The last lesson appealed to your heart. This lesson will appeal to your head. Before we can pursue the God of the Bible, we need to examine the Bible itself. How do we know that we can trust what it says? Why should we listen to its truth claims? That’s what we’ll cover in this lesson.

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, and it’s unlike any other book written in history. It has changed individual lives and shaped entire cultures. It’s an ancient text that claims to have been written by God himself, and the proof of its reliability is surprisingly strong. Here are three reasons we can trust what it teaches:

Historical Evidence 

Ancient manuscripts and archeological digs have stacked up in favor of biblical reliability. The Bible was written thousands of years ago, long before printing presses and modern technology. Manuscript fragments of the biblical text have endured wars and weather throughout the ages, and the scraps that remain represent just a fraction of the originals. Are those remnants enough to provide a reliable testimony for modern-day readers? And how can we be sure that the message hasn’t been corrupted over the millennia? The good news is that the God who inspired the scriptures was also powerful enough to preserve those writings through the ages. 

Consider the manuscript evidence. Manuscript copies in the ancient world were painstakingly hand-written, and not all of them survived the ravages of time. Reliability of ancient writings is determined by the number of copies (or partial copies) of the work in existence. So how does the Bible stack up? See for yourself:

• Today we have only 49 copies of Aristotle’s writings.
• Homer’s “The Iliad” does a little better, with 643 copies in existence.
• The New Testament wins by a landslide, with almost 5700 Greek copies and over 19,000 copies in other languages!

The New Testament clearly has more manuscript evidence than any other ancient work. But how do we know that those manuscript copies are faithful to the originals? What if human authors changed the message, intentionally or otherwise? Modern archeology helps us answer this question, thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 1947 a shepherd boy discovered some ancient scrolls hidden away in remote caves in the Middle East. This led to even more discoveries in the area, and in the end almost 1000 manuscripts were recovered. Parts of almost every book of the Old Testament were found, and some of those fragments proved to be almost 1000 years older than the oldest manuscripts known at the time. 

This offers a perfect test for the reliability of our modern translations. The book of Isaiah provides the most compelling example, since the Dead Sea Scrolls contained a complete copy of the prophet’s writings. When compared to the Masoretic Text (the oldest copy previously known, dating back to about 800 AD), the Isaiah manuscript from the Dead Sea Scrolls was 95% identical! And the only differences were minor, often just variations in spelling.

So the historical evidence stacks up in favor of the reliability of the Bible. But there’s more:

Textual Evidence 

The Bible is the most impressive writing project in the history of the world. It contains 66 books written by 40 different authors over the course of 1500 years, and yet it tells one unified story. Think about it: Moses, a Jewish slave raised in the house of a Pharaoh, wrote the first five books. John, a fisherman-turned-revolutionary, wrote the last four books. In between were books and letters written by shepherds, kings, prophets, tax collectors, doctors, and more. And the most prolific author in the New Testament was Paul – a religious Pharisee who zealously persecuted the Jesus followers before joining them. 

Most of these authors never met each other, and many of them were unaware of the other books and letters that would eventually be included in the Bible. Their writings spanned different cultures and languages over the course of 15 centuries, and yet the Bible amazingly reads as one story. From beginning to end it’s about Jesus, and the fulfilled prophecy is the glue that holds it together. Let’s take just a few examples: 

• Of the 12 tribes of Israel, Judah was surprisingly predicted to be the one through which Jesus would come – which is exactly what happened. Genesis 49:10, Matthew 1:1-3
• It was prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, and that’s how it happened – even though his mother didn’t even live there. Micah 5:2, Luke 2:1,4
• Prophets wrote with shocking accuracy about the torture and death of Jesus hundreds of years before it happened – exactly as predicted. Psalm 22, Isaiah 53

It was because of these kinds of prophecies that Jesus spoke these words to the religious leaders of his day:

John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!

The Bible amazingly tells one story, centered on Jesus, because it was ultimately inspired by the God of human history.

Personal Evidence 

The Bible is ultimately about Jesus, and the changed lives of his followers is the most compelling proof of its message. Let’s just take three examples from the New Testament, starting with Peter. When Jesus was on trial before his crucifixion, a servant girl noticed Peter and accused him of being a follower of Jesus. Peter denied it three times, walking away with an incredible sense of guilt and shame (Luke 22:56-59). But that’s not the end of his story, because days later the resurrected Jesus sat down to breakfast with Peter and reinstated him – three times (John 21:15-19). Peter went on to be a pillar of the Christian church, eventually giving up his life for Jesus. 

