Develop Holy Habits From Holy Practices, To Have Holy Living

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.’ (Luke 5:16)

Recently, the pastor did a series on ‘Holy Habits’, or Holy practices one begins and over time develops into Holy habits which create a condition of Holy (and wholesome) living.  Holy Habits include praying, Bible study, engaging in fellowship, attending and participating in worship, performing Evangelism, fasting, and practicing Righteous stewardship (which I’ll be covering this Sunday).  There are a few others that one can practice (perseverance, finding solitude, listening for God, journalizing your walk with Jesus), and usually some of these are used in combination (praying in solitude, finding fellowship in studying the Bible within your Life Group).

There are some who don’t believe that all these practices, at least some of them, should be entertained.  We sometimes run into those Christians who state they don’t need to be in fellowship with other Christians, or they are a ‘church of one’.  However, almost all of these practices are provided in the Bible as necessary to live a wholesome, Christian life.  Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks of the importance of assembling in fellowship with other Christians; 1 Corinthians 7:5 is to fast so as to devote yourself in prayer.  Many of these practices are seen by what Jesus did during His earthly ministry. Most can be described as Biblical; if one wants to be obedient to Jesus, they need to be obedient to His Word.   

Jesus had habits developed from His daily routines; one of the routines He had that was often written about was His prayer time with Father God.  He made it a habit to get away from the crowds and the Apostles, and have some ‘me-time’ with Himself to pray and meditate.  Jesus also made it a point to always quote Scripture and lead others in prayer, as He made these things part of His daily life in fellowship with others.  He also rested when He needed to rest, and ate when He needed to eat.  As Ecclesiastes 3 states there is a time for everything, and as there is a time to share and evangelize, there also must be a time to go, relax and recharge. 

Jesus had routines so He could prioritize activities during His day, as we have routines during our day to prioritize what we need to do.  Prioritizing our needs over our wants should be part of forming our routines.  US Army General Stanley McChrystal once stated it was important to make one’s bed each morning so right off the bat there was something meaningful and needing done would be accomplished, to set the tone for the rest of the day. 

If we run off and do what we want to do, say play golf instead of preparing for an upcoming storm, we may not have the time or the preparedness necessary to meet our daily challenges and overcome them.  Jesus ensured He was always ready; He was prepared when he faced Satan in the wilderness over forty days, He was prepared to enter Jerusalem, He was prepared when He was on trial in front of the Sanhedrin, He was prepared when led up to Golgotha to be crucified, and later was prepared when He came out of the grave to defeat death.

Jesus developed routines to be ready, we need to develop our routines as well.  Not only in physical preparations for the storms from the Atlantic, but the spiritual storms that come for our lives, too!