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It had been a long, fruitless night of fishing for Peter, Andrew, and their fishing partners. They came back to shore and began to wash their nets which had caught nothing all night long.
As they washed their nets, no doubt contemplating how they were going to make ends meet without any fish to sell in the marketplace, they listened to an itinerant Preacher. This Man was fascinating to listen to as He talked about Scripture in a way none had ever heard.
The crowds listening to Him swelled in size—almost spellbound by His kindness and wisdom—until the Preacher had no place left to stand on the shore. Turning to Peter, the Preacher said, “Peter, my name is Jesus. Would you allow Me to stand in your boat so I can continue to speak to all of these good people?”
Peter welcomed Him onto his ship and pushed out a little ways from shore. There he sat and continued to listen with growing amazement at the way this Man taught. It was unlike anything Peter had heard from any other rabbi.
When Jesus concluded His sermon and dismissed the crowds, He turned to Peter and said, “Thank you for helping Me. I know it’s been a tough night for you. If you will sail back out to deeper waters, you will be able to let down your nets for a huge catch.”
Peter smiled and said, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught a thing. I doubt we will be able to catch anything now.” For a brief moment, Peter contemplated rowing Jesus back to shore, but those words he had heard Jesus speaking were still resonating in his heart, bringing to life a faith he hadn’t known.
Almost before he realized he was speaking the words, Peter said, “But because You say so, I will obey.”
No sooner had Peter and Andrew let their nets down into the deep water, than they caught so many fish that their nets almost began to break. They shouted to their partners for help. Even with their combined efforts, the amount of fish they caught nearly sunk their boats! (See Luke 5:1-11.)
What an example Peter has given me!
It may seem illogical, unconventional, counter-cultural, scary, or embarrassing. But because You say so, I will obey.
I may lose friends, lose “face,” lose position, lose money, or lose possessions. But because You say so, I will obey.
I may feel afraid, uncertain, unclear, confused, or skeptical. But because You say so, I will obey.
It’s only in my obedience that I can see Your power, Your lordship, Your wisdom, Your blessing, and Your glory.So because You say so, I will obey.
Jesus, You said, “Anyone who loves Me will obey Me” (John 14:23). I do love You, Jesus. No matter what it is, because You say so, I will obey.
Put the good stuff from the Bible in your heart and mind regularly. When you do, the Holy Spirit can remind you of what you’ve studied and help you apply it to your daily situations. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“It pays to know the enemy—not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend.” —Margaret Thatcher
John Stonestreet and Dr. Glenn Sunshine shared this, “The despicable and horrendous attacks by Hamas against civilians last week, including beheading children and kidnapping the elderly, seems a throwback to some distant, barbaric past of human history. We may have thought the world had long ago outgrown such barbarity, but it hasn’t. In fact, as shocking as it is, the kinds of atrocities carried out by the Hamas terrorists are the norms of warfare, at least throughout most of human history.” What changed this? Quite simply: a Christian worldview of just warfare.
“It is the quiet, steady appeal that moves the heart of kings. So then, the wise find ways to bring their cause visibly before the authority without being annoying. This is subtle art; it is not manipulation. This silent plea communicates to the leader a determination and resolve that appeals deeply to their conscience. Fools make themselves annoyingly heard; the wise make themselves dignifiedly seen.” —Dick Brogden, in Proverbs: Amplified and Applied
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Let’s keep in mind why we are learning and working on these spiritual disciplines. The key phrase is “so that”—I get stronger so that we can get stronger.
Today we are looking at spiritual discipline #2—Solitude. We will need discipline to abide with Jesus in our time of solitude—removing all distractions—so that we can respond better to our circumstances, and help other saints respond better too.
Part of the dictionary definition of solitude is “a place absent of human activity.” Note that important word human activity. Solitude is a time for stepping back from all our human striving to get a heavenly perspective. Solitude is a proactive pause in difficult times so that we can respond with a God-honoring reaction.
Let me give you five ideal situations to discipline ourselves to find solitude.
