by Ramesh Richard

Do you need a hard reset of a sluggish spiritual life? Since we are quite like each other, my suspicion is that you again wish to restart spiritually. George Sweeting of Moody Bible Institute once noted, “The secret to victorious Christian living is found in a series of new beginnings.”

I like that line. We all need new beginnings frequently: yearly—perhaps on birthdays or New Year’s Day; monthly—reflecting on the month ahead; weekly—a Sunday Sabbath habit. We even need renewal daily through devotional feeding.

Having encouraged numerous people to refresh their spiritual life, I now come to you.

Most of us have heard the piercing noise of feedback echoing from audio equipment. Sound reverberates until it is unavoidable. It gets everyone’s attention. A powerful exercise I shall call “Re-Verb” does the same—it draws attention to the word God is speaking into your heart. And it comes with strong scriptural warrant.

“How, now?” you ask. The apostle Paul said, “This one thing I do…” (Phil. 3:13b).

So, here’s a suggested spiritual reset tactic for renewal.

For the last three months, I have challenged family and friends, staff and board, to prayerfully think about the “one theme, one thing or one thrust” to characterize the next period of their life, expressed in a single word.

A verb often works best to serve as a guiding principle and a practical aspiration. But you need not limit yourself to verbs. Consider the following words that family and friends have chosen:

Prepare                      Focus

Active                         Faithful

Tethered                    Flow

Stand                         Trust

Powerful. I also asked them to pick Scripture that goes with their word.

This verb choice is extremely personal. It’s simply a matter God has brought to your attention for intentional application. Such intentionality will give you focus, energy, even victory. You will find yourself rehearsing your verb not only for concentrating your mind, but also for concrete action. It will stretch you in the present tense. It will also help you progressively understand more deeply its implications. It will be a powerful tool for your restart.

For those who didn’t ask me earlier but are eager to know, my one re-verb is kneel. God has been convicting me toward this practice for a while. I used to kneel before the Lord often but had gotten away from the practice of kneeling in prayer (cf. Jesus, Luke 22:41; Daniel, Dan. 6:10).

The verse for my verb, Psalm 95:6, reflects a personal and corporate welcome before God: “Come let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.”

Kneeling is a symbol for worship (Luke 5:8), which I will never fully grasp until heaven. It shows respect (Mark 1:40) and submission (Rom. 14:11) and declares my need for strength in my feebleness (Heb. 12:12). If everyone is going to kneel anyway (Phil. 2:10; Rom. 14:10b, 11), I might as well start now.

Of course, kneeling is sourced in the heart. The Old Testament viewed knees as a symbol of strength. So to bow the knee is to bend our strength, acknowledging our weakness before God. Church father Clement wrote about “bending the knees of your heart.” Abba Apollo, a Desert Father, “saw the devil, black and ugly, with frighteningly thin limbs, but most strikingly, he had no knees.” My unwillingness to kneel is diabolical.

So may I encourage you to pick a verb and a verse to go along with it? No choice is wrong, unless it is against God. Your choice makes you neither superior nor inferior. It is not to be followed in a ritualistic, superstitious or legalistic manner. It offers no merit in its picking or its practice, no expectation for others to conform to your choice. It serves as neither a resolution nor a goal, nor a January fitness center banner to be forgotten by February. Your choice need not remain the same forever, though it will likely become a regular part of your life.

Will you pick one verb to refresh the next season of your spiritual life?

Actually, Bible translators supply the verb that Paul doesn’t in “one thing I ________.” Context reveals that Paul speaks not of “one thing I know,” or “one thing I believe,” but “one thing I do.”

If you’d rather pick a noun or an adjective, go for it. There’s no magic or mistake in the word-form itself.

In my last communication, I told you about an event 15 years ago when I asked 99 CEOs to describe their ministries in one word. I also shared the unique noun that guides RREACH as an organization. If you don’t remember it, ask me for what I don’t easily forget! In this article, I present a verb that governs me at the moment and hopefully for the rest of my life.

I’d like to hear your verb, and the Scripture that goes with it. After some prayerful thought, would you write me on the back flap of the attached envelope or send me an email (ramesh@rreach.org)? If you need a verse, we will find one for you. My Bonnie picked an outstanding word. If you want to receive hers, let me know. One of the advantages of this powerful exercise is that each of us can benefit from one another’s pick.

I can’t wait to hear about your new beginning toward a vital spiritual life. You will resume your pace, reopen your closed and crusty heart, revitalize your discouraged spirit. I like the power of the “re-” prefix—meaning “again, back again, again and again.” Ready, reset…go.