Or consider “doubting” Thomas. He missed out on meeting the resurrected Jesus with the other disciples and expressed his doubt that they really saw the risen Christ. But soon enough he met Jesus for himself and professed his faith in him (John 20:25-28). Thomas, too, ended up dying for his faith. 

And then there’s Paul, a self-righteous Pharisee (Philippians 3:5) whose life mission was to persecute the followers of Jesus. Then he met Jesus and joined that very group of misfit disciples. Paul made it his life’s mission to spread the Good News about Jesus and he, too, died a martyr’s death. 

There’s no way to explain away these changed lives except to conclude that the message about Jesus, along with every word in the Bible, truly is inspired by God.

But no amount of evidence can overcome an unbelieving attitude. At the end of the day, trusting the reliability of the Bible comes down to your willingness to believe in the God behind the Bible. Jesus made this point one day as he taught in the Temple courts:

John 7:16-17 My message is not my own; it comes from God who sent me. Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own.

If you’re unwilling to submit to God’s will, your pursuit is over before it has even started. But if you are willing to come to God on his terms and take him at his word, then Jesus promises that you’ll discover the truth. The teachings of Jesus, and indeed all of the teachings in the Bible, are from God, not man. And so we can trust the Bible in our pursuit of God.

Every culture has a value system that is shaped by core beliefs, and western civilization is no exception. Whether you believe in biblical Christianity or not, you have been fundamentally shaped by its ideas. In this lesson we’ll investigate one of those ideas and how it has impacted the freedoms we take for granted. 

Very Good

Of all God’s creation in Genesis 1, human beings seem to stand out the most. Read it for yourself: first God created day and night, land and sea. Later he created plants and trees, followed by fish and birds and animals. After all of this creative work, God declared that “it is good”. But he wasn’t done. On the final day of creation, after everything was in place and the whole world was prepared, God created human beings. That’s when he updated his assessment of his handiwork:

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:31‬ Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

What is it about human beings that got a “very good” from the Creator when everything else was merely called “good”? The answer is found in the latin words Imago Dei, a concept first seen a few verses earlier:

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us….”

In God’s image. Imago Dei. From the first chapter in the Bible, humanity is dignified, not debased. People are different from trees and toads and tadpoles because only human beings are made “in the image of God.” This means we are like God in certain ways, such as mentally (we have the capacity to think and create), relationally (we were designed to be in relationship with others) and spiritually (there’s a part of us that lives forever). Imago Dei is also a reference to humanity’s responsibility to “reign” and represent God to the rest of creation. 

So human beings are the crowning achievement of God’s creation, the masterpiece of his creativity. This gives every human being inherent value and dignity, and it’s the key to understanding God’s attitude toward the world. More than anything else in all of creation, people matter to God. 

Life, Liberty, Happiness

Imago Dei is the basis for blessing all of mankind in the most practical way: it opens the door to the freedoms we have come to expect. The greatest political experiment in history started in 1776 when 56 brave men signed their names to the Declaration of Independence. The inspiration for that moment can be traced to the biblical concept of Imago Dei. Consider those famous words: 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Founding Fathers recognized that there was an authority higher than an English monarch, a human government, or even a group of revolutionaries. God himself was seen as the source of all human rights, and it’s because of Imago Dei that those courageous men made their claim to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Consider the right to life. Where does this come from in the Bible? God makes it clear in his instructions to Noah, and the message should sound familiar:

Genesis 9:6 If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.

Human life is sacred, according to the Bible, because man is made in the image of God. This concept is built into every one of us, which is why we are moved to compassion and righteous anger when we hear stories of the holocaust or see the senseless murder of innocent victims in our day.

And what about the right to “liberty?” This concept is remarkably new to human history, as the vast majority of civilizations failed to offer individual personal freedoms. Even some modern regimes have overlooked this basic right on their way to brutalizing their own citizens. Yet God himself modeled an open-handed style of leadership toward Adam:

Genesis 2:16-17 But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden — except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

From the very beginning, God blessed Adam and Eve with every good thing, and then he gave them the liberty to make their own choices, for better or for worse. The self-evident right to individual liberty comes from the God of the Bible.

