If I could make you love to pray and read your Bible, I would, but love and enjoyment are not things that can be mustered up by sheer willpower or coercion.

In Entering His Courts, author Steve Gallagher reminds us that the Lord has given us the tools we need to have a healthy spiritual life, but we must use them (the aforementioned disciplines that many struggle to do on a regular basis).

In John 14:18, Jesus told his disciples: “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

The disciples didn’t want Jesus to leave, but we live as though we are fine with Him being away. We forget that He still walks with us and talks with us if we would but spend time with Him.

The disciples spent three short years with Jesus, learning how He wanted His children to live. We have His Word which tells us everything we need to know for “life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3), but we take it for granted and live according to our own lusts.

We are seeing the results of spiritual apathy in the attitudes of the younger generations. If your children don’t see God being real at home and an important part of their parents’ lives, they will not likely want to own it for themselves.

The Church is sick, but all we need to do is take the prescribed medicine, and we can begin to flourish. This will not take all your trials away, and it won’t remove temptation, but it will arm you with the weapons you need to fight the enemy, and your Commander will begin to give you peace in the midst of the battle.

I can’t make you love to pray and read your Bible, but I will continue to encourage you to do those things. It may begin as drudgery or another task you have to do but, like most disciplines, it gets easier in time, and when you see the difference it makes in your life, I don’t think you will ever want to go back.