(1) After ministry exertion. I’m sure there have been times when an interaction with another person or a group of people has exhausted you. It’s at these times we should find a place of solitude to be refreshed, just as Jesus did (Luke 5:16).
(2) In stormy times. When everything around us seems to be unstable, proactively pausing in a time of solitude is saying with the psalmist, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble,” and then hearing God say to our anxious hearts, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:1, 10). These are the same words Jesus said to both the stormy seas and the disquieted hearts of His disciples (see Mark 4:35-39).
(3) When we’re between a rock and a hard place. This is when we feel like neither option before us is a pleasant one. Like when the Israelites were caught between the onrushing Egyptian army and the uncrossable Red Sea. Listen to how similar the words of Moses sound, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (see Exodus 14:1-14).
(4) When we have a big decision ahead. We may gather all of the information and do our our research and still feel inadequate to make a good decision. Jesus had hundreds of disciples, but He needed to choose just twelve to serve as His apostles. Before making this decision, Jesus spent the night in solitude with His Father (Luke 6:12-13).
(5) When we get angry. There are other strong emotions that sometimes seem to overwhelm us, but I’ve noticed that anger causes more people to fly off the handle than most of the other emotions. When Jesus saw the shameful way the temple was being used, He got so angry that His disciples recalled the Psalm that said zeal was burning Him up (Psalm 69:9; John 2:17). Instead of reacting in the heat of the moment, Jesus spent all night in solitude with His Father (Mark 11:11, 19).
Then keep in mind that solitude is not retreating and staying away from others, but solitude is so that I can effectively respond to pressing situations. Christian solitude is not me-time, it’s us-time (where the “us” is me + Jesus) so that I’m ready for we-time (where the “we” is me + others).
This is such an important discipline for Christians so that we don’t respond inappropriately in an intense situation, but we respond in a Christ-like way that brings glory to God. Pay attention to your strong emotions, listen to the Holy Spirit, and proactively find a place of solitude.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Last week I challenged you to free up some time in your schedule so that you could begin to apply these six spiritual disciplines we are going to discuss.
Let’s keep in mind why we are learning and working on these disciplines. The key phrase is “so that”: I’m going to get stronger so that I have something to give to others, so that they will have something to give to others (and to me), and on and on it goes. Each of us needs all of us, and all of us need each of us!
I love to read. In fact, I’m usually reading several books at the same time. Without a close second, my favorite book is my Bible. I say “my Bible” because I’ve made it mine—it’s underlined, circled, notated, and marked. It’s the Book I’m in every day, and it’s the Book that helps me glean the best knowledge from all the other books I read.
G.K. Chesterton, the famous British writer, was once invited to a meeting of the leading intellectuals in England. They were discussing what one book they would want to have with them if they were shipwrecked on an island. Everybody expected Chesterton to say, “My Bible.” But when it came to his turn to speak, Chesterton said, “If I were shipwrecked on a desert island, I’d like to have Thomas’s Guide to Practical Shipbuilding.”
Chesterton wasn’t saying the Bible wouldn’t have been of benefit to him on that island, but he was saying that those who study the Bible have the most practical insights! The Bible doesn’t just have lofty ideas, but it gives us heavenly wisdom that is highly practical to our everyday lives.
The first spiritual discipline we are considering in our series Saints Together is: Studying our Bible. Notice I didn’t say just to read the Bible, but to really study the Book of books.
The apostle Paul wrote, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). How do we know our faith is growing? It must be tested. Look at what James had to say about growing our faith—“the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:3).
Testing really comes down to this: Does what I believe work in my everyday life? Can I truly put what the Bible teaches me into action? James went a little deeper with this in James 2:17-19.
Allow me to share four indispensable components of our Bible study time. You will notice that for all of these components, I am giving you verses from the 119th chapter of the Psalms. This single chapter mentions God’s Word in every single one of its 176 verses. As an added bonus, this chapter is divided into twenty-two 8-verse sections. Scientists tell us that if you do anything for twenty-one days in a row, you will have gone a long way toward making it a permanent habit. So reading one section of Psalm 119 every day is a great place to start on this spiritual discipline of studying your Bible.
