Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Life Demands It

Acts 6:3,4 – Therefore, brothers and sisters pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.

THEME OF THE DAY. LIFE DEMANDS IT. I want to confess upfront that I am taking a little liberty with today’s scripture. We know the passage well. It is the establishment of deacons in the church. The Apostles, whose primary work and calling was to prayer and the Word, are directing the appointment of men to help them shoulder the burden of a growing church. And here is the liberty I am taking . . . though this has a literal and historical meaning, it also has an important principle for all Christians; very important and so important that to neglect it will do two things; cause spiritual defeat and bring about some form of Divine, and painful, spiritual discipline from the Lord for such neglect. Here is the principle . . . do not neglect daily time in prayer and the Word. Yes, daily. Like every day. And regardless of who we are, what roles we have in life, and the many demands upon our persons and times, every Christian may spend time in prayer and the Word. It may not be a lot of time, but it will be some time. When it comes to prayer and the Word, it is never a time issue with any of us. It is always desire and discipline issues. But let’s go a little deeper into this necessary principle.

Let’s face it. All of us have heavy demands upon us. The moment we wake up, or perhaps we were kept awake over them, there are tons of things to do, responsibilities to execute, errands to run, people to serve, and families to care for. We are simply busy people in our busy worlds. And that presents to us significant spiritual dangers. There are three things which are used by the devil to defeat Christians. First is to get them to think faithful commitment to a local church is nice, but not overly necessary to be a growing and healthy Christian. Friends, that is a lie. The church is indispensable to our spiritual health as individual believers and as families. Neglect it, and spiritual disasters will result. Maybe not today, but someday it will come back with pain and sorrow. The church is God’s plan “A” for reaching the world and growing His children and there is no plan “B”. Another tactic of the devil is worldly distractions. He gets Christians to fill life up with so much worldly events, activities, and commitments, there is no time for the most important things in life; the spiritual and particularly the Word and prayer. But the third area the devil uses with great skill is to get Christians busy and busy with good things at the neglect of better things and those better things are time with the Lord, especially time when starting out our day. Before we engage any activity of the day; before we interact with any human being; strive to start the day with the Lord in prayer and His Word. Perhaps we cannot give over a lot of time, but we should give over some time. It is not only a delightful way to start the day, but a spiritual necessity to start the day. We will not be walking into a friendly world, but one of spiritual conflict of great intensity. If we start our day in the world instead of with the Word, the written and living Word, we are entering the battle without armor, weaponry, or preparation. And soon, very soon, we will be slain on the spiritual battlefields of life – a casualty due to being ill-prepared for what life is truly about.

The Apostles felt pressure with all the demands upon them, but they were wise, discerning, and disciplined. Prayer and the Word would not be sacrificed because of the urgency of things and people upon them. And this principle applies to us. Without the discipline to seek the Lord before we engage the world, we are setting ourselves up for significant spiritual trouble. May the Lord help us to look to Him at the start of the day, not the start of the day.

PRAYER: “Father, forgive me for the too often times I rush into my day spiritually unprepared because I neglected You.”

QUOTE: “Start the day with the Lord. It is not only a delight, but a spiritual necessity arming us for the war we will fight.”