Tag: Stewardship

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Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life: Book Review by Jeff Bush

By Donald S. Whitney 

  • Disciplines without direction equals drudgery. 
  • How can we pursue holiness? How can we be more like our Lord Jesus Christ? We must have discipline. 1 Timothy 4:7 — “exercise thyself rather unto godliness.”
  • Man arrives to maturity by way of spiritual discipline.
  • Our Lord modeled self-discipline for us.
  • Just as practicing to play an instrument requires discipline, so growing in your spiritual life requires discipline.
  • God’s Word.
        • No spiritual discipline is more important than the intake of God’s word.
        • Listen to the Word of God. Romans 10:17. 
        • Read the Word of God. How often do you need wisdom, encouragement, and strength? Every day! Then read God’s Word every day.
        • Discipline yourself to read the Word of God. Find a time. Find a plan. Find a word, verse, or thought to meditate on throughout the day.
        • What is one thing you can do to enhance your intake of God’s Word every day? 
        • Interview the text that you read. 
        • Consciously commit yourself to take at least one action from your daily intake of God’s Word.
  • Prayer. 
        • We learn to pray by meditating on the Scripture. 
        • Pray with others.
        • Where there is godliness, there is prayer.
        • Men and women of God are always people of prayer. 
        • Worship is responding to and focusing on God. 
        • Worship is a discipline to be cultivated.
  • Evangelism.
        • New Testament evangelism is presenting the gospel. 
        • Not every Christian should use the same means of evangelism, but every Christian should evangelize.
        • Evangelism is not a gift for a few, all of God’s children are to be ambassadors.
        • Before we make excuses, we should stop and ask ourselves, are we really too busy to fulfill the Great Commission?
  • Serving for Godliness.
        • If we don’t discipline ourselves for the purpose of God’s kingdom, we will probably never serve. 
        • Serving goes against two of our biggest fleshly enemies, our sloth and our pride.
        • We are to serve the Lord with gladness. It is a privilege, not a burden. 
        • Psalms 84:10 — “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
        • If we are to be like Christ, we must learn to serve.
  • Stewardship. 
        • Unless we practice self control, our bodies will choose to please self more than please God. 
        • Evaluate your use of time. The time to value time is right now.
        • Decide to discipline yourself and use your time for godliness.
        • We value time at the moment of death. 
        • Realize God owns everything you have. We are just temporary stewards of the things God owns.
  • Fasting. 
        • There is fasting from food as well as times to fast from entertainment and other areas.
        • The Lord expects His children to fast. He doesn’t say “if” but “when” you fast. 
        • Before we fast, we must have purpose, a God-centered purpose.
        • Fasting is one of the best friends we can offer to our prayer. 
        • It is more rewarding to feast on God than food.
  • Silence and Solitude for the purpose of godliness. 
        • God used silence and solitude in the life of both Moses and the Apostle Paul. 
        • Jesus practiced silence and solitude. 
        • One of the biggest reasons to get alone is to better hear God speak. 
        • We have an addiction to noise, and it’s connected to a spiritual shallowness. 
  • Spiritual Discipline of Journaling. 
        • A personal writing of thoughts to the Lord. Prayers, joys, verse challenge you read, etc.
        • Consider the discipline of journaling for godliness, and to remember God‘s faithfulness.
  • Learning for the Purpose of Godliness.
        • Wise and righteous people are teachable and continue learning.
        • Wise men seek and store knowledge. 
        • Mark 12:29–30. Our Lord teaches us to love Him with all of our mind.
        • How can we know more about our Lord if we do not learn more about him?
        • Learning is mostly intentional by discipline instead of accidental.
        • Most students don’t learn because their parents don’t learn. When was the last time you read a book to your children?
        • Growing Christians are reading Christians.
        • Godly learning leads to godly living. 
  • Perseverance in Godly Discipline.
        • Laziness does not lead to godliness.
        • Even though self-discipline is not easy, it is not self-punishment. Self-discipline is actually doing what your spirit need you to do.
        • Just as the only way to God is through Christ, so the only way to godliness is through Christlike practice of spiritual disciplines.
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Seasons of Sorrow Book Review by Jeff Bush

By Tim Challies 

  • When a child of God dies, he does not go away, rather goes ahead. 
  • The Bible uses the example of sleep for death. Sleep is a time to rest, but it is not an end. 
  • God is good all the time. There’s no laps in God’s sovereignty. 
  • Who are we to deem something as evil if God has deemed it as good. 
  • Bless God in the giving and in the taking. 
  • Our children are more God’s creation than our procreation. 
  • Be careful to distinguish the purpose from the results – why God did something and how God will use it.
  • You can accept something by faith as God‘s will, and God‘s will is always perfect. 
  • Do not charge God with wrong. 
  • You can receive something as a trial to steward instead of a punishment to endure.
  • Things may scar you but they do not have to define you. 
  • God was, is, and will be with you at all times. 
  • We can decide to bow our will to God’s throne.
  • God’s actions are always good and His timing is always perfect.
  • God gave talents: to one servant, one; to another, two; and to another, five. He never asked who wanted what/how many talents, and He doesn’t ask us what He will give or take from us. 
  • A perfect God with with perfect character will display His perfect Will. 
  • God begins every life, has authority over every life, and ultimately ends every life. 
  • Death is the great interruptor. It is also the great redirector. 
  • You do not have to spend the rest of your life incapacitated by sorrow, you can allow it to motivate you to serve God greater. 
  • God owes you no answer, and you would be wrong to demand one.