The no. 1 priority in your summer, as in all of your life, must be fellowship with God. Seek to know Him, love Him and serve Him. We can’t know God intimately without knowing the Word of God. His Word is the food that nourishes our souls.
 

How to Do This

Set aside time daily. Start with 15-30 minutes and try to build up to 45 minutes to an hour — to spend alone with God in praise, prayer, and reading and listening to His Word. You will find several helpful resources at www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow.

Fellowship is sharing life with those who are followers of Jesus. It’s not a coincidence that the major periods of spiritual growth in our lives are often also times of rich Christian fellowship. In Acts 2:42 we read, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship,” and in verse 46, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” Like the early Christians, you need to make fellowship a priority in your life.

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How to Do This

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1. Get involved with a good church. Look for a church that teaches God’s Word faithfully and is committed to its authority in all areas of life. Also, look for a community that demonstrates love for one another and for those who don’t yet know Jesus. Talk to a pastor and ask how you can get involved. Get fed spiritually, but also give of yourself.

2. Keep in touch with friends from your campus ministry or church. Get together with others who live near you for times of prayer, Bible study or just having fun together. You may know some other committed Christian friends where you will be. Make it a priority to spend time together.

3. If you don’t have any committed Christian friends around you, you can fellowship with Christians through reading their books or listening to podcasts. Make it a priority to spend regular time reading. It could have a tremendous impact on your life and faith.

Discipline has a direct impact on steady spiritual growth — growth that isn’t dependent on events or circumstances. Discipline is the ability to order one’s life according to what one has determined to accomplish or achieve. It means that we make choices about what is important and how we invest our time. If you have placed your faith and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sin, God has already given you His Holy Spirit, a Spirit of selfcontrol and discipline (2 Timothy 1:7), so ask Him to develop within you the fruit of self-discipline. What would you like to see God do in your life this summer?

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How to Do This Practically:

what this means is that you make choices now as to what you are going to commit yourself to this summer. It means saying yes to habits and activities that will help you grow spiritually and saying no to the habits and activities that could potentially drag you down.

1. The first step to becoming disciplined is to determine your common pitfalls and obstacles that will keep you from reaching your desired end and goal (Hebrews 12:1). Are you involved in a good church back home or do you know of one? What temptations will you face in your environment? What is your current relationship like with your parents? Other obstacles could be laziness or working long hours (not a bad thing, but something you need to plan for).

2. Make a list of priorities — things you want to accomplish on a daily and weekly basis. We prioritize what we value the most. How we use our resources (time, money, relationships, etc.) reveals where our priorities are. Self-discipline must draw upon your convictions about what has the most value in your life.

3. Develop a schedule and stick to it. Most of us don’t plan to fail; we fail to plan. Make a weekly schedule — whether on your phone or using actual paper and pen. Do what works best for you.

God has given you both the resources and the responsibility to pursue and plan for your spiritual growth this summer and to effectively resist temptation. His grace is sufficient, and He gives you adequate resources to meet each day’s challenge as you depend on Him and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. You might want to review the booklet Satisfied?, which you can find at www.cru.org/us/en/ train-and-grow/spiritual-growth/satisfied.

A great way to enjoy time with God is to write about what you’re learning when you meet with Him. A journal is an excellent tool for recording these thoughts and emotions. Also, your journal is a useful place to write down your observations as you study God’s Word.

When you record your observations from personal Bible study, use the following suggestions to help you get started of God’s guidance and faithfulness.

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10 minutes

Record your thoughts, feelings and prayers from your time with the Lord.

20 minutes

Read: Study the passage for the day. Read a book passage by passage and focus on a topic to study, or use the suggested schedule below.

1. Write out the main thought of the passage.

2. Write what you learned.

3. Ask how this Scripture specifically applies to your life. 5 minutes Deed: Let Christ lead you to plan one unselfish and loving act of kindness for the day.

5 minutes

Need: Decide what your greatest single need is for the day. Ask the Lord for a clear insight about your life. Trust Him for great things.

Pray: Spend time in prayer. The ACTS strategy for prayer is a good model to begin with.

• Adoration: Spend time praising the Lord by praying the Psalms back to Him (Psalm 28:7, 100:4). Sing hymns or listen to worship music.

• Confession: Ask God to search your heart (Psalm 139:23-24). Confess any sins the Holy Spirit reveals to you (Psalm 66:18, 1 John 1:9). By faith, through prayer, yield your life to God. Ask His Holy Spirit to be in control of your life (Ephesians 5:15-20).

• Thanksgiving: Thank God for all that He’s done and is doing in your life and the lives of others. Write a list of what you’re thankful for.

• Supplication: Pray for specific things each day, such as personal concerns, family, upcoming events, friends, missionaries and so on. Write down your requests so you’ll have a record of God’s guidance and faithfulness.