Meditating on Mt. Zion

What are the spiritual disciplines in this great religion of ours? Prayer is usually the first to come to mind. To watch God work through the vehicle of answered prayer is one of the great experiences of a believer. We should cling to it like a butterfly to a flower in the wind. Martin Luther said, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” E.M. Bounds said, “Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty.” Which is why the consistent charge here at Christ Church Troy has been to be spiritually disciplined about prayer. What about Bible reading? Like the Jews who gathered their manna from off the ground, we turn to the pages of scripture to have our portion for the day. And what the Lord has for us will vary: sometimes conviction, sometimes a proverb. There is chastisement and warnings. There is comfort and blessing. There is cloak and dagger, characters who prefer the shadows. And there is Jesus who teaches the inverse, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men.” John Wesley said this about daily Bible reading, “I want to know one thing—the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came from heaven. He has written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God!”