Here are the four components:
(1) Read the Word. You cannot study something you haven’t read. I would suggest you pray before reading (Psalm 119:18, 33). I’d also suggest you leverage the power of your brain using a well-worn path by setting aside the same time, same place, and same method of study every day.
(4) Live out the Word. Apply it by allowing it to make a change in your life. Notice the action words in Psalm 119:1-4: walk … keep … walk … fully obey…. Or as God said to Joshua—
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8)
This is how Jesus lived His life and it’s also how He said the Holy Spirit would help us live our lives in a God-glorifying way (John 12:49-50, 14:26).
Every day we should be living out the living Word of God!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
I’m not a fan of rollercoasters, but I know a lot of people who really like them. Some even travel all over the world to experience unique rollercoasters. The anticipation as the cars climb slowly up the big hill, knowing that there’s no stopping this thing now! Then the rush of emotions, a deep breath and a laugh at the end (usually laughing at our friends’ responses while on the ride), and then we just walk away. The moment of anticipation leading up to the big drop was usually longer and more intense than the ride itself.
Not only do people travel all over to find rollercoasters, some people seem to have their emotions perpetually on rollercoasters.
One of the telltale signs of someone with an immature mental health is the way every situation gets blown out of proportion before anything even happens. Then as an event unfolds, their exaggerations continue: the molehills are mountains, every valley is the valley of the shadow of death, the night is a nightmare, the “crisis” is lasting forever, no one has ever gone through what they’re going through, and the list goes on.
To break out of this habit requires us developing emotional capacity. John Maxwell describes it like this: “Emotional capacity is the ability to handle adversity, failure, criticism, change, and pressure in a positive way.” Just as athletes have to develop lung capacity or muscle capacity, developing emotional capacity takes time, patience, and diligence.
Increased emotional capacity is not escaping from our problems or even learning coping skill. Escapism never allows us to confront the things that are keeping our emotional capacity immature. On the other hand, maturing emotional capacity is learning to pause to get perspective so that we can avoid turning every mountain into a molehill, and every challenge into a do-or-die battle.
Let me illustrate this by looking at two emotions which seem to be the most rollercoaster-ish.
(1) The first rollercoaster emotion is anger
Out-of-proportion anger can either burn everyone around us when we explode, or it can eat away inside us if we hold it in. Neither of these are healthy emotional responses. Jesus got angry at the religious crowd that was keeping people away from God’s kingdom, but He didn’t ride the rollercoaster that led to a sinful expression of His anger.
God asked Jonah a very helpful question: Have you any right to be angry? (Jonah 4:4). When we feel the Holy Spirit asking us this question, our defiant first response is almost always, “Yes! I didn’t do anything wrong! It was all him!” Solomon would counsel us to cross-examine that thought (Proverbs 18:17).
Sometimes God will bring someone else across our path to help us pause to get perspective—to flatten the rollercoaster. For instance, God used Abigail to help David (see the story in 1 Samuel 25). However the Holy Spirit cross-examines us, we need to learn to truly listen. James told us:
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (James 1:19-20)
(2) The second rollercoaster emotion is fear
Fear usually causes us to fight or flight. Those are the natural responses, but the supernatural response is to pause to evaluate. I love the reminder that F.E.A.R. means false evidence appearing real.
As with anger, our first pause to get perspective on this potential rollercoaster that can plunge us into a deep, dark valley should be to cross-examine the false evidence of fear.
When the group of ladies came to the tomb of Jesus on the Sunday following His crucifixion, they were already battered and bruised in their emotions. Finding an empty tomb brought even more fear in their hearts. But there is a keyword in this account that will help us:
In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men [angels] said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered His words. (Luke 24:5-8)
The Holy Spirit can help us remember the truth in God’s Word to counteract the fear-inducing false evidence (2 Timothy 1:7; John 14:26), but we must pause to listen to this evidence before this rollercoaster emotion picks up speed.
