I hope you are as excited for Mission 'Merce as I am. Again, thank you so much for choosing to be here this summer to fellowship, learn, and serve with us. I'm hoping that this summer pushes you, challenges you, and grows you in many ways. Don't wait until June to be challenged though. Begin building disciplines now so that you are "in shape" for the challenges to come. 

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As an Exercise Physiology graduate from Midwestern, I often make comparisons between the physical training that athletes subject their bodies to and the spiritual training that we as Christians should be participating in. Paul makes these comparisons as well. 

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"So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." - 1 Corinthians 9:26-27

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Paul's commitment to his ministry did not come easily. It required great personal discipline. Every move he made was calculated and focused on making him a better minister to those he wished to win to Christ. So it should be with us.

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Naturally, the sooner we start "working out," the sooner we start to see results. Sometimes, our spiritual disciplines take some getting used to and figuring out. Many Christians still struggle with the idea of prayer. We don't always know what it is and what it should sound like. If we did, there wouldn't be so many people writing books over that specific topic today. While there are plenty of great books over prayer, the best way to get comfortable with prayer, is to just start doing it!

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School is coming to a close (or has already ended depending on when you read this) leaving you about a month between the ending of the semester and the beginning of Mission 'Merce. Depending on your personal schedule and accountability partner or discipleship group - or lack thereof - you have about a month without school to spend focusing on building good habits and disciplines. Or you have a month of loafing around your house being lazy and falling out of the good habits that you spent all year developing. The good thing is (or the bad thing depending on the kind of person you are) is that this is completely up to you. Building discipline is hard. The sooner you start, the sooner this discipline starts to feel natural, good, and beneficial.

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I encourage you to not take time off from your disciplines between finals and Mission 'Merce. Take time off from school and make time for rest, but your pursuit of God should be all encompassing and never ending. We shouldn't take time off from that. Paul reminds us again that we should "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Always. Without ceasing. In all circumstances.

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So here are some pointers for you if you're looking for a place to start.

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Read your Bible

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...man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. - Deuteronomy 8:3. Jesus also quotes this verse in Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4. I could go on and on about the importance of reading the Bible. For the sake of this article and your attention span, I won't. 

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However, since the word of God is elevated above food, I will ask, if you ate as much as you read your Bible, how hungry would you be right now? How many times in your life would you have starved to death spiritually?

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We believe the Bible is the actual word of God. If we are not making efforts to study it and learn what the Lord wants us to know, we should.

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Pray

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Much like reading the Bible, I could go on about prayer. If we believe that we actually have a direct line of communication to the all powerful, all loving, all knowing creator of the universe, savior of our souls, who has a plan and purpose for each one of us individually and specifically, and is always and forever available to us, then we should not hesitate to spend time with Him in prayer! If we aren't doing that, we should!

 

Pray for an open heart and mind to learn, grow, and serve this summer. In fact, every time we sit down to pray, read our Bible, listen to a sermon, whatever it is, we should approach it with a learner's heart. I pray that you never feel like you've got it down but that you always are trying to learn more. 

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Pray that God would teach you and deepen your faith. Pray that He would enable you to pursue Him more and more. 

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Find other disciplines to start

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At the BSM, we regularly hit on four basic disciplines: studying scripture, prayer, participating in Godly community, and sharing the Gospel. These four are great and we should continue to press into these specific disciplines. As we seek to orient our lives around God, we will find that there are a great many more disciplines to enjoy and utilize that grow our dependence on him. A short list of other disciplines include scripture memory, meditation, silence and solitude, fasting, confession and repentance, posture of prayer, rest, journaling, thanksgiving, extra biblical reading, and giving... just to name a few!

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If you and I have any kind ministry or personal relationship at all, I've probably recommended a book to you at some point. Probably multiple books at multiple points. I personally believe that sitting down and picking up a good book to read is an incredibly useful and beneficial discipline. And that doesn't come easy to me! I don't like reading a whole lot. But there are many believers who have come before me, who are much smarter than I am, who definitely have something to teach me. So why not benefit from their work and read what they have to say? Many of my ideas of evangelism and discipleship come from other ministers. There's no reason for me to break my back trying to reinvent the wheel. My job is to make disciples, so I will happily read what other, more experienced ministers have to say about that subject than pridefully and arrogantly insisting that I have to come up with a brand new way to make disciples. If you're looking for a good book to pick up, check out our summer reading list! For Overflow we're looking at Gentle and Lowly, grab a copy and follow along! Want a book about disciplines to focus on during the summer? Check out a personal favorite of mine!

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There are plenty of disciplines to pick up to help us develop the heart or Christ within ourselves. Pick one or two new ones and try them out!

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Make a schedule

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Another crucial discipline: time management! "Living by the Spirit" is not an excuse to be unplanned and irresponsible with our time! 

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"But Kevin, 'The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps!'" (Proverbs 16:9) You might have heard it said something like "man makes his plans but the Lord..." Many people rest on this verse to avoid making plans. However, the teaching here is not to not have plans. Rather we make plans, but we must keep in mind that the Lord reigns supreme over them and has the right and the authority to change our plans if He deems necessary. This is the same teaching we see in James. "If the Lord wills, we will follow through on the plans we have made."

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Still struggling with making plans? Remember, "The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at the harvest and have nothing" (Proverbs 20:4). I think the secular adaptation of this verse goes something like: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." The wisest man to ever live is telling us that if we don't plan to do the work necessary to succeed, and then follow through on those plans, then we will not see success. Literally, we'll starve. I believe the Lord will provide for His people, but that doesn't mean that we can't be proactive in life as well. David asks the Lord to "teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). Time is a resource from the Lord, we should learn how to use it wisely. The Lord is present in our planning. Just be open to Him changing the plans if and when He does.

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So make a schedule. Literally, write down your day by day, hour by hour plan in your calendar app, journal, whatever you use. Plan time to spend with the Lord. Plan time to hang out with friends. Plan time to be productive. Time is a resource that we only get one chance to use. Once it's gone, it's gone.

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I'll wrap it up

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Discipline is a huge part of growth and maturity. If we talk about Jesus being Lord of our life, we admit that we are no longer in control. This means that our time and energy is not ours to delegate as we see fit, but we filter it all through the will of the Lord. This means that we might have to structure our lives a little more, but if we do that with our eyes focused on Jesus, I promise that we will continually discover more and more of Him. Discipline is a worthy endeavor, so find ways to put this time to good use!

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How are your disciplines going? Which disciplines do you currently practice? How regularly do you practice them? Do you consistently read the Bible and pray? Do you participate in community? Do you seek to share the Gospel?

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What new disciplines could you start to practice? Pick one that you're not familiar with and study it and start to practice it. Maybe there is a discipline that you already know you need to pick up and start. We will have speakers all summer talking about different disciplines, don't wait for a speaker to teach on it. Be proactive!

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