The Jesus Habits: Exercising the Spiritual Disciplines of Jesus

by Jay Dennis

Point Passage “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:9 The Jesus habit of love is choosing consistently to do something that is beneficial, kind, and encouraging for someone before considering your own needs and being willing to be inconvenienced and to sacrifice for the sake of others. Human love says, “I will love you if . . .” God says, “I will love you even . . .” —Stuart Briscoe

Pasajes iniciales impactantes.

To love someone means to see him as God intended him. —Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Love is the only power we can have over our enemies.

Jesus chose to stay on the cross. It was the choice of love. He could have called down as many as seventy-two thousand angels and obliterated his enemies and come down off the cross. He demonstrated that love is not a feeling.

People don’t go where the action is, they go where love is. —Jess Moody

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Where there is love, miracles can take place and transformations can occur.

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. —Eric Hoffer

Stay away, as much as possible, from negative, complaining people.

Write thank-you notes as a way of life.

Always be doing things for other people.

And looking

The Jesus habit of faith is choosing to trust God and believing what he said in his Word, no matter what you are facing.

Faith does not ask for any other evidence than for the written Word of God. —Unknown

He conceded that whatever God wanted was the very best. Faith accepts God’s plan as the best and doesn’t seek another way. Faith embraces God’s will even when it is not explainable at the moment. You honor Jesus when you act in faith on His Word. —Ed Cole

Regret looks back. Worry looks around. Faith looks up. —John Mason

Get in the Wheelbarrow There was a tightrope walker who did incredible aerial feats. All over Paris he would do tightrope acts at tremendously scary heights. Then he had succeeding acts: he would do it blindfolded; then he would go across the tightrope blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow. An American promoter read about this in the papers and wrote a letter to the tightrope walker, saying, “Tightrope, I don’t believe you can do it, but I’m willing to make you an offer. For a very substantial sum of money, besides all your transportation fees, I would like to challenge you to do your act over Niagara Falls.” Tightrope wrote back, “Sir, although I’ve never been to America and seen the Falls, I’d love to come.” Well, after a lot of promotion and setting the whole thing up, many people came to see the event. Tightrope was to start on the Canadian side and come to the American side. Drums roll, and he comes across the rope, which is suspended over the treacherous part of the falls, blindfolded!! And he makes it across easily. The crowds go wild, and he comes to the promoter and says, “Well, Mr. Promoter, now do you believe I can do it?” “Well of course I do. I mean, I just saw you do it.” “No,” said Tightrope, “do you really believe I can do it?” “Well of course I do, you just did it.” “No, no, no,” said Tightrope, “do you believe I can do it?” “Yes,” said Mr. Promoter, “I believe you can do it.” “Good,” said Tightrope, “then you get in the wheelbarrow.”

Removing all risks from your life renders faith unnecessary. Faith requires risks. —Ken Mayhanes

True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie. It is enough that God has said it. —A. W. Tozer

“I would have brought an umbrella!”3 Make Faith a Habit Faith is: dead to doubts, dumb to discouragements, blind to impossibilities. —Unknown

3. Forget about your feelings. Feelings and faith are not on the same team. They often face off in the arena of life, and the strongest one wins. For faith to win, feelings must not have the last word.

There may be a testing time before the answer comes in order to strengthen your faith. An untested faith is a weak faith. You can count on your faith being the target of multiple trials. If your faith is never tested, it will never grow.

The Jesus habit of motivation is using everything you have and, by example, encouraging other people to be their best and do their best.

There is only one way under high heaven to get anybody to do anything. Did you ever stop to think of that? Yes, just one way. And that is by making the other person want to do it. —Dale Carnegie

There is no motivation like the motivation that comes from daily encountering God through the discipline of Bible study and prayer.

The Jesus habit of family priority is choosing consistently to put your family and their needs ahead of your own, others, work, recreation, or anything else.

Your family is your greatest place of influence. How you relate to your family defines the impact of your Christianity.

