B.I.O. - Practice #1: Come Before God Daily, Part 2

Are you struggling to regularly read your Bible and pray? I mean, you really want to, and you know how important it is, but it feels like an obligation or like you're punching a spiritual timecard. Let me tell you, I was there, and today I want to share with you a little secret that moved my quiet time with God from a duty to a discipline to a delight.

Stay with me. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international teaching and discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians.

Today, we're continuing our newest series. We're calling BIO, Three Essential Practices to Becoming More Like Jesus. Last time, Chip studied Jesus' habit of meeting with his Heavenly Father daily, what we can learn from his example.

Chip has much more insightful wisdom to share about this first practice, so let's get going. He begins the second half of his message by continuing to identify the vital lessons Christ shared with his disciples. The second thing that Jesus taught was that our view of God in prayer will determine our intimacy and our answers.

Our view of God. He was a man of prayer, and his disciples would watch him pray. And they had the Pharisees' prayers that they heard.

They'd go in street corners and they would quote lots of Scripture and make sure everyone could hear them. And John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray, and they had a routine that they went through. And there was something about Jesus' prayers. Of all the things we have in Scripture, they didn't ask him, teach us to preach. They didn't ask him, you know, could you teach us how to do miracles like you do? Here's what they said, Lord, would you teach us to pray? And so we have in Luke chapter 11 the conversation, and he gives them a pattern because they wanted a pattern. When you pray, say our Father who art in heaven, and you know the Lord's Prayer. What he realized was their issue wasn't saying the right words. Their issue was how they viewed God. And then he tells the story about someone coming late at night and knocking and saying, hey, I've got visitors in that culture.

Hospitality is important. You don't turn them away, so what am I going to do? And the point he was making was the only kind of person you would ever go knock on the door, think of you calling someone at 3 a.m. and saying, hey, my car's broke down, and I know you would come and get me.

It means that you have such confidence in that person that they don't want to get up, but because you would ask that, they realize, wow, you must think the world of me. And then he flipped it around with another illustration. He goes, you as fathers, if your children ask you for an egg, you wouldn't give them a scorpion. I see God accurately. I see him as a good God. I see him as the how much more God. I see him as a God who is kind and gentle and patient and loving. I see him as a God who gives mercies each and every day. I see him as a God that you don't have to perform for. I see him as a God where you don't have to earn it. He is your father.

He loves you, and he's for you. If you saw God like that, if I saw God more like that, you know, it would be pretty easy to get up in the morning and say, I'd like to get to know you better. You know, the Bible says that God delights.

Think of this word. God delights in the prayer of the upright. Can you imagine you grasping and understanding that the God of the universe, who's all-knowing and all-powerful, hears your prayer, and it delights him. He just wants to spend time with you and wants to share with you and wants to hear your hurts and wants to help you.

I mean, all of us have been little kids, right? When we ran to Mommy and Mommy comforted us or we went to Dad and we needed some wise advice or counsel or something. God is all that and infinitely more. You see, Jesus taught his disciples that our view of God would determine our intimacy and the answers to our prayers. The third thing that Jesus taught his disciples was obedience to God's Word is the prerequisite to experiencing his love and his presence. That very last night, John 14, he told them the Holy Spirit would be coming.

He said, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And then he says, he that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me. Then listen, and he that loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and we will come.

And the Old English is make our abode or manifest our presence. You see, it's not just taking in truth. It's not just listening to a good message. It's not just reading the Bible and getting through your reading program for the year or the New Testament.

It's not just kind of going through you version, which is really wonderful. But it's saying, God, what do you want me to do? I want to obey what you say because obedience is the organ of transformation.

Here's what I'm saying. Jesus taught in one word the goal of coming before God is to abide. The word just means to be connected. Your heart connected to God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, just ask whatever you wish and it'll be done for you. In other words, abiding is our responsibility and the result is joy. I want you to get that this coming before God isn't like, okay, I know I need to do this and good Christians do this and I'm going to start getting up and I'm going to read the Bible and I'm going to start memorizing stuff. Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it.

That will just be one more round of you trying really, really hard. I'm going to give you some very practical ways to take some baby steps to learn to start coming before God. Are you ready to develop some new habits where you begin to see God for who He is? Where you begin to get into His Word, not as a duty or not as a, you know, read my three chapters to keep the devil away.

