I have seen men who struggled to pray even for 10 minutes, ladies who couldn’t even fast from 6- 10 a.m., men who were so lustful that they didn’t even have the time for the things of God. I’ve seen these people catch fire in a strange way and sustain the fire for years.
Flipping the coin, I have seen a lot of people start well with God; you see their zeal for God and his house, their love for God especially on campus. They complete school, and it looks like the fire also completes with them. Great men don’t just fall at once; men with fire don’t just lose fire in a day; men with intense love for God don’t just lose their love in a day. It only happens when you ignore spiritual disciplines. Charles Spurgeon said, “Neglected closet is the source of all spiritual decline.” Funnily enough, the Holy Ghost will keep on cautioning you until you finally become dry.
In the same vein, men don’t just rise in stature; there are protocols for rising in the spirit or catching the fire and sustaining it. The key thing doing the wonders here is spiritual discipline.
I’ve seen another group of people who happily serve God, but their service in the vineyard is centered on activities, not the God of the activities. You see them always in church; in fact, they help plan services; you see them close to men and women of God, etc but they ignore spiritual disciplines. Sleeping in church doesn’t equate to spiritual discipline, nor does being close to the man of God. Dallas Willard said, “The soul is healed by being with God, not by doing for God." Satan is always happy with this kind of people because he knows that they’re neither hot nor cold. Your life actually depends on these spiritual disciplines. As long as you are a Christian, you need to give yourself to spiritual disciplines.
Spiritual discipline is any intentional practice that trains your spirit or inner man to know God and to become like Christ.
“For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”
Just as an athlete trains and disciplines the body to be able to run a race, a Christian disciplines the inner man to position himself properly to run the Christian race. It’s sad that our concentration is only on physical exercise, which only profits a little, but the ones that have eternal value have been neglected.
“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”
You can only keep your spiritual fervor by engaging in spiritual disciplines.
Let’s talk about some of the spiritual disciplines
PRAYER
You need to pray because it’s a sign of your total dependence on God. Do your very best to carry the habit of prayer, even if you have to set an alarm; please do, because it doesn’t make you less spiritual. In prayer lies strength, in prayer lies wisdom, in prayer lies the way to go about your business. No matter your caliber in life, you cannot neglect prayer.
“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;.”
Jesus gave us one of the hacks to staying strong in your spiritual life, and it is prayer.
“Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.”
As great as Daniel was, he never neglected prayer. This is one of the reasons why Daniel was relevant in Babylon. You cannot outgrow prayer if you want to sustain your fire and still be useful in the hands of God. One of the signs that a man’s spirit is healthy or weak is his prayer life. Just as doctors say, drink water even when you’re not thirsty, drink prayer even when you don’t feel like praying, because we were made for prayer, by prayer, and of prayer.
Donald S. Whitney said, “Prayer is not a way of getting what we want, but the way we become what God wants."
THE WORD OF GOD
By the word of God, you know what God says concerning every matter, whether people, sin, his work, etc. Knowing the mind and the will of God helps you to navigate your path in life. Eating the word of God always keeps your mind on God and matters concerning the kingdom, which helps in your transformation. Don’t treat the word of God as a last-minute addition to your schedule. Schedule your life around the word of God.
“Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”
The same way you need food to survive and grow healthily, you need the word of God to survive in this broken world, for it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. It’s the word of God that quickens us and causes us to be alive. Stay in the word and become one with the word that your profiting may be unto all.
FELLOWSHIP
In fellowship, we don’t wait for Him; we wait on Him. It’s sad that we know the Holy Spirit as one God far away from us who when we scream he hears us. We have not carried this consciousness that the Holy Spirit is a person who loves to have intimacy with us. The Holy Spirt is a person because He has a WILL (He can decide - 1 Corinthians 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.), EMOTIONS (He feels - Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.) and a MIND ( Romans 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God). The Holy Spirit wants to gist with you, advise you, tell you even the clothes to wear for dinner, etc. Even the “little things” matter to Him. As a child of God, have time for the Holy Ghost; make Him your friend and your gist partner. Intimacy or fellowship is like a love affair between you and your God where God rubs off on you and imparts Himself into you. In fellowship, God teaches men consecration, and God sets men apart for His own use. God trains you in a way that your destiny demands, which only He can open you up to.
FASTING
Fasting is abstaining from natural desires (food, social media, movies, etc.) for spiritual purposes. Fasting bruises the soul, and when the soul is bruised, power is released.
“They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” 34Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?35But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.””
Jesus is the bridegroom, and the children of the bridegroom or bridechamber are the disciples. In our dispensation, we don’t just fast for breakthroughs, for jobs, marriages, etc but we fast because we have missed God - Luke 5:35.
Fasting helps you to be sensitive to the things of the spirit. It also increases your spiritual capacity because it puts your flesh where it belongs.
SUBMITTING TO SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY
This is one thing we mostly ignore, but it’s very important in our walk as Christians. The attitude of nobody can tell me what to do will kill you if you don’t desist from it. You cannot walk in isolation in this Christian life; it’s not a solo path. We are the body of Christ, and so you will need the feet if you’re the hand, and you’ll need the eye if you’re the ear. You cannot walk alone, my dear, so humble yourself and be accountable to authorities. When you get to the point where nobody can correct you, know that you’re close to distraction because pride comes before a fall.
“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
IMPORTANCE OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
1. It sustains your relationship between you and God:
Disciplines like prayer, fasting, and studying the Word keep your relationship alive and keep you from drifting away.
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
- It builds spiritual stamina and strength:
Just like physical exercise builds your body, spiritual discipline builds your inner man to resist temptation.
“For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”
- It gives you direction and clarity:
When you pray and study consistently, you hear God clearly and know His will. You don't live in confusion.
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
- It produces a transformed life:
Discipline kills flesh and builds the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, patience, self-control, etc.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Galatians 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
- It positions you for impact and growth:
A disciplined Christian grows fast, is reliable, and God can trust you with more.
“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”
CONCLUSION
Donald S. Whitney said, “Spiritual disciplines are the God-ordained means by which we bring ourselves before God, so that He can transform us by His grace."
Many still look back to the days when they burned brightly for God. Losing the fire is far easier than regaining it, so you must intentionally fan it into flame to keep it burning. Devote yourself to spiritual disciplines, for it is the path that never fails.
Dennis Nemi
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