Disciplined Spirituality

Disciplined Spirituality


Two Extremes

It is easy to slip into one of two extremes in our Christian walk.

One extreme put way too much emphasizes on our role in our spiritual walk and it minimizes God’s role. This type of behavior emphasizes knowledge, rules, human efforts and human activities and virtually ignores the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The other extreme overemphasizes God’s role and minimizes our role. It type of behavior is characterized by forgetting our responsibilities totally. It stresses the supernatural, let go and let God mentality, and totally down plays our human efforts.

What we need to strive for is a balanced spiritual life between being totally dependent on God and having the discipline to do our part in God’s service.

You see faith without works is dead… we are responsible to work out our salvation but not work for our salvation. There is a big difference.

Paul talks about this balance in Philippians 2:12-13

Php 2:12-13
(12) Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, cultivate your own salvation with fear and trembling.
(13) For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Dependence

Now let’s talk about dependence a little bit. You can not live a life of Christ (be a Christian) in the flesh. In other words it takes a supernatural happening, the power of the Holy Spirit, for us to be able to reproduce the life of Christ in our life. Now, we can fool some of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Apart from Christ and the power of his Spirit, we can accomplish nothing in the sight of God.

Gal 5:16
(16) I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

Gal 5:24
(24) But those belonging to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.



The word for “walk” in the second verse is specific and refers to the step-by-step process of daily life.

Discipline

Dependence is a critical element in our spiritual walk with Christ but there is no growth in the Christian life apart from discipline and self-control.

1 Timothy 4:7 tells us to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

You must develop and grow in spiritual discipline… it does not happen instantaneous over night. Spiritual discipline is grown and developed… we grow in godliness as we hear and obey the Word. The discipline comes from us doing our part to read His word and pray, developing our spirit and our strength through the Holy Spirit.

The Benefits of the Disciplines

For many people, the word discipline just reeks with negative connotations. When most Christians think about spiritual disciplines they associate it with tyranny, legalism, or bondage. But a closer look at Scripture and the lives of the great saints reveals quite the opposite.

The book of Proverbs for instance… Proverbs argues that personal disciplines such as the pursuit of wisdom, discernment, understanding and the knowledge of God enhance our lives and gives u\s options we could never have had otherwise. Listen to these first 12 verses in Proverbs chapter 2.

Pro 2:1-12
(1) My son, if you will receive my words and hide my commandments with you,
(2) so that you attend to wisdom, you shall extend your heart to understanding;
(3) yea, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding;
(4) if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures,
(5) then you shall understand the fear of Jehovah and find the knowledge of God.
(6) For Jehovah gives wisdom; out of His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
(7) He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly.
(8) He keeps the paths of judgment, and guards the way of His saints.
(9) Then you shall understand righteousness and judgment and honesty, every good path.
(10) When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasing to your soul;
(11) judgment shall keep you, understanding shall keep you,
(12) to deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man who speaks wicked things;

Spiritual discipline does not require and appetite but a willingness to pay the necessary price by studying His Word and praying. The appetite will come because the Holy Spirit will see to that!


I love this quote by Kenneth Boa concerning how to obtain wisdom through spiritual discipline. He said…

“Wisdom is a skill that is developed through instruction and discipline, and this skill in the art of living under the Lord’s dominion frees us to become the people God intended us to be”.

Here is a good example of discipline. For years I have had a desire to be able to sit down before a piano or keyboard and make beautiful music. I can play a little by ear and chord some songs… but nothing that can be called beautiful music in my opinion. But my desire to do so has never matched by the willingness to invest the time, energy, and discipline to make it happen. Only those who pay the price through practice and study will have the freedom to make that instrument make beautiful music.

Jesus practiced spiritual disciplines all through the New Testament. Classic disciplines such a solitude, silence, simplicity, study, prayer, sacrificial service and fasting. These are classic disciplines that you rarely hear taught today.