Where you begin to hear His voice and you become more and more over time like Jesus. So let me give you some very practical ways of first, how to come before God privately and then second, how to practice His presence every moment of every day. Little by little, it's habitual, it takes time, we're on a journey and are you ready? The Lord is so patient.

He's very, very patient. Remember, come to me for I am gentle and humble in heart. So how do you develop the practice of coming before God privately?

Number one, make a daily appointment with Jesus. Set a time, set a place and have a plan. Just like I scheduled dates with my wife. Last Friday, I said, hey honey, what do you think? And so she goes, uh, 730 cause it's really hot, it'll be cool. And why don't we walk on those trails and then why don't we go to the purple onion and then why don't we drink coffee and just have some time together?

She goes, great. So we had a time, we had a place, we had a plan. And when we got done, she goes, oh, we need to do that more often.

That was so good. So make an appointment with God. So hypothetically, let's say you gotta be at work a day and right, we all take showers, we brush our teeth.

We have a lot of habits that we've learned. So maybe you say, I get up at 630, I'm going to do a few of those things. Lord, it's seven o'clock and let's just, let's just make it reasonable. From seven to 720, I would like to meet with you. Could we have an appointment?

And I'm going to sit in the brown chair in the corner because I know the rest of the families at the other end of the house. Make an appointment, set a time, set a place, or you may open YouVersion or we'll give you lots of other methods. Methods aren't the problem. The problem is people don't meet with God and they don't do it with a relational mindset. Second, it's a habit to be developed.

I mean, I don't want to de-spiritualize it, but here's the deal. If you don't do this regularly, your life is being discipled by social media, by friends, by work. Every day you have a path. You're living a path. You have a rhythm that you live.

In fact, if we sat down, I would ask you, tell me your rhythm. Okay, you get up. Then what do you do? Well, I go to the bathroom. Okay, then what after that?

I brush my teeth. Well, then what after that? I get a shower. Then what after that? I grab a cup of coffee. I get in the car and I run to work. So you don't need breakfast. No, I'm not a breakfast worker. Okay, then what after that? And I could go through your whole day.

No, what do you do the next day? I'm telling you almost every single day you have a pattern. It's called your way. What I'm trying to tell you is there's a way of Jesus. And so I have a pattern.

And all of it doesn't sound really spiritual. I get up. Like you, I go to the bathroom. I let the dog out. I feed the dog. I get my cup of coffee.

I tell my dog to wait for his master to get up, who's my wife. And then I have a place and it's a chair. And then I take God's Word and then I spend this amount of time that has worked for me over the years and I talk with God. And for me, some days then I need to process. So I'll write some things in a journal. I'll put a few little boxes of specific answers to prayer and I'll sit quietly and I ask God, you know what's coming today? Would you speak to me?

Would you give me direction? And then I go to work and then I have a time and I work out three days a week. There's a pattern to my life.

Here's the deal. Do you like your life right now? Are you married? Do you like your marriage? You're a parent.

Do you like how it's going with your kids? Your current path, your way, your road is producing the life you currently have. You are a disciple. I'm a disciple. All I'm saying is let's be Jesus' disciple.

And the first step is let's come before God daily and meet with him. One, make an appointment. Two, it's a habit.

So are you ready? Like every habit, you do it good for two or three days, then you miss, right? And then you struggle. Here's the pattern. Yes, it feels like a duty early on.

That's okay. Then little by little by little, it becomes a discipline and pretty soon like, do you have to like make yourself a note? Make sure to brush your teeth. Do you have to write that down? The day can come where part of your life is you meet with God. It becomes a habit. And then what I can tell you is over time with practice, it goes from duty to discipline to delight. I could tell you a time as an early Christian where I had to get out of bed to meet with God. And then I will tell you as the years went and the discipline developed, I love the mornings. I love to get up.

I bounce out of bed. But it took time. It took practice.

The third thing is you have to have an actual plan or practice. And I got mine from Solomon, the wisest man in the world. In Proverbs chapter 2, one through five, listen carefully to what he talks about in terms of coming before God.

He's talking to his son. My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom and incline your heart to understanding. For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding.

If you seek her as silver and search for his hidden treasure, then notice the result. Then you'll discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. As I broke this down, just follow along.

In fact, you might want to download the notes on this. My son, if you'll receive my words, he's talking about the words he's gotten from God, treasure my commandments. Step one, be intentional. Have a plan. Receive his word. Get into his word in an intentional, systematic way. Number two, make your ear attentive to wisdom.

