“Thou therefore endure hardness (hardship) as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
In first and second Timothy Paul gave his “son in the ministry” advice about enduring for Christ. Here he told Timothy to “endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Another biblical word for endurance is perseverance. Both mean to keep on keeping on no matter what. I want to share two disciplines that will help in enduring hardships. (These disciplines will be no surprise to you.) There is the discipline of prayer. Every morning when I get up, I go to my place of prayer and pray for the people in my life, for the ill, for missionaries, etc. I don’t mean to be smug about this, but prayer “centers” me before I have to face whatever I have to face during the day. I want to recommend that you have a discipline of prayer as well. If you aren’t a morning person, you can find the time that is best suited for you, but do it. I know that we can pray any time during the day that we want to, and I do, but I have found that keeping this prayer vigil each morning is a help to me during the day. There is the discipline of Bible reading and Bible study. After my prayer time each morning, I read eight chapters from the Bible – two from the New Testament and six from the Old Testament. (The reason for this is that the Old Testament is much longer than the New Testament.) I made a commitment over thirty years ago to be in the process of reading the Bible through all of the time. This usually means in a year, but not necessarily. It is very important that you find time to read the word of God each day, and that you read it systematically. I strongly urge you to make a commitment to read your Bible every day. Paul gave Timothy, and us, this advice: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (Systematic reading of the Bible does not preclude reading favorite scriptures devotionally, even during your prayer time. You need to read the Bible systematically to follow the Bible story from Genesis through Revelation. But there are also texts you go to specifically for encouragement, and inspiration.) There are other disciplines that I could write about, but I think these two are the most important to us as we seek to grow in Christ. Satan will do anything to keep us from our prayer closets and from the Bible. He trembles when we pray and when we read the Bible. Satan wants us to think that all spiritual disciplines are hardships, and not as pleasant to our senses as some other things that we could do. But listen to the “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit, who will urge you to endure in spite of the temptation to surrender the time that you spend in prayer and Bible study. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to live a victorious Christian life without incorporating prayer and Bible reading into your daily routine. “Study to show thyself approved unto God….” Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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