The Texas Rangers baseball team several years ago had just gone through a 13-game losing streak. One afternoon their manager, Whitey Herzog, slipped away to a little league practice field. From a distance, he sat and watched the coaches teaching boys the fundamentals of the game.
Suddenly he realized why his team had lost 13 consecutive games – they needed to get back to the basics. He took a fresh approach in his management, and after a few days the team began a turnaround that resulted in a 10-game winning streak.
Famed football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Excellence begins with perfection of the basics.” His emphasis on the importance of the basics enabled him to become a successful coach. The basics are as important in our Christian walk, if not more so, than in athletics. So, what are they?
BIBLE STUDY: A careful and regular study of God’s Word is essential to the development of a person’s spiritual life. Growth in any area depends on what is true, on what works. Departure from truth always leads in wrong or counter-productive directions. A Bible that is known is worth more than a dozen merely owned. Those who do not read the Bible have no advantage over those who cannot read it.
Other books contain information; the Bible was given for our transformation. This is undoubtedly why Henry Ward Beecher said, “The Bible is God’s chart for you to steer by, to keep you from the bottom of the sea, and to show you where the harbor is, and how to reach it without running on rocks and bars.”
PRAYER: The natural result of studying the Bible is a desire to enjoy fellowship with God through prayer. Prayer is much more than talking to God; it is also listening to what God has to say to us. Talking is always easier than listening, but listening is much more productive – especially if we are listening to God. This is undoubtedly why Abraham Lincoln once said, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” He listened to what God had to say.
Most of our troubles in life come from the fact that we have so much time on our hands and spend so little time on our knees. Wonderful things happen to us when we live expectantly, believe confidently, and pray affirmatively. If you will hem in both ends of a day with prayer, it will be less likely to unravel in the middle.
WORSHIP: Worship can be either (or both) private and corporate. So, what is worship? Dwight Bradley, in Leaves from a Spiritual Notebook, gives us an excellent definition:
“Worship is a thirsty land crying out for rain,
It is a candle in the act of being kindled,
It is a drop in quest of the ocean,
It is a voice in the night calling for help,
It is a soul standing in awe before the mystery of the universe,
It is time flowing into eternity . . . a person climbing the altar stairs to God.”
Bible study, Prayer and Worship — the three basics of the Christian life. Don’t neglect them!
The Paper Pulpit 
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