010.
 
I can easily get discouraged when I consider this past year: My recipes remain half-organized on my computer. My reading list is only two-thirds completed. Certain relationships I wanted to invest in remain untended. My unbelief still dogs me.
 
But I read more books this year than if I’d never resolved to read at all. I’ve taken more initiative with people, even if not as much as I would have liked. And the recipes are half way-organized instead of one big mess! By God’s grace, I think I’ve even grown in faith, however slow my progress.
 
I may not have completed my to-do list for 2009. But I’ve done more than if I never tried at all.
 
So, I’m going to try again this year. I’m going to make new resolutions to glorify God. I’m going to seek to make them humbly—recognizing my weakness and inability to complete them all perfectly.
 
But in the words of Paul: “one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). I want to press on to be more like Jesus and be with Him more often in 2010.
 
As we bid goodbye to 2009, I say to you: “Let’s try again this year.”

Sitting in the New Year

We’ve all made our New Year’s resolutions: Spend (a little) less money on shoes, organize the kitchen cabinets, dig out the exercise DVD from under the bed, check the facebook feed fewer times per day.
 
But wait. Have we resolved to do the one thing that is necessary in 2010?
 
Donald Whitney, in a timely sermon at CLC yesterday, challenged us to pursue holiness: “without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).
 
"Our purpose in life—if we have the Holy Spirit” he says, "is godliness: you want to be like Jesus, and you want to be with Jesus.”
 
And there’s only one way for that to happen.
 
By practicing the spiritual disciplines.
 
By sitting at Jesus’ feet.
 
"Godly people are godly people primarily because they are disciplined people. And it has always been that way” insists Dr. Whitney:

"You can go all the way back through the history of the church and all the famous heroes of church history. You can be sure that all those men and women became godly men and women – not because God zapped them in some way that he hasn’t zapped you….Those great men and women of faith became more like Jesus the same way you and I do: by means of sustained, unspectacular, routine discipline. Godly people are godly people because they are disciplined people. It’s always been so."

To help us be more disciplined, godly people, we have an exciting new feature coming soon to girltalk. So stay tuned.

But today, I want to urge you to listen to this message by Dr. Whitney. It will strengthen your desire and resolve to be more like Jesus and be with Jesus more often in 2010.
 
Let’s sit in the new year together. 

A Good Meal

“Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42

This week, I’m planning Christmas dinner. I went to the grocery store yesterday. I’m going again today. And tomorrow. And Christmas Eve.

Actually, it’s a dinner that Jesus is referring to in Luke 10:42. The Greek word for “portion” here means “meal.”

He tells Martha--who is busily preparing a meal that fed the body--that Mary has chosen the good meal. Mary was eating a meal that fed the soul.

But not only that—Jesus said it was a meal that would not be taken away from her. Wow! Now that’s a really good meal!

It might take us twenty minutes to eat Christmas dinner. It will take our body 24-32 hours to digest that meal. The benefits won’t last for long.

But when we make the Lord’s teaching our meal, when we feast on His Word, the benefits from that meal will last for a very long time.

So long in fact, that Jesus said, it will not be taken away from us.  Not in 24 hours, not in 24 years, not even in eternity.

Think about that. Every time we read, study, meditate or memorize God’s Word we are ingesting truth that will never be taken away from us.

That’s astounding!

That’s a meal we don’t want to skip!

The Gift of Peace

Sitting says to God: I need you!

Often, we don’t feel our need for God as much around the holidays. We might get a little anxious about all we have to do, but we figure—with a little help from family members—we can handle the Christmas baking and shopping and decorating pretty well on our own. I mean, what to get our father-in-law for Christmas hardly seems important enough to bother God with.

Come to think of it, wasn’t that what our friend Martha was doing?

She lost sight of her need for the Lord’s help. She was just bent on getting the help of that sister of hers!

Yet the Lord lovingly reminded her that needed His help. She needed His grace to serve. She needed to hear His voice to not be anxious.

Martha, Martha He tenderly chided her. I am the one you need to come to for grace and help in time of need – any need, no matter how small or great!

Notice that God didn’t wait until Lazarus’ death to encourage Martha to come to Him. He didn’t tell her to sit and listen only in time of great trial or difficulty. He spoke these words to her in the midst of the general busyness of her home.

"Take one step at a time, every step under Divine warrant and direction.” exhorts Charles Bridges. It’s holiday advice we’ve shared with you before, but worth repeating:

“Ever plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without his counsel. He loves to be consulted...Consider no circumstances too clear to need his direction. In all thy ways, small as well as great; in all thy concerns, personal or relative, temporal or eternal, let Him be supreme. Who of us has not found the unspeakable 'peace' of bringing to God matters too minute or individual to be entrusted to the most confidential ear?"

No circumstance is too clear. No matter too minute or personal or temporal to bring to God (even your father-in-law’s present!). God is not bothered or offended by our ordinary, mundane requests. He loves to be consulted about the ordinary matters of our days, and our holidays!

Let’s bring our anxious souls to Him and receive the gift of “unspeakable peace.”

Sitting Says Something

Did you wake up this morning and say to God: “I don’t need to read your Word or pray or listen to your voice today. I am competent on my own. I can do this all by myself, thank you very much.”?


