What does it take to grow?Day 6

Transcript

Day 6
Good morning and welcome to today’s Daily insights. This is day 6 of our episodes, What does it take to Grow. On behalf of Pastor Lucy Paynter daily insights, this is Jane Lenny.
Yesterday we looked at Habit number 2 In order to grow we need to breathe – Prayer. Yesterday we said we need to turn off our electronic devices, set aside time to pray and develop a habit of praying. Today we delve deeper in practical ways in developing this habit.
Meditate on the Word. Psalm 119:15 says, “I will meditate upon Your precepts and regard Your ways.” Note 1 in the Holy Bible Recovery Version defines muse:
Did you know that not only the Spirit is breath but also His Word is breath? Second Timothy 3:16 tells us, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” By using our spirit to pray with the words in the Bible, we can meditate on and take in every God-breathed word, so we can be infused with God and nourished by Him.
Pray with the Bible. We can make any verse in the Bible our prayer. For example, we can pray, “All Scripture is God-breathed. Thank You, Lord, all of Your Scriptures are Your breath! I come to breathe You in through Your Word right now.” We can spend time praying over a certain verse; we don’t need to feel like we have to rush ahead to another one. Instead, we can continue to enjoy a particular phrase, lingering to breathe deeply.
Praise the Lord. When we spend time with the Lord, meditating on His Word and enjoying Him, praises will spontaneously issue from our lips. Say, for example, we’re enjoying Matthew 1:21, which says, “And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.” From meditating on this verse, it will be easy to praise Him, “Lord Jesus, I praise You. You’re the most wonderful One in the universe. Praise You for becoming a man! Thank You, Lord, for saving me from my sins. I praise You as my Savior!”
Allow God to finish His speaking. We often cut our time with the Lord short. Imagine if we were treated like this by the people in our lives. Let’s say a good friend comes to talk to us. He tells us about something that happened to him, tells us how he’s doing, asks us to do a few things for him, and before we can respond, she walks away. How would we feel? We might have had a lot to say, but we didn’t get a chance. Quite often, this is how we treat the Lord. We vent to Him, unload what’s on our heart, ask Him to do something for us, ask Him to help us with something, and then finish our time of prayer without allowing Him to say anything to us. To breathe in the Lord, we also need to allow the Lord the opportunity to speak what’s on His heart to us.
Pray throughout the day. The simplest way to pray throughout the day is by calling on His name. Calling on the name of the Lord Jesus is something we can do anywhere at any time, whether loudly or quietly. It’s an easy way to breathe in the Lord all day.
Remember prayer isn’t a duty; it’s a necessity for survival, because it’s our spiritual breathing. And it’s a delight! We can breathe in our enjoyable God moment by moment to be refreshed, strengthened, and filled with Him. As this happens, you’ll find that you are growing and maturing in your Christian walk.
On behalf of Pastor Lucy Paynter daily insights, this is Jane Lenny taking you through What Does It Take To Grow episodes. Today was day 6 of our episodes. Tomorrow we go to Habit number 3 in the 10 Habits of Maturing Christians. God bless you, Shalom Shalom.

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