Get closer to the Lord
If people practice spirituality every day and look at things from God's perspective, they will gradually realize that old habits will be eliminated one by one and new things will come in. Replacing earthly things with heavenly things means putting off the old man and putting on the new man. Being transformed by the renewing of your mind, you will become more and more like Jesus.
Cleaning out the old and replacing with the new
A child needs to be fed milk after birth. If he does not drink milk, he will not grow up. Likewise, Christians need to drink the milk of God—God’s spiritual food, and this spiritual food is the Bible. There is a very good saying in Matthew Chapter 4:4, which was said by the Lord Jesus himself: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." The author has noticed that if there is One morning I was too busy and rushed. Without spiritual practice, I would feel as if the machine was not oiled all day long and it would be very rough. Spiritual practice brings people closer to God and gives us strength every day. If a brother or sister does not have the habit of daily spiritual practice, you can be sure that his spiritual life is poor and dry, and he lacks strength for service.
Another important meaning of spiritual practice is to help us renew ourselves every day and become more and more like Jesus. What is the parable mentioned in Ephesians 4:21-24? It talks about that after believing in Christ, you need to put off your previous bad behaviors, just like taking off dirty clothes and putting on new ones. Put off the old and put on the new. After Christians accept God, they still have many bad habits and old tempers. How to change it? How can one’s mind become more and more renewed? Spirituality is a great secret.
spiritual progress
What? What about spiritual practice? It is best to choose a period of time every day, ten or thirty minutes, to get close to God. The author likes it in the morning. When you first wake up in the morning, your mind is empty and clear. It is best to enjoy God’s words at that time. Some people like to read a passage of the Bible in the evening, while others like to read a passage from the Bible at noon or during a break after eating. The disadvantage at night may be that people will be too tired, so they will fall asleep quickly after reading a little.
How about spiritual practice? At the beginning, you can spend a minute or two singing a simple hymn to prepare your mind to approach God; then with a longing heart, ask the Holy Spirit to help speak to you through the scriptures. You can choose a book from the Bible, a short paragraph each day, or a chapter. When you practice spirituality, you are not studying the Bible or questioning the entire meaning of a passage, but having a personal emotional communication with God through a certain sentence in this passage. After meditating on that sentence, you can write it down in your diary, write down your thoughts, and then pray, asking God to help you apply this sentence to you. You can also memorize that sentence, think about what that sentence means to you often throughout the day, and use that sentence to talk to God when you have time.
There may be three reasons why brothers and sisters gain little from their spiritual practice: First, they do not practice spiritually regularly, spending two days fishing and three days drying the net, and they lack perseverance. The second is doing things perfunctorily and not really desiring God’s words. Third, when reading the Bible for spiritual practice, only objective and rational analysis is used, with little personal emotional involvement. These three reasons are also related to each other. If brothers and sisters do not know how to practice spiritually and gain nothing, it will be difficult to persevere in spiritual practice. Here are some spiritual secrets to help brothers and sisters read the Bible into their hearts during spiritual practice.
spiritual secrets
MVP
Every year in American basketball games, MVP (Most Valuable Player) is selected. Here MVP is used to represent something else. M stands for Memorize, memory; V stands for Visualize, see, imagine the picture; P stands for Personalize, which means to put yourself in it, as if you are inside. For example, during spiritual practice, I came across John Chapter 8, verses 1 to 11. In the beginning, a group of people brought an adulterous woman to question Jesus whether the adulterous woman should be beaten to death. First, you can visualize it. Imagine that you were there at the time, maybe one of the people watching. When Jesus said, whoever of you is without sin, let him stone her. Do you think, if I were one of those people, how would I react to this sentence? Am I guilty? In other words, you substitute the third word personalize. MVP, Memorize, Visualize, Personalize, as if the whole thing is happening in front of you, put yourself in it.
小時候，筆者很喜歡看武俠小說。武俠小說描述動作清楚，怎麼打，怎麼揮劍，都描寫得非常詳細。同樣，看聖經也可以像看武俠小說一樣，仔細地，將自已代入想像的圖畫，就是personalize，將自已看成其中的一部分。就像剛才說的約翰福音第八章裏那個行淫的婦人。耶穌說，如果誰沒有罪的話，可以先用石頭打她。想到這句話，你可以想像，如果今天耶穌問我說，你有沒有罪呢？我想到自己常會去批評一些人，當我指控人家時，自已又怎麼樣呢？可以personalize，把自已看作其中一部分，從這個情況你可以說，真的，我常常做得不對，我批評人家的時候，其實我也有很多的罪。你可以禱告求神說，求你饒恕我。
"You can stone her first." You can remember this sentence, think about it over and over again that day, and pray to God for help. You can write this sentence in your spiritual notes and look back every Saturday or Sunday. What did God say to you this week? It’s amazing how different people will look at the same passage with very different emphasis because of different things that have happened to them recently. If you have the habit of writing spiritual notes, look back at what you have written in a week or two, and you will see that sometimes God repeatedly wants to remind you of something. Many times, we say that God does not seem to answer our prayers. In fact, God moves you in your heart bit by bit. If you write it down and read it again, you will find that God wants me to deal with this problem in the past week or two.
ACTS
You may say that you are not moved after reading this passage, and you do not feel which sentence is better, so what should you do? You can look at the relevant aspects of this scripture from several other angles and think about it. Prompt yourself with ACTS. A stands for Adoration, C stands for Confession, T stands for Thanksgiving, and S stands for Supplement. When you look at the article about the adulterous woman in John Chapter 8, verses 1 to 11, think about this passage. Is there anything that can be used to praise God? After reading this passage, you praise God. Praise Him for being a very merciful God. He has mercy on me.
By imagining this aspect, you can communicate with God in terms of praise and thanksgiving. Confession: I can confess that I am often a person who accuses others and criticizes others. Although I have a lot of faults, I only see the faults of others and not myself. You can use this passage to confess and pray to God.
Or you can give thanksgiving, thank Jesus for saving you, and use this passage to thank Him for forgiving your sins. Just like the woman who committed adultery said, "Lord, no, no one has condemned me." She said it with a very emotional heart. In verse 11, he also thanked God and said, Lord Jesus, you died for my sins, and now I am no longer condemned by God. Then we can intercede, asking God to give us a compassionate heart, or pray for some people who are still in sin. It is not necessary to use all the four aspects of ACTS. Just choose one that touches you the most and talk to God.
Another useful method is the pyramid method. The pyramid method can help with a more detailed interpretation of the scriptures. Start from the top of the tower and slowly expand, as shown in Figure 1. For example, I was studying a psalm today and was attracted by a verse: "You are my Lord, and all my good things are not apart from you." First, find a word or phrase from this sentence. For example, think about the concept of "benefits" first. What good does it do to reflect on me? God has blessed me a lot. My health was very weak in the past year, but now it is all better. I thank God for giving me a wonderful family, and I just imagine some of the good things that have happened to me.
Next I thought, "The benefits are not outside of you." It turns out that these benefits are not outside of God. They are all God's blessings to me. I thank you. Lord, thank you for blessing me with a wonderful family, a wonderful job, and wonderful studies. These benefits are actually given to me by God and are not outside of You.
Keep imagining it, ah! All my good points, not just one good thing, but every good thing, are not outside of God. All my good things are not outside of God. Oh God! You are my Lord, you are the Lord who leads me. You are like a shepherd, leading me to different places, leading me to green pastures and streams. You give me all the benefits. You shepherd me and lead me. The benefits of my life are not outside of you.
You see the pyramid method, which is to start with one or two words, and gradually add more words, like building a tower, slowly adding from the top, extending to the entire sentence. When adding, keep thinking about it as if you are talking to God and listening to God’s voice. After you finish speaking, if a sentence comes up, you can pray to God from this sentence, or even write it down in your diary, or memorize it, so that you can keep thinking about it throughout the day to see what God wants to follow you. say what.
Conclusion
The above three methods are just examples to help you. In fact, there are more than three methods, and these three methods are not necessarily used. As long as we can have an intimate and loving communication with God today through a verse, it will be fine. When practicing spiritually, do not ask others to read the Bible, but read it for yourself. Apply the Bible to yourself. Don’t focus on rational analysis. The most important thing is to have an emotional exchange with God. Instead of praying with more requests, we should praise more and shift the focus from the individual to God. Instead of talking more to yourself when praying, it is better to be quiet and try to listen to God's voice. May you feel God’s intimate presence more and more through daily spiritual practice, live a powerful life, and become more and more like Jesus!
Note: 1. For the concepts of MVP and ACTS, please refer to the updated translation of "Saints' Equipment" published by the Navigation Association.
2. The pyramid method was shared by the author in a lecture given by Dr. Wen Weiyao.
Author profile
Guo Zhenyou, PhD in International Business. He is currently a professor in the Department of International Business at the University of South Carolina, USA. In 1998, he received the "Most Outstanding International Professional" award from the Governor of South Carolina, USA. The following year, he was awarded the title of Honorary Visiting Professor by Peking University. Dr. Guo and his virtuous wife Guo Weiying are committed to the ministry of Chinese scholars and are often invited to deliver messages at churches, evangelism and spiritual training meetings.