The Right Attitude Toward Your Quiet Time with God

Author Rick Warren. Permission granted by the CBMC/OKC Chapter of Christian Business Men’s Connect.

“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7b NIV)

You can have a quiet time anywhere, but it all starts with a great attitude. God wants to know that your heart is in the right place. The Bible says “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, NIV).
What is the right attitude to have during your quiet time?

1. Come with expectancy. Be eager to come before God’s presence. You’re meeting with God — the creator of the universe! You should expect to have a good time of fellowship with him and receive a blessing.

2.  Come with reverence. You’re going to meet God, so don’t rush into his presence. Prepare your heart by being still before him. If you were going to meet with the president of the United States or the queen of England, you’d get there early. You’d look your best. How much more reverence should we have when we come into the presence of the creator of the universe?

3. Come with alertness. Get yourself wide-awake before you meet with God. Again, you’re meeting the creator of the universe. Don’t have your quiet time in bed. You’ll probably fall asleep. In fact, the best time to prepare for your quiet time is the night before. Go to bed 15 minutes earlier if you need to. Be in good shape when you meet with God. He deserves your full attention.

4. Come with the willingness to obey. Don’t start your quiet time with the idea that you’ll hear from God and then decide whether or not to obey. Instead, tell the Lord you’ve already decided you’re going to say “yes.”

Have a good attitude before you start your quiet time, and you can expect a good result from your quiet time. Come before the Lord with the wrong attitude, and it’ll be just the opposite.

Talk About It:

• What specific ways will you change the way you do your quiet time once you consider your attitude toward your time with God?
• How do you think your attitude would change if you had a sense of expectation about what God is going to do in your heart during your quiet time and not if he will work in you?

Real Business: Getting to the Heart of the Matter

Author Robert J. Tamasy. Permission granted by the CBMC/OKC Chapter of Christian Business Men’s Connect.

“Who broke your heart, Pop?” That was what I heard when I answered the phone. Avery, my four-year-old granddaughter who calls me “Pop,” had just learned from her mother (my daughter) that some tests had shown that my heart was “broken” and would require some serious repairs very soon.

Frankly, those words tore at my heart emotionally. Avery is a heart-breaker in her own right, in a good way – a beautiful, smart little girl who is a delight whenever I’m with her. I was still reeling at the unexpected news I had received earlier that day, and thought about how much I wanted to be around to watch her grow up and mature.

I don’t write this to discuss my physical maladies, which should be resolved in one way or another by the time this Monday Manna is distributed. But it occurs to me that the “heart” is also a concern for today’s business and professional world. In our pragmatic, bottom line, have-to-get-it-done-yesterday work environment, we typically let reason rule and avoid anything that hints of sentiment or feeling. We often treat employees as pawns, or tools, rather than individuals of value with unique needs – as well as special gifts and abilities.

In recent years, business experts have started writing about “emotional intelligence,” defined as an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one’s self, of others, and of groups. In other words, recognizing the worth of bringing the heart into the workplace. Interestingly, this is hardly a new concept, but rather one that is just being rediscovered. The book of Proverbs, with its ancient yet timeless writings, has much to say about the heart and its role in our everyday work and activities:

Acting with the heart, as well as the head. We tend to want data and factual support for everything we do, even in business relationships. Frequently, however, the best business decisions are made when they can’t be supported by quantitative, measurable documentation. Sometimes we even need to rely on powers beyond our own. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5,6).

The heart greatly influences health. Having a heart, attitudes and motives that are right increases the likelihood of a healthy body. “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones” (Proverbs 14:30).

The greatest challenges in the workplace involve the heart. What we do – at work, as well as in our homes and personal lives – is important, but even more significant is why we do it, which is determined by the heart. “The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart” (Proverbs 17:3).

Protecting the motives of the heart. A corrupt or compromising heart can cause us to take actions and decisions that deep down we recognize as wrong or unethical. The time to train the heart to always choose the right thing is before the crisis or temptation arises, not during it. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23). “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart” (Proverbs 21:2).

