Stick With the Basics
Living a Christ-centered, spiritual life requires a commitment to the basics. These basics-Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, and witnessing-will keep you stabilized in daily living.
What follows is not an exhaustive study of the basics, but merely a review. We must constantly take check to see if the basics exist in our lives.
1. Bible Reading
The Bible is a powerful stimulus for Christian growth. The Lord does not want us to remain spiritually immature, "tossed about by every wind of doctrine" (Eph. 4:14), but to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). (Also see Acts 20:32, Matthew 4:4, 1 Peter 2:2-3, Jeremiah 15:16 and Job 23:12.)
The Bible helps reveal God's will for the Christian. The Psalmist said, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path" (Ps. 119:105). The Christian is engaged in powerful spiritual warfare. In any warfare, one of the chief objectives of those on the frontlines is to maintain proper communications with the command post. Many Christians allow their communication lines to become severed through neglect of the Word of God.
The Bible has a powerful cleansing effect on the life of the Christian. Jesus said, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3). Paul, in speaking of the church, said, "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word" (Eph. 5:26). David said, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word. Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee" (Ps. 119:9, 11).
2. Prayer
An important aspect of prayer is establishing the practice of a daily time alone with the Savior, a specific time in which our heart's devotion is kindled through fellowship with Christ in prayer. Jesus diligently maintained the practice of prayer. It is recorded of Him in Mark 1:35, "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed."
Luke 22:39-44 indicates that Jesus had formed the practice of going to a place where he could be alone and pray earnestly. Many find the morning hour the best time. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, spoke of the importance of meeting the Lord in the morning when he said, "The time to tune the instruments is before the concert begins."
Essentially, there are five basic aspects of prayer:
1. Confession (1 John 1:9, Prov. 28:13, Ps. 66:18, Isa. 59:1-2)
2. Praise (Ps. 50:23, Isa. 25:1, Heb. 13:15)
3. Thanksgiving (Ps. 50:14-15, 2 Cor. 4:15, Phil. 4:6-7, 1 Thess. 5:18)
4. Intercession (1 Sam. 12:23, Job 16:21, Lam. 2:19, 1 Thess. 3:10, Col. 4:12)
5. Petition (Matt. 7:7-8, Matt. 6:11)
(View the Prayer Hand illustration using these same five points.)
3. Fellowship
The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. When people receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior they are not only joined to the living Christ, but they are joined in a unique way to all fellow Christians.
They become part of the body of Christ. The writer of Hebrews tells us not to forsake this fellowship (10:25). Spiritual strength, encouragement, and blessing come to us as we gather faithfully in the worship of God with other believers.
It has often been said that the Spirit of God speaks to the church of God as the man of God preaches the Word of God.
4. Witnessing
Dr. G. Christian Weiss points out that the "nearest thing to the heart of God was the death of His Son on the cross. The next nearest thing to the heart of God is that people might know of the death of His Son on the cross."
Many Christians find that one of the most exciting aspects of the Christian life is the happy privilege of sharing their new life in Christ with others.
Let me close by sharing three things that characterize a witness:
- A
witness must know something about the subject. No one is ever called to
witness in a courtroom about an incident he doesn't know anything
about. This brings us again to the important point of investing time in
the Word of God that we might increasingly know more and more of Him.
Paul's prayer, "That I may know Him . . ." (Phil. 3:10), illustrates
this point.
- A witness
must have a life that backs up what he says. No one puts much
confidence in the statement of a witness whose personal character is
known to be questionable. To be a good witness for Christ, the
Christian's life must be lived in daily obedience to His Lord.
- A witness must be willing to speak. Many people on the witness stand plead the "fifth amendment." But the Lord delights to bless the lives of His children who joyfully and readily tell others of their faith in Christ and their love for Him.
This article was first published in The Navigators Log, January 1972.
LeRoy Eims served Christ through The Navigators for fifty years in a variety of ministries, including leading the U.S. Ministry for six years. He passed away in January 2004.
