Chapter 10
The Way of the Lord: Five Daily Practices
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The Way of the Lord: Five Daily Practices
If you have One Allegiance to the one true God, and your purpose is to live the life Jesus lived and fulfill the mission Jesus began in your roles as a worshiper, disciple, and member of Jesus’ body, then the next question is, how do you prioritize and use your time every day?
I have heard it said we all have the same amount of time, but we don’t all handle it in the same way. Some waste it, others spend it, but those who are wise invest it. This chapter is about how intentional disciples of Jesus invest their day into the future hope of the kingdom of God and the restoration of God’s creation. We are called to participate in the process that transforms us into the men and women who will be able to rule and reign as a kingdom of priests in the new heavens and earth.
Daily Engagement with God
In this chapter, we will suggest five biblical practices to integrate into your daily life routines. These are skills every believer can master. The five daily practices are Intimacy with God, Repentance, Prayer, Word, and Works.
What the 5 Daily Practices are not
First, let us be clear that the five daily practices are not a way to earn God’s goodwill or favor. Whatever benefit they have in your life they add nothing to God’s love for you or to His commitment to bless you and care for you as a member of His family. But these daily practices will make the difference between having mere head knowledge about God and becoming someone who knows Him well and who lives as an image-bearer.
Since the early years of the church, Jesus’ disciples have utilized different methods and tactics that today are referred to as spiritual disciplines. Since the 1970s, there has been a rediscovery and resurgence of interest and practice of these ancient spiritual disciplines.
The five daily practices are not a replacement for any of the individual spiritual disciplines that you may or may not be currently practicing. Rather, think of the five daily practices as the reasons why you might adopt a particular spiritual discipline. You can think of the spiritual disciplines as tactics or methods you can adopt to practice intimacy with God, repentance, prayer, the word, and works every day.
What the 5 Daily Practices are
The five daily practices are vehicles of your obedience to God. They are where the rubber meets the road in your daily life with God and how you find traction to make progress on the journey of the Way of the Lord.
The five daily practices are classrooms for your education in the knowledge of God and His kingdom and about who you are as an image-bearer. Most of what you really learn comes through your experiences with God. The five daily practices provide the setting for these experiences to happen.
The five daily practices are operating rooms for our healing and transformation. These daily practices are often where God does the deepest work in our hearts and minds.
Finally, these five daily practices are the intentional disciple’s tools of the trade for manifesting and managing the goodwill and purposes of the sovereign creator on earth as in heaven.
Daily Practice Number 1: Intimacy with God.
This daily practice is about staying close to God and involves what some have called the practice of the presence of God.
Why should we think we can ever have a close relationship with the Sovereign Creator? Because Jesus, who shows us what God is like, says this is what God wants. He wants to be close to us like a father with his children. To illustrate this, Jesus told a story about a son who deserved judgment but instead received a loving welcome.
But while He was still a long way off, his father saw Him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced Him and kissed Him. (Luke 15:20)
The gospel's message includes this same tender welcome by God the Father. This welcome is there for every person who returns to God the Father to be part of His family as an image-bearer. Paul said,
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:15,16)
The daily practice of intimacy with God is what you do if you believe what Jesus says about God the Father is true. These are the habits of repeatedly and frequently turning one’s heart and mind toward God in worship, adoration, thanksgiving, and through mini meditations where you reflect on His nature, His character, and His ways during your day. Intimacy with God is also where you hear His voice and learn to let His love for you into the deepest places of your heart to set you free and transform you.
There are many techniques and resources that have been developed and used in the church to help with this daily practice. I am not recommending a specific plan to follow, but I suggest that you experiment and find what helps you keep your attention and affection focused on the Lord throughout your day.
Daily Practice Number 2: Repentance
The daily practice of repentance keeps our relationship with God healthy and well-maintained. It also helps you steer clear of traps and attacks that are inevitable and which you should anticipate. When you keep nothing in the dark, unconfessed to God, the enemy has a hard time getting past your defenses to get a hold on anything in our life.
This daily practice involves the habit of quickly turning to God in confession and repentance through the day. Confession means to agree with God about particular thoughts, attitudes, words, or actions that they are not good and have no place in your life: remember what you are to do with the dead body. Repentance is simply the quick change from what you have agreed with God is wrong to obedience. As John the Baptist preached it, “bear fruits in keeping with repentance.”
In other words, as soon as you become aware of thoughts, attitudes or actions that are not appropriate, you can turn to your Father and acknowledge the issue and resolve it with Him, rather than turning away to hide in shame and fear.
Repentance is also necessary to maintain your relationships. The more quickly you address and resolve your sins against others, the less pain and trauma will litter your relationships and fester into discord and alienation with people in your lives.
Daily Practice Number 3: Prayer
The daily practice of prayer integrates practical dependence, faith and trust in God into all the actual and tangible aspects of your life. This practice involves the ability and habit of having an ongoing, two-way conversation with God about the large and small needs, issues, and experiences of life. Prayer is more than just talking to God, it is also the practice of listening to Him and communing with Him in the loving presence of His Spirit.