And then there’s the “pursuit of happiness” – a concept that is uniquely rooted in the Christian ethic. Many people today view God as a cosmic killjoy, a grumpy old man determined to make our lives miserable. Indeed, misery has been the reality for most of humanity, and many religions are built around explaining its existence. But Christianity is a faith filled with optimism, captured best in Paul’s commandment to the church at Philippi:

Philippians 4:4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!

Long before the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, God invited all people to experience life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And remarkably his invitation extends to all of humanity, not just his followers – because he has made all of us in his image. 

A Purpose in Life

Imago Dei also helps us to answer a timeless question: what is the meaning of life? God’s nature provides a clue. Because God is love (1 John 4:16) – and we are made in his image – our purpose is to love. Jesus himself made this clear one day to a group of spiritual leaders. They asked him to identify the most important of the Ten Commandments, and his answer caught them off guard:

Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

In answering their question, Jesus intentionally avoided naming any of the Ten Commandments. Instead, he cited the “Shema” – the framing idea behind all of the commandments. He was making a point: humans are built for relationships, not for rules. The religious leaders were focused on laws; Jesus was focused on love.

Consider the order Jesus prescribes in the verses above: love God, love others, love yourself. This was a radically new religious idea in Jesus’ day, and it flows from Imago Dei. Being created in the image of God means you have the capacity for a real relationship with the God who created you. This relationship transforms your whole way of relating to others, and so you are able to practically love your neighbor. And ultimately you are given permission to love yourself – because your value comes from who you are, not from what you’ve done.  

Imago Dei, then, gives every human dignity. It provides the basis for all human rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And it inspires us with a purpose: to love God, others, and even ourselves.

So you’re a Christian. Now what? Getting to your defining moment of faith is more than the end of your old life; it’s the beginning of a new one! Here’s how Paul said it to the church in Corinth: 

2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Let’s put it in the context of our “full circle” picture of Christianity. Genuine faith (arrow one) leads to a new way to live our lives (arrow two). We’re not in charge anymore; now we want to find out what pleases God and do it (Ephesians 5:10). 

So what does this look like practically in our everyday lives? It would take a lifetime to explore this question fully, but the first answer is surprisingly simple. Read the New Testament and you’ll see that almost every new Christian took the same first step after coming to faith in Jesus: they got baptized. 

Baptism is the ancient Christian ritual of immersing someone in water as a symbol of Christ’s death and resurrection. In this lesson we’ll outline five things you need to know about it, and we’ll end with a simple conclusion: you should get baptized!

Baptism Doesn’t Save

Let’s start with the obvious: baptism doesn’t save you. Remember what we learned in the last lesson: we start a relationship with God by trusting Jesus, PERIOD. Baptism is important, and we’ll explain why in the next several points. But it is not required for salvation. Paul made this point clear enough in his letter to the Romans: 

Titus 3:5 [God] saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

If baptism were required for salvation, then our salvation would be dependent in part on our own work. But Jesus did all of the work on the cross to save us! Consider the thief on the cross next to him (Luke 23:39-43), the one who professed his faith in Jesus and begged for his mercy. Jesus’ response was simple: “Today you’ll be with me in paradise.” The thief was moments away from death, and he had no time to get baptized. Not a problem.

Just like the thief on the cross, we are saved by faith in the finished work of Christ. 

Simply Obey

If baptism doesn’t save, then why do it? The obvious reason is this: Jesus said so. Matthew records one of his final commands to his disciples, known today as the “Great Commission”:

Matthew 28:19 (NLT) Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told his disciples to go make disciples, and he gave them very simple instructions about what to do next: baptize them. So that’s just what they did. Read the series of Acts for yourself, and pay attention to what happened after someone came to faith in Jesus. They got baptized. 

If you’ve put your faith in Jesus, you should get baptized. If somehow you missed the memo years ago, it’s not too late to obey. Get baptized because Jesus said so; that should be the only reason you need. 

An Early Win 

The Christian life is all about honoring God, and it promises to be a journey filled with plenty of ups and downs. You’ll be challenged to submit to God’s way in the areas of relationships, sexuality, money, marriage, parenting, and more. You’ll be stretched to obey some things that don’t come naturally at first. But baptism is not like that. It’s one of the easiest steps you’ll be asked to take, and God has front-loaded it because he wants to give you an early win. 

