Building a True Altar of Prayer: Pleasing God Through Morning Discipline
The Holy Spirit keeps on to encourage disciplining ourselves in prayer hours, especially in the morning! I discover that training to build spiritual man is very important to be done in the morning. Somehow I feel a different ‘urgency’. As if the Spirit affirms to focus on building the spiritual man and moving in the spirit, because changes in the spirit will occur ‘parallel’ in the outer world.
Hebrew 11:3 (TSI3) With an inherent trust we understand that God created the whole world that is in heaven and earth through His Word. Everything that can be seen was made out of what cannot
be seen.
The choice is in our hands: Do you want to struggle in your daily life or build a spiritual man with all your heart, soul and strength. I find that many times the reason people drop the idea of building a spiritual man in the morning is the body that is tired, weak and as well as not ready to be called to jump, dance and cheer. Therefore, we need to TRAIN our BODY again to pursue things that eternal or divine and the reality of God solemnly.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV) Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
The word “train” is taken from the Greek word ‘hupopiazo’. The word means to be beaten until bruised, swollen or black and blue. It can also be interpreted as a boxer who trains with very hard self-discipline. I realize all of a sudden that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, meaning that it will function to certify God’s glory if it is strictly trained to follow the will of the Spirit.
The training the body in building the spiritual man is a manifestation of the training of the spiritual man itself. The Spirit will continue to make adjustments on us so that we become more in line with the will of the Spirit. So our part is to FORCE ourselves to build a spiritual man every morning. When our body is weak, it is the best time to train it.
At the same time you don’t need to think about the bad things, such as what if you become sick, tired, or sleep deprived. Get rid of such thoughts! Replace them with the opposite: If we are tired, exhausted, and sick, we need to build up our spiritual man so that the body will be healthy again!
I feel, the Spirit is rebuilding a true altar of prayer in the morning. Where the body (our whole being) becomes a living sacrifice and pleases God’s heart!
Ps. Steven Agustinus
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