Spiritual Disciplines

He warned against the prayers of hypocrites who make a show of their prayer, and taught us to pray humbly Matt 6: God is like a good father who delights in giving good gifts to his asking children Luke We should persevere in prayer until the Lord answers Luke Jesus also modeled prayer for us in his actions. He frequently sought to get away from the crowds to pray in solitude and silence Matt Today, like Jesus, we should withdraw regularly for time alone with God in prayer.

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And whenever we gather with fellow believers, we should pray for one another. Their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. Fasting is abstaining from eating food for spiritual reasons.

It is a focused time of spiritual dependence on God to sustain you, almost always accompanied by prayer. But in our self-indulgent culture lacking in self-control, fasting may be the most neglected discipline today. Jesus fasted Matt 4: Since there is no direct command exactly how to fast in Scripture, we are free to fast as the Holy Spirit leads us. However, the normal practice in the Bible is abstaining from all food. How long should we fast? Some people fasted for one day Judges So the length can vary. Tuesday, December 18, Stop Idolizing Your Family. Why Is Baptism Important?

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A person acting in submission will be respectful and considerate of all people. They will first be submissive to the Triune God, then the Scriptures, their family, neighbors, the body of Christ, those broken and despised, and finally the world. Leadership and power are found and demonstrated by becoming a servant of all. While the discipline of service has a wide array of manifestations, from hospitality to listening and many beyond, at the center is found a contentment in hiddenness, indiscriminancy, and a pattern of service as a lifestyle.

A person choosing to serve will find tremendous freedom in giving up the need to be in charge. In receiving a confession by a sister or brother in Christ, a believer has an incredible chance to minister understanding and forgiveness. Worship is entering into the supra-natural experience of the Shekanyah, or glory, of God. Worship is far beyond a mere period of time spent singing on Sunday morning.

It is a lifestyle spent ceaselessly laying aside our humanly initiated activity, giving way to the teaching of Jesus and the activity of the Holy Spirit.

We offer our whole being in worship: People who are followers of Christ are continually growing as we learn to heed the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the teachings of Jesus in our individual lives. But we also must strive towards unity in the body of Christ as we seek the will of God in a corporate manner.

God loves to celebrate and loves even more when we, as his people, join him in celebrating all the wonderful things he has done for us. Joy that is exhibited in celebration keeps everything else going, produces energy and makes us strong. This genuine and sustaining joy is achieved through obedience to God.

Celebration manifests in endless ways: Read for transformation, in community. Spiritual Disciplines A Practical Strategy Practices such as reading Scripture and praying are important—not because they prove how spiritual we are - but because God can use them to lead us into life. What happens in meditation is that we create the emotional and spiritual space which allows Christ to construct an inner sanctuary in the heart.

Foster, Celebration of Discipline Additional quotes on this page from same source. The interactive conversation with God about what we are doing together.

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The voluntary denial of an otherwise normal function for the sake of intense spiritual activity. Fasting must forever center on God. It must be God-initiated and God-ordained. The mind taking on an order conforming to the order of whatever we concentrate upon.

Remember that the key to the Discipline of study is not reading many books, but experiencing what we do read.

An inward reality that results in an outward life style. An open relational space for being found by God and freed from competing loyalties. Solitude is more a state of mind and heart than it is a place. The discipline which frees us to let go of the burden of always needing to get our own way. Jesus calls us to self-denial without self-hatred. Self-denial is simply a way of coming to understand that we do not have to have our own way. Our happiness is not dependent upon getting what we want. The many little deaths of going beyond ourselves which produces in us the virtue of humility.