Think about how money works. If you’ve got a bunch of debts to eliminate, conventional wisdom says to get rid of the smallest debt first. The reason for this is simple: the sooner you can check off one of your debts, the better you’ll feel about checking off all of your debts. Getting an early win will motivate you to tackle the next thing, and over time the psychological strategy will pay off. 

The Ethiopian eunuch understood this principle. Immediately after Philip shared the gospel with him, he was ready to exercise his “obedience” muscle. 

Acts 8:36 (NLT) As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?”

The eunuch was baptized right away, and he certainly continued to honor God when he got back to his  homeland of Ethiopia. If you haven’t taken this first step – as easy as it is – then what other steps are you unwilling to take? Why not be baptized? Check that off so you can move on to even bigger things.

An Act of Identification 

When we get baptized, we’re publicly identifying ourselves in a couple of important ways. Paul explained it like this to the Christians in Rome:

Romans 6:3 (NLT) Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?

Two things jump out in this verse. First, Paul says “we”. He was baptized when he came to faith, and so was every other Christian in Rome. Baptism, then, was an important act of unity. It’s not about membership in a local church; it’s much greater than that. Through baptism, you join a movement of Christians across the world and throughout history. You’re doing the same thing that Paul, James, John, and even Jesus did (Mathew 3:13-17). And if your grandparents were Christians, they did it too. Someday your great-grandkids may join you in baptism. That’s a powerful thought.

But baptism is not just about identifying with other believers; we also identify with Jesus. Paul said that we “joined him in his death.” Like everything else in the Christian life, baptism is focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus. It’s not an empty religious ritual; it’s a reminder that Jesus is at the center of our lives.

An Outward Symbol 

In simplest terms, baptism is an external symbol of something that has already happened to us on the inside. Remember: baptism doesn’t save you. But the act of baptism is a physical reminder to us and others of a deeper spiritual reality.

When couples get married, they usually exchange wedding rings. Those rings are important, but they’re just symbols of the bigger thing: vows. Just as taking rings off doesn’t nullify wedding vows, failing to get baptized doesn’t nullify faith. But why not wear this important symbol?

When you make the choice to go down into the waters of baptism you are memorializing the death of Jesus. When you come up out of the water you are signifying his resurrection – along with your new life in Christ. That’s how Paul described it:

Romans 6:4 (NLT) For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

So, have you trusted Jesus for salvation? Are you ready to start honoring God with your life? The first step is not complicated. Don’t overanalyze it. Get baptized.

Following Jesus is a life-long journey of finding out what pleases God and doing it (Ephesians 5:10). Over time, this means our lives are marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). This is not a checklist about what we should do; it’s a list of internal qualities that describes the kind of people we are becoming. It’s a word picture of God’s vision for our lives.

So how do we get there? Does it depend on our willpower or good intentions? Not at all. Just as we started a relationship with God by grace, we live every day by grace. Our ability to honor God is a gift from God himself! Peter explained it like this:

2 Peter‬ ‭1:3‬ By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. 

Here’s the good news: you already have access to everything you need for living a victorious Christian life! You have the capacity to manifest things like love and joy and peace in increasing measure throughout your life. But in order to do it you’ll need to tap into three keys to victory.

God’s Spirit

God has given us his Spirit to lead us, empowering us from the inside out to live God-honoring lives. The Holy Spirit is not some sort of impersonal force or an add-on feature of God’s nature. He is God himself, the third person of the Trinity. At the point of salvation the Holy Spirit immediately indwells believers and begins empowering them to live to please God (Ephesians 1:13). This was promised long ago through the prophet Ezekiel:s

Ezekiel 36:26-27 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

Before you became a Christian, you had one nature: the “flesh” or the sinful nature. You had a “stony, stubborn heart” and trusted your own opinions instead of God’s truth. But when you became a Christian, something happened at the deepest level of your being. God gave you a new heart, one that could be “tender” and “responsive” to God’s ways. This does not mean that God eradicated your old nature. You can still sin, but now you have a choice in the matter. Here’s how Paul explained the battle within:

Galatians 5:16-17 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

The Christian life is a journey, not just a destination. When we become Christians, our hearts are changed immediately, but our habits are transformed gradually. That’s why we need God’s Spirit. It changes us from the inside out, step by step aligning our attitudes and actions with the path that leads to life. 