Of course not!  We would never dare say these frightfully arrogant words.

But if we neglect God’s Word and prayer over the holidays (and when is it more easy to do!), we are saying with our hearts and actions: “I can do it all by myself.”

Jesus has a different perspective: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” He says in John 15:5.

We can’t ice one cookie, trim one tree, sing one carol, shop one minute, sew one stitch, or wrap one gift without Him. None of these things—no matter how hard we work at them or how beautifully we pull them off—will have any “eternal value or…produce spiritual fruit” without God (ESV Study Bible).

To bear fruit, we must sit at His feet.

We must renounce our self-sufficiency.

We must repent from our arrogant independence.

We must come to the God of mercy who is eager to forgive.

And we must sit.

When we sit at Jesus’ feet, we are saying: “I need you! I can’t obey you without your help. I can’t serve you in my own strength. I can’t walk in a manner worthy of the gospel by myself. I need your grace.”

And you know what, He will give it! God didn’t correct Martha’s self-sufficiency to push her away. He wanted to draw her near to sit and listen. He wanted to speak to her, to teach her, to give her grace to bear fruit.

So let’s say—with our words, our hearts, and our actions—I need you, Lord, today!

A Matter of Life

“And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’” Luke 10:40

According to Martha, Mary picked the wrong time to sit and listen to Jesus’ teaching.

“C’mon Mary”—you can almost hear her say—“after dinner, when the crockery is put away and the floors swept, then you can sit and listen to Jesus to your heart’s content. But right now there’s work to do!”

Sounds reasonable to us. But Jesus disagreed. He thought Mary’s timing was perfect.

Let’s take our cues from Mary. We shouldn’t wait until things settle down after the holidays. We shouldn’t postpone listening to Jesus until January 1. We must choose to sit and listen to the Lord’s teaching today: right in the middle of the Christmas crazyness. And we must strive to do so every day after.

We can’t afford not to. “Man does not live by bread alone,” God declares in Deuteronomy 8:3, “but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Just as we can’t survive without physical food, neither can we thrive without spiritual food. We cannot live without God’s Word. As our bodies require daily physical nourishment, so our souls need daily spiritual nourishment.

Our morning bowl of cereal won’t sustain us for three weeks. Neither can our souls subsist on one dose of God’s Word. As D.L Moody explains:

“A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough for the next six months, or take sufficient air into his lungs at one time to sustain life for a week. We must draw upon God’s boundless store of grace from day to day as we need it.”

We can’t truly live unless we sit and listen. So let’s daily “take in a supply of grace” through God’s Word and prayer.

Location, Location, Location

“Mary…sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.” Luke 10:39

We’re still “Sitting Out the Holidays.”

What are we sitting and listening to? Jesus’ teaching. It is the one thing, the only thing, that is necessary.

The next question is where: Where should we sit and listen?

Mary chose the floor. She literally sat at Jesus’ feet. Now obviously we don’t have to sit on the floor to have our devotions—not unless we want to!

Mary’s choice to sit at Jesus’ feet revealed the location of her heart.

It displayed her eagerness to listen to His teaching. It revealed her zeal to learn and grow. She wanted to hear every word, absorb every word, and submit to every word that came from her Lord’s mouth.

The floor was simply the best spot for that to happen.

Sitting at the Lord’s feet doesn’t imply what position our body should be in; it represents what position our heart should be in. Where we sit has nothing to do with body posture and everything to do with the posture of our heart.

Mary approached her Lord with a posture of humility. She sat before her Lord as a hungry learner, an eager student. We should come to God’s Word in the same way.

So where’s your heart this holiday season? Is it running frantically through the mall? Is it gazing longingly at an unwrapped present? Is it mingling with guests at a holiday party?

It’s not enough just to sit. There’s a special place we must sit. We must sit at the Lord’s feet. We must come to God’s Word with a humble heart: eager to learn, ready to receive, and determined to obey.

Profitable for Mom

The other day, my three boys tramped downstairs to the kitchen. They were arguing.

"He took my quarters!” my seven-year-old pointed to his brother.

"No, Mom, I brought these quarters home from Mom-Mom’s house!” the accused brother defended himself.

As I tried to get the story from them, one…at…a…time, the words of blame kept flowing, with frequent interruptions and scowls.

My temptation in these moments? I want to bring swift resolution through my commands and directives: “Boy #1 is wrong. Boy #2 is right. Case closed.” I want peace for myself more than I want to teach my children God’s Word. This temptation is especially acute over the holidays.

But my words—although very important!—are not sufficient. My children need to hear God’s Words. They need Scripture, which is “profitable for teaching, correcting, and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). They need God’s promises and commands sown like seed into their little hearts. They need the words from God’s mouth, which never return empty (Is. 55:11).

So we return to the most often quoted verse in the Chesemore home—Ephesians 4:29: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

"Is corrupting talk coming out of your mouths?” I ask my boys. “What words would give grace to your brother?”

And surprise, surprise—Scripture serves me too. I need the life-giving words of Scripture as much as my sons. I too need the encouragement and correction of Ephesians 4:29.

This is one reason why I must sit and listen to Jesus’ teaching every day. So that I—and my boys—can profit from His Words.