ONE OF the hidden jewels of the Church is godly discipline. There has been a great lack of teaching and encouragement in modern evangelicalism towards the godly disciplines of: Fasting, waiting on God, early rising, head coverings, prevailing prayer, systematic Bible reading, Bible memorization, kneeling in prayer, and many other godly traditions in Church history.
Many have been taught that such things are legalistic and should be avoided if possible. Yet in the New Testament all these disciplines were taught and practiced by the early Apostles. Our Lord Himself taught and practiced fasting.507 The early Apostles would wait on God in His presence ministering to Him.508 Our Lord would rise early before all others to pray and seek His Father.509 The Scriptures encourage women to cover their heads in prayer.510 Some in the early Church had a ministry of intercession.511 The Apostles gave themselves to the careful study of Scripture.512 Memorizing Scripture has been a principle of the people of God through both covenants.513 The Apostle James prayed on his knees514 till they were worn like a camel.515 There are countless other examples of those whose works followed their faith.
Godly disciplines not only help us grow spiritually but are a great means of how the Lord ministers to our inner man and encourages our dependence on the Spirit of Christ. It is much more important for us to be disciplined in our spiritual life than in our physical life. Many suffer the loss of sleep, time, and money to succeed in a job, hobby or some game. But many will not suffer any discipline to be able to grow in their spiritual walk with the Lord.
The busyness of our lives516 and the modern church culture can rob us from being attentive to simple devotion and discipline with the Lord, as one brother said: “When our service for the Lord becomes so busy that we forget the Lord Himself, it is time to stop everything and seek Him.”517
There are some disciplines that are for our private walk with the Lord and some disciplines are for the assembling of the body of Christ. There are clear Scriptural directives on traditions and practices that the early Church practiced so we can emulate them. It is with such confidence we can meet together as the Church, over 2000 years later, and still practice many of the simple disciplines that those early Assemblies practiced.
With the same joy, we can walk in and practice the same godly disciplines—in our own private spiritual life—that the Apostles practiced. May God give us fresh vision and encouragement to seek to do what is written in Scripture and follow the ways of the Apostles traditions; not the modern ideas of men.