The bottom line: Don’t try to escape your strong emotions. Pause. Cross-examine the evidence with the help of God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and a friend to get a healthy perspective. This can help you flatten the rollercoaster before your emotions run away with you.
The Holy Spirit who inspired the words of the Bible is the same Holy Spirit in you. He can illuminate the biblical promises for your prayer time, and He can help you apply the biblical principles to your everyday circumstances. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“Carl M. ‘Daddy” Hanson (1865-1954), a spiritual father to many early Pentecostals on the northern Great Plains, earned his Pentecostal stripes on both sides of Azusa Street. He experienced the Pentecostal distinctive of speaking in tongues in the 19th century, and he became an early leader in the Assemblies of God in the first half of the 20th century.” Check out this mini-biography of this Pentecostal pioneer.
Absolutely astounding! The silk of spider webs has unique properties that medical science is beginning to use in humans. What an amazing Creator we serve!
In my sermon about parenting, I quoted from Proverbs 22:6. Commenting on this verse, Dick Brogden, in Proverbs: Amplified and Applied, wrote, “The principle regarding our children is that the things they are taught early on will give them every opportunity for stability later in life. This reality does not guarantee that they will make right choices (including whether or not to follow Jesus); it does guarantee that they have the resource of wisdom to draw on should they choose. … Whatever their choice, we can rest in the peace that we laid up for them every resource for good. Our peace (regarding our children) comes from what we have done with our heart and resources, not what they have done with theirs.”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Love should be blind. That is, we should be so enamored with the one we love that we are blind to all others. There are some sweet lyrics to a 1932 song called “I only have eyes for you”—
My love must be a kind of blind love
I can’t see anyone but you
and, dear, I wonder if you’ll find
love an optical illusion too
Are the stars out tonight?
I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright
‘cause I only have eyes for you, dear
The moon may be high
But I can’t see a thing in the sky
‘cause I only have eyes for you
I don’t know if we’re in a garden
or on a crowded avenue
you are here and so am I
maybe millions of people go by
but they all disappear from view
‘cause I only have eyes for you
Instead of having dedicated eyes, what would you think of someone who was constantly “checking out” those other than their sweetheart? That’s what the song of ascent in Psalm 123 calls on us to contemplate.
Notice the use of the word “eyes” four times in just the opening two verses. The psalmist is asking us, “Do you only have eyes for God, or are you glancing elsewhere?”
The call throughout the Bible, from beginning to end, has always been for a steadfast, loving eye for our loving God. From Moses to Jesus, the call is to love God above all else—to only have eyes for Him (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30). I think this is why Jesus taught us to pray for a daily look to our Father’s hand for each moment’s provision (Matthew 6:11).
This is not a begrudging “have to look” but an “I cannot help but continually look.” David said it this way, “Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits” (Psalm 68:19)!
When we continually keep our eyes on our loving Heavenly Father, we see more and more of His graceful favor toward us. It’s the proud and arrogant (in verses 3-4) that think they have to take care of themselves, or that they have to keep their eyes open to other possibilities.
God loves to shower His favor on those who only have eyes for Him: “Out of His fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (John 1:16). This reminds me of the waves on the shore, where one wave of grace continually follows the previous wave of grace, which is quickly followed by yet another wave of grace. In fact, this idea is beautifully captured in the Amplified Bible’s rendering of this verse—
For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received—all had a share and we were all supplied with—one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift heaped upon gift.
God’s grace isunearned by our efforts, undeserved despite our sins, and unending for all of eternity!
This song of ascent assures us that the humble servant who only has eyes for God is:
grateful for past blessings
unashamed of his total dependence on God’s provision
So the questions we need to ask ourselves are simply, “Where are my eyes? Do I only have eyes for my God, or do I keep my options open? Do I humbly and confidently bring my petitions to God, or do I take matters into my own hands?”
Since this is a song of ascent, let’s make sure that our song to God is always, “I only have eyes for You!”
