In our day much emphasis is placed on keeping physically fit. I have often seen teams of very serious bicyclers climbing steep hills and mountains. They can be seen sweating, panting, and pushing along to the top.  Certainly some physical exercise is necessary and should be practiced on a regular basis for your health, but the Bible says that spiritual exercise should be pursued even more rigorously.

How is your “spiritual health?” Time spent in prayer, Bible study, quiet times of meditation with God can bring spiritual consistency to a life of erratic living. We read in 1 Timothy 4:8, “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.’’

All of this is a relational aspect of our Christianity. You cannot expect to build and nurture a love relationship with anyone unless time and a focused commitment is made on behalf of that relationship. As the old saying goes, “No pain, No gain.” The only way we will ever successfully be able to “climb the mountain” to a consistent walk in Christ is through the practice and discipline of daily devotional exercise. The absence of personal daily devotions is perhaps the number one reason for backsliding among professing Christians.

The fact is, we all have a real need for daily “spiritual nourishment.” We read in the Bible that the heavyweights like Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, Job, and David—all met God early in the morning.

• Genesis 19:27 says, “And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord.”
• Genesis 28:18 says, “And Jacob rose up early in the morning” and prepared an altar before God.
• Exodus 34:4 says, “And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai” and the Lord descended and stood with him.”
• Job 1:5 says, “Job . . . rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings” and prayed for his children.
• Psalm 5:3 says, “Oh Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer to thee.”
• Mark 1:35 says, “In the morning, rising up a great while before day, (Jesus) departed into a solitary place and . . . prayed.”

Man, if Jesus felt the need to rise early and pray, how is it that we think we do not need to do so?

Some of the most noted Christian leaders down through the centuries urged the practice of “the morning watch.”  Martin Luther said, “If I fail to spend time in devotions each morning, the devil seems to get the victory during the day.” John Wesley went to bed early, and then spent two hours in prayer and Bible study each morning, arising at 4:00 A.M. Oswald J. Smith said, “For over sixty years I have observed the morning watch. Because I meet God in the morning, I often solve problems before I come to them. Without the morning watch, my work would be many times more difficult.”

Going without breakfast is a poor habit, but so is failure to have a spiritual breakfast each day. To find quiet moments with God each morning requires discipline, but it is worth it as you begin to see success and consistency in your walk with Christ.

Some people prefer their devotional period in the evening, like Isaac, who “went out into the field to meditate at the evening” (Genesis 24:63). It depends a great deal on one’s personality and on the individual’s job or life schedule. You need to do your devotions when you are at your best…well awake and alert to hear the voice of God and to store away His words in your heart. The man who works on “an evening shift” will likely have his devotional time closer to noon each day. The important thing is to set a time, and then stick to that time every day. All of us need time to refuel, to collect our thoughts, and to set the pace for the day. God has promised to keep in perfect peace those whose minds are “stayed on” him (Isaiah 26:3).

One organization I know of publishes a small booklet entitled “How to Plan a Daily Morning Watch.” They call it “A Daily 7-Up”—suggesting that, a good place to start would be 7 minutes each morning. Are you willing to take even 7 minutes every morning for God?

This is how you might spend those 7 minutes: After getting out of bed, find a quiet place and with your Bible enjoy God for 7 minutes. The first 30 seconds: Prepare your heart. Thank Him for the good night of sleep and the opportunities that lay in the day ahead. The next 4 minutes: Read your Bible. Your greatest need is to hear some word from God. Start somewhere that will give you words that you can begin applying to your life immediately. One of the gospels like Mark, or Ephesians, Colossians, 1-2 Peter, etc.  Read for the pure joy of reading and allowing God to speak—perhaps just 20 verses…The next 2 ½ minutes: He spoke to you; you now speak to him.

It is important to develop a systematic plan for reading the Bible. A ‘plan of attack.’ At least a few times in life it is good to try and read the entire Bible through from cover to cover. One method is to read one chapter every day, which is a pace that all of us can handle. There are other “reading guides” that are not as demanding, and yet are still helpful in developing a pattern of Bible reading. Often it is more meaningful to read the Bible more slowly and very thoroughly, jotting down notes as you read. The daily quiet-time is not to be a mere mechanical reading of the Bible; not some duty or obligation.  It is concentrating on meaning and seeking to absorb spiritual truth. It is a relational time spent with God.

If you can get them, it is very helpful to have a few good Bible study tools—a Bible dictionary, a concordance or a commentary, or a Bible handbook. These are available in Christian bookstores and are sometimes available online. We can send you a simple but quite complete digital commentary in .pdf if you would like…just let the office know. There are many online plans available…some even will email you devotions every day!

Remember: The quiet time also includes simple quiet meditation. The word “meditation” comes from a Latin word which means “to ponder” and “to weigh.” Meditation requires reflection, thoughtfulness and study.  To meditate means “to give careful thought to” a particular issue. Meditation has always been considered a central part of Christian devotion and worship. Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, thinking things over, and “dwelling on” focused concepts.

To meditate effectively, quiet is very important. And quiet in this noisy world is more and more difficult to find! Road traffic, animals, children, construction…they are all noisy. Have you ever tried to have a phone conversation in a place where it is very loud? Many of us try to have our conversations with God in the same manner. We need to get someplace quiet to hear His voice…Many people seem to always have some kind of noise—a radio or a television playing just about all the time—but those things are not helpful when one is trying to concentrate and focus of communicating with God.

Meditation is continuous reflection on the goodness of God. Meditation, in a sense, is like a hen sitting on eggs to keep them warm until they hatch. Meditation is focusing on thinking about God’s love…about his saving us…about His guidance in our lives and His care over us. It is easy to go to church and hear preaching, to participate in Bible study groups, to attend teaching seminars…and then promptly forget about what we have studied. We can go to church and listen to the pastor speak and then rush off to something else and immediately forget what we were taught. We say we love Jesus, but no human relationship of love would survive if we treated it as we treat our relationship with Jesus! Whether we like it or not—it takes time to be holy; it takes time to digest the Word of God.

(PART 2 NEXT TIME!)