Friday's Bit of Discipleship
When we suffer, we find out where we really are, and we learn lessons we never learned while all was comfortable. If our humility cannot pass the test of suffering, wasn't it just a disguise? Isn't it better that we find that out before it is too late to do something about it? If we say, "I don't deserve this kind of pain", we should stop and listen, and learn something very important about ourselves. We are a long way from the cross, a long way from dying to self.
p.125, The Prideful Soul’s Guide to Humility, Fontenot/Jones
Humility Prayer
Let me learn from suffering. Let me learn in suffering. Let me learn to suffer as Christ suffered – trusting You. In His name I pray. Amen.
Discipleship Point
A Sending Creed
(based on the Apostle’s Creed)
Do you have a SCOPE prayer time?
S Standing
C Commitment
O Offered to the
P Potter (God)
E Every day
Learning to carve out a SCOPE time for the Lord. This concept of prayer acknowledges that while one might hope to retain God consciously in the mind at all times, there is a different benefit with dedicated times allotted on God Himself with no competing distractions:
The word Devotion is often used here – meaning ‘singularly focused.’ We call it a Standing Commitment Offered to the Potter Every day.
You can see it in the lives of more than one biblical follower:
- One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon. Acts 3:1
- Three times a day [Daniel] got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God. Daniel 6:10
In what areas of life do you currently have standing commitments with family, work, exercise, leisure, media (think daily, weekly, and monthly)? What are your current standing commitments with God and with His people? Again, think daily, weekly, and monthly. Don’t look for perfection, but participation. This is a great way to expand loving God with your mind. How do you see this able to happen in your life today? Get creative if necessary. Ask for God’s help.
Discipleship Prayer
Father God, so often in church we say or sing or pray that You are worthy of our praise. Let me worship You in my daily life by setting up a standing commitment offered to You, the Potter -- whenever, wherever.
Let’s make it happen. Come shape me as You desire. Amen.
“Jim [Wilder] believes that right-brained relational skills should be among the first things we teach new believers because this is the pattern we see in Jesus’ life. Our love for Jesus (a right-brain attachment function) is what produces obedience.”
p. 40, Wilder, Hendrick, The Other Half of Church