"The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

Matthew 26:41.

Last year, I did something called SPAM: Spiritual Preparation And Meditation. My goal was to get into the Word over a period of 46 days so that I could grow in my faith and in my relationship with Christ. As a side effect, I had hoped that it would also lead me to give up some time on the computer in order to devote more time to devotions and quiet time alone with God. I had been wasting time doing nothing productive before SPAM, and as I went through SPAM, I came to acknowledge that fact. But shortly after SPAM was over, although I definitely felt stronger in my faith, I returned to my old habits of mindlessly surfing the internet. I started a blog to help stay focused on God and to share my SPAM experience with others, but pretty soon, I was spending too much time on Facebook to type much of anything. Eventually, I just stopped trying to update my blog. So I started a new blog to share other thoughts, not just my thoughts from SPAM. That helped some, but then that started to slow down too.

But now, as SPAM 2011 approaches, I want to prepare instead of crashing headlong into SPAM without any specific plan.

Tomorrow marks the end of Christmas break for students at the University of Georgia, and looking back, I realize that I wasted my entire break. Sure, I read my Bible. I read devotionals. (I finished Max Lucado's Grace for the Moment, and now I'm reading Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening.) But I didn't take any time to really study the Bible. I read David Platt's Radical, and the last chapter gives a list of five things to do over a one-year time period to help develop a mindset of godly servanthood. One of the five points was to read through the Bible. So I started that, beginning in Numbers to get the "difficult" and "boring" parts out of the way first. I finished Numbers in under a week. My mindset has become one of getting through the entire Bible so I can say that I've actually read the whole thing. But the studying aspect was left out of it, something I'm sure David Platt didn't intend when he included his one-year challenge in his book.

I feel like I'm rambling, getting off track from what I originally meant to say, so I'll try to wrap things up. My plan, starting now, is to write something in my blog consistently—whether that's every day, every other day, or twice a week, all that matters is that I'm writing something on a regular basis. It can be a long Bible study or a simple, two-sentence prayer. My hope is that, by pushing myself to reveal aspects of my devotional life, God will convict me and bring me to long to spend more time with Him so that, through my own spiritual growth, God will speak to someone else and bring them to want to grow as well. (It will also help me to prepare for SPAM by giving me a feel for writing journal-type entries, which I will continue to do during SPAM, to be typed up after SPAM.)

Matthew 26:41 says, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." So while I pray for God to "grant me a willing spirit to sustain me" (Psalm 51:12) and to help me "[run] in such a way as to get the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:27), I ask that you pray the same thing—not only for me, but also for anyone else who is seeking to know God more.

So until next time—tomorrow, which shouldn't be a problem, since classes are canceled because of the snow—God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21