Killed by the Ordinary Routine

Nothing about our spiritual life is ordinary or routine.  If our disciplines become ordinary and routine – it can mean the beginning of spiritual suicide.

What?  I thought that one had to have routine disciplines to nurture one’s spiritual health!  Yes and no. It all depends our heart attitude as we enter into them.

We can study God’s word daily but not let it change our heart or attitude.  It’s real simple.  Never try to apply what you are learning into your daily life and experience.  If we enter into study just for head knowledge or to check it off our “to do” list we are beginning to commit spiritual suicide.   God’s Word is alive and meant to teach us and form us into Christ’s image.

What about prayer?  It is possible to have a prayer time but never let God speak or search our spirit?  We give a list of people and situations that we want fixed but never exchange meaningful communication with the Lover of your soul. 

What about belonging to a church?  Too many Christians go to the church service and never enter meaningful worship of the Lord of our Universe! 

In recent months, I have met so many people who are passionate disciples of Jesus Christ yet they do not have a church community. They don’t want to associate with people who call themselves Christians, but who are not being transformed into His image.  It breaks my heart,   for their relationship with God would only be strengthened if they would meet with at least two or three in Christs' name.  I've also meet many people who attend church, judge others for not belonging, yet their worship brings them no deeper in their relationship with Christ then attending a civic community meeting.

It is a slippery slope.  We start out entering into our disciplines with great interactions with God.  Our worship time, prayer times and study times actually do bring us closer into God’s presence and His heart.  Our behavior and attitudes are transformed day by day and outsider to the our faith can tell the difference in us.

The  tyranny of the routine and ordinary settles in.  Before you know it, the life giving power obtained in the disciplines has slipped away.  We must have that Life giving power  daily or else our spiritual sickness becomes to us the ordinary experience.  Nothing more is expected.  But there is nothing ordinary about our God and times with him leave us refreshed and restored.

This condition overtakes us subtly.  Before we even notice it, our spiritual disciplines has left us with nothing but a check mark of completion on our “to do” list with no transformation of our inner self.  We’re walking.  We’re preforming the routine discipline.  But we are spiritual dead.

How can I speak with such knowledge?  I've experienced it first hand as I am sure you have.

May God awake us again and revive us! 

With the psalmist, let us pray daily “  ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts!
²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting!

^{Psalm 139: 23 and 24.}

If you would like prayers for personal spiritual health, transformation and revival, let me know and I will pray for you by name.  Pray for me as well.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of our Holy Spirit be with us this day and forever more.