Work N’ Out
When it comes to making a disciple, it is vital to teach a person to spend quality time alone with the Lord. That is the first workout you teach in ‘No Sweat’ Discipleship.
How do I spend time alone with Jesus? What do I do when I sit down alone with the Lord? What do I say? Where do I start? What am I trying to accomplish? These are all great questions.
There are three essential things you need to have a solid time alone with Jesus. First, you need a set time. When are you going to do it? Second, you need a place. Choose a place of solitude without distraction and make it your place to meet God. Third, you need a process or a plan. That is where I want to take you next.
Let me encourage you to think of your time alone with the Lord in four categories. Think you can guess what four categories? They are worship, reach, grow, and serve. With these categories in mind, let’s narrow our focus on each one. The goal is to give you a simple process to experience all four of these elements in your time alone with Jesus. You will need your Bible, a pen, and a notebook or journal.
It helps to have a big picture in mind. This will help as we focus our attention on each of these four aspects of having a balanced time alone with Jesus. Today, I will introduce you to the first category.
Worship
Worship literally means to ascribe worth to something or someone. In this case, we are talking about ascribing worth to our Lord. There are many ways to worship God but for purposes of this guide, I want to focus on prayer.
Jesus prayed. In fact, His disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray. Prayer is simply communication with the Lord. You don’t have to change your voice or try to sound spiritual when you pray, it is simply you speaking to the Lord.
I want to give you an uncomplicated process to keep you focused in prayer using the acronym ACTS. This acronym has been around for quite some time and is a primer for prayer.
The “A” stands for adoration.
Adoring the Lord is a way we worship Him. Adoration is the act of praising God for who He is. This always encourages me to praise the Lord for His attributes. The attributes of God include His power, holiness, love, grace, righteousness, wisdom, etc., I encourage you to choose an attribute of God, think about the attribute, and praise the Lord for it. (GREAT RESOURCE TO HELP HERE)
The “C” stands for confession.
This is just telling God where you have sinned (1 John 1:9). This involves agreeing with God that your sin is sin and making a choice to abandon the sin using God’s strength. Sin creates an invisible wall between you and Lord and interrupts your fellowship with Him. Tear down the wall through confession.
The “T” stands for thanksgiving.
What is God doing in your life for which you can give thanks? What have you seen God do in the lives of others for which you can give thanks?
The “S” stands for supplication.
When I hear the word supplication, I think of ‘supply’. Supplication is humbly asking God to meet a particular need in your life or the life of others. Keep in mind, you want to pray in line with God’s purpose, plan and pleasure.
When you first sit down with the Lord, spend time worshiping Him through prayer. Get out a journal and write vertically in the margin of your paper the acronym ACTS. This will help keep you focused during your time of prayer and worship.
Do you think this would help your personal time with Jesus?
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