Top Tip Number 5. - Know what feeds you!
First of all let's clear some ground here.
If I was to ask an average group of Christians how to maintain their walk with Christ, the usual answers are bound to include prayer, reading the Bible, going to church, fellowship with others, journaling, fasting etc etc.
It is these very answers, and in the resulting attempts to tick all the boxes that often produces so much failure, guilt and condemnation for Christians. So let's ask a different question:
How did you begin the Christian life? By faith of course!
How do you continue in the Christian life? By faith of course!
The only issue is how to feed your faith.
I have thought long and hard about this.
How many times have we heard people say "you just need to pray more"; "you just need to read the Bible more"; "you just need to fast more; …..go to church more; ….give more; ……do more…..” and before you know it we have a whole new set of laws.
Paul's letter to the Galatians is all about this very issue and the inherent dangers of moving from faith to law. So let's get it straight once and for all; You cannot add to FAITH (and that includes Bible reading, fasting, praying, going to church etc!). Paul writes:
"The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me". Galatians 3 verse 20
"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love"
Galatians 5 verse 6
This issue is crucial because so many people walk around feeling as if they are
failing in the Christian life because they can't keep some new set of laws (which by the way usually starts out as someone discovering how God feeds the faith of their particular personality and then gets peddled as the new answer to spiritual disciplines for all personalities and types of people).
Personally trying to keep a list of laws does not motivate me! Here is the key question to ask:
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How does God feed me?
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Now when you ask this question it is good to recall the times when you have been
aware of God speaking to you, guiding you, bringing peace and the reassurance of His Presence.
So for me (and remember you are not necessarily the same personality type as me) I love long walks alone in wild places. Solitude. I love reading the bible in chunks and studying key themes.
God often speaks to me through certain types of movie. I enjoy journaling but only on a few days in the month. I love reading the
adventures of the great pioneer missionaries etc.
I have never been able to keep daily disciplined quiet time (shock horror!).
I don't like fasting. But I am motivated to make sacrifices for people that I love if it brings breakthrough in their lives
Can you see the difference? I want to approach things like praying and reading the Scriptures with a sense of joy and anticipation understanding that this is how God feeds me; that this is how faith grows; how love grows, how peace rules over my heart, how I become an overcomer.
What I don't need today is a list of laws that I am bound to fail to keep.
What about you?
Indeed there are times when spiritual disciplines stop. It is good to ask God, what should I be doing now? The classic disciplines are there as an aid to cause our faith to grow, to help us become more like Jesus, as Paul puts it ‘until Christ is formed in you’
So please be free of the law! Be free to find the grace-filled paths where you meet with God. Let go of the expectations of others (especially religious people!). Sometimes it can be the best thing to STOP praying and reading the bible in a certain fashion especially if it’s making you law-bound. Take a break! Ask God juts to lead you in his ways in your next season. He knows you better than you know yourself.
So may I encourage you as you read this to review your walk with God. Notice the times when you felt closest to him. Notice how he feeds the unique special personality that is YOU and be motivated to pursue you those things that feed your faith every day
May you have a renewed awareness of God's grace that every aspect of your life and may your faith grow in Jesus Christ in whose sight you have already been made perfect.
Love Martin (and with thanks to Dave Ducker for helpful comments)
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Extra verse “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” Philippians 2: 13
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