The Color Purple

In last month’s newsletter article I shared the importance of daily prayer and bible reading. They are our spiritual food, and just as you wouldn’t want to eat only one physical meal a week, neither should we eat one spiritual meal per week. I shared specific ways to pray, and several ways to find daily devotions. If you would like a copy of that article, one can be provided, just see me or Tracie.

I also failed to deliver on a promise to some of you. I told you that if you told me “Purple,” I would tell you why, but I didn’t. The truth is that I forgot I had written that. I thought I had written that I would reveal the answer in next month’s article. I apologize for that, the error is mine. Anyway, the answer is this:

I wanted to see who was reading these articles.

So if you are reading this, and you are one of the people who didn’t get an answer, I apologize. And if you haven’t told me “Purple” yet, it’s not too late. I want to be helpful and a blessing to as many of you as possible, and you telling me “Purple” lets me know when that is happening. So thank you.

Now let’s get back to prayer and bible reading.

My goal for all of us is to make prayer and bible reading a habit. We all need them to be part of our routine, like brushing our teeth and taking a shower. Well, anyone who has ever been around a child at bedtime knows that they don’t like changing their habits. None of us does. The gravity of our routines always pulls us. That’s why we want to make prayer and bible reading habits: so that they are what we gravitate towards. So we gravitate towards God, not other things. That’s why making prayer and bible reading a habit are so important.

Unfortunately, the bible doesn’t have a simple, easy method for developing better habits. No one does; we just have to do them. But Jesus does show us how to develop good prayer habits. It’s not simple, and it’s not easy, but developing new habits never is. Here’s what you do:

Find a mentor.

That’s what a disciple is: someone who is being mentored. Find someone who reads their bible daily, or who is a person of prayer, and ask them to help you do better. Just go up to them and ask them to be a mentor. Ask them to teach you how to pray, or to read your bible, or both. Ask them to hold you accountable. Meet with them regularly. Call, text, email them when things are going well so they can celebrate with you. Contact them when you are struggling, ask for their encouragement and support. Encourage them to hold you to your commitments when you are struggling, and to coach you in how to do better.

The Jesus model of developing habits is not to be found on the pages of a self help book or in the latest magazine article. It is to be found where we find God most easily: in the bible, and in the bible the Jesus model of personal growth is mentoring. He mentored his disciples. He showed them how, and then provided both encouragement and accountability when they struggled.

If you want to read your bible daily, and to pray daily, and don’ t know how, find a mentor. Do what they do. Be discipled. Let them show you how to be more Christ-like, so you can show others.

God loves you and so do I.
Pastor Scott