But we have an illusion that we can be like Christ without imitating his spirituality. If we truly wished to be like Jesus then we would imitate the things he did while here on earth.

This statement by Kenneth Boa in his book really hit me hard personally. He said…

“If believers expended the same time and energy in cultivating their spiritual lives as they are skilling to invest in becoming reasonable skillful at any sport or hobby, the world would look with wonder at the power of the body of Christ”.

I really believe that most of us have a desire to know Christ more deeply, but even though we have that desire we shun the lifestyle that would make it happen. By neglecting spiritual disciplines we are in no way prepared to face the temptations and challenges that we face from day to day in our Christian walk… it’s no wonder we struggle at times.

We have to be willing (disciplined) to persevere in our spiritual disciplines of study and praying. Only those who are willing to persevere ever reach a point where they begin to get the hang of it… but we never arrive. Scripture encourages us to continually press on toward the goal and reach forward to what lies ahead so that we may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of us Philippians 3:12-13.

The spiritual disciplines such as service to others, fasting, praying, and studying takes practice. By practicing them and it is then and only then do we become more like Christ and conformed to His image.

Next I want to talk about the spiritual disciplines… I will name each of them and have a comment or two about each one of them.

Now there is no standardized list of spiritual disciplines… this is just the 18 or so disciplines that Kenneth Boa chose to teach about in this chapter.

The first of these classic disciplines that we will talk about is…

Solitude and Silence

The practice of being solitude moves us away, for a time, from the hectic and troublesome schedule of this world into the presence of the Father. When we remove ourselves in solitude away from everyone we are more able to communicate with the Father verses being influenced by our peers and the world. We can discover a place of strength, reflection and renewal as we practice solitude.

Silence is related to solitude. Being silent can enable us to listen to the still quiet voice of the Spirit… this discipline is not only for when you are alone practicing solitude but the silence discipline can be practiced in the presence of others. How many time have you wished you would nave keep your mouth shut???

Prayer

Prayer is having a personal dialogue with the Most High God. Prayer is a privilege… it’s an opportunity… it should not be a burden or duty. We draw closer to God and we can release our burdens and fears to Him as we are honest with Him in our conversations with God. We should have structured times for prayer but we can also practice the discipline all through our daily activities.

Journaling

Journaling is a great way to see your development as a Christian. Recording your insights, feelings, and experiences you can see your progress as you develop spiritually more clearly.

Study and Meditation

The study of God’s Word is a key process to renewing your mind so we can operate in the light of God’s Word. Not only studying God’s Word but memorizing scriptures and hiding them in your heart is a key to developing spiritually.

To meditate on the Word is to take time to ponder a verse or a passage from Scripture so that its truth can sink deeply into our mind and spirit.

Fasting

Fasting can simply be to deny yourself nourishment (food) for the purpose of gaining spiritual nourishment. This can be a very difficult practice for some people because of medical reasons. It’s a self denial of something that you require to live. You can also fast from television or the internet or something else that you have allowed to get in the way of your relationship with the Father.

Secrecy

The practice of secrecy is a spiritual discipline. This can be practiced in ways such as giving money to someone in need and no one knows who gave it or where it came from. You are more content and happy with seeing someone’s needs met than getting attention and the thank you of men. The Bible says that God sees what you do in private and will reward you one day openly.

Confession

Having an accountability partner is a very tough spiritual discipline. Having someone you can confess your burden of sin makes you vulnerable and it must be done with someone you trust absolutely. What is sad is that we are generally more concerned with what our friends, who we can see, will think than the disapproval of God, who we can not see. Confession and repentance before others can be very difficult but it is a spiritual discipline worth practicing.

Fellowship

The discipline of fellowship can be very easy for some people because they are social and most are type “A” personalities. But for some people, who are not that inclined to being social, this may be a real area of struggle. Remember…
Pro 27:17
(17) Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the face of his friend.

