(1/14/2011)
I am really excited about a much needed revamp to my devotional life. For so long I have been struggling with legalism in this area. I was using a fear of condemnation be my motivation for my devotional life. I kept hearing Satan tell me in my head, "A 'true believer' would read his bible this amount a day and pray this amount per day. If you don't do that you are a nominal Christian." I even fell into the trap of comparing my devotional life with my fellow Christians, especially well known pastors and preachers of the past and present. Since then grace has entered my life. I am seeking to repent from these ungodly things and step into the unconditional love of God that surpasses knowledge. For a while I have struggled with how to approach my devotional life for a fear of falling back into legalism and the condemnation that comes with it. Lately it has become a 'do it when I have time' kind of thing. I don't feel like my walk with God has been severely hurt by this because I have been focusing on remembering and trusting God's promises as much as I can. But I definitely have not grown as much as I could have if I had been more disciplined. Regardless of what happened or what could have happened is irrelevant. The point is that today is a new day and his mercies are new today. My prayer is, as I go through these next four weeks, that God would help me walk in grace and discipline and show me how to avoid legalism when seeking a consistent devotional life.
God, please help me in this area. I love you so much Lord and You know I want to spend time with you. Please cause me walk in your statutes in this area. I can't do it without you Lord. Please help me in my devotional time with my wife as well. I want to know how to encourage her to seek you without being overbearing, and also pray and seek you together on a daily basis. Above all of this Lord, please protect my zeal from causing legalism. I would rather have a sporadic devotional life than fall back into those chains. Also help me to trust you that you will answer that prayer and to not be fearful of legalism. All things aside, I just want to know you more God. I want to be so enamored with you God that people would see your love through me and be saved. I want to be equipped for this impossible mission that is only made possible by you and your Holy Spirit. Fill me with your spirit, fill my wife, and fill church in the boro for your glory God. Thank you for all you provide and revealing yourself to me. Take my life Lord, take my life! Thank you Father! Amen
When you do that word study on "constrain" in your post on "Constrained by the Spirit", come back here and apply it to Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians 5, "the love of Christ constrains me." You want to ask a few questions about that with relationship to your devotional life.
ReplyDelete1. What is the love of Christ? It is a genitive in the Greek, which means it is possessive. It could be either "my love for Christ" or it could be "Christ's love for me". Which is it, and why?
2. Based on your answer, how does the love you picked constrain you (based on your word study of "constrained")?
3. How does that constraining love motivate your devotional life? How should it morph your disciplines?