Intro To Spiritual Disciplines - Nancy Wheatley

Spiritual disciplines bring us into conscious engagement with God. They are not checkboxes for righteousness, but ways of being intentional about friendship with God and spiritual formation.

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​Okay, I'm going to start by praying. So if you join me in prayer, Lord, we have just sung some beautiful songs, asking for a greater experience of your presence. And I so sense your heart on that request, because that's what you long for to is for us to experience more of your presence. And so as we talk today about these avenues Toward that end, Holy Spirit, the only thing I ask is that you would speak to each heart, about your longing for them. In Jesus name, amen. Okay, so, as you know, pillar two, in Aaronovitch seven pillars is a lifestyle in the spiritual disciplines. And I've been doing a lot of thinking about spiritual disciplines lately, because of the spiritual direction program that I'm in. So I just wanted to take a little bit of time today to revisit those disciplines. Now, Rod did a teaching on them. It was back a while ago, I think it was teaching 156. And I've got handouts there, I dropped this piece of paper into our chat. So if you want to just look at it on your phone, you can you don't need it yet. But it might come in handy later, if you want to make notes on it, or you're just old school and prefer a hard copy, please feel free to grab one of those. I will refer to it just a little bit. But anyway, I know that this is a spiritual family that is rich in the spiritual disciplines. So I really want to leave time at the end for us to share, because there's so much that we can learn from one another. My aim here is just to refresh our vision for what the spiritual disciplines are, what they can be. And then allow us to encourage each other with disciplines that we have found to be life giving. So I've been having an ongoing conversation with a young friend, who is really struggling with the question, how can we have a relationship with an invisible God? And she has not yet been totally satisfied with any of my answers. Because when I point her to some of the classic spiritual disciplines, like the study of the Word, she comes back with, I don't want a relationship with a book. I want to know God. Amen. And I have, you know, encouraged her in that you're absolutely right. However, these spiritual disciplines are the the means by which for many centuries, the people of God have found their answers to the question, how do we have a relationship with an invisible God? So I just want to talk about that today. Because I just have been so aware of the astonishing privilege it is that the eternal uncreated one wants to have a relationship with us, us as a people, and us as individuals, he actually wants friendship with us. Is there anything that's worth more than that? Is there anything that's more worthy of our time, and our attention, and our efforts, then to have friendship with the one who has always been? And we'll always be, who created everything that we see, and that is unseen? Who knit us together? Is there anything worth more than a relationship with Him? And yet, it's so easy to lose sight of the astonishing value of that friendship that's offered to us. So that's the goal of the disciplines. In the 1500s, a Spanish priest by the name of Ignatius was searching for a way of life in Christ that would be authentic, humble, and truly transformative. And his goal is expressed in his book, spiritual exercises, a classic for all those who seek to be If Jesus was to know Jesus intimately, to love him more intensely, and so to follow him more closely. Now, some of you dating ourselves here might recognize this prayer as the basis for the song from the 1970s, musical Godspell, you know it write, day by day, day by day. Oh, dear Lord, three things, I pray, what were the three things to see the more clearly, to love the more dearly, to follow the more nearly day by day, I promise I won't sing anymore. But that was fun. Anyway. So this is the true goal of spiritual disciplines, to draw us into this lifestyle of intimate union with the Lord in which we actually get to know the eternal uncreated one. We get to love him more intensely. And for our lives to increasingly follow him in the way of Christ. So if we want our hearts to be ever more captured by Him and His Kingdom, we do right? If we want the things of this world, to have a diminishing hold on our affections, we do, right? Yes. And we want our lives to increasingly reflect His life in us, then we're going to engage in spiritual disciplines, because that's what's going to get us there. Dallas Willard, who you'll is one of my favorite writers on this subject, and you'll hear me quote him several times, in this talk says, disciplines make room for the Word, and the spirit to work in us. So what are spiritual disciplines? Well, they're practices we engage in, or choose to abstain from engaging in which involve our minds, our bodies, our hearts, and in some cases, our relationships, which train our hearts