Prayer is also a primary way that you as an image-bearer release and direct God’s work and God’s power into the world around you. We all know the feeling of being powerless in life, but Jesus gave us prayer an effective tool to affect change in the world beyond the limits of our own personal power.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it's in heaven.” These were not empty words. He fully expected the power of God to answer our prayers, just as His were answered.
There are many books, journals, plans and systems that others have found helpful to their daily practice of prayer. it's less important which tools or resources you use, than it's that you learn to pray without ceasing, as Paul advised (1 Thessalonians 5:16,17).
Daily Practice Number 4: The Word of God
This daily practice is the ability and the discipline to receive from God through reading, listening to, praying with, or studying the Bible. Since the Bible is first and foremost a revelation of God Himself to us, regular time in the word of God is an opportunity to grow in your understanding of who He is, what He is like, and why you can confidently trust Him with your whole life.
But Daily Practice Number 4 is more than gaining knowledge or information about God. The daily practice of the word of God is also the habit of hearing from God and then responding to Him. Often, time spent in the word of God each day will trigger intimacy with God, repentance, or prayer, as well as receiving instructions about what you should do and how you should behave as a child of God and an image-bearer. This is why Paul put such a high priority on scripture in his own life and in his counsel to other disciples.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16,17)
Again, there are many resources available for daily engagement with the Bible to choose from. The important thing is that you make the time for it every day.
Daily Practice Number 5: Works of Jesus
While the first four daily practices are about your relationship with God, the fifth one ensures that you become an active participant in the ongoing mission of Jesus, rather than a mere observer.
This daily practice, along with prayer, has the greatest potential to impact and change the world. Ultimately, the work of an image-bearer is done out in the world God created and among the people Jesus loved enough to endure the cross.
The first disciples all knew the stories of
“how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)
The remarkable and rapid expansion of the church in the first centuries involved every member of the body of Christ following the example of Jesus every day and everywhere. They all heard in the gospel how Jesus has passed this responsibility to do the works of God to the first disciples, and through them to all disciples.
And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20)
And their leaders taught them that this was their mission, too.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
What did Jesus do that were good works?
Jesus fed the poor and healed the sick. He taught the truth, and He spoke to people He met with words of wisdom and knowledge. He set people free from the control and influence of evil spirits. He spent time with people and shared God’s love with them so they experienced God’s presence. He invited people to come into God’s love and discover their place in His family. These are the kinds of things all disciples of Jesus are called to do every day. This is what is meant by the saying, “everybody gets to play.”
The rapid expansion of Jesus’ kingdom is found in a parable Jesus told. He said,
The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened. (Matthew 13:33)
When the power of God’s life and love is released through the daily good works of image-bearers hidden throughout the communities of the world the growth of the Kingdom is exponential.
Why are Jesus’ disciples able to do the works He did?
Right about now you might be thinking, “Wait a minute! How on earth can someone like me do the kind of things that Jesus did? That is not possible.” I’m afraid I would have to agree with you about that. On our own, we don’t have the power or the authority that Jesus had to do and say what He did. But here is the mystery of the gospel of Jesus’ kingdom.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:24–27)
You are not on your own, Jesus is with you just like He was with the first disciples because He is in you. They ministered in power with Jesus because He was with them and gave them authority and direction to help Him do the works that the Father gave Him to do. Jesus enabled them to participate with Him in the power of God. Jesus is with you and continues this same dynamic from generation to generation.
Here are some questions for consideration and discussion.
We make the claim that the five daily practices make the difference between having mere head-knowledge about God and becoming someone who knows Him well and who lives the type of life you were created to live. What is your honest response to this claim?
Of the five daily practices, which one do you feel the confident doing every day? Which one are you least confident about? Why do you think your confidence is low on this last one and what do you think you might do differently to make this more of a part of your daily walk with Jesus?
Chapter 10 Daily Scripture Readings
How to spend some quality time listening to what Jesus would like to say through the scriptures:
In preparation, acknowledge the Lord’s presence and love for you and settle yourself before Him (in your mind and heart).
Read the day’s text carefully; take your time.
Reflect on what you have been reading with a listening ear – what word, phrase, or sentence speaks to you from the text?
Now, talk to the LORD about what you hear from this text. What has Jesus stirred in your heart?
If you were with Him walking from one Galilean village to another, what would you say to Him about this?
Chapter 10 - Day One: Matthew 3:13-17
Chapter 10 - Day Two: Matthew 3:13-17
Chapter 10 - Day Three: Matthew 3:13-17
Chapter 10 - Day Four: Matthew 6:5-18
Chapter 10 - Day Five: Matthew 8:5-13
There are two ways you can go deeper with this material, if you are finding this helpful.
First, read How to get the most from this book. I offer some suggestions about how to do more than skim the pages and move on with minimal impact.
Second, read How to use this book with a small group. This material was formed and proven in a small group setting that has been very effective at helping participants engage with Jesus at a much deeper and transformative level than is typical in our churches today.