Studying the Word isn’t the only Christian discipline we need to pursue. We also need to meditate on the Word. We need to spend time in prayer. We need to spend time worshipping God. And, yes, we even need to incorporate fasting into our lives.
Why should we practice all those disciplines?
Because they each help us in a different way.
Just as a potter’s wheel keeps turning the clay under the potter’s hand so that he can work on every side of it, each spiritual discipline places us in a unique position before God. It makes it possible for Him to touch us and change us in ways another discipline might not.
Studying the Word doesn’t accomplish what prayer can accomplish, for instance. Meditating doesn’t do what fasting can do. And worship opens us to God differently than any of the other disciplines do.
If you think you’d have to become a recluse and live in a prayer closet to incorporate all things in your daily life, think again. Jesus never meant us to be recluses. He said we should let our lights shine so the world can see them.
He intends for normal people like us—people who mow their lawns, take care of their children, and go to work every day—to display His nature and His character. Since we have to stay on the potter’s wheel to develop that character, we can safely conclude that the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life can be exercised by regular folks like you and me.
If we ask the Lord, He will teach us how to do the natural things we have to do while practicing the vital spiritual disciplines that keep us turning round.
Scripture Reading: Titus 2:1 – 14
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”