How do we “move forward” with God? That’s the question we all need to ask ourselves. The first step is to recognize that there’s a place to go; there’s progress to be made toward knowing and serving the Lord. This is something that applies to all Christians everywhere. It’s not something that only pertains to people called into formal ministry: pastors, teachers, evangelists etc. Just because we don’t have a desire or “calling” to engage in such vocations doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be seeking to move toward a better knowledge of God. Simply relying on your pastor to tell you how to deal with the Lord might be sufficient for new Christians, but gradually we need to take on greater and greater responsibility for our walk with God. To fail to recognize this is to expect more from our pastor than He’s able to give. It’s not that we outgrow the influence of a good pastor. We all need to commiserate with other Christians in order to find our way in the faith. And good pastors should continue to be influential in our lives no matter how long we’ve been Christians. But our goal should be to know the Lord, and to know Him better and better throughout our lives. I’ve often thought that good pastors and teachers should be, in some respects, always trying to work themselves out of a job.

 

How does that happen? The two most important disciplines that any Christian needs in order to progress in the faith should be obvious. We need to become people of prayer, and we need learn how to handle the Bible. Both of these “disciplines” are problematic for new Christians. Praying is just weird for those who come to the faith lacking a religious background. And those with a previous experience of religion often view prayer as a formal activity, one that amounts to reciting composed prayers that are repeated each time a congregation meets. Along with this is the challenge of reading the Bible, a collection of writings that is the great resource for knowing God, yet is also a difficult resource to understand.

 

Engaging in prayer as a personal activity with God is something that requires a measure of faith. We have to believe that God is there and that He listens to our prayers in order for this activity to seem relevant. And even when we have faith informing our prayers, it can still feel like an odd exercise with little consequence. Part of the issue here has to do with the environment that informs our lives here and now; I’m speaking of “modern,” western” culture, a culture that continues to make progress toward influencing the entire world. In our present era, the emphasis is on the capacity for people individually and collectively to solve the world’s problems. And the United States is a significant participant in that effort. Everything from sluggish supply chain issues to mass shootings are addressed as problems to be solved through human effort with only passing references to God. The effect is to undercut the validity of the supernatural. In saying this I’m not bemoaning the fallen nature of the world at large; that’s a given. What I’m suggesting is that Christians who are prompted to seek the Lord in prayer are doing so in an environment that ignores the existence of the supernatural! And that can have an adverse influence on our engagement in prayer and our expectations of what can be gained from the effort. We’ve got to get over that in order to make progress in the faith. We’ve got to recognize that the supernatural is a reality that informs our natural world, which means that we, as Christians, need to make an investment in that truth. We need to be willing to step forward in prayer, acknowledging God as a present reality with whom we can collaborate, rather than just an abstract unknown.

 

How do we do that? First of all we need to develop the “discipline” of prayer, both individually and with other Christians. As we engage in this exercise, we need to ask the Lord to help us understand how to pray. We need to commiserate with other Christians regarding this discipline: praying together, finding out how other Christians approach this activity, reading what the Bible says about prayer, consulting with our pastor. At first, this effort may seem like a baffling drudgery that can’t possibly be relevant. However, it has the potential to become a very dynamic aspect of a Christian’s life. God is interested in communicating with us. He wants to have fellowship with us. Not just with us as a congregation, with each one of us individually. The benefits are far reaching, not only for getting things done, or addressing problems we face. It has the capacity to become the means whereby we become well acquainted with God, contributing to the development of an intimacy with the Lord that affects the very nature of how we do life, how we approach our personal reality.

 

Along with the development of a valid and dynamic prayer life is our effort to read and understand the Bible. This is not an option; if we want to progress in the faith and get to know the Lord and His ways we must study the Bible. Reading the Bible is not enough. Reading isolated sentences (that is verses) is not enough. Scripture needs to be studied. It takes effort to get what is offered in these writings. And it is a collection of writings, a collection that was assembled over a 1500 year period! It isn’t just academics who need to study the Bible. We all do.

 

How do we do that? Ask those who have been in the faith for a while. Ask your pastor for direction. But don’t think that good preaching is a substitute for personal study. Even good sermons that rely on the Bible as their basis are not sufficient for the long term growth of the believer. All believers need to learn the basics of handling the text. And that takes effort. There’s a reason that the Bible is the most widely read book in human history: God has invested in it. It can be a difficult resource to understand, but it’s not out of reach for the “average” Christian.

 

And there are tremendous rewards to be gained. It can dispel false narratives. It can ward off the deceptions presented by the world at large. It can reassure in times of crisis. It can direct your energy, saving you from wasting your time and resources on things that aren’t worthwhile. It can provide direction for your life. It can make you aware of the pitfalls that are in your path. It can expose the strategies of the enemies of the faith, both the people and supernatural forces.

 

However, understanding and applying the contents of the Bible to our lives must be deliberate. It won’t just happen naturally. A determination needs to be made that the study and application of the Bible’s content to our lives is not only necessary, it’s essential for our lives to be successful in following after the Lord. Unless we’re informed by a right and proper handling of the scripture the chances of finding our way are sorely limited. Which means that we need to make up our minds that the effort this study and application of the text requires, is worth the effort. We’ll have to give it priority in the use of our time. That won’t be easy given the tremendous influence this world has to distract and deceive, but it’s essential nonetheless.