How do you develop habits of bible reading and prayer?
Now, the first thing that you have to realize is when you see someone who seems to be given to prayer and the study of God’s word, don’t buy into the lie that they do that because it’s easy for them, that they have a special gift. When I woke up from a coma or whatever, I was in after my heart attack, one of the first things I noticed was the pain was unbelievable they had pounded me with that machine so many times that it felt like all my ribs were broken. And to breathe, I wanted to scream every time I inhaled. It was horrible to breathe.
But what’s the option? Die. That’s where you’ve got to come to that point. I read three chapters this morning, and I read in Spanish. I read out of my Spanish Bible.
I read three chapters. I have a discipline of three chapters and this is before I go do my studies, but just devotional reading with the Lord. And I can’t tell you how many times I had to repeat a paragraph because I read it and it was like, what did I just read? Still today it’s a fight, it is a fight. Everything in my life is a fight. But the option is to die. And that’s what you have to see, young man.
You have to cultivate discipline. You have to create it. I remember when I first was learning martial arts, and I thought I was going to just go in the first day and get to punch somebody or something, and they made me stand in a certain way. I don’t know for how long. And then they made me move my hand the same way every time, and it was just getting boring, been there for months, and then one day I walked in and the professor or whatever, all of a sudden I saw a punch come straight at me. I mean, out of nowhere. I didn’t even have my gi on, as a punch just flew across my face and I remember cross-blocking it. I went, wow, that was pretty cool. And the thing is, it’s developing discipline. But the real issue is you haven’t come to the point where you truly believe, if I don’t consume this book and I don’t learn to pray, I’m going to die. You will. ~ Paul Washer
