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As I’ve been reading through the Psalms lately, there’s been a major theme I’ve noticed.

Many start off with a less-than-ideal circumstance; enemies surround me, wicked prospering while the righteous struggle, prayers falling on deaf ears, etc., but they inevitably end with a declaration of trust in God.

I love the Psalms for their transparency. They are a realistic portrayal of what it’s like to live as a Christian desiring after God’s heart.

The Psalmists do an amazing job of expressing that peace and trust despite the circumstances that surround them.

Psalm 55 (NIV)
[…]
² My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
³ because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.
⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
⁵ Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
[…]
¹⁶ As for me, I call to God,
and the LORD saves me.
¹⁷ Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He rescues me unharmed
from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me.
[…]
²² Cast your cares on the LORD
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.
²³ […]
But as for me, I trust in you.

You’ll notice the first part of this Psalm explains the situation. It’s pretty bad. Sounds like the Psalmist is on the verge of breaking.

But it ends with a simple, yet powerful phrase. “But as for me, I trust in you.” It is that trust, I’m confident, provides the peace to live in a troubled world (John 16:33).

Never be afraid to have a realistic view of your current situation; no matter how good or bad. But also never forget to have a realistic expectation of the God we serve.

According to this Psalm, we serve a God that saves us, hears us, rescues us, sustains us and never lets us be shaken.

But as for me, I trust in you.

Who can you ask? Who can you bring along? What can you do together?

I’m a pretty strong introvert, so I tend to want to do most things by myself. Unfortunately, the discipleship process is not an introverted, single person activity. It requires we engage in the lives of others.

We follow Christ in our lives, therefore, we should teach others to follow Him as well.

An easy, informal way to do that is by answering the questions above. When you look at your spiritual life, what are some areas/things that could be done with another person?

Here are some things I could ask someone else to do with me.

• Weekly Scripture memory.
• Follow the same Bible reading plan.
• Do a S.O.A.P. devotional once a week together (journal privately, but share openly).
• Have a night of prayer and worship.
• Attend a small group.
• Do something fun.

Taking what we already do and bringing someone along is a sure-fire, easy way to spiritually impact someone’s life.

It’s as simple as asking.

Jesus asked his disciples to follow him. That simple act was the start of a long-term, fruitful relationship (minus Judas Iscariot).

All with a simple question.

As with most things, it’s easy to say “I want to make disciples,” but much harder to do.

On a practical level, what does that really mean?

Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. […]”

Here we have the main “make disciples” verse. From v20, we can extract three key areas.

• Knowing
• Obeying
• Teaching

Knowing

First off, you can’t teach jack squat if you don’t know anything about what you’re teaching. To teach God’s commandments, we have to know them. That means eating, drinking and farting the Bible.

It’s the single greatest physical tool God has given us. Take advantage of it.

Memorizing some Bible verses is a good place to start.

Obeying

It’s one thing to know the Bible and have sound doctrine/theology. But ultimately, knowledge (by itself) puffs up. The true desire of God’s heart is that our knowledge would lead to obedience (action).

So as we strive to know the Word, we also need to be very intentional about obeying it.

Teaching

Knowledge has to be shared. God’s Word has to be taught.

The discipleship process doesn’t continue, doesn’t multiple, doesn’t have it’s greatest impact without imparting our collective wisdom to the next generation.

We have to teach people the value of discipleship. The value of God’s Word. The value of obedience. And the power of living a God-first life.

Those three things (knowing, obeying and teaching) are the marks of a disciple.

What other characteristics do you think mark a true disciple?

Today, I’m talking about hypermiling; the art of changing the way you drive to increase miles per gallon and save money.

Making some minor tweaks to my driving habits the past month has increased my MPG by 17%. I went from averaging 35 MPG to 41 MPG.

One simple rule of thumb is the more you’re pressing on the gas pedal, the more money you’re using up in gas. So a majority of hypermiling techniques attempt to minimize how often you’re hitting the gas pedal.

Here are the handful of easy changes I made to my driving habits.

Brake Less, Coast More

The more you brake, the more you use the gas pedal to get back up to speed. On the flip side, the more you coast, the further you’re able to go without using the gas.

This technique goes hand-in-hand with the next one.

Pay Attention

Know your surroundings. Is the next stoplight red or green, is it uphill or downhill, are there cars behind you, etc.?

This helps determine how far and if you can coast.

Having this thought in mind has opened my eyes to multiple locations on my daily commute where I can coast a fair distance. It also helps you drive more efficiently. If an upcoming light is red, there’s no rush to get there and come to a complete stop. Coast as long as you can up to the light, possibly even timing it so you don’t have to stop completely at all.

Don’t Be In a Hurry

When you’re in a hurry, you tend to accelerate harder and drive faster.

Know the faster you’re driving, the less efficient your engine becomes. So I’ve become more intentional about driving closer to the speed limit and accelerating more slowly.

Consistent Gas Pedal, Not Speed

This primarily has to do with long stretches of road where you’re able to drive a set speed limit (i.e., highways). The more you press/release the gas pedal, the more gas you’d use than if you kept the gas pedal depressed at a consistent level.

The biggest example of this is when you’re on a highway going up a hill.

Generally, I would press the gas pedal down further to maintain the same speed. However, my goal is no longer consistent speed, but consistent gas pedal.

So I try to keep my foot pressed down the same amount all the way through the hill. That means my car typically slows down  5 to 10 MPH, but I’m making my car work less and use less gas by doing so.

Make It Fun

After while these little exercises became a game. How far could I coast and ultimately how efficient can I make my driving to increase MPG?

When taking exits on the highway, I would try to determine the precise location I could stop pressing the gas and perfectly coast through the off-ramp onto the next turn without using the brake or gas until I was on the next street.

Honestly, I was surprised at how significant my gas mileage increased with these relatively easy changes.

Probably the biggest adjustment was not getting too worked up about slowing the people behind you. For example, I used to accelerate faster when there was someone behind me.

Now I don’t care if they’re riding my tail because I’d rather boost my MPG. ;)

What are same ways you’ve been able to drive more efficiently and save money on gas?

I’ve always had a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to accountability relationships. I cringe and sigh anytime I’ve been in groups which require an accountability partner.

Not that I don’t believe in it’s value (I do). The bad taste comes from never having a fruitful, long-term accountability pairing. From feeling like any attempt is doomed to failure.

As I’ve been pondering why that is, I believe one shortcoming has been the focus/topic of discussion. In the past, most of the dialogue and accountability has been on overcoming sin. You get together, talk about what you struggle with and how you can “do better.”

The focus has always been on sin.

But the question I’ve been asking myself is: what helps my relationship with God more?

Does my relationship with God deepen more through overcoming sin or through other ways?

I believe this verse in John 15 sums it up best.

John 15:5 (NIV)
⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

We bear fruit when we remain close to the vine. In other words, growth happens when our relationship with Jesus is thriving.

And that should be the focus of any accountability relationship; ensuring each person is connected to the vine.

What questions would you ask yourself to keep your relationship with God in check?