Galatians 5:24-25 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

If you struggle to honor God in your daily life, be encouraged: you are not alone! The battle is normal, but over time you can learn to let the Spirit guide your life (Romans 7:21-25). Living to honor God is a process, and God’s Spirit is there to lead you. This is the first key to victory as a Christian.

God’s Word

If God had only given us his Spirit to lead us, the Christian experience would be radically different for everyone. One man could claim that the Spirit led him to monogamy while another claimed that the Spirit prescribed polygamy. One woman could embrace drunkenness while another adopted abstinence, both supposedly led by the same Spirit. Christianity would devolve into an utterly subjective faith, and everyone could claim the moral high ground based on their personal experience with the Spirit. 

But God has not just given us his Spirit; he has also given us his Word, the Bible. Scripture helps us to evaluate everything we believe the Spirit is saying to us. The Bible is our instruction manual, guiding us and showing us the attitudes and actions that please God. The Bible, composed of the sixty-six seriess of the Old and New Testaments, is inspired, authoritative, and infallible in its original manuscripts. It is, therefore, the only complete and final authority in faith and life.

For followers of Jesus, the Bible is not merely a decoration on the shelf. It holds the key to understanding God’s will and it has the power to expose our bad thinking (Hebrews 4:12). More than that, it makes a practical impact on our daily lives:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Let’s take a closer look at this passage. First, the Bible teaches us what’s true; when it comes to beliefs or behaviors, God’s Word gets the final word. Second, scripture rebukes us when we start falling for lies or the subtle half-truths of our culture. Third, the Bible cares enough to correct us when we’re wrong – instead of leaving us confused or abandoned. And fourth, scripture trains us to do what is right, helping us to replace our old habits with new ones. The power behind all of this transforming work is God himself, because “God uses it to prepare and equip his people.” 

When it comes to reading scripture, it’s easy to pick and choose what we want to accept or reject. These days, we can even find preachers who will teach what our itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). Many Christians claim to follow Jesus as Lord of their lives while ignoring his teachings. Jesus called out this kind of hypocrisy:

Luke 6:46-48 So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.

It’s tempting to accept Jesus as Savior of our lives while rejecting him as Lord. That’s why God has given us one more key to victory in our pursuit of genuine faith.

God’s People 

As Christians, we don’t just need a new power source (God’s Spirit) and a new way to think (God’s Word), we also need a new community (God’s people). Other believers help us to live out our calling as Christians – especially when we fail to honor God in our daily lives.

Paul told us in Galatians 5 about the battle between our sinful nature and the Spirit. In the next lesson he told us how God’s people should respond when someone loses that battle and let’s the flesh win out over the Spirit:

Galatians 6:1-2 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

Nobody’s perfect. In one way or another, we’ll all occasionally lose that battle between our two natures. The biblical command is clear: the church should respond “gently and humbly.” God’s people exist because of vertical grace, the forgiveness offered through Jesus. In the church, that grace becomes horizontal – Christians offering forgiveness to each other whenever it’s needed.

But the passage above shows us that the response in a biblically functioning community is not just about forgiveness; it’s also about correction. We all need other believers to hold us accountable and help us get back on the “right path” when we fail to honor God. This is why we need God’s people in our lives if we want to truly experience victorious Christian lives.

Go ahead and read 2 Peter 1:3 again. By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life: his Spirit, his Word, and his people. This means we live every day as Christians the same way we got started on day one: by God’s grace.

Honoring God is like anything else in everyday life: if you don’t work at it, you probably won’t do it very well. Lots of Christians out there go to the gym every day to train their physical bodies, yet they put almost no thought into training on a spiritual level. Paul had something to say about that to his understudy Timothy:

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.

In this lesson we’ll talk about five spiritual disciplines that should mark your life as a Christian. Just like any discipline, these habits are not always easy at first. But over time, if you commit to practicing them, you’ll notice your faith muscles strengthening – and your new nature will start winning regularly over your old, sinful nature.

Prayer 

The discipline of prayer was practiced by Moses, David, Peter, Paul, and even Jesus himself! Prayer is simply talking to God, building a relationship with him like any other person. Imagine the dysfunction in a marriage without conversation, and you’ll begin to understand the anemic lives of so many prayerless Christians. 