in the direction we want to go. And bring us into conscious engagement with God. I mean, God is always with us. He's omnipresent. We know that. But how often are we consciously engaged with Him? If we are practicing the presence of God, like Brother Lawrence did, and we're praying without ceasing, then maybe we're really good at being constantly conscious of his presence with us. That too, is a spiritual discipline. Right? So the disciplines are not checkboxes for righteousness. They don't earn us brownie points with God. They are just ways of being intentional about friendship with God, and intentional about our spiritual formation. So if you told me that you wanted to get in shape, and I asked you what you were doing Toward that end, and your response was hoping for the best? Well, then I'm going to question your commitment to getting in shape bright, we would be intentional, we would have some strategies to help us toward that end. In parts of the church, there kind of seems to be this assumption that the Holy Spirit will go about his work of transforming us into the image of Christ in mysterious, unfathomable ways. And that somehow Presto change o we will pop out of the oven more Christ like or they approach spiritual growth as if it's a therapists couch, with no higher goal than to make their anxiety go away. Now, not that God doesn't want to comfort us. Of course he does. But he's also pretty intent on forming us into the image of Christ and raising us up to accurately represent him in the world. And spiritual disciplines are a means by which we cooperate. In that process, with intentionality. We all say we want revival to come to our nation. But revival starts with us. It starts in one life, pressing in for more of God. One home, one family seeking God together with all their hearts, one spiritual family determined to see how much of God they can experience and no together. And the spiritual disciplines are the means by which we bring intentionality to offering ourselves to God for that transformation. Here are just a few thoughts about the disciplines. In the disciplines we are posturing ourselves for encounter with God, because we're present to Him and for Him in ways that the distractions of life often preclude. In engaging in the disciplines we are practically a by abiding in Christ, we are cultivating good hearts soil. The Disciplines helped to break up hard soil in our hearts, weed out choking thorns and create humble hearts soil that's ready to receive the implanted word. The Disciplines curate our desires. I love that thought. They help us to be more faithful, fruitful disciples. They help us to set our minds on things above not things on the earth, and to practice being dead and hidden with Christ and God. That's from Colossians three. I love this one, too. They assist us in living as those who see the unseen. They put us at odds with the upside down kingdom we live in, so that we might be formed for the kingdom of God in the likeness of our elder brother, Christ Jesus. They keep us mindful that we are pilgrims, resident aliens in a country, not our own. And they help us to maintain integrity of heart through this pilgrimage during this pilgrimage through hostile and hair and hazardous territory. They help us to lift our gaze from the consuming pageant of the world, to the ever increasing kingdom of God. And lastly, they give us a place to bring our hunger for more of God. They are practical things that we get to do as we seek to sell all we have to buy the Pearl of Great Price. Jesus is the prize, Jesus is the reward. His kingdom, as Ruth Haley Barton says, is here. Now, if we are willing to arrange our lives to embrace it, the kingdom is that state of being in which God is reigning in our life, and his presence is shaping our reality. So pretty important, right? So let's talk about some how are your spiritual disciplines working for you? I think it's just good to, to consider this and ask because they might be working great. In which case, yay, keep doing what you're doing. That's fabulous. But it's good to just kind of check in. Am I growing in friendship with Jesus? is the fruit of his Spirit ever more evidence within me? Is my heart increasingly set on him and his kingdom? On going further up? And further in with him? Am I living more like a Child of the Light and a child of the day? And am I being that influence in the mice, my spheres of life. Now, you can't judge on a day to day basis, I don't think just like working out your muscles, you can have a great workout. Or you can have a low energy workout that doesn't feel like it accomplished much. But they both are helping make you stronger. And just like physical training, it takes time to see gains. But over time, if you're not seeing gains, then it might be time to change up your program. Like you know the the reference that I gave earlier. If you're trying to get in shape and you've been doing what you're doing for a year, and you've not seen the slightest bit of change, then maybe try something else that might not be working for you. And that's okay, not all of the spiritual