2 Chronicles 31:2
“And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites by their divisions, each according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to serve and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the camp of the LORD.”
A multination revival had just taken place. It’s over and all packed up and went home. King Hezekiah puts in place priests and levites who would keep up godliness in the nation. Ground had been gained, the nation has turned its focus to God, people had repented. The king seeks to establish all of this by appointing priests.
He is putting together the framework to maintain the life of god. A healthy church should have this. A healthy denomination should have this. A healthy individual should have this. Acts 2:42 is a good recipe, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” That’s perfect. They are hearing the bible, they are associating with believers, taking communion and praying. They only thing I would add to that is sharing their faith. Those are the components of a healthy christian.
Reading and hearing the bible is important. It’s God’s Word. It’s more than a book. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” It’s a spiritual nutrient. The parable of the sower speaks of how it grows in one’s heart developing the life of God in a person. That’s absolutely necessary for a healthy christian.
We can read the bible, study the bible, hear it in church, on the radio, we can write about it. It needs to be consistent. We have three meals a day. So we should have a consistent intake of the bible.
We need to be in fellowship. Our primary friends should be other believers. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” I usually hear about this in relation to marriage. It certainly applies to our best friends.
Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.” That’s the mission of the believer to love and to do good works. While unbelievers aren’t opposed to those things, it isn’t their mission. Nor are they seeking the Lord fervently. Having believers as our best friends is important.
The next part of the acts passage is taking communion. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Our relationship with God is a personal one. Communion let’s us see the enormous price Jesus paid to repair our relationship with God. We need to remember this. We should do it monthly at church. We can also do it with family and friends. We should partake of it between us and God. We might not have the elements. We can thank Him for His sacrificial work.
Another practice mentioned is prayer. This can be done several ways. We should have a time of focused prayer. I pray for a short time during my morning devotions. I also pray for an extended time during my morning devotions. I normally pray through the “Our Father”. I also go through Psalm 23. It’s a loving time of focusing on my relationship with God. I also pray when I hear of a need. My friends will ask for prayer for someone every once in a while.
Another type of prayer is what Paul called “Praying without ceasing”, (I Thessalonians 5:17). I see this as always enjoying His presence. Romans 8 says, “the Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God”. We should always sense that. Celebrate that. He’s with us, He’s in us. His love for us is amazing. Always sending love our way. Like the warmth of the sun comforts us, so the Holy Spirit is always right there affirming us. Always basque in that. That’s a very intimate type of prayer.
While the acts passage doesn’t speak of it I think an important habit to have in our lives is witnessing. This is sharing our faith. I love the word witnessing. It’s like a witness in a courtroom speaks of what he saw. We, as christians, speak of our experience with God. We are living it. We tell of that. We speak of God’s love, His peace, His guidance, His rescues and so on. Speaking it does something special to our faith. God rewards us. It solidifies our faith.
We should follow Hezekiah’s example by having practices in our lives that support a strong relationship with God. We’ve discussed being in God’s Word, being in fellowship with other believers, praying and partaking of communion. We finally spoke of sharing our faith. These are all disciplines that should be part of the life of a christian. God blesses this life.