Spiritual Disciplines Illustrated
Definitions of Spiritual Disciplines
Heb 12:11
(AMP) For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness--in conformity to God's will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].
1 Corinthians 9:27
(NLT) I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
Celebration: Utter delight and joy in ourselves, our life, and our world as a result of our faith and confidence in God’s greatness, beauty, and goodness.
2 Samuel 6:14 ESV And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.
Chastity: purposefully turning away for a time from dwelling upon or engaging in the sexual dimension of our relationship to others – even our husband or wife – and thus learning how not be governed by this powerful dimension of our life.
2 Samuel 11:8 ESV Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king.
2 Samuel 11:9 ESV But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
2 Samuel 11:10 ESV When they told David, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?"
2 Samuel 11:11 ESV Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing."
2 Samuel 11:12 ESV Then David said to Uriah, "Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.
Confession: Sharing our deepest weaknesses and failures to God and trusted others so that we may enter into God’s grace and mercy and experience His ready forgiveness and healing.
2 Samuel 12:13 ESV David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
Fasting: The voluntary denial of an otherwise normal function – most often food- for the sake of intense spiritual activity.
2 Samuel 12:16 ESV David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.
2 Samuel 12:17 ESV And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them.
Fellowship: common activities with other disciples of worship, study, prayer, celebration, and service that sustain our life together and enlarge our capacity to experience more of God.
Psalms 55:13 ESV But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.
Psalms 55:14 ESV We used to take sweet counsel together; within God's house we walked in the throng.
Guidance: Experiencing an interactive friendship with God which gives direction and purpose to daily life.
Psalms 138:8 ESV The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Meditation: Prayerful rumination on God, His word and His world
Psalms 42:2 ESV My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
Psalms 1:2 ESV but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalms 19:1 ESV To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Prayer: Interactive conversation with God about what we- God and us- are thinking and doing together.
Psalms 21:1 ESV To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
Psalms 21:2 ESV You have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
Psalms 21:3 ESV For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
Psalms 21:4 ESV He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever.
Sacrifice: Deliberately forsaking the security of satisfying our needs with what is in our own hands in the faith and hope that God will bear us up.
2 Samuel 24:21 ESV And Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be averted from the people."
2 Samuel 24:22 ESV Then Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.
2 Samuel 24:23 ESV All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May the LORD your God accept you."
2 Samuel 24:24 ESV But the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
Secrecy: Consciously refraining from having our good deeds and qualities generally known, which, in turn, rightly disciplines the longing of the flesh for recognition.
1Sa 16:16 ESV Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well."
1Sa 16:17 ESV So Saul said to his servants, "Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me."
1Sa 16:18 ESV One of the young men answered, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him."
1Sa 16:19 ESV Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son, who is with the sheep."
Service: loving thoughtful, active promotion of the good of others and the causes of God in our world through which we experience the many little deaths of going beyond ourselves.
2Sa 9:3 ESV And the king said, "Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?" Ziba said to the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet."
2Sa 9:4 ESV The king said to him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said to the king, "He is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar."
2Sa 9:5 ESV Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.
2Sa 9:6 ESV And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, "Mephibosheth!" And he answered, "Behold, I am your servant."
2Sa 9:7 ESV And David said to him, "Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always."
Silence: Closing our souls from “sounds,” whether they be noise, music, or words, so that we may better still the inner chatter and clatter of our noisy hearts and be increasingly attentive to God.
Psa 62:5 ESV For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
Simplicity/Frugality: The inward reality of single-hearted focus upon God and His kingdom which results in an outward lifestyle of modesty, openness, and unpretentiousness and which disciplines our hunger for status, glamour, and luxury.
Psa 116:4 ESV Then I called on the name of the LORD: "O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!"
Psa 116:5 ESV Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
Psa 116:6 ESV The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
Psa 116:7 ESV Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
Solitude: The creation of an open, empty space in our lives by purposefully abstaining from interaction with other human beings so that we can be found by God and by which we are freed from competing loyalties.
Psa 63:1 ESV A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psa 63:2 ESV So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Psa 63:3 ESV Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
Study: The intentional process of engaging the mind with the written and spoken word of God and the world which God has created in such a way that the mind takes on an order conforming to the order upon which it concentrates.
Psa 77:12 ESV I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Psa 77:13 ESV Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?
Psa 77:14 ESV You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.
Psa 77:15 ESV You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
Psa 77:16 ESV When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled.
Psa 77:17 ESV The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side.
Psa 77:18 ESV The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
Psa 77:19 ESV Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.
Submission: A constant mutual subordination out of reverence for Christ within the Christian fellowship, which opens the way for particular subordination to those who are qualified to direct our efforts toward Christlikeness and who the add the weight of their wise authority on the side of our willing spirit to help us to do the things we would like to do and refrain from the things we don’t want to do.
1Sa 24:9 ESV And David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of men who say, 'Behold, David seeks your harm'?
1Sa 24:10 ESV Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the LORD gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, 'I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD's anointed.'
1Sa 24:11 ESV See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it.
1Sa 24:12 ESV May the LORD judge between me and you, may the LORD avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.
Worship: Expressing in words, rituals, and silent adoration the greatness, beauty and goodness of God by means of which we enter the supra-natural reality of the shekanyah, or glory, of God.
Psa 29:1 ESV A Psalm of David. Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Psa 29:2 ESV Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
Discipline – Webster’s Dictionary
2. To instruct and govern; to teach rules and practice, and accustom to order and subordination; as, to discipline troops or an army.
Exercise - Webster’s Dictionary
EX'ERCISE, n. s as z. [L. exercitium, from exerceo; Eng. work.]
In a general sense, any kind of work, labor or exertion of body. Hence,
1. Use; practice; the exertions and movements customary in the performance of business; as the exercise of an art, trade, occupation, or profession.
2. Practice; performance; as the exercise of religion.
3. Use; employment; exertion; as the exercise of the eyes or of the senses, or of any power of body or mind.
4. Exertion of the body, as conducive to health; action; motion, by labor, walking, riding, or other exertion.
The wise for cure on exercise depend.
5. Exertion of the body for amusement, or for instruction; the habitual use of the limbs for acquiring an art, dexterity, or grace, as in fencing, dancing, riding; or the exertion of the muscles for invigorating the body.
6. Exertion of the body and mind or faculties for improvement, as in oratory, in painting or statuary.
7. Use or practice to acquire skill; preparatory practice. Military exercises consist in using arms, in motions, marches and evolutions. Naval exercise consists in the use or management of artillery, and in the evolutions of fleets.
8. Exertion of the mind; application of the mental powers.
9. Task; that which is appointed for one to perform.
10. Act of divine worship.
11. A lesson or example for practice.
EX'ERCISE, v.t. [L. exerceo.]
1. In a general sense, to move; to exert; to cause to act, in any manner; as, to exercise the body or the hands; to exercise the mind, the powers of the mind, the reason or judgment.
2. To use; to exert; as, to exercise authority or power.
3. To use for improvement in skill; as, to exercise arms.
4. To exert one's powers or strength; to practice habitually; as, to exercise one's self in speaking or music.
5. To practice; to perform the duties of; as, to exercise an office.
6. To train to use; to discipline; to cause to perform certain acts, as preparatory to service; as, to exercise troops.
7. To task; to keep employed; to use efforts.
Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense towards God and men. Acts 24.
8. To use; to employ.
9. To busy; to keep busy in action, exertion or employment.
10. To pain or afflict; to give anxiety to; to make uneasy.
EX'ERCISE, v.i. To use action or exertion; as, to exercise for health or amusement.