How Much Is an Hour of Your Time? A father came home tired and irritable. His son asked his father how much money he made in an hour. The father, not in a good mood, answered harshly, “I make $20 an hour.” A little later the son asked his father if he would give him $10. By now the father was really agitated and gave him the brush off. Later that evening the father felt he had been harsh and went to his son’s room and gave him the ten dollars. The son reached under his pillow and pulled out some crumpled dollar bills. Now the father blew up and asked why he asked for more money when he already had some. The boy said, “I did not have enough but I do now. Daddy, can I buy an hour of your time?”

Don’t deny your family. God gave them to you for a reason. It may even be a dysfunctional family, but God can use them and use you in their lives.

2. In God’s order of priority your marriage comes first, then your children. It is a great mistake for parents to put their children before their marriage partners. When meeting the needs of one’s marriage partner becomes the priority, parenting is strengthened. A strong marriage is the family’s greatest ally.

As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live. —Pope John Paul II

5. Be Jesus to your family—serving them.

It is my view that our society can be no more stable than the foundation of individual family units upon which it rests. Our government, our institutions, our schools, indeed, our way of life are dependent on healthy marriages and loyalty to the vulnerable little children around our feet. —James Dobson, Focus on the Family

7. If your job is damaging your family, either adjust your schedule or change jobs.

No one ever comes to the end of his life and says, “I wish I had spent more time at work.” Many, however, regret that they didn’t spend more time with their family.

You can never go wrong when you choose to obey Christ. —Unknown Jesus Showed Us

The cost of obedience is small compared with the cost of disobedience. —Unknown

The only part of the Bible you truly believe is the part you obey. —Unknown

Obedience is always a choice. You don’t have to feel like it to do it. There is no excuse for not doing the right thing. The option of obedience is always on the table. If we wait until we feel like it to obey God, obedience would probably never come. Like Nike, we “just do it!”

2. Accept that the feeling of having obeyed God is the greatest feeling yo...

3. Understand that your happiness in life depends upon your saying yes to God.

9. Be aware that obedience brings the favor of God upon your life.

The Jesus habit of asking questions is choosing to ask certain things—normally open-ended questions—in order to gain knowledge and understanding. Don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions. They are easier to handle than dumb mistakes. —Thomas Fuller

Jesus used questions to disarm his critics.

He often silenced critics with a question. One question asked in response to a person’s criticism could stop the conversation.

I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who. —Rudyard Kipling

Jesus used questions to discern if something was of the Father or the father of lies.

No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions. —Charles P. Stenmetz

Seek the kind of fun that doesn’t make you ashamed the next day. —Unknown

Christians should have fun. Now fun shouldn’t always be the goal, nor is the Christian life always fun, but fun should be a natural part of the process of walking daily with God. We should be the most fun-loving, fun-experiencing people on the face of the earth. We have everything to celebrate. Some Christians I meet seem to have the misguided idea that we shouldn’t have any fun. They seldom if ever smile, and they look with suspicion upon anyone having a good time. Put Jesus and fun on the search engine of your computer and you might get something designed for children such as a Jesus gadget like the Jesus Doll. We simply don’t think about the two words going together, but they are not oxymorons. Listen to the description Bruce Marchiana provides from “The Footsteps of Jesus.”

Yes, Jesus smiled; yes, Jesus laughed. Jesus smiled wider and laughed heartier than any human being who has ever walked the planet. He was young. He radiated good cheer. Jesus was a man of such merriment, such gladness of heart, such freedom and openness, that He proved irresistible. He became known throughout Galilee for His genuine strength, the sparkle in His eyes, the spring in His gait, the heartiness in His laugh, the genuineness of His touch; His passion, playfulness, excitement, and vitality: His JOY! He made a dazzling display of love. He set hearts afire. He was an elated triumphant young man with an incredible quality of life . . . so different from the solemn religious types He constantly encountered.