Incline your heart. Be teachable. I'm mentoring a young, very gifted man from another country right now. And he's really fast.

He's really sharp. And in my last trip when I was there, he said, would you mentor me? And I watched his life. I said, sure. My last time there, he said, you know, I'm hanging around you, and I think I may have to, like, forget a lot of my Christian life and start over.

I said, what do you mean? He goes, I like to get things done. And honestly, man, I get up, I read through the Bible in a year, bam, I got my four chapters, I say a few prayers, I run. I'm a doer, doer, doer. But I don't think I'm very teachable. I'm not sure I'm really hearing God's voice.

I think I'm doing these things so my life will work and that God will love me. And from hanging around you, I'm thinking, that's not really the plan, is it? I said, no, it's not.

I said, but you don't have to start over. He's gentle. He understands. He just brought us together to maybe give you a couple tips. You know, that's why he brought people into my life.

You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll get you back to our series, BIO, three essential practices to becoming more like Jesus in just a minute. But quickly, I want to remind you that we are in the middle of our year end match. Thanks to a few close ministry friends, every gift we receive until December 31st will be matched dollar for dollar.

For more information about how to partner with us, go to livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. And thanks for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well, let's rejoin Chip now for the remainder of his message.

Third, he goes, what? For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding. Notice cry.

God, I need this. In other words, be passionate. Be intentional. Be teachable. Be passionate. Cry out. I want to know. I want to know you.

I want an answer to this. God, this matters to me. Show me how to fix my marriage.

God, this addiction, I don't know what to do. Cry out. Come to God like a real person and instead of all this religious phony stuff, bring who you are to him. And notice what he says, and then be diligent. For if you seek her as silver and search for his written treasure. I mean, if there was $5 million buried in your backyard or somewhere in your apartment, you wouldn't go, oh gosh, well, I've looked for two days. You know, I guess it's just not here.

No, no, it's guaranteed it's there. You would knock down walls. You would do whatever it takes. Be that passionate. Be that diligent in searching out God's word. I get up a lot of mornings. I don't feel like praying.

I don't feel like reading. But isn't it interesting that once you start, right, it's a lot like working out. Once you start to practice, it's the same here. And then notice the huge payoff. Then you discern the fear of the Lord. Discover the knowledge of God.

That was the goal. You'll be transformed. Be intentional. Be teachable. Be passionate.

Be diligent. Be transformed. I want to wrap up our time with how to practice the presence of God. What I don't want you to do, I don't want you to get the idea that I start to have this time with God and I get in God's word and you're all fired up. That's the beginning of practicing the presence throughout the day. So let me give you a few tips on maybe how to begin doing that. Take one truth or one promise or one verse in your time with God and chew on it throughout the day.

In other words, that word chew, we get the word ruminate or meditate. Let's say you read Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not in your own understandings. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Let's say that was the verse that stuck out to you. Let's say you wrote that on a card or you got your phone out and typed it in and got in the car and you started to drive and you usually turn on the radio and either music or sports or something, you say, you know, I think I'll just, I'll let that go around in my mind.

So you're driving. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not in your own understandings.

Just chew on it. Or maybe there was a promise and you're in line at the bank. You're in line at the grocery store and instead of scrolling, you think, okay, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, right? Or maybe a private discussion and someone's going through a very, very difficult time. And even as you are in this conversation, you're realizing they're asking me questions I don't know the answer to. This is practicing the presence of God.

I'm listening, talking over here and then this is where my mind is. Oh, oh Heavenly Father, this is really serious stuff and I don't know. They think I have real wisdom for them and I don't know. Would you please tell me, because the question is going to come real soon, would you show me what you want me to say to him? It happened to me yesterday. Last night I got a call from someone. They said, is there any way I can call you six o'clock Pacific time?

I said, sure. He gets on the phone. He said, it's a ministry question. Well, it was a ministry question that was rooted in some of the most personal, delicate, difficult things that I'd ever heard. And he began to share the story and this is where I'm at.

Really wonderful guy. And this is what's happening over here and this is what's happening in some other relationships here. And here's the future over here and here's where I'm stuck. And I mean, I don't have anyone to really talk to. And I'm thinking, oh God, I don't know what to say. He's thinking I'm going to have words of wisdom and literally why he's talking. I'm practicing the presence of God. Show me, show me, show me, speak to me, teach to me. And he got done and I heard some things come out of my mouth about maybe where his focus could be and maybe slowing down and realigning priorities and maybe giving some little extra attention to some family members. And he stopped me and he said, oh my gosh, God just spoke to me. I see it like never before.