The heart reveals the true you. We can disguise ourselves, putting on a façade of sincerity and genuineness, but if our heart is not in the right place, sooner or later this will be revealed. “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man” (Proverbs 27:19).

Probe the Bible with Questions

Author Rick Warren. Permission granted by the CBMC/OKC Chapter of Christian Business Men’s Connect.

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” (James 1:22 NLT)

As I’ve taught over the last few weeks, Christian meditation means thinking about Scripture. You meditate on Scripture in the same way a cow chews her cud: by chewing on it and chewing on it and chewing on it.

The “probe-it” method of Bible study is a great way to do that. When you use that method, you probe the text with questions, almost like a jackhammer. To help you do that, I’ll share with you one of the strangest acrostics I’ve ever used: SPACEPETS. Each letter in the phrase is the first letter of a key word of a question you ask of God’s Word.

1. Is there a SIN to confess? Does God’s Word make me aware of something I need to make right with God?

2. Is there a PROMISE to claim? There are more than 7,000 promises in God’s Word. Ask yourself if the passage you’ve read contains a universal promise. Ask whether you’ve met all the conditions of the promise. Every promise has a premise!

3. Is there an ATTITUDE to change? Is there something about which I need to think differently? Do I need to work on a negative attitude, worry, guilt, fear, loneliness, bitterness, pride, apathy, or ego?

4. Is there a COMMAND to obey? Is there a command I need to obey no matter how I feel?

5. Is there an EXAMPLE to follow? Are there positive examples to follow or negative examples to avoid?

6. Is there a PRAYER to pray? Paul, David, Solomon, Elijah, and Isaiah, among others, pray in the Bible. You can use their prayers and know that they’ll be answered because they’re in the Bible and in God’s will.

7. Is there an ERROR to avoid? It’s wise to learn from experience, and it’s even wiser to learn from the experience of others! We don’t have time to make all the mistakes ourselves. So what can I learn from the mistakes of those in Scripture?

8. Is there a TRUTH to believe? Often, we’ll read something in Scripture that we can’t do anything about. We simply have to believe what it says about God the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the past, the future, Heaven, Hell, or other topics in the Bible.

9. Is there SOMETHING for which to praise God? You can always find something in a passage you can be grateful to God for, like something God has done or protected you from.

Every question in this list has a verb in it. There is something you can do associated with them. Write them in your Bible or put them on a note card you keep with your Bible. They’ll help you be “doers of the Word” every time you meditate on the Bible.

After reading about the probe-it method, go back to the Scripture you read yesterday for your quiet time and apply this method to that passage. What new truths do you discover? What promise from God are you leaning on today?

Why Applying Scripture Is So Tough

Author Rick Warren. Permission granted by the CBMC/OKC Chapter of Christian Business Men’s Connect.

“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.” (Ephesians 3:16 NLT)

Applying Scripture to our lives isn’t easy. If it were easy, more people would be doing it. Most people who read the Bible don’t really apply what they read to their lives. Why?

It’s hard work! But what makes applying God’s Word so hard? Here are three reasons it’s hard for you and me to apply Scripture to our lives.

• Application requires serious thought. It takes long periods of concentrated prayer and thought before you can apply the Scripture you’re learning. You won’t always understand the application immediately. You have to think about what you’ve read. You have to meditate on it. That takes time most people often don’t want to give.

• Satan fights application. He fights it viciously. The devil’s strongest attacks are going to come in your quiet time when you’re trying to apply what you’ve studied. Satan knows that as long as you’re content with merely hearing the Word or reading the Word, you are not much of a threat to his plans. But as soon as you get serious about making changes in your life, he’s going to fight you tooth and nail because he hates doers of the Word.

• We naturally resist change.  It’s human nature; no one likes to change. But that’s God’s main purpose with his Word. He wants it to change our lives. He wants to make us more like Jesus. The key to making us more like Jesus is applying God’s Word. That’s why most churches focus on interpreting Scripture and learning about the Bible’s background. Most people are happy to do that. You can learn all about the people of the Bible, the background of the Bible, and the doctrines of the Bible, and still live carnally. We’re happy to apply God’s Word to other people, but we don’t like doing it to ourselves.

