Spiritual Disciplines
A Commitment to Being All In For Christ
As we embark on a new year, I've decided to pause our study in John to start a series that challenges our church to be ALL IN for Jesus. This new year presents an opportunity for fresh beginnings, and I am personally committed to going ALL IN on my walk with God. I aspire to be a fully-committed disciple of Christ, and I believe many of you share this desire.
If you're longing to deepen your relationship with Christ, I encourage you to focus on actions that lead to desired results. Let's be individuals who default to action, not just in words or thoughts, but through tangible, committed steps.
Spiritual Desires VS Spiritual Disciplines
Reflecting on the past year and looking forward, many have confessed a lack of spiritual vitality; a sense of complacency or stagnation in their walk with God. They aren't living in egregious sin. In fact, from the outside looking in, others would say they’re doing well in life. However, internally they know they are coasting spiritually.
With that in mind, they’ve determined that this is the year for spiritual growth. This year they’re going to be spiritually strong. Though this desire is commendable, it’s not actionable. Without action, the desired outcome is never attained. A desire without a plan and resolve to action is just a nice thought; and nice thoughts don’t get results.
If you are determined to grow spiritually, you must move from desire to discipline. You must resolve to do the actions that lead to the results you want. We call these spiritual disciplines.
Spiritual Disciplines are our leading indicators - the activities we do to cultivate spiritual vitality. They are simple, yet profound. They are easy, yet because of our flesh, they’re difficult. There are many spiritual disciplines one can incorporate, but I’m challenging you to at least four: (1) reading the Word, (2) maintaining a prayer life, (3) denying the flesh, and (4) connecting with a Gospel-saturated community.
Reading the Word
Do you not feel spiritually alive? It might be because Jesus said, “Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)
Do you feel a little lost, not knowing which direction to go? It might be because “[God’s] word is a lamp for [your] feet, a light on [your] path.” (Psalm 119:105)
Do you have a hard time hearing the voice of God, and distinguishing between your thoughts and His? It might be because “The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Do you feel like you have not been living a sanctified life? It might be because the Word of God sanctifies us, as Jesus noted in His prayer for you to the Father, saying, “Sanctify them by the truth - your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
According to God, His Word is critical for vitality, direction, discernment, and sanctification.
APPLICATION:
Set aside time every day for the word of God. Start a Bible reading plan. Ekklesia is on the YouVersion Bible app, starting the Bible in a Year plan from the Bible Project.
Prayer
Prayer, in its most basic definition, is talking to God. Prayer is our direct line to God, encompassing both private and corporate practices. As the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 shows, prayer should be a collective activity. Yet, private prayer, as mentioned in Matthew 6:6, is equally crucial.
How often should I pray?
You should pray a lot. Like, all the time.
Colossians 4:2 "Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving."
Ephesians 6:18 "Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints."
Philippians 4:6 "Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."
What If I’m Stuck?
If you are like me, sometimes you want to pray but don’t know where to start or what to say. Sometimes you have to pray until you pray. Here are some practical tips I have incorporated to get my prayer life unstuck.
Pray in the Spirit
Sometimes I don’t know what to pray, but my spirit is groaning to pray. In those times, I audibly express what the Spirit is doing in my heart with unintelligible groaning and phrases that I do not understand. I trust God understands and have faith that I am praying in the Spirit the perfect will of God.
Romans 8:26-27 "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God."
1 Corinthians 14:1-2; 4 "1 Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. 2 For the person who speaks in a tongue is not speaking to people but to God, since no one understands him; he speaks mysteries in the Spirit…
…4 The person who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church."
Praying the Psalms
Many of the Psalms are prayers directly to God. Open them up and read them out loud to God as your heart’s cry. Psalm 119 contains 173 verses of prayers directly to God. Start there.
ACTIS
Understanding the different types of prayers is helpful in getting started with prayer. Sometimes I write down the acronym ACTIS as a prompt to pray. That stands for:
Adoration: Prayers of adoration are when you reflect on God’s nature, character, and deeds, and you worship Him in adoration for them.
Confession: Prayers of confession are when you are being real and honest with God - taking a look into your heart and allowing Him to draw out the things that you know shouldn’t be in there. Confession is when specific sins (whether in deed or thought) are spoken out and renounced to God.
Thanksgiving: Reflect on God’s goodness and provision in your life. Start listing all of the blessings He has filled your life with, and give Him gratitude for them.
Intercession: Prayers of intercession go beyond you and focus on praying for others in their time of need. This is when you are standing in the gap for someone you love. They may not even be praying for themselves, but you are interceding for them.
