A Compelling Testimony: Maintaining a Disciplined Walk, Christlike Character, and Godly Relationships as God's Servant

Ses s i on 5: Cu l t i vat i ng Our Charac ter : The Outward Di sc i p l i nes 187

(1) Ps. 25.9-10 – He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. [10] All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. (2) Ps. 33.18 – Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love.

5. In silence and solitude, we can come face to face with ourselves, using the Word of God as a mirror into our current condition and situation.

a. The Word of the Lord is a mirror of our souls and lives, James 1.22-25 – But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. [23] For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. [24] For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. [25] But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. b. The penetrating, revealing power of the Word of the Lord, Heb. 4.12-13 – For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [13] And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. 6. Solitude involves the discipline of retreat, of a formal time of aloneness before God devoting portions of time to worship, confession, intercession, silence, meditation, and other spiritual activities, all for the sake of hearing the Lord afresh.