Next Steps - Oct 4

The LORD God formed the man out of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. - Genesis 2:7

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. - Matthew 28:18-20

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. - Matthew 11:29

Jesus modeled for us what it was like to live a rhythm of life where "being" in God precedes, even as it is connected with, "doing" for God. He knew that although he was fully God and fully man he had to get away, to connect to God as the source of his strength if he was to do anything. He then tells his apostles, and by extension us, that he is the holder and source of all authority and that we need to connect with him in order for us to do anything for him. Jesus demonstrated this inward/outward rhythm.

Spiritual disciplines allow us to connect to him as the source. They are, in fact, absolutely necessary for transformation into his likeness and into the people God intended us to be. We practice spiritual disciplines in order to draw closer to God – not to earn his approval or to get something – like a trade -- or to make up for something or anything like that. In that way, they are really a gift to us. There are many disciplines -- the below list is not exhaustive. There are also some good books and other resources on spiritual disciplines. Take a look at the list, order one of the books. Pick some to try. Come to the Creekside Ministry Center anytime this Friday from 7:00 p.m. to Saturday at 7:00 p.m. to experience a time of silence and prayer. Try fasting something this week. Or, try another one that seems attractive to you. Pick two or three and try them out on some regular basis for a month or two. Share with someone what you are trying. Once you have been doing them for a month or two ask yourself, is this life-giving to me? Do they help me connect to Jesus, the source? Share with our community what you discover.

Enjoy the disciplines and meet God.

Blessings, Peace, Hope and Love

Doug

Definitions of some spiritual disciplines are below, which “does not include every practice or situation that could actually serve as a discipline in the process of spiritual formation.” (from The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible, ed. by Richard Foster (Harper, 2005).

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.

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 to be governed by this powerful aspect of our life.

Confession: Sharing our deepest weaknesses and failures with God and trusted others, so that we may enter into God’s grace and mercy and experience his ready forgiveness and healing.

Fasting: The voluntary abstention from an otherwise normal function – most often eating – for the sake of intense spiritual activity.

Fellowship: Engaging with other disciples in the common activities of worship, study, prayer, celebration, and service, which sustain our life together and enlarge our capacity to experience more of God.

Guidance: Experiencing an interactive friendship with God that gives direction and purpose to daily life.

Meditation: Prayerful rumination upon God, his Word, and his world.

Prayer: Interactive conversation with God about what we and God are thinking and doing together.

Sacrifice: Deliberately forsaking the security of satisfying our own needs with our resources in the faith and hope that God will sustain us.

Secrecy: Consciously refraining from having our good deeds and qualities generally known, which, in turn, rightly disciplines our longing for recognition.

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.

Silence: Closing off our souls from “sounds,” whether 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.

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.

Solitude: The creation of an open, empty space in our lives by purposefully abstaining from interaction from other human beings, so that, freed from competing loyalties, we can be found by God.

Study: The intentional process of engaging the mind with the written and spoken Word of God and the world God has created in such a way that the mind takes on an order conforming to the order upon which it concentrates.

Submission: Subordination to the guidance of God; within the Christian fellowship, a constant mutual subordination out of reverence for Christ, which opens the way for particular subordination to those who are qualified to direct our efforts toward Christlikeness and who then add the weight of their wise authority on the side of our willing spirit to help us do the things we would like to do and refrain from doing the things we don’t want to do.

Worship: Expressing in words, music, rituals, and silent adoration the greatness, beauty, and goodness of God, by means of which we enter the supranatural reality of the shekinah, or glory, of God.

Also, check out:

The Life You've Always Wanted, John Ortburg
The Spirit of The Disciplines, Dallas Willard
Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster