Discipline of Prayer

This was indeed a thick chapter, as author Barbara Hughes well understands how much we as Christians often struggle with prayer. Instead of trying to summarize and give my own thoughts, I'm just going to quote what I found to be some of the author's most convicting statements.

...prayer bends our wills to God's will, which is what submitting our lives is all about. I never fully understood this until I heard an explanation by E. Stanley Jones, a missionary and man of prayer: "If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God." (pg.41)

Meditation is LISTENING (emphasis mine) to the Word... and MUTTERING God's Word back to Him in prayer. (pg.42)

If you've put off admitting your sins to God, confession may need to come first in your devotional time. (pg. 43)

Reverence--which is often missing--must characterize our time with God. And along with reverence we need concentration. (pg.44-45)

Our devotion results in a conscious yielding of every part of our personality, every ambition, every relationship, and every hope to Him. Submission to God's will is the true heart of worship. (pg. 46)

Two supernatural things happen when we pray in the Spirit. First, the Holy Spirit tells us what we ought to pray for, and He does this through the Scriptures. As He shows us what needs prayer, He gives us the absolute conviction that certain things are in God's will. (pg. 47)

Continual prayer is God's will for every Christian--no exceptions. We must always be looking up, even when driving to work or cleaning the house. (pg. 48)

(Matthew 7:7) Jesus' words actually read: "Keep on asking, and it shall be given to you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it shall be opened to you"...God answers persistent prayer. (pg. 49)

Petitionary prayers for others bring grace to their lives. Few people know, for instance, that the stupendous achievement of William Carey in India was fueled by his bedridden sister who prayed for him for over fifty years. (pg. 50)

Don't kill your prayer life with some legalistic commitment to pray for a lengthy, set amount of time. Often the best prayers are short and passionate. (pg. 51)

This discipline is a call to work! Prayer is work, not a sport. It is not something that you do if you like it or only if you're good at it. (pg. 52)*

*Hughes, Barbara. Disciplines of a Godly Woman

Snip-it of the Submission Chapter

Look to Jesus

Hebrews 5:7 "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission."

We learn two things from Christ's example. First, that even the sinless Son of God had to pray in order to obey! How much more must sinful people need to depend on prayer to come into obedience. Second, the Father heard His prayer because of His reverent submission. Isn't this stunning? Even within the Godhead, submission was essential.*

At our last meeting we talked a good deal about the example of Christ. It is really eye-opening to see His humanity in His submission to the Father and His humility in coming to earth. What a Savior. His agonizing and fervent prayers serve to teach us so much, and His servanthood shows submission unequal in this world.

*Hughes, Barbara. Disciplines of a Godly Woman, p. 39.

What is Submission?

... Books published during the seventies pigeonholed the word submission as connoting a woman's acquiescence to male dominance.*

At the beginning of our last meeting we discussed whether anyone present had ever felt the same way, and whether they still understood that to be the meaning of submission or if God had changed their thoughts. Several agreed that they had previously understood submission in such a negative way, but that God was indeed helping them grow in their understanding of the truth behind the word.

Submission is yielding to the authority of another.*

A very simple definition, yet the true definition. We spent a great deal of the rest of the night talking about authority and our roles as children, employees, citizens, wives, church members, and most of all--children of God. We find that willingly being under the authority of another person is not natural for us, but we know that it is the best thing for us as our safety is preserved there.

The other major topic of our conversation was about the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We discussed that Lord is a title, one that brings to mind authority and kingship. We often overlook the significance of that title, but our attention was brought to Ephesians 1 which clarifies just what is Jesus' role as Lord:

And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. (Ephesians 1:9-10)

We look forward to talking more at our next session about Jesus' authority and His perfect submission to God as a servant on earth. It is amazing to know that when one is put into authority, it is always to serve. Submission is a joy under such circumstances!

*Hughes, Barbara. Disciplines of a Godly Woman, p. 33 & 34.

Suggestions for Making the Gospel a Priority

As promised! Here are what I have in my notes for some simple, practical, yet effective ways to put the Gospel back where it belongs: at the TOP of the list of your priorities, and at the CENTER of your life.

Why? Because, as Barbara Hughes says throughout chapter 2,

"When we are born again, life starts to make sense."