disciplines are going to work for everybody in the same way. So it's easy to get complacent, get into a rut and not ask whether the things you're doing are serving you well. Maybe it's time to try some new ones or maybe try a familiar one in a new way. Maybe it's time to get stretched a bit. Ask the Holy Spirit. He is the one in charge of your development. He is the one who is given to oversee that realization of Christ in you the hope of glory. And so he is the one who knows your actual life. Your children's demands, the needs of your marriage, your work schedule, he knows all of those things, and he will lead you in discovering spiritual practices that will lead you in those goals of knowing God more loving him more intensely and following more closely. So in his earlier teaching rod called the spiritual disciplines, a spiritual buffet line. And I love that it's a great description. Because just like on a buffet line, you won't do all of these not at one time. And if you have ever been to one of the, you know, the big Asian food buffets, don't try to eat everything, you'll hurt yourself, right? And so most of us are not going to be able to do all of these not at one time, that's not the goal. Some you may do consistently your whole life through some will be just for a season. Some you may never try, although I urge you to consider them, you might be surprised at what's life giving for you. So the ones that rod listed, and that's what's on that handout there are are these prayer, spiritual journaling, which you just heard rod, talk about receiving a word from the Lord and writing it down. Writing it down is a way of honoring and cooperating with the word of the Lord to us. I don't know about you, my memory is a bit like a sieve. And so I can get something amazing from the Lord and move on with my life. And drop it. Forget that. Have you ever said it? And so I would suggest that not just spiritual journaling, but also a regular practice of reviewing spiritual journaling. Go back, read it over what did the Lord say? Have I been cooperating with that? Have I been praying into it? Have I been seeing its fruition? None of the words of the Lord fall to the ground? I think unless we let them and so that's an important practice of worship. Here. We are doing that tonight. But there are lots of different ways of worshiping, solitude, retreat and silence meditating on scripture study of Scripture and theology, fasting, serving and body ministry simplicity, spiritual contemplation and reflection, spiritual friendship, Sabbath things secrecy, stewardship, Study and Learning. And then obedience, listening and holiness. One discipline that is mentioned in another just a classic in this field is Richard Foster's celebration of discipline. That's not overt in rods list, although it is implicit in others of Aaronovitch seven pillars, is the spiritual discipline of confession. Now, confession is closely tied to the lifestyle of repentance that you've heard mentioned several times, if you follow Aaron Novus teaching library, a lifestyle of repentance doesn't mean that we're constantly beating ourselves up, or that we're paranoid about sin. That's not it. And it also doesn't mean that we are denying the reality of the new creation life of Christ that exists in us. It just means that in our journey toward Christ's likeness, we have a long way to go, all of us, and the way to a lifestyle of repentance is through the spiritual discipline of confession. How can I repent if I don't know where my life and heart and frame of reference are still operating from the old man from that, which is unredeemed. So I'd like to draw your attention to two aspects of confession, one's private and one's communal. So different parts of the church, through the centuries have given more emphasis to confession than I think most of kind of modern Western Protestantism has. You know, the Puritans were great at that they spent most of their time on confession, I think, the Catholics have have made that a lifestyle. And so that's great. But at least in the circles that I grew up in, it was something that you were supposed to do if you had a problem, and mostly a very private thing. And, you know, let's not, let's make sure nobody knows about that kind of thing. And so if this is one that you have not tended to practice regularly, just consider this. The Holy Spirit is given to us to form Christ in us, right? So confession just means that we come to the Lord and invite his coaching. Think how simple this is, Lord? Is there anything you want to talk to me about? It's all on the table. If we would do that regularly, I'm convinced that we in the church could be spared much dysfunction, just coming to Him in humility, asking for his help to identify our blind spots. Confession is an examination of conscience with a big assist from the one who is the standard of holiness. So when he shows our wayward ways to us, first we confess them, we agree with him. That's not worthy. That's not like Jesus. And then we receive His forgiveness. This is so amazing. This is such good news. We receive His forgiveness and