Prayer works just like any relationship: set some time apart for focused communication daily. Get up early in the morning like Jesus did, or spend some time with God at the end of the day. If this is a new discipline, try praying for five minutes a day, and double it in a couple of weeks. Keep it up and you’ll soon be connecting with God for 30 minutes or more every day!

And don’t just do all of the talking in prayer. Try using the PRAY acronym for a more balanced approach. First, spend some time praising (P) God for his blessings in your life. Then review your week and repent (R) of the times you failed to honor him. Next, move on to a time of asking (A), praying for people and situations in your life. Finally, end your prayer time by yielding (Y) to God. Remember that prayer is about aligning your will with God’s – not the other way around. 

But prayer isn’t just about the structured times of communion. Like any relationship, leave room for spontaneous connection as well. You can talk to God any time, anywhere. Paul says it best in 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Never stop praying.”

Bible Study

While prayer is an ancient spiritual habit, Bible study is a relatively new discipline, given the fact that most Christians throughout history did not have a personal copy of the Bible. But with the invention of the printing press, everything changed. Today, most Christians have easy access to God’s Word. We have no excuse not to open the Bible every day! 

Here’s how to do it. Start by reading the Bible devotionally on a daily basis. Try a Bible reading plan on the YouVersion app or just read a lesson a day from the Old or New Testaments. If you’re new to the Bible, start with the series of John and read all the way through Revelation. 

But devotional reading is just the start. Also try setting aside special times at least once a week for a deeper dive on the Bible. Use a good study Bible or a Bible commentary to pick up on themes and deeper theological truths.

One more thing. Don’t be like the Pharisees – religious leaders in Jesus’ day who knew a lot about scripture but missed the whole point. Jesus called them out:

John 5:39-40 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.”

The whole Bible points to Jesus. As you make a habit of reading it, look for the thread of Jesus pulled through every lesson and verse.

Connection

Christianity is a team sport, and you can’t honor God in isolation. God’s people have always connected to each other in three environments: large (church), small (group), and individual (mentoring). Christians who neglect regular community in favor of finding God in the mountains or just staying home to watch TV are actually in violation of a direct mandate from scripture:

Hebrews 10:25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Connection might not feel like hard work if you’re an extroverted Christian, but if you’re an introvert you might be tempted to avoid this discipline. Don’t do it! Push through the awkward and make a habit of connecting. It’s missing the point to say you don’t need the church, because the church needs you! God has given every believer spiritual gifts for the benefit of other people in the church.

1 Corinthians 12:6-7 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

When God saved you, he wasn’t just thinking about you as an individual. He had a family in mind. Make a regular habit of connecting to that family – for your benefit and theirs.

Giving 

The fourth discipline has to do with your money. Your bank account is not yours; it belongs to God. Every single penny you’ve ever earned comes from him, and he has appointed you to be a steward of it. Do you spend it all on yourself? Stop it!

Mature Christians make a habit of giving generously to the local church and to other Christian missionaries and organizations. Immature Christians ignore the financial needs of the church or just simply never think about it. The dysfunctional church in Corinth had this problem 2,000 years ago, and Paul called it out:

2 Corinthians 8:7 Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us—I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.

Apparently the Corinthians didn’t take seriously their responsibility to chip in financially. They left the giving up to other Christians, and the church was suffering for it. The problem has gotten worse in churches today. Fewer and fewer Christians are letting their faith impact their finances. Jesus gives this warning:

Matthew 6:20-21 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Jesus taught that your heart follows your money. If you don’t make a habit of giving, you’ll fall in love with your stuff. Give regularly, and make it the first thing you do with every paycheck. Do it in proportion to your income, and work toward the benchmark of 10%. Sacrifice, and then trust God to provide for your needs.

Mentoring 

Rounding out the top five spiritual disciplines is a habit that most Christians rarely ever think about practicing. We call it “mentoring;” Jesus called it disciple-making. It’s when you personally help someone else in a pursuit of God. It was the final commandment Jesus gave his disciples:

Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Most Christians don’t feel qualified to make disciples. They fall for the lies that they don’t know enough about the Bible or they’re not mature enough to share their faith. But the Bible says maturity comes after you make disciples, not before. That’s why it’s a habit that every Christian needs to take seriously. If you don’t start making disciples, your faith will never grow.

So how do you do it? That’s what we’ll explore in the final lesson.