When you were a child, what was your after school routine? Perhaps grab a snack, change and play?
In my home, there was only one plan. As a very young boy, my mother would daily greet me at the door with a glass of milk, a welcoming smile and just one word: “Pray!” Day by day, this mandate never budged, despite my pleas. My mother required me to spend 45 minutes before the Lord every day. It was non-negotiable with only one focus: Pray!
Believe me, this daily non-negotiable appointment with Jesus changed my life.
At first, I was just a bored little kid, wandering my room, crying to God for ways to escape those four walls, as I listened to the kids playing cricket outside. Until the Word began to encounter me. Then everything changed. As the love of Christ consumed me, every area of my life became focused on just one desire: to be the very best Jesus lover.
From that daily humble bedroom meeting with the Lord, by 7 years old, I began to preach the Word. By my young teens, I was serving the Lord full-time in ministry as an evangelist. I would go to school Monday to Friday. My parents would pull me out early on Fridays at 1pm. With joy, I would grab my suitcase, board a bus, and head to wherever I was called, preach all Saturday and all Sunday and return home for school on Monday. The next week, I would repeat this same routine again. Consumed by the love of Jesus, what began with a small boy enduring 45 minutes of prayer after school, soon turned into a ministry which was far beyond my little dreams.
I am certain that consistency to encounter the Lord is key for all spiritual growth.
So how about people in the Bible? Do we see this principle of consistency? Who lived the daily?
Moses, David, Abraham, Isaac, every one of these great men of God sought the Lord daily.
Job, in his day the wealthiest man in the world, a trophy of grace for Heaven, offered prayers and sacrifice daily. Drawing near to God was one of Job’s great strengths. (To hear how to draw closer to HIs Nearness more, enjoy this short.)
Consistency: Learning to Live the Daily
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. Job 1:1 (ESV)
In this world of ever changing fashion, tastes, innovations and global politics, doing something well daily, every day, regardless of work, preferences, holidays or friends, may seem like a lost art. Yet the daily pursuit of God changes everything in our life.
Think about it. Manna came daily, not just on Sunday. Our Lord Jesus taught us to ask, each day, for our daily bread. The sun rises every day and the moon every evening. Father God loves our day by day walk with Him!
So how do we live the daily?
1. Find Jesus, every day.
Job would “rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually.” (Job 1:5)
Job found God every day. Non-negotiable. He sought the Lord, eager to keep his family holy, revering the One whom Job live for with daily prayer, daily altars. Job lived his daily before the Lord.
Question: What can we start and keep doing, every day, to meet with the Lover of our soul? (To start, enjoy this powerful sermon, Tapping into Hidden Manna.)
2. Keep our heart on God, in everything.
Job feared God and turned away from evil. (Job 1:1 ESV)
Job’s heart stayed humble, in awe and obedience before the Lord. With his heart bent before the Lord, Job actively loved what God loved and hated what God hated.
As Job lived a life principled by God’s ways, every day, every hour, his lifestyle of holiness made him a heavy-weight, a righteous judge, one whom God even trusted. May we be that person!
Question: What do we love? What do we hate? Do our desires line up with what our Father loves or hates? What can we change, each day, to draw closer to God?
3. Come Home, everyday.
Jesus promises, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)
As we keep the Word, God our Father abides in us. The word abide means to dwell permanently, to move in and stay, to be home. To keep, means to guard, to apply, to do what Jesus has said, to live by His principles through His power and grace.
Home is where Father God is. When we shun evil, forsake sin, and walk in the love of Christ, our daily consistency reaps holiness and holiness reaps encounter, until Home becomes our every day location.
Job lived in that location, hosting God in his every choice. When we host God in our thoughts, in our prayers, in our actions, our lives are transformed and we begin to manifest Heaven on earth as His holy children. We come home.
Question: What distracts you from being Home in God? What are your thoughts consumed by? What are you meditating on? Does it bring you closer to the Lord?
We can Do this! We can Live the Daily!
Like Job, let’s daily take off our dirty shoes (repent), enter in to celebrate His Goodness (praise and sacrifice) and bring our grateful hearts to the Feet of our Lord Jesus Who adores us (surrender).
(For the whole 8 part, life-changing series on Job, head to the Shyju Mathew app.)
We are the salt of the earth, the light of the world! Daily, let’s meet with our King, so that we may shine bright! Hourly, let’s whisper our love to our Father! Minute by minute, may the Holy Spirit guide us!
Live the Daily. Consistency is what counts in the Kingdom.
May the Lord give you grace to follow and encounter His goodness day by day by day!
Shalom,
Shyju