The Basics

So what should some basics of Christian discipline be?

Scripture Memory

Reading the Word

Prayer

What else? Also, what are some reasonable goals, and then what is too much?

My guess:

Memorize a passage a week. Ps 53:10 is for this week. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." NASB

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." ESV (matches the song better)

Would it be reasonable for a small group leader to expect and challenge the group to memorize a passage such as Ps 53:10 in two weeks? I think a month is too much time and doesn't offer a real challenge.

Reading the Word. Daily. Good place to start is 3 times a week I think.

Prayer, pretty much hand in hand with the Word. But probably more so than reading the Word. Pray with your kids, pray at a meal, pray before bed, pray when studying God's word, pray with a group.

Is it unreasonable to expect this from a Christian group? Why does this basic foundation seem to be such a challenge sometimes? Writing it down and looking at it, it seems so easy.

True Knowledge

During my time in God's word this morning I read Colossians 3. Specifically what stuck out to me was verse 10, "and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-- ".

This stuck out because another memory verse is 2 Pet 1:2-4

So now I'm curious, and run a search for "true knowledge" on biblegateway.com

1. Colossians 2:2
   that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself,
   Colossians 2:1-3 (in Context) Colossians 2 (Whole Chapter)
2. Colossians 3:10
   and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him--
   Colossians 3:9-11 (in Context) Colossians 3 (Whole Chapter)
3. 2 Peter 1:3
   seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
   2 Peter 1:2-4 (in Context) 2 Peter 1 (Whole Chapter)
4. 2 Peter 1:8
   For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   2 Peter 1:7-9 (in Context) 2 Peter 1 (Whole Chapter)

Interesting, so let's try a search of knowledge, this may be a bit long. 153 results found. A couple are from Genesis dealing with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But over all the Bible seems to be in favor of knowledge. So why is blind faith a term that is associated with Christians? This should not be the case.

On a completely different subject, had a great ride into work this morning. A bit foggy, but over all good. I over dressed for the temperature, but that is just because I'm out of practice I think. I pulled over after the first 2 miles and took off my jacket, I still had a long sleeve base layer with a t-shirt over it.

Hope everyone is having a good day and spending time reading God's word as well as talking with Him.

Observe

Ephesians 5:15-16

Time of Quiet Listening

Luke 6:40 "A pupil is not above his teacher, but everyone, after he has been fully trained will be like his teacher."

Who are your teachers? Mr/Mrs ________?
Who has a strong influence in your life? Oprah?
Who do you want to be like? Mike?

I know one teacher that I want to have is Holy Spirit.
John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."

We need to spend time in the word of God, listening to what the Holy Spirit has to teach us. We need to know what Jesus has said for it to be brought to our remembrance. I've learned that a quiet time is not a bible study. A bible study (in my opinion) is a guided look at the Word of God. Instead of allowing the scripture to speak we are trying to make the scripture say something.

The Bible is the Living Word of God (Heb 4:12) For the Word to be our teacher we need to study it, not a lesson someone else made, that makes the author of the lesson your teacher.

In Discipleship For Leadership (DFL) we were encouraged to use our quiet time to do the homework, but after memorizing Luke 6:40 I realized I'm not having God as my teacher, but the DFL teacher. Now the DFL teacher is a great teacher and I don't mind being his pupil, but I also want to be a pupil to God.

So what about you? Do you follow someone's lessons such as "Our Daily Bread" or "My Utmost for His Highest" instead of having a time with just God?

So what has been happening

Not sure why I haven't had time to post anything, but I've been meaning to. The boat bed is done and looks great. I've been trying to get some pictures to post here, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Angie and Jason did a wonderful job painting a faux wood grain. David loves his new bed, I have some video of him on it, maybe I can try posting that too. Though that won't be till the weekend when I transfer the tape onto my hard drive.

Started riding my bike again. My annoying cough that has been lingering is finally gone, so I don't mind breathing in the cool morning air. Today it was about 48 degrees, and I over dressed. I'm thinking just my work pants and not the windbreaker over them. Also a lighter top layer, I wore my yellow long sleeve pull over.

Easter was a great time, but very exhausting. We have way too much chocolate too. David loved it, but I think we had too many eggs for the kids. He would pick one up and try to open it instead of gathering them all first.

DFL is going well, but I think I need to have my quiet time on top of doing my DFL. This will require a lot more time, but I think it is needed. I have really missed have a more relaxing QT.

Our house is still somewhat of a wreck. Especially the garage. I need to get it cleaned up from the boat bed project. We also need to get our house cleaned up from having company stay with us. But hopefully that can get done this weekend.

The kids have been doing really well. Katie is sitting up easily, David is talking more and more, you can now ask him if he wants water or milk. Katie rolls over, but doesn't seem to be that interested in crawling yet.

Things have been pretty busy at home, and I need to take advantage of the time available to get things done. We have been failing at doing any workouts which needs to change. Hopefully this weekend we will get the rest we need and be able to get the house in order.

Lord of the Sabbath

Reading Luke chapter 6 this morning. The sabbath was very legalistic for the scribes and the Pharisees. They would challenge Jesus when he would perform miracles on the day.

The Sabbath is to be a day of rest, and we are told to remember it. Well, I usually do projects or other work like clean the house on Saturday. I don't really see this as honoring to God. So I'm struggling a bit to apply and be obedient to God's word. Any suggestions? Do I need to just do it and stop doing so much work on Saturday and make the projects more occasional. I probably have time for Saturday to truly be a day of rest. I guess I should look more up on the Sabbath and try to really understand it. Comments on this would be appreciated.

Memory Verses:
Rom 12:1 is memorized, so now it is time to get John 14:21. So on Wednesday we should switch to the next weeks verses, 2 Tim 3:16 (which I pretty much already have), and Joshua 1:8 which sure sounds familiar.

The way it has always been

So I read Deuteronomy 6 today.  I found it very interesting in the response they are to give their children when they ask what do the statuets mean.  

 20"^(X)When your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the LORD our God commanded you?' 21then you shall say to your son, 'We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. 22'Moreover, the LORD showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; 23He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.' 24"So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes,^(Y)to fear the LORD our God for our good always and ^(Z)for our survival, as it is today. 25"^(AA)It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us."[BibleGateway.com]

They are to present them the history.  The commands are "for our good always"

Improving my quiet time by remembering

I read through Pslam 101 this morning for my quiet time and wasn't really getting much out of it.  Then I realized it has been this way for a few weeks now.  So I thought about it a bit and realized it isn't really about getting "something" out of it.  It is a relationship.  I remember in revelation it speaking of the church of Ephesus losing its first love, and the solution to that is to remember.  

So I thought briefly about it and was like "oh-yea" this is a relationship, not a bible study I'm working on.  My quiet time is not a bible study.  My quiet time is about being with the One I love, my creator redeemer and friend.  I need to work on that relationship.  I want to be close to God.  So I took a short break to remember some key points in my life where I had a very close relationship with Him, and I also remember other key points where He proved Himself.  

I just felt that this info is useful for everyone to remember, so I decided to share.