Practices (part one)

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post titled ‘Out of practice’ where I shared about the importance of being consistent and not staying away too long from anything, especially the things of God. A friend of mine has asked me to follow up on that post and talk about some of these practices or disciplines that we shouldn’t stay away from so we can successfully walk with God and win our battles. (I advise that you have your Bible handy so you can follow).

The key to these disciplines is locked up in Acts 2:42.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
These were the practices of the early church whose success in their faith goes without saying if you’ll continue reading the book of Acts and the epistles. These are 4 pillars by which a believer’s spiritual life should stand.

1. Apostle’s teaching
What the apostle’s taught was the unadulterated Word of God, the teachings and revelations they received from Jesus (see 1 Corinthians 11:23 and Galatians 1:11-12). Later on, when false teachers and teachers of the law crept into the Church, the apostle Paul gives direction towards the attitude believers should have towards the gospel they’ve received…”But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be eternally condemned.” (Galatians 1:8). I say this because some Christians, even of our time, are devoted to a gospel which is no gospel at all (see Galatians 1:7) and are expecting intimacy with God and victory in battle that will never come.

You’ve got to read God’s word, hear His word, and speak His word if you’ll get this walk right. You have to be intentional about reading God’s Word, you have to make the time (we all only have 24 hours in a day so the only way to have more time is to make more time). You’ll also need the help of the Holy Spirit in understanding it for His word isn’t just understood intellectually, it is breathed upon by God’s Spirit, whom you’ll need in decoding it (see 2 Timothy 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 2:14).

When it comes to hearing His Word, understand it’s significance in that it’s the medium through which faith comes by since faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ (see Romans 10:17). Therefore for me to keep having faith and standing firm in faith, I need to keep hearing. And it doesn’t end there since faith without works is dead (see James 2:26), once I’ve heard the word, I need to put it into practice, aligning my life with its instruction (see James 1:22).

We speak His Word because it’s a sword in battle (see Ephesians 6:17 and Matthew 4:1-11). I speak a Word that I understand and believe, a Word I’ve internalised, not just memorized. I need to apply the Word to my mind so that it will renew the attitude of my mind (see Ephesians 2:23) in order for me to see things the way God sees them. That’s why God speaks of meditating on it in Joshua 1:8
“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
God may have been referring to the Law of Moses here, but the principle of the nature of the Word that proceeds from Him remains the same. This verse gives it away that devoting oneself to God’s Word not only leads to success in spiritual matters but also in material things because God’s Word has numerous principles that lead to prosperity (both wealth and health, see Deuteronomy 28:1-6 and Proverbs 4:22) and that cause one to be moral in their character, leading to them being successful in their calling/work (take note that being successful is not synonymous with being prosperous).

2. Fellowship
The early church was devoted to coming together to worship God. At some point they didn’t even have a formal place of meeting, but they would still meet in the houses of the brethren (see Acts 12:12 and Philemon 2). The greatness of coming together with others who believe is that I get an opportunity to encourage and be encouraged. Paul explains in Romans 1:11-12 why he longs so much to see the church in Rome is so that there may be a mutual encouragement through one another’s faith. The journey of faith is not a short one, and it is not one void of events, tiredness and discouragement does creep in. At such times, it is good to have a church family whom you regularly meet with. They will encourage you to stand and fight when you had convinced yourself there was no longer any reason to, they will pray for you in your time of trouble as we see in Acts 12. They will (well should) help you up when you fall (see Ecclesiastes 4:10), because as part of the Body of Christ, when I suffer, the whole body is affected (see 1 Corinthians 12:26).

The medium I contribute to the church through is my spiritual gift. Me functioning in my gift is very crucial to the health of my spirit, that’s why fellowship isn’t a one way route, but a mutual, two way one. It’s detrimental if emphasis is put on the one and not the other. If I come just to give, I become a target for the enemy because he knows I’ll run out soon since I’m giving and never receiving (I hope my fellow pastors are hearing me here. If I come just to receive, I become a spectator in the church  and we have no scriptural evidence that some body parts will have no function and just observe the workings of other parts (please re-read the whole of  1 Corinthians 12 if you are of that view). Going long without serving in my gift can lead to further discouragement in my faith. We all feel alive when we have a contribution towards something, when we see the impact of our contribution we feel our existence matters, and it encourages us to keep doing what we’re doing.

The tricky part with being part of a church family is that they are sometimes very much like your biological family and will press your buttons in all the wrong ways at times. You’ll want to be part of a church family, but just not the one you’re with right now cause so-and-so did this-and-that to you or said this-and-that about you and you just don’t feel like you should be where you are. One thing before you go church hopping: the church you’ll find is also made up of humans of fault just like the one you’re in right now. The church is not a collection of perfect people, but weak people chasing after a perfect God. So we will step on your toes from time to time, but do not allow the enemy to convince you to stop coming…Hebrews 10:25 says “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” I believe he uses the phrase ‘give up’ because there’s something discouraging the action. But whatever it is, do not stop fellowshipping, for your own good.

Alright, let’s stop here for now. We’ll address the remaining two points in my next blog post. But I hope just these two points will revive you and improve your faith walk in these two areas…blessings!