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Spiritual Disciplines

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Spiritual Disciplines Deepen Our Lives

Spiritual Disciplines have been practiced by all faiths fro thousands of years. Christians believe spiritual discipline help them deepen their relationship with God. Other religions believe disciplines like meditation, chanting, and prayer help us leave this world behind to attain a higher self. In this lens I focus on the Christian side of the disciplines, since I am Christian and am not familiar with all aspects of the other religions.

Many people in the church today are looking for ways to deepen their walk with God. They know there is more to life than just showing up on Sunday, or going to Sunday school for their whole life. These disciplines are not new but have been practiced by Christians dating back to Christ and He is our guide and example.

We do not believe the the spiritual disciplines are a means of salvation only a means of drawing closer to and becoming more like Christ. Many others in the church today feel as though there is something more to our Christian salvation than get saved and nothing else. Being a disciple of Christ has to mean following his example. He himself tells us to take up our cross daily and follow him, but we do not know how to attain that level of holiness. We are to be meek but we argue. We are to be gentle but we yell. We read Scriptures like:(Philippians 2:12-13)

12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

And this one: (1Peter 1:14-16)

14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

After we are saved we are not supposed to stay the way we were. I was told that I would be a different person if I accepted Christ. While I may have been saved, I was far from holy, and I did not have a clue on how to become holy.

So How Do We Draw Closer To Christ and Let Him Change Us Into Who He Tells Us To Be?

We must slow down and listen to Him. We need to be in the bible daily. We need to pray daily and give God the praise and glory for what we are in Him. We must practice listening and getting out of the world we live in. Yes, we are to be in this world and not of it, but we must leave this world for a time in order to see what it really is. (I am not talking about leaving this world literally or spiritually, I am talking about retreating.) The spiritual disciplines are an aid to help us draw close to God. There is no magic trick or incantation. Just stopping and letting Christ change you into the holy man or woman you are called to be.

You can scroll down and read the overviews below, or you can skip straight to the other pages.

The Spiritual Discipline of Worship >
The Spiritual Discipline of Fasting >
The Spiritual Discipline of Prayer >
The Spiritual Discipline of Bible Study >
The Spiritual Discipline of Simplicity

You can also follow along at my blog on Leadership Blog.

Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

by: Richard J. Foster

Amazon Price: $8.98 (as of 05/25/2012)

In 2000 I lead a men's study for a year. One of the books we read was Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline. No other book has changed the way I view my personal devotional life as much as this book has. I have read it every year since then and probably pick it up to scan for a reference three or four times a year.

If you are looking for a book to help you begin or strengthen your devotional life this is that book

Overview of Prayer

Prayer is the heart of our Christian faith. We draw strength from our prayers to God and know they are are heard. We believe that if we pray according to His will our prayers will be answered. Yet many of us want to pray more or have a better prayer life but we do not know how or why.

We want a better prayer life because we know we are called to pray. We know that Jesus said "When you pray," not if you pray. When we are not in prayer we are not in Christ. Jesus tells us in John 15:5 that, "Apart from me you can do nothing."

Don Whitney says in his book "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" Prayer is like a foreign language, it is best learned by practice.

If you are just starting out you can use the Lord's Prayer found here as an example or you can use the adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication model.

The most important part is to just start.

Spiritual Discipline of Prayer Lens

What Do You Believe?

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The Spiritual Discipline of Simplicity

It is hard to write about simplicity on a $600 laptop over my wireless network in a city of a million individuals who probably each have an idea of what simplicity should be. Some say no television, while others watch at will. Some say only essentials while others have more than enough but not to much.

Being satisfied with what you have is the first step to simplicity. Do you really need to buy that new car or if you pay your off and pay cash for a used one in three years will that be good enough? If your old TV is working do you really need a big new one?

Be Happy with what you have. Your God in heaven knows what you need and if he clothes the flowers of the field and feeds the birds of the air he will surely give you what you need.(Matthew 6:25-34)

The Spiritual Discipline of Simplicity

Spiritual Disciplines on YouTube

Overview of Bible Study

One of my favorite Chapters in the Bible is Romans 12 since I can not post the whole chapter her is the part you need to know for bible study.

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

While prayer is the vital part of renewing our minds, bible study is where we get the meat of learning. Two great book have been put out on the subject "Grasping God's Word" and "How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth." I can not give you as much insight here as these books can but just to get started:

Get a commentary or concordance
Take notes as you read
If a passage speaks to you take time to meditate on it and listen to what the Lord is saying

The Spiritual Discipline of Study >

Some Books on The Spiritual Disciplines

Overview Of Worship

The Discipline of worship is not the conventional place to start for most authors. I think that since it is the place most people are familiar with it should be where we start.

"Where do we worship?"

For most of us we attend a worship service on Sunday or Saturday and generally it is a collection of people gathered together to sing worship songs and hear a sermon. Why do we do that? Are we going to the "worship" service to sing songs and hear a sermon or are we going with the attitude that we are going to give worship to God. I dare say that on many occasions I have had the conversation with others about not feeling blessed or fed or spoken to during a worship service.

That is not why we go to these worship services and if you only worship in the service and not anywhere else you are probably not worshiping at all in the service. Here is a quick tip: read some Psalms this week. If you need a good one to start with use the 1st Psalm or the 23rd Psalm. Just take some time and read them and just worship God for who he is.

This week before you go to your local worship service take time to arrive early and pray asking God to show up and open your heart to worship him.

Spiritual Discipline of Worship Lens

Overview of Fasting

This is the hardest lens to write so far in the series. We as Americans are trained from birth to eat three solid meals each day and when we think about fasting most of us think of it only for the health or weight loss benefits. While there are health benefits to fasting that is not the reason for Christian Fasting. When we fast as Christians we give up something in order to rely more on God to take that things place.

In this lens I want to share some aspects of fasting and help you understand the call of fasting.

I will also say this. If you are not healthy do not fast. If you are going to fast talk to your doctor first. Don't rush into this headlong and end up hurting your body.

The Spiritual Discipline of Fasting >

Spiritual Disciplines Around The Blogosphere

Here are some blogs to aid in you journey. I hope. I know sometimes these blogs get filled with nonsense.

Interfaith Incognito: What a Hindu Nun Learned From an Evangelical Christian: Ramakrishna, a Hindu saint of 19th-century India, practiced not only the various spiritual disciplines within the Hindu tradition, he also practiced spiritual disciplines in the Islamic and Christian traditions. He achieved mystic union with the divine ...
My Neighbor's Faith: What I Found in the Chapel: Sometime after this, I read an announcement about a new course in Spiritual Disciplines and Resources, which would include "labs" for spiritual exercises to be taught by the Dean of the Chapel. The course intrigued me, but I was apprehensive about ...
Brookfielders' Film Highlights Peruvian Tribes Healing Ways: Living in seclusion in the heart of the Amazon jungle, the men and women in this film take part in the powerful healing practices of Peru's indigenous medicine men, working with centuries-old plant remedies and spiritual disciplines.
Relationships: Change state of consciousness for a beneficial effect: Some disciplines move us to new spiritual awareness and some simply to a new mental perspective. With your eyes closed could you tell the psychological difference between meditation and prayer, or between programmed relaxation and guided imagery?

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