We grow spiritually and become mature Christians by applying God’s Word to our lives. You and I need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us the strength, because we don’t have the strength on our own to obey. The Bible calls us to ask God to empower us through his Spirit: “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit” (Ephesians 3:16 NLT). These obstacles will get in our way every time in our own power. But God has “unlimited resources” to help us apply his Word to our lives. We just have to ask him.

Talk About It:

• What are the distractions today that are keeping you from deeper meditation on God’s Word?

• When you pray for strength, God may use people in your life to provide the support you need. Do you have people in your life with whom you share your struggles and who will hold you accountable to grow spiritually?

Why Do I Do What I Do?

Author Fritz Klumpp. Permission granted by the CBMC/OKC Chapter of Christian Business Men’s Connect.

“You look pretty good”, my high school track coach said; “if you just wouldn’t run so long in one place.”  Like the man in a rocking chair, there was a whole lot of activity, but not much progress.  So, if I have been so busy, what have I accomplished?  If I have accomplished little, why do I continue to do what I do?

During the last few years I have been fascinated with the life of one who has been known as the wisest man who ever lived.  Solomon, son of David and Israel’s third king, reigned during the tenth century BC.  He ruled during Israel’s golden age and his achievements are absolutely amazing.  Yet in spite of that, his summation, as expressed near the end of his life and recorded in the Book of Ecclesiastes, is “all is vanity”.  Looking at Solomon and all he accomplished I cannot help but ask, “How could one who started so well and had done so much, come to the end of his life and conclude that everything that he accomplished is meaningless?”

Many of us idealistically start out doing something that we feel will give meaning to our lives, but in time become disillusioned.  I believe that this is the case with many who begin their career in the military. The realities of war, however, can lead to disillusionment, and the resulting loss of purpose can even contribute to PTSD.  The same disillusionment can be experienced by those engaged in politics or the workplace.

Everyone wants his life to count for something, and we all desire to live a life of meaning.  I have previously discussed the “God shaped vacuum” that exists in the heart of every man; a vacuum that only the Lord can fill.  John Maxwell in “The Maxwell Leadership Bible” speaks of another vacuum; the life-sized vacuum inside one’s heart that only a life mission can fill.

According to Ecclesiastes, Solomon’s conclusion that “all is vanity and grasping for the wind” pertains to works done “under the sun”.  If meaningful purpose in life cannot be found “under the sun”, then we must look elsewhere; we must look to the heavenlies.  If we are to find real meaning and purpose we must look to God Himself.

My friend and mentor, Joe Coggeshall, challenged me for many years to write a “life purpose statement”.  “Successful companies have a purpose statement”, he would say, “so why don’t you?”  I finally took his challenge to heart and have since found that my written life purpose has become a compass allowing me to forsake the good for the sake of seeking the best.

So, what is your purpose and why do you do what you do?  Do you have a life purpose statement?  If not, why not?

Use Your Memory Muscle

Author Rick Warren. Permission granted by the CBMC/OKC Chapter of Christian Business Men’s Connect.

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” (Colossians 3:16 NLT)

The rich way to abide in God’s Word is by remembering it. Your capacity to remember is a God-given gift. You may think you have a poor memory, but the truth is, you have millions of ideas, truths, facts, and figures memorized. You remember what is important to you. If God’s Word is important, you will take the time to remember it.

There are enormous benefits to memorizing Bible verses. It will help you resist temptation, make wise decisions, reduce stress, build confidence, offer good advice, and share your faith with others.

Your memory is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it will become, and memorizing Scripture will become easier. You might begin by selecting a few Bible verses that have touched you and writing them down on a small card you can carry with you. Then review them aloud throughout your day.

You can memorize Scripture anywhere: while working, exercising, driving, waiting, or at bedtime. The three keys to memorizing Scripture are review, review, and review!

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” (Colossians 3:16 NLT)

Talk About It:

• How would your life change if you spent some of your “extra” time on a Bible application as well as a Facebook or “Words with Friends” app?
• Ask a friend to be an accountability partner in memorizing Scripture. Then, share with each other what you’re learning from God’s Word.