Day 28

The Christian life is not lived by patterns of behaviour or formulas, but out of a relationship of dependence.

‘Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.’ (Philippians 2:12-13)

C.T. Studd was a great pioneer missionary. He would wake up at 3am in the morning and spend an hour in prayer before going back to sleep for the rest of the night. His biographer claims this was the secret of his fruitfulness. As a new Christian, when I read this I decided to imitate him. I set my alarm for 3:00 am the next morning, woke up, made a cup of coffee, knelt by my bed with my Bible and notebook in front of me and…I fell asleep. I woke up around 7:00am, my coffee was cold, my knees stiff and I never didthat again!

I tried to copy the pattern of C.T. Studd but a pattern is never the secret. It is the principle that C.T. Studd spent time alone with God that matters. Whether that was in the middle of the night or the middle of the day is irrelevant. To reduce the Christian life to formulas and transferable patterns of behaviour is to kill it of its substance. Studd’s prayer life was about his helplessness and inability apart from God and it drove him to prayer. That was the key to his fruitfulness. Whatever the structure and pattern of our lives, we will never be fruitful without a constant disposition of trust, dependence and crying out to God for His intervention. Apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

How do you daily express your dependence on God?