the cleansing of that unrighteousness Richard Foster says this without the cross, the discipline of confession would be only psychologically therapeutic. But it's so much more. It involves an objective change in our relationship with God, meaning that which was an obstacle between us and intimacy with God has now been removed. And it results in a subjective change in us. It is a means of healing and transforming the inner spirit. Confession is like our best friend. And yet, I don't know that we have embraced it in that spirit. It's part of how we work out our salvation. according to Philippians 212. We allow the redemption of Christ to touch every part of our lives. Now, when we come to the Lord, and we say, is there anything you want to talk to me about? Prepare to be uncomfortable. It's going to be uncomfortable for a little while, shorten the ride, confess quickly. If he shows you something that you need to do, go apologize to your spouse, oh, I've had that word more times than I like the it you know, that was wrong, what you did go make it right, he will make that clear to you because he wants those obstacles to intimacy removed. He wants those intimate those obstacles to Christ's likeness removed, he'll show you just do it. The freedom on the other side of that, and the renewed intimacy with Him on the other side of that is so worth it. Now, the other aspect of confession is communal. That's a little scarier. James tells us to confess our sins to one another, that we might be healed. Sin flourishes in secrecy, which is born of pride, which is another sin. So when we confess our sins to one another, the healing power of humility, and the intercession of others is brought to bear, and the whole of the enemy is broken in our lives. Richard foster again says God has given us our brothers and sisters, to stand in Christ's stead, and make God's presence and forgiveness real to us. We have Christ's authority to declare to one another on the basis of Christ's finished work, your sins are forgiven. What an amazing privilege. Now, growing up, almost all my friends were Catholic, I grew up in the Boston area, and it's just a population that's heavily Catholic. I love my Catholic brothers and sisters. But I heard a lot about Confession growing up, because they went through their first confession. And then you know, that was something they were expected to do. And the impression that I got of it from them was that it was a particularly unpleasant requirement. Most of my young friends had very little interest in actually becoming more like Jesus, they were fulfilling a religious duty, because it was either required, or because they had a superstitious fear of judgment. In hindsight, I doubt that the confession did them that much good. Just being honest here, whether our confession is private between the Lord and us, or given in the safe context of spiritual friendship. And that's what I'm talking about with communal confession. And we don't have priests here, we have brothers and sisters in Christ. And so if you need to confess something, you find a safe brother or sister in Christ, and you confess to them, they will hold it in confidence. They will speak the words of the Lord over you, they will pray for you, and they will help to break that power of the enemy in your life. So if we will do that out of true humility, and a desire to draw closer to the Lord, it will be effective. So closely related to Confession is a discipline that I can't find one, like, I'm sure that there's a name for it, I just call it the discipline of opposites. Most of us struggle with some sinful pattern of thought, be it anger, lust, greed, contempt, pride, something there underlying chronic conditions of the heart that pop out when our guard is down. They are the remnants of the old man, we all have them. And we could probably all agree that it does very little good to try really, really hard to not think of or behave in that old man way. We've all tried that. Not so effective, right? being formed in Christ's image does not simply involve the absence of a negative, it is the presence of a positive. So when we become aware of an unredeemed area in our lives, yes, we start by Crucifying the flesh through confession. That's where we start. But Repentance isn't just turning away from evil. It's embracing life in the Spirit. So here are some examples. If I struggle with contempt for others, it's not enough to just try to stop holding others in contempt. The opposite of contempt kind of best I can figure is honor. So in order to crucify a contemptuous underlying heart condition, I need to embrace and cultivate a heart condition of Honor. Okay? So that means that I start my day with Jesus, maybe meditating on verses like, where Peter says that we are to honor all men. And, and also in Second Peter chapter one that I make every effort to add to my faith, virtue. Well, Jesus, here I am, and You are the epitome of the virtue of honor. And so Jesus teach me what it looks like to honor all men. And then I go about my day looking for opportunities to honor others, especially the ones I find difