Spiritual Disciplines Are Not Rules To Follow

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I wanted to write this because I think many people look at the spiritual disciplines as a list of ways we can gain favor with God.  I don’t want you to look at them in that way.  I believe spiritual disciplines are initiated by the Holy Spirit.  When we feel that deep longing inside us to connect on a different level with Jesus.  That little voice inside that says, “Give your lunch money to the homeless guy and you spend lunch with me.”

We want to follow a set of rules so bad that many of us find it hard to believe Jesus actually wants to be the Lord of our life.  There are others that believe that anything we do in our lives is a rule and not of God.  I want you to be in the middle of that.  Let me give you a couple of examples from my life.

I pray every day, but not in the way you think.  I pray from promptings.  I pray for the family two doors down that just found out they are having their first baby, and then write that down in my notebook so I can remember it later.  I pray a lot that Jesus will be the Lord of my life, that my kids will know him, and that he will strengthen my family.  I just don’t do it at a regular time everyday.

I read my bible.  I don’t read it everyday, I read three or for times each week.  But when I do read it I spend a lot of time in it.  Right now I am doing an in-depth study of 1, 2, and 3 John and it’s amazing.  When I am teaching at a church I read everyday because I want to understand the passage I am speaking on, but my normal habit is to read every other day at best.  By-the-way, I will read through the bible this year.  Not because i have to, but because I want to, and no I have not been reading everyday.

Don’t let people put you in their God box.  Chaplain Mike over at Internet Monk has a great post on how, It’s OK… To Just Be A Christian.  That is what I want you to realize.  Just be yourself around Jesus, when you really just let go and give it all to him, life becomes a lot simpler.  It took me a long time to realize this fact but when I did I freed me up to love him in a way I never could before.