 "...the Gospel is not just one more thing you schedule into your day planner or kitchen calendar. The Gospel shapes everything about you. The discipline of the Gospel is coming to God on His terms...As women who understand and embrace the Gospel, we find God's Word so dynamic that it at once defines us, satisfies us, and motivates us."*

I did not take the best notes of what others said, so please ADD YOUR THOUGHTS in the comments if you would like! It would be much appreciated!

1. Cut out or cut down things in your life that are detrimental to your walk with God. 


Do you spend more time watching TV/movies or logging into Facebook or other online activities than you spend with God? Are those things that you put before your eyes--viewing or reading materials--honoring to God, or do they draw you farther away from him? What about your music? Are there people that you spend time with that are pulling you farther away from God? Spend some time evaluating how you spend your time, and what you listen to/read/watch, and your relationships. 


In my own life, I have found it absolutely essential to be careful what music I am listening to and what I watch. I try to REPLACE those things that are detrimental to my spiritual life with things that are spiritually encouraging, such as sermons or clean movies, or, best of all, time alone with God. It's great to get rid of things, but you have to fill that void with something. The more you fill your life with the things of God, the more you want to spend your time with Him. (See Ephesians 4:17-32 and Colossians 3:1-17 for what it means to put on the "new self" and to pursue the things of God).


2. Commit to memorizing Scripture. 


This has to be one of the easiest ways to make the Gospel more of a priority--to dedicate yourself to hiding God's Word in your heart! When you memorize Scripture, the Holy Spirit uses that! He will bring to your mind verses you need to cling to when you go through trials and temptations...and every day life! 


You could print verses you'd like to memorize and hang them around the home where appropriate. For example, I have Proverbs 25: 24 hanging in my kitchen, "It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife." I have often seen people post Philippians 4:8-9 by their TV or computer. In college our RA posted verses in the bathroom. If you see them every day, you will eventually commit these verses to memory! 


3. Be active in the community of believers. 


Being a part of a church family is so important. During the church services you are communing with God, through the preaching of the Word, through prayer, through celebration of the sacraments, and through worship. What better way to meet with God than with your brothers and sisters in the Lord? Those people that are in your community are there to encourage you, to lift you up, to weep with you when you weep and to rejoice with you when you rejoice...and you are to do likewise. God has given us a wonderful gift in our church family. 

But your church family is not your Sunday-only family. Take advantage of what is offered--Sunday School, Catechism, Bible Studies, fellowship meals, etc. Spend time with your church family throughout the week. As you prepare for worship and for discussion in the studies you should find yourself in the Word more and more. 


See Acts 2:42-47,  Ephesians 4:1-16, and Hebrews 10: 24-25 for more on the church. 


Personal hint: I find that I am better able to retain information from sermons and studies if I take notes!


4. Put it on your schedule. Find an accountability group/partner.
Still having trouble making the Gospel a priority? Having trouble getting into the Word? 


If you have a busy life, with work and family, and you find that your quiet time with God is nonexistent, consider getting up earlier or staying up later. Make a commitment to get it done! 


For some, it may be helpful to find a friend or two or three to join you in this commitment. Meet together and spend time faithfully studying God's Word, in depth. Pray for each other. Bear one another's burdens. There are a few of us at SFURC who do just that, and it has been an incredibly edifying and educational experience! 


Some suggestions for your quiet times:

• Sometimes it is hard to know where to start! Thankfully Barbara Hughes has included some helpful suggestions in the appendices of Disciplines. Starting on page 219, she suggest hymns to include (either singing or reflecting...hymns have beautiful, rich theology that should not be discounted!), Psalms to read, a calendar for reading through the year, and additional reading materials to help you embrace the Gospel even more. 

• I would also suggest that you take a look at the Catechism (the Heidelberg Catechism is the focus of our current Family Sunday School class). While this is NOT a substitute for God's Word, its question and answer format helps you to even better know the reason for the hope that is in you! Looking up the verses in the footnotes of the Catechism is a great devotional idea as well. 

This is a very long post and there is much more that could be said, but I will end here. I hope this has inspired you to be more active in getting into God's Word and making the Gospel a priority! Please add any more ideas in the comments!

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." --Colossians 3:17

*Hughes, Barbara. Disciplines of a Godly Woman, p. 25.

Chapter 2, Part 2 Recap

Here's what we talked about, in a nutshell, last Wednesday night. I apologize for the lateness of the post!

