Performance Principle

From an athletic standpoint, routines and rituals are important. Some of the rituals we use are in the form of warm-ups and stretching activities. This allows the body to become activated and aroused. The warm-up lubricates the joints and stretches the muscles preparing it for stress. Warming up can offer a time for mental preparation as well as preparing the body for activity. During warm-ups you can accomplish many things such as planning strategies, tactics and even stress control that will help you in your performance, as well as take contril of your arousal level.

How from an athletic standpoint can you be sure that you are warmed up properly as well as cover all of your concerns? By developing a routine or a ritual - a specific way of doing things. By organizing and following through with your own procedures, you are developing a comfortable system of preparation for competition. A ritual helps you get lost in your preparation. Everything is automatic as you go from step to step. No outside worries or concerns. Just focus on your goals and get your mind and body ready. Design your own plan. Practice it, then use it. By ritualizing your precompetition tasks you will begin to help yourself shift into auto-drive. You will become comfortable, at ease and ready to perform your best.

Are you comfortable with your daily routine and rituals? As the hours pass throughout the day does stress and anxiety begin to creep into your life? Are you losing that comfortable feeling? Do you lose your focus?

God's Performance Principle

Maybe you need a routine that starts each day with God. Every morning, set aside a special time called "Quiet Time." During this time you can talk to God and let Him talk to you through the Bible.

Essential Routines and Rituals

There are two essential routines that keep our bodies alive: breathing and eating. Like the physical world, the spiritual world also involves basic actions. In spiritual living, prayer is like breathing and reading the Bible is like eating food. Prayer is speaking, listening, and responding to God, and the Bible is God's written word to us. A spiritual life without these habits will be as uncomfortable as physical life without air and food. Too long without them and we die.

Prayer is conversation with God. We must remember that God is a parent to us. He is interested in our communicating with Him. God wants to hear from us from our heart - our fears, our hurts, our frustrations, and of course our praise! Don't worry about your words or what to say, just speak from your heart, that is what matters most to God. Prayer is like breathing - it must be done even if it can't be done very well.

The Bible - God's Word to Us

You should also make the Bible a regular part of your daily life. Time in God's Word needs to be your first ritual of the day. You need to make time for it! Bible reading is most important thing you should do. Make it part of your training plan (see our section on Disciple). Think of it this way, if you knew that God wanted to schedule an appointment to talk to you personally every day, when would you schedule Him in?

Where to Start

The size of the Bible can be a little intimidating. It is a big book - or a small library. The Bible is made up of sixty-six smaller books written over a period of hundreds of years. So it is not really necessary to start at the very beginning in order to get the greatest benefit.

In fact, if you are just getting started, you will want to begin by reading either Mark or John. Mark is a short, fast moving account of the life of Jesus, written by a young man who was an eyewitness to many of the things that Jesus did and who knew Jesus' disciples and could draw on their memories. John was written by one of Jesus' closest followers, tells the story of Jesus from a slightly different perspective.

Other accounts of the life of Jesus can be found in Matthew and Luke. Having a daily Quiet Time is extremely important. It is the key to developing spiritually. Just as physical growth demands physical exercise, spiritual growth demands that you spend time with God everyday.

"I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me." (Psalm 8:17)

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and who asks recieves; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)