Spiritual Disciplines
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What are they?
What are they?
Spiritual disciplines are practices or habits found in Scripture that help us grow spiritually in our relationship with Christ. The goal of them is more about being than it is doing. The goal is godliness, and the practical ways of doing that are things that we do.
7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
6 Aspects
Personal and Interpersonal
We practice personal disciplines alone, but also have interpersonal disciplines that we do with one another. Jesus practiced both!
2. Activities
They’re not attitudes; they’re practices; things we do.
3. Scripture-based
If we don’t base them off the Bible, it leaves ourselves open to call anything we want a spiritual discipline. Remember 1 Timothy.
4. Christlikeness
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
5. Means and not ends
The purpose is godliness, not to just do things.
12 Activities that Jesus did and prescribed for believers
1. Study - of all the disciplines, studying God’s Word is up there on the priority list. Jesus knew Scripture better than everyone. As a boy he amazed the teachers in the Jerusalem temple with his understanding, he quoted Scripture from memory when tempted in the wilderness, and regularly quoted it in his teaching. He even began his ministry with a public reading from the book of Isaiah.
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Reading the Bible;
2. Prayer - Prayer is how we talk to God; when we pray, God listens. Jesus warned us to not make it a show and taught us to pray humbly. God is like a good father who delights in giving good gifts to his asking children. We should persevere in prayer until the Lord answers, but we also must have faith for our prayers to be effective. We should withdraw regularly for time alone with God to pray, as well as pray with others.
16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
3. Fasting - Fasting is abstaining from something for spiritual reasons. It’s a focused time of spiritual dependence on God to sustain you, accompanied by prayer. Possibly the most neglected discipline today. Scripture gives examples of people fasting for one day, one night, three days, seven days, fourteen days, and forty days.
19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.
4. Confession - Confession is an admission of sin followed by repentance. Confession can be private, personal with another believers, or public. This is the only spiritual discipline that Jesus did not practice. Since Jesus’ didn’t sin, he had no need to confess. However, Jesus is a critical part of confession because without his death and resurrection on the cross, we wouldn’t be able to receive God’s forgiveness. While confessing to God is most important, I encourage you to find someone that is supportive in your life that you feel comfortable confessing to.
Fasting
13 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
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Confession
5. Worship - No just singing. In a literal sense, worshipping God means that we’re responding to his worthiness. Jesus is both the object and example of our worship.
29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
19 When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it,
6. Fellowship - Fellowship is about being united as a body of believers, encouraging one another to follow Jesus. Jesus lived in constant fellowship with the Father and also with his disciples.
6. Fellowship
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
7. Rest - Requires more discipline than ever. Technology keeps us from resting, as we rarely disconnect from the internet. Entertainment is at our fingertips. God instituted the discipline of rest in the creation of the world, so God instituted Sabbath which is a dedicated set aside time of rest.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
8. Celebration - In celebration, we rejoice in God’s blessings and remember his faithfulness. Jesus modeled this. His first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding, which allowed the party to continue. Jesus was also accused of being a glutton and drunkard because he ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners. While we celebrate, we must remember that it needs to be legal, and always for the glory of God.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
9. Service - This discipline is a direct assault on our pride. Service requires humility, taking on the posture of a servant and putting God ahead of ourselves. No greater example than Jesus. He taught that the greatest people are those who serve, that the last will be first, and that he “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”.
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
10. Generosity- Not just about giving; it’s changing the way you think about and manage your resources. Jesus taught about money and possessions a lot. He says we should store our treasures in heaven, because our hearts follow our treasure. The problem isn’t about the things we have, but about the attitude about the things we have.
24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
11. Purity - Our nature is to draw us towards sexual immorality. We must be disciplined to flee it and pursue pure thoughts and actions. An example is of Job (31:1) when he says “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman”. Another example is of Joseph when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him. After she told him to sleep with her, says that he left his garment in her hand and fled.
28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Ma=t 5:28
12. Disciple-Making - We must actively seek out opportunities to share the gospel, baptize new believers and teach them how to obey everything. If our goal is to become more like Christ, then we ought to participate in his mission.
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,
God’s Word
God’s Word
16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.
To “eat” God’s words means we take them in; we hear them or read them.
To Meditate means to ponder it, dwell on it, chew on it and roll it over in our minds in order to apply it to our lives.
Charles Spurgeon, who always had a way with words, put it this way:
Some people like to read so many chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up into your very soul, till it saturates your heart! Set your heart upon God’s Word! Let your whole nature be plunged into it as cloth into a dye!
-Charles Spurgeon
2 ways; read or listen to God’s word and to memorize it. Spend time in God’s Word every day. It’s better to read the Bible 5 minutes a day than once a month for an hour.
As a “lamp unto [our] feet and a light unto [our] path (), the Word of God is more than simply a set of guidelines or recommendations. It gives us the foundation for how we live, move, and shape every aspect of our lives (see ). The Word Hand illustration is a simple way to break down five methods of taking in God’s Word.
Hearing
Hearing
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
Hearing the Word taught by godly pastors and teachers provides fresh insight into the Scriptures to challenge and expand your own understanding, as well as stimulating your own appetite for its truth.
Reading
Reading
3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
Reading the Bible is often the way that God most directly speaks to us. Many people find it helpful to use a daily reading program or other method that takes a systematic approach to drawing lessons from the Bible.
Studying
Studying
11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Earnestly studying the Scriptures allows God’s Word to speak directly to our hearts—to correct, encourage, and edify us. Writing down your discoveries will help you organize and remember them.
Memorizing
Memorizing
9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Memorizing God’s Word trains us to use of the Sword of the Spirit when we are faced with temptations and opposition by Satan. By holding passages from the Bible in our minds we are also able to have them readily available for witnessing or in encouraging others with a “word in season” ().
Meditating
Meditating
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
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Meditation is the thumb of the Word Hand, because when used in conjunction with each of the other methods, the Spirit begins to deeply move in our hearts and speak to our souls. Only as we meditate on God’s Word—thinking of its meaning and application in our lives—will we discover its transforming power at work within us.
Meditation is the thumb of the Word Hand, because when used in conjunction with each of the other methods, the Spirit begins to deeply move in our hearts and speak to our souls. Only as we meditate on God’s Word—thinking of its meaning and application in our lives—will we discover its transforming power at work within us.
Meditation
16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.
To “eat” God’s words means we take them in; we hear them or read them.
To Meditate means to ponder it, dwell on it, chew on it and roll it over in our minds in order to apply it to our lives.
Some people like to read so many chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up into your very soul, till it saturates your heart! Set your heart upon God’s Word! Let your whole nature be plunged into it as cloth into a dye!
-Charles Spurgeon
2 ways; read or listen to God’s word and to memorize it. Spend time in God’s Word every day. It’s better to read the Bible 5 minutes a day than once a month for an hour.