Prayer is the intimate pursuit and practice of the personal communication we have available between God and us. It is the spoken and unspoken confession of our Christian faith by engaging and proclaiming our complete dependence upon Christ as Lord over our lives. Prayer is not just a selfish wish list to get God to cater to our needs and whims; rather, it’s true purpose and the reason it is also a discipline is to shape us by what He has revealed, and to grow in faith, character, perseverance, and maturity. Prayer is meant...

 

 

Repentance is both a “summons” to seek Him first and a “summery” of the Gospel’s impact and “regeneration” upon us so we make a life change in Christ. The discipline aspect of repentance is the result and application (not the cause) of the fruit from our salvation and renewal that we do our part with and by our faith. We see this exhibited when we are remorseful for our sins and seek to turn around to God. It requires us to employ our faith and repent which means to…

 

 

Confession is the event of responding to the Gospel's message, then acknowledging our faith publicly. But, as a discipline, confession becomes a continual process where we conform our lives to His Way so our faith applies to our lives. This means we come to the grace, forgiveness, and authority of Christ; because of Him, we keep submitting by the application of His precepts to our lives that result in maturity and spiritual growth. This is a “grace” in that we receive the ability from Christ, and a “discipline” in that it requires the commitment…

 

 

Meditation basically means we are to focus, ponder, and reflect upon Christ. The discipline aspect of “biblical” Christian meditation means we commit to pay attention to Him, giving Him our total concentration as LORD over us. We are to “contemplate” and “deliberate,” which is to put Christ at the center of our attention and will by deliberating on His instructions and comparing them to what comes across our paths in life. This way, we can conform our mindset to replicate His Way, precepts, and call. This will enable us to…

 

 

Fullness means we are filled with Christ and ruled by Christ. For a Christian, fullness is first seeking Christ and His work in us, so we are pursuing righteousness, and all that is good, as a way to glorify Christ as Lord. This means we are more Christ-aware and less self-aware. Fullness equals personally knowing for certain who we are in Christ, and what He did for us on the Cross—that our confidence comes from knowing who we are as complete in Him! As a result, we become more disciplined in His encompassing power and…

 

 

A Kingdom Mentality means we are under the reign of God—past, present, and future! He is in charge of all things, sovereign in Heaven and in our will. He is our identity and our LORD. In contrast to Fullness, which means to be led and ruled by Christ and to allow Him to discipline and run our lives, the Kingdom Mentality is more about how we lead and manage our churches. As a discipline, this means we are to realize and “practice” our faith and church life “as if” He is The Sovereign Rule (well He is!), so that we are…

 

 

Gratitude means we are practicing and producing an attitude of Gratitude, of being thankful, even when we cannot see what we have. This is an aspect of our worship of Christ—expressing to Him our appreciation and reverence for how He has benefited our lives. We are grateful because His blood has redeemed us. This also has a relational application in that it helps us deal with others as we show our support, appreciation, and benevolence to them for how they have benefited our lives. As a discipline, this means we are to realize our indebtedness to God and…

 

 

Submission means having the willingness to voluntarily submit to Christ and also to others in authority. Thus, we make a commitment and resolve to yield our will, mind, and body for God's purposes so we can better hear, receive, and obey His Word. It is a call to submit and a Discipline because it takes our effort, even though we are not required to do so. When we are submitting to others, we are also submitting and serving Christ as Lord (Col. 3:23-24)! It is an aspect of the surrender of our lives to God so we are in His will…

 

 

Obedience is the practice of our pure loyalty to our Lord to go all out in faith. It helps us focus on Him and what He has done for us so we change from the inside out, our inward renovation becoming Christ-like to undergo His will, mind, and precepts. Obedience means having perfect confidence in Christ so we daily present ourselves to God as our LORD. We are essentially putting our faith into practice. We carefully seek what God requires of us and then align our lives with Him and His standards and call to the best of our…

 

 

Surrender means we trust our Lord Jesus Christ in all things without doubt or fault in our faith. We let go our hold on our perceived rights, agendas, and opinions that are not lined up to His. In this way, we can surrender to His love and embrace God's will for our lives, live His Way in holiness, and become a benefit to the lives of others. We come before God and under new management—His. The Discipline of Surrender is a discipline because we have to make it a daily decision and practice. It is something we…

 

 

 

Asking me to write about Fasting is like asking a dog to walk on two legs. The dog can do it, but he cannot do it very long nor can he do it very well. I am a person who does not like to skip a meal, who thinks a good buffet is a good way to worship God because He bestows us with blessings. At the same time, I value the importance of Fasting. Having practiced Fasting off and on for many years—sometimes even dreading to start it and thankful when it was over—I learned a few things I wish to impart to you...