Three
Keys to Start Each Day
One of the foundational building
blocks of discipleship is adopting a daily mindset. The disciple of
Jesus Christ MUST learn to live one day at a time. It's fine to plan
for tomorrow. But one cannot live tomorrow today. Jesus taught his
disciples to pray for DAILY bread (Matthew 6:11). A believer's daily
bread consists of his spiritual as well as physical food. In the same
discourse, he taught: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for
the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto
the DAY is the evil thereof” (6:34).
Jesus of Nazareth had DAILY
devotional habits as well. Mark tells us: "And in the morning, rising
up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary
place, and there prayed" (Mark 1:35). While the text does not use the
word "daily" to describe our Lord's one-on-one time with the Father,
there is no doubt Jesus routinely began his day a great while before
sunrise with prayer as its foundation stone. An appropriate admonition
for his disciples would be: "Go thou and do likewise!"
This document sets forth three keys
for the disciple as he starts his day. They represent three essentials
upon which the disciple of Jesus can build his or her relationship with
the Lord.
Our first key is the devotion
key. In Colossians 1:18, we read: "And he is the head of the body, the
church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all
things he might have the preeminence.” The word preeminence is πρωτεύω (prōteuō),
"to be first in rank, to hold first place." In all things pertaining to
the church (and by extension, to all its members), Jesus is to have
first place. He is worthy of unbridled worship. When the believer
begins his day in prayer, he takes a posture of worship (devotion)
toward the One who's worthy of it. True Christian worship begins in the
private lives of God's people before it ever spills forth into a public
setting. In fact, all true congregational worship is an extension of
individual worship. The former is only as genuine as the latter. The
believer comes to his Lord each morning, and says:
"Lord Jesus, I bow before you
this
day because you're worthy! Before I drink my first cup of coffee,
shower, shave or eat my breakfast, I want to offer you the worship
you're so worthy to receive from me!"
Our second key is the dependence
key.
In John 15:5, Jesus taught: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He
that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without me ye can do nothing.” The imagery of vine and branch
paints a graphic picture of dependency. As Jesus taught the branches
are totally dependent on the vine, so the disciples of Jesus are
totally dependent upon him. The prayer of dependency might go something
like this:
"Lord Jesus, I come to you in
prayer
this morning as an expression of
my total dependence on you for the spiritual sustenance I need to get
me through this day and make me fruitful!"
The life of Jesus flowing through the
believer is the ONLY way anything
of value is accomplished. It's called fruit. Scripture describes it as
fruit unto holiness (Romans 6:22), the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians
5:22-23) and the fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11; James 3:18). In
several places in his epistles, Paul alludes to saved sinners as fruits
of his ministry. Abiding in (depending upon) him during the day
produces much fruit. The objective of bearing fruit in abundance daily
should be our top priority! Paul described it as "Christ liveth in me"
(Galatians 2:20) and "saved
by his life" (Romans 5:10). It's this daily
dependence that unleashes the life of Jesus in the believer!
Our third key is the discernment
key. Colossians 3:15 reads: “And let
the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called
in one body; and be ye thankful.” Rule
is βραβεύω
(brabeuō), "to be an
umpire, to arbitrate." The verb is present tense, imperative mood. In
other words, it is a COMMAND for the believer to KEEP ON allowing the
peace of God to call the shots in his daily life. The result of peace
acting as umpire is spiritual discernment, an absolute must if a
believer is to walk with his Lord.
We can illustrate the 'umpire' role
of peace by comparing it to the
home plate umpire in MLB. His primary role is to call "balls" and
"strikes" in relation to the strike zone. The believer is the pitcher.
His thoughts, words and deeds are his pitches. The strike zone is the will
of God and those things that please him. The objective of the believer
is to land his pitches (thoughts, words and deeds) within that strike zone
as often as possible. During his entire sojourn on earth, Jesus never
once missed the strike zone! Although a believer may never achieve such
perfection, he should nonetheless strive to throw strikes all day,
every day. When he does, the peace of God will bear witness with a
"Strike!" call. When he misses the strike zone, peace will say "Ball!"
Unless a believer has become morbidly obtuse in his walk, he knows what "Ball!"
sounds like when peace (or the lack thereof) makes that call.
The disciple who begins his day in a
prayer posture of devotion and
dependence can be assured of having the discernment peace provides. The
strike zone of God's will and good pleasure will become more clearly
defined (more easily discerned) as the believer reads, rightly divides and meditates
upon the scriptures,
allowing truth to transform his thinking and therefore transform his
living.
While there is no model prayer for
believers to begin their day, the following encapsulates the essence of
the three keys:
"Dear Lord Jesus, I bow before you
this morning because you're worthy. I come to you as an expression of
my total dependence upon you this day for my spiritual sustenance and
guidance. As I live this day, may the words of my mouth and the
meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. Grant, O Lord, your
peace, so I can know the difference!"
No one but Jesus ever pitched a
perfect game. But the believer is
engaged in a life-long challenge to "up his game" so to speak. Starting
each day with the keys of devotion, dependence and discernment will
enable him to throw more strikes than balls in his quest to become more
like Christ!
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