We spent the first part of the evening going over the "homework" from last time, which was to meditate on this question:

"Has the Gospel slipped from the top of your list of priorities? How will you make it foremost in your thinking again?" 

We all agreed that it is easy to lose our focus on the Gospel, and shared ideas for making it the top priority in our lives again--I hope to be sharing some of those ideas in the next post.

This week we dug DEEP into God's Word to find out our identity as Christians. 

1) In Genesis 1-3 we find that we are created in God's image, and entrusted to care for his Creation. With the Fall, we find the explanation for the total depravity of all humankind: the entrance of sin into the world. We are sinful from conception. But God has promised us salvation, even as early as Genesis 3--when he promises that the offspring of the woman will crush the serpent's head.

2) In Romans 3:23 we see that nothing we can do can make us right with God. We are ALL sinful.

3) In Romans 6:23, we are reminded that we are inherently sinful and therefore deserve only death. BUT! GOOD NEWS!!!! God has given us a FREE GIFT--"eternal life in Christ Jesus Our Lord."

4) In John 1:12 we see that if we believe in what the Gospel tells us is true--that Jesus, the Son of God, died to save us from our sins, we are adopted into the FAMILY OF GOD. We aren't just made okay with him, but we are his CHILDREN.

5) Ephesians 4-5 are filled with instructions for what our Christian life should look like--in our homes and in our church family and community. We are to be different from the world, and reading through Ephesians tells us how; we spent some time talking about the importance of speaking in humility and gentleness.

So, as Christians, we are made in God's image, sinful from birth, but redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus. Because we belong to him, we are made right in God's eyes and are his children. Because we are his children, we MUST live differently than the world. 

We are encouraged by Colossians 3:17 and 2 Peter 1:3 to remember that the world looks to us for an example of Christ, but that we are given the Holy Spirit to help us because we are UNABLE to do it on our own.

Encouraging words! If you weren't able to make it to the lesson, I would heartily recommend going through these passages on your own time.

Recap of Two Ways to Live

Even though we may all profess to be Christians, it is so worthwhile to review the message of the Gospel over and over again. The "Two Ways to Live" portion of our reading really brought that home to us at our last meeting. It is a concise look at the message of the Gospel. Even if you’ve heard it a million times and can answer all of the questions without even looking up the Scriptures, it’s worth the while to spend time thinking about our salvation. This whole chapter and this section especially serves to reignite that passion for the Gospel that we can sometimes lose in our daily living. The song “I love to tell the story” is a favorite…

”I love to tell the story;
tis pleasant to repeat
what seems each time I tell it
more wonderfully sweet

I love to tell the story
for some have never heard
the message of salvation
from God’s own holy word…

I love to tell the story
for those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest.”

We would encourage you to listen to the Two Ways to Live training video from a previous post if you haven't already. You will get a fresh taste of the Gospel story that we love to hear over and over again!

Recap of Chapter One from March 9

I have to apologize for my very late post here... sorry. But anyway, here it is. A recap of our study last Wednesday night where we covered more of Chapter One from the book Disciplines of a Godly Woman.

We began the study by asking the question "What does Spiritual Discipline mean to you?" The answers that came up were: reading the Bible, prayer, doing devotions, and practicing patience and Godliness. Those are important because our witness to others depends on it, we are made in God's image so we should be holy, and they are our own lifelines.

When discussing what prevents us from pursuing such disciplines we all agreed that we come up with excuses of "too busy," perfectionism, not prioritizing, lack of self control, it's uncomfortable, we don't think we are "that kind of a person," etc. Basically, it all came down to sin. However, we also agreed that when we are not exercising disciplines our lives feel chaotic, unorganized, and restless. The only major cost of being more disciplined is that we'll no longer get whatever we want, whenever we want it.

Next we moved on to discuss some of the differences between true disciplines and legalism. We noted that doing devotions legalistically can lead to feeling like a robot, focusing on self instead of God, and being frustrated and angry with interruptions. The book had a beautiful quote that we encouraged everyone to remember.

The legalistic heart says, "I will do this thing to gain merit with God." The disciplined heart says, "I will do this because I love God and want to please Him."1

The John Wesley quote in the book was also a great visual of disciplines done out of a true relationship with God--all for His honor and glory. We ended noting how submission has fallen on hard times and realizing we were out of time, we determined to go over "The Two Ways To Live" section at the following meeting.

1. Barbara Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Woman (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2001), p. 14.