"Don Whitney has done it again! After already giving me three of the books I most frequently recommend to others, I think he's given me a fourth! This book poses the questions we need to ponder if we're to persevere in following Christ." -MARK DEVER, pastor,
1 Do You THIRST FOR GOD? ............................... 15
2 ARE You GOVERNED INCREASINGLY BY GOD'S WORD? ........................................... 29
3 ARE YOU 1' ."'ORE LOVING? ................................. 41
4 ARE YOU MORE SENSITIVE TO GOD'S PRESENCE? ......................................... 55
5 Do You HAVE A GROWING CONCERN FOR THE SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL NEEDS OF OTHERS? ...................................................... 69
6 Do You DELIGHT IN THE BRIDE OF CHRIST?..... 81
7 ARE THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT TO YOU? ................. 91
8 Do You STILL GRIEVE OVER SIN? .................. 101
9 ARE YOU A QUICKER FORGIVER? ..................... 11 1
10 Do You YEARN FOR HEAVEN AND TO BE WITH JESUS? ...............................................
Until and unless the Holy Spirit of God touches the spiritual tongue of the empty soul, that soul will never want to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8).
Many who claim they are questing for God are not thirsting for God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture, but only for God as they want Him to be, or for a god who will give them what they want.
Too much attention to a particular sin or sins, and/or too little attention to communion with God (two things that often occur in tandem) inevitably shrivel the soul of a Christian.
Knowing Christ well is so spiritually thirst quenching because no person, possession, or experience can produce the spiritual pleasure we can find in Him.
So there is no lack of satisfaction in knowing Christ, but neither has God designed us so that one experience with Christ satiates all future desire for Him.
O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. 0 God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made thirsty still.
When a man pants after God, it is a secret life within which makes him do it: he would not long after God by nature. No man thirsts for God while he is left in his carnal [that is, unconverted] state. The unrenewed man pants after anything sooner than God:... It proves a renewed nature when you long after God; it is a work of grace in your soul, and you may be thankful for it.
Without the addition of meditation, warned the great man of prayer and faith George Muller, "the simple reading of the Word of God" can become information that "only passes through our minds, just as water passes through a pipe."
Spend 25 to 50 percent of your Bible intake time meditating on some verse, phrase, or word from your reading. Ask questions of it. Pray about it. Take your pen and scribble and doodle on a pad about it. Look for at least one way you could apply it or live it. Linger over it. Soak your soul slowly in the water of the Word, and you'll find it not only refreshes you, but prompts a satisfying thirst for more."
twice in the New Testament (see Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16) Christians are commanded to sing psalms. Unlike any other book of the Bible, the Psalms were inspired by God for the express purpose of being reflected to God.
However you choose to spend the Lord's Day, I appeal to you to base your decisions and actions on the revelation of God.
Read less, if necessary, in order to meditate more.
What praying through Scripture can do to reinvigorate your prayer life, meditation on Scripture can do to revitalize all forms of your Bible intake.
Read the Bible daily and do not close it until you know at least one thing God would have you do in response to your reading.
The test of Christlikeness is not the greatness of your love toward those who love you, but the bounty of your love toward those who do not.
So when it comes to discerning the presence of God, one must first be "Immanuelized." That is to say, you can't reliably recognize the presence of "God with us" until you experience "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
Only God's grace working through the disciplines can transform those who practice them with eyes of faith on Him.
Devote yourself more to the pursuit of Christlikeness and the enjoyment of God through the spiritual disciplines than to the pursuit of efficiency and the completion of to-do lists.
