Spiritual Stability For Daily Living

With all the activity of daily living along with the problems and challenges of life, how does one keep spiritual composure? It is easy to get caught up in the hectic stress of circumstances, and demands of living. The car breaks down, the financial pressures of paying all the bills, getting by from month to month, taking a sick dog to the vet, the unexpected sources of stress, physical illness, and the list could go on. How many of these things and others not mentioned can you relate to? In addition, there are family responsibilities, career obligations, giving attention to our spouses and children, church obligations, unresolved issues, and guarding our emotional boundaries.

As important as is our daily time with God we need to incorporate our spiritual moments into our activities, stressors and demands all day long.  We can spend time alone with the Lord in the morning, but how would we respond to something that happens later in the day? Are the reflections of our recent “quiet time” going to carry over to our response in a godly fashion? It is very important to have a strategy that can be used all day long in maintaining spiritual stability and maturity.

The circumstances of life can be used by Satan to warp one’s thinking in responding to life‘s battles. Author Ron Phillips gives five steps in responding to troubling battles of life taken from Philippians 4:4-13. “Rejoice in the Lord, again I say rejoice…let your requests be made known to God…the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds…Finally, whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, think on these things. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.” 

• Rejoice in the Lord.
• Request of God.
• Rest in Christ.
• Reflect on the good things of God.
• Relax in the Lord. *

To these, I would add the following: Pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks (I Thess. 5:17). In Psalm 55:17, the writer, David, says, “Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.” 

In Daniel 6:10 it is written that three times a day Daniel gave thanks to God on his knees. This could be a good example to follow in our daily routine and challenges, especially in times of distress or after a hard day of work. The bottom line is that in order to have spiritual stability and victory we must give thought to focusing on God throughout our entire day in our busy and hectic activities, even when things are going well, but especially in times of physical hardship or emotional distress.

Most importantly, stay faithful to God’s truth. “…take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability” (2 Peter 3:17).

* Ron Phillips, Vanquishing the Enemy, Triumphant in the Battles of Life, Pathway Press, 1979, pages 161-162