Suggestions for Growing in Abandoned Devotion

As a new Message Bearer the first step that we highly recommend you take is to buy the book, The Calvary Road by Roy Hession and read it. This book probes at the very heart of the Abandoned Devotion consecration. It is available for under $1 used at www.Amazon.com. You are encouraged to get this as soon as you can and let the Spirit of God work deep within you through it.

The following are suggestions for deepening your spiritual life and becoming a person after God’s own heart.

1.       Read the Bible:  Read the Bible through in one year.  Get started at www.bibleinayear.org.

Commit yourself to studying a portion from the Psalms and the gospels daily, supplement this with studying from other places in the scriptures.

Get some supplemental Bible helps like Henrietta Mears’, What the Bible Is All About

2.       Get a Classic Devotional: Use a devotional like Oswald Chambers’, My Utmost for His Highest, or Charles Spurgeon’s, Morning and Evening.

3.       Pray through the Scriptures daily with Face To Face books by Kenneth Boa

These titles can be found at www.Amazon.com, www.cdb.com

4.       Meet with a Small Group (for accountability; girls with girls, guys with guys):  Going to church each Sunday or to your campus fellowship each week is not enough.  We need personal interaction with other committed believers in order to help each other grow, and be held accountable to stay true to God's word and his calling on our lives.

      Write down one way that you want to grow in each of the following categories: spirit, soul (your emotions, will, mind, thought life, etc), body (physical appetites), and share these with a tight group of the same sex.

5.       Read a Good Biography:  Here's a couple that will challenge you to grow deeper in your walk with God.  When you finish these, check out the other books on the SVM2 Recommended Reading list:

§         No Compromise the biography of Keith Green, written by Melody Green

§         Shadow of the Almighty, the biography of Jim Elliot, written by Elizabeth Elliot

6.       Seek Out a Mentor:  Ask an older believer that you respect to disciple you either on your campus or in your church.  Tell them of your commitment to go for at least two years, and ask them to help prepare you to get there. Don’t wait for someone to mentor you, for this rarely happens, but be proactive in searching this person out.

7.       Make a Prayer List.  Prayerfully make a list of people on your campus to reach out to and a nation that you will pray for everyday.  Pray that God will give you opportunities to share of his love and invite them to become a follower of Christ.

8.       Live a fasted lifestyle.  Have you ever fasted from food, TV, movies, people, radio, CD’s, computer (internet), video games, watching sports, etc? The sermon on the mount makes it clear that the normal life of a believer includes fasting.  Ask God how long and from what He would have you fast and then commit to it wholeheartedly.   Spend the time that you'd normally be involved in these activities in extra Bible study and prayer.

9.       Deepen and broaden the spiritual disciplines that you participate in. Spiritual disciplines are activities of mind and body undertaken to bring your total being into effective cooperation with the Spirit of God so as to reflect Kingdom life. There are three categories of disciplines:

• Abstinence Disciplines: Solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, sacrifice
• Engagement Disciplines: Study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession, submission
• Miscellaneous Disciplines: Keeping watch, Sabbath keeping, practices among the poor, journaling, and active listening to the Lord.

10.   Go on a Prayer Walk:  Grab a friend, and visit strategic places on your campus or in your town.  Pray for the dormitories, the professors, for the ministries, the Christians, the churches, and the pastors in your area.  This can be a refreshing way to revitalize your prayer life.

11.   Follow Jesus’ example and rise early to seek God’s face. There is something powerful about depriving yourself of the extra sleep and spending the extra time in prayer, worship and Bible study.