If you are someone who sometimes struggles with fellowshipping with other Christians… this may be something that you may need to practice. We will discuss this in more detail when we get to Corporate Spirituality.

Submission

The practice of submission is to voluntary submitting yourself to some other authority. It is based upon the biblical mandate for us to seek the good of others rather than our rights. We all know of people who like to be in charge of everything… these are the people who have the most trouble with this spiritual discipline.

Simplicity, Stewardship, and Sacrifice

These three disciplines reinforce each other since they have a direct relation to our attitudes and resources we have personally that God has blessed us with.

The simplicity discipline refers to our willingness to abstain from using some of our own resources for our own gratification. It encourages us to trust the Lord for our needs and depend upon him. This discipline will free us from getting high minded or thinking that you have made yourself without help from anyone.

Question… do you know someone who you know that are VERY wealthy… may even be millionaires… but to look at them and their lifestyle you would never know it. They are practicing simplicity or their make up lends them to simplicity. People who like to keep score by owning the most toys need to practice the simplicity discipline.

The discipline of stewardship encourages us to be good managers of what God has blessed us with. It includes our money, talents, and time.

Sacrifice discipline is a more radical discipline than simplicity. This involves the discipline of giving up something that would meet our needs rather than just our wants. This is kind of like seed giving out of your need. Let’s say you need a financial… to practice the sacrifice discipline would be to give money to meet someone else’s need and entrust God to take care of our need.

Worship and Celebration

True worship is to be totally and fully occupied with the majesty, beauty, goodness, powers, and perfection of God. Worship is a decision and it’s just like any other discipline… you have to decide to worship God. You worship God regardless of how your feel and regardless of your circumstances.

Celebration is a form of worship but it emphasizes all the God has done on our behalf. When you practice the discipline of celebration you choose to focus on gratitude for what you have instead of grumbling for what you do not have.

Service

True service is a discipline that concentrates on the needs of others and how to meet those needs. This is all done without the need or desire for recognition but rather it is done out of a true love and desire to please Jesus and do the works he called us to do.

Witness

This is a discipline that is not followed nearly enough in this day and time. You may say that it is not your calling… but we are all called to evangelism. This type of discipline calls us to go outside our comfort zone and circle of friends to bear witness of Jesus. This can be hard and will call for complete and total trust in Jesus. Think about it… there used to be a lot of door to door witnessing going on… but now this type of discipline is rarely practiced.

This has wrapped up our 18 Spiritual Disciplines but I would like to end this lesson with some great suggestions for enhancing your practice of prayer.

1. Choose the best time – Select a particular time of the day, and dedicate it only it personal prayer.
2. Choose the best place – Select a place where there will be a minimum of interruptions and distractions. During walking or exercising.
3. Set a minimum time for daily prayer – but be realistic… don’t pressure yourself by biting off more than you can choose. Start comfortable and work your way up as needed.
4. Be consistent – regard your prayer time as a daily appointment you have made with God and keep your appointments.
5. Focus on the person of God – Prepare your heart and mind for prayer by releasing all stresses and concerns and giving them to the Lord. Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you (1 peter 5:7)
6. Come before him in humility – You are talking with the creator of the universe… a Holy God.
7. Come expectantly to the throne – Expect the supernatural – ask him for something only he can do (is anything too difficult for the Lord? (Genesis 18:14)
8. Pray at all times in the Spirit – Our prayers should be initiated and energized by the Holy Spirit who intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:27)
9. Strive for a balanced diet – our prayers should include a balanced menu of praise, confession, adoration, supplication (intercession and petition) and thanksgiving.
10. Pray Scripture back to God -
11. Do not do all the talking – Practice times of being still and know that He is Lord… listen for that still small voice.
12. Make prayer a part of your relationships with people – how many of us has prayer partners… who actually pray together at times when you run up with each other.
13. Plan special times of prayer during the year -
14. Practice the presence of God – We should practice what we pray for… because we are always in the presence of God Almighty.