This is what I need to do. And I literally, I just blurted out praise God because I thought little did he know that I had no clue about what to say. Do you get the idea? We can have a time with God and we come before him and then we practice his presence throughout the day and it makes all the difference in the world. Another tip is limit technology and develop the habit of practicing thanksgiving and interceding rather than scrolling.

And what I'm going to say on this is that you've heard it, you know the research, I know the research. Take baby steps. It's six, seven, whenever you eat dinner, then take your phone and put it someplace else. Don't be someplace else when you're here. I went into the bank the other day and there was a line and there was eight people in the line and seven of the eight people were not there.

They were somewhere else because they weren't there in that present place. And I thought to myself, what if God has something that he wants for me in that place? Now, am I saying it's wrong to look at your phone while you're in line?

No. What I'm saying is what has happened to our world when you see a mom and dad and two or three kids or you see five friends at a restaurant and instead of talking to one another, everyone's looking on their phone because what we've done is we've made me the center of my universe and what I do with someone out there somewhere, that's what really matters, not the person or the place that I'm at. You have to break some habits. Some of the spiritual disciplines are subtraction, not addition, and this is one of those.

I feel like I'm getting kind of fired up and sort of poking around, aren't I? Can I tell you, this is hard for me. I'm very visual. I understand how hard, but as I've gone into training, not to try to be a better Christian, but to come before God and then eliminate distractions little by little, you'll be transformed. Proactively, spend some time in nature. Take a walk. Listen to some good music. Do some things that just give you a sense of awe and a bigger world. Go out at night and look at the stars. Do some things that, you know, if you're into art, that are just beauty and magnificent.

Read some really high quality books that invigorate your heart, invigorate your mind. See, Philippians 4 says, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there's anything of excellence or worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things because they're a reflection of the nature of God. In summary, life change and bearing fruit and being used by God can only, are you ready, can only happen when the supernatural life of Jesus is flowing into your life and your heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes the written word and he makes it the living word and then he empowers inside of your heart a new set of desires, a breaking of old habits and addictions and begins to manifest the love of God and the mercy of God and the kindness of God in your heart and in your mind, which gives you a very different view of God.

But are you ready? God gives you such a different view of you. See, when you start living as a, I am a beloved child of God, fully accepted, completely forgiven and infinitely valuable, now that's an identity that you can live out of. Finally, coming before God daily does not earn any favor with him. There's no magic about coming before God that your life will automatically or quickly change.

But it positions you to allow the grace of God through the activity of coming before him in his word, of practicing his presence, it positions you where the grace of God can manifest the truth of God and the power of God that brings transformation from the inside out. Final warning, take baby steps. Consistency is way more important. Don't say I'm going to start spending a half hour or an hour with God every morning.

Ten minutes. Doing it every day is more important than you spend an hour one day and then do it again two weeks from now. Take baby steps.

Consistency. And then remember that Jesus is gentle and humble. You're going to mess up. You're going to go a day or two or a few days where the habits break and then you get all down on yourself and the enemy is going to come in and say, see, you don't really love God.

You don't really care. The Bible talks about our relationship with God as what? Walking with God. And I can say this as a grandparent and I've watched lots of young parents. When they see their little maybe 12 or 18 month old starting to take steps, right? Are they like this going, come on, walk faster, walk faster?

What do they do? They're like this. Come to daddy, come to grandpa, right?

And the little kid goes smack, face plant. And we run, we pick them up, we go, oh my lance, you did so good. You did so, you did two steps, right? Can I tell you something? It's exactly how your heavenly father thinks and feels about you. As you begin to walk and spend time before him, he's on your team.

Take some baby steps. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And the message you just heard, practice number one, come before God, is from our series BIO, three essential practices to becoming more like Jesus. Chip will join us in studio to share some insights from today's talk in just a minute. It's been said that the 21st century church is thousands of miles wide, but only an inch deep, meaning many people identify as Christians, but few truly live out a life that honors God. In this new series, Chip takes us on a journey through the gospels, revealing the profile of an authentic follower of Christ. Together, we'll explore the discipleship path Jesus modeled while on earth, built around three simple yet powerful practices that will help us live out our faith.

You're not going to want to miss a single program of this meaningful series. Our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram, is with me now. And Chip, you had something really important you wanted to share with our listeners. So why don't you take some time right now to do that?

Thanks so much, Dave. I want to take a few minutes today to talk directly to you, parents and grandparents. Like me, you probably have a mounting concern for your kids and grandkids who are growing up and raising families in our world today. They face challenges that we would have never imagined and will face persecutions for being Christians that most of us had not needed to endure in our lifetime. What's even more concerning is the dilution of the Bible and the confusion over biblical principles saturating the culture. In fact, in many churches today, the dumbing down of Christianity and the resulting numbness in our children's faith is outright devious.

This is not a tactic of flesh and blood. It's a spiritual war. We have to fight these battles in a way that equips the next generation for the war that we're in. Twenty-five years ago, when God gave me the dream for discipleship ministry, I had no idea how the Lord would grow Living on the Edge to what it is today.

Helping Christians to live like Christians is more important now than when we first began, especially for the next generation as they raise our children and our grandchildren. Let me ask you, will you join me in Living on the Edge in this fight for the hearts and the minds of the next generation? We need partners who will stand with us financially to help us get the truth in the right places and the right way to cut through the deception that's bombarding our kids each and every day. And right now is an especially potent time to give because every dollar that you give will be doubled dollar for dollar.

I want to thank you for praying and for giving whatever God shows you to do. Together, let's stand for our kids and our grandkids. We can make a difference.

Thanks, Chip. And if you're burdened to help and encourage this next generation, become a financial partner today. And as Chip said, right now during our year-end match, every dollar you give will be matched dollar for dollar all the way up to December 31st. To send a gift, call us at 888-333-6003 or go to livingontheedge.org.

That's 888-333-6003 or livingontheedge.org. Listeners, tap donate. With that, here again is Chip to share a final word for us to think about.

Thanks, Dave. As we wrap up today, I want to take a quick look back to Proverbs chapter 2 on Solomon's advice for spending private time with God. In verse 1, he says, be intentional. Verse 2, he says, be teachable. Verse 3, he says, be passionate. Verse 4, he says, be diligent.

And then in verse 5, he talks about the result will be transformed. And just as I close the end of our teaching time today, I want to talk to some of you and give you just a couple tips that might be really, really helpful. For those of you that feel like you never measure up, stop analyzing so much. Know that it's a walk. Say you do it two or three days. Don't get down on yourself if you miss a day and feel like you've got to catch up. And if you're on a reading program, don't let it pile up and you think, now I've got to read 11 chapters to catch up. It's about relationship. If you miss a few days, say, Lord, thank you that you understand and just get back in like you do in any other relationships.

For another group of you, you're what I call the sporadic kind because that's me. You need intentionality. You can't just open the Bible and read a devotional here and a chapter there and you're scattered and you're everywhere.

Choose a plan. I'm going to read through the book of John or I'm going to read through the book of Genesis. And you don't have to read five or six or seven chapters. The goal is I'm going to be intentional. I want God to speak to me and if He starts speaking to you, are you ready for this? You don't have to go on.

You can read the same thing the next day. There are times when God begins to speak to me from His Word, I just say, I can't get out of this. He wants to deal with something or He wants to encourage me or comfort me or there's an insight that I've never seen before. Don't let the plan override God's purpose.

It's about a relationship. So let me just encourage you to passionately seek God. Don't expect to have a liver quiver experience each and every time. Be intentional, be teachable, and at the end of your time with the Lord say, Oh Father, what would you have me to do? And just act. It might be praying for a person. Text someone, encourage someone, do something kind. So keep pursuing.

Develop the habit. Your God loves you so much and He loves to be with you. Thanks Chip. Before we go, let me take just a second and tell you about a resource we've created to help you deepen your relationship with God in a practical way. It's called Daily Discipleship with Chip. Through this free video resource, you'll learn how to study God's Word for yourself. For each series, you'll spend no more than 10 minutes with Chip in a particular passage of Scripture. Then he'll challenge you to spend 10 more minutes on your own.

It's that easy. You'll be blown away by how much you'll learn about God and His Word. So sign up for any of our Daily Discipleship sessions today by visiting LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, tap Discipleship. Well thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Drouie and I hope you'll join us again next time.