Supplication: Prayers of adoration, confession, and thanksgiving are not prayers in which you ask God for anything. Prayers of supplication are. This is when you ask God for your heart’s desires. God loves to give His children good gifts.
Praying In Concentric Circles
Think of concentric circles, starting small then working outward. The inner circle is you. The next ring is your immediate family. The next ring is your church, then your sphere of influence, then your city, then your country, then the nations. In each of those circles, think of one or two issues to pray for. You’ll have an endless list of prayer content.
Again, these are practices that I’ve applied, and they’ve been life-giving and transformative in my prayer life.
Fasting
What is fasting?
In Hebrew, it means to “close the mouth.” The word in Greek means to abstain from food. Essentially, fasting is withholding natural sustenance from yourself for spiritual reasons. In the Bible, they fasted for all kinds of reasons.
Fasting out of desperation, lament, or repentance in light of sin and evil
Nehemiah 1:3-4 "3 They said to me, 'the remnant in the province, who survived the exile, are in great trouble and disgrace. Jerusalem’s wall has been broken down, and its gates have been burned.' 4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens."
Joel 2:12-13 (In light of the Day of the Lord - a day of judgment and devastation)
"Even now - this is the Lord’s declaration - turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. 13 Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and he relents from sending disaster."
Matthew 9:14-15 "14 Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, 'why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?' 15 Jesus said to them, 'can the wedding guests be sad while the groom is with them? The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.'"
Fasting to seek God’s guidance
Ezra 8:23 "I proclaimed a fast by the Ahava River so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us, our dependents, and all our possessions."
Acts 13:2-3 "2 As they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' 3 Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off."
Fasting in preparation for ministry
Luke 4:1-2 "Then Jesus left the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry."
Acts 14:23 "When they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed."
Why should we fast? How is this good for my soul?
In the beginning, everything was good. God gave us every seed-bearing plant and every tree whose fruit contains seed for food (Genesis 1:29). That is, except one - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). The cravings we have for food are good and natural and God-given when satisfied in the way God intended. However, what did mankind do with these God-given cravings? We know the story in Genesis 3. We turned our cravings to indulge in forbidden fruit.
So while our physical cravings are good and God-given, how we use them are bent towards evil. Fasting is a reminder of our God-given cravings that are to be satisfied in the good gifts that He provides, and our primary dependency upon Him for our sustenance. Fasting is a time of saying NO to your flesh so you can be more in tune with the Spirit.
When we fast, we become hungry. We are to turn that hunger towards the Lord, recognizing our ultimate dependency is upon Him.
During a fast, you are more likely to discern between the voice of your flesh and the voice of the Spirit (because trust me, when those hunger pains kick in - you’ll hear the voice of your flesh).
During a fast, you are also practicing self-control, which is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23).
APPLICATION:
Get into the habit of putting your flesh under. Tell yourself NO 3-5 times per day.
Choose a fast for a period of time, turning your hunger towards God.
Corporate Worship
Last, but not least, corporate worship is a vital spiritual discipline. In the modern church, we emphasize personal worship and your individual walk with God. We often hear phrases like “I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” and unfortunately, many pastors even say “it’s not about church - it’s about a relationship with Jesus.” However, this concept is not found in the Bible. You are not called into a personal relationship alone. You are invited into His assembly, adopted into His family, and engrafted into His body. God’s calling and election have always been to a group.
Of course, you have a personal relationship with God – that's not the point. Worship, while it can be a private experience, is primarily expressed in the Bible as a communal activity. Our life in Christ was not meant to be lived out as a Lone Ranger. Your participation in His church is vital to your growth in Him.
Meditate on these passages:
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 "Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person. A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good: to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of tongues, to another, interpretation of tongues. One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as He wills."
Ephesians 4:11-13 "And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness."
Hebrews 10:24-25 "And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching."
Application:
Commit your presence and your discipleship into the love and care of the church. Make it a habit to participate in the life and worship of the church. Make it a priority in your life.
Consistency in Spiritual Disciplines
To recap - Spiritual Disciplines are the leading indicators of your spiritual life in Christ. They are the activities we do that lead to the results we want in our spiritual lives. Bible Reading, Prayer, Fasting, and Corporate Worship are some of the primary spiritual disciplines I challenge you to prioritize this year.
Spiritual Disciplines are not a quick fix; they require consistent practice. Don’t think that you’ll do these practice for a week then be zapped with holiness. Spiritual Disciplines are not about immediate results but about a lifestyle of commitment. If you falter, remember that you can always restart. It’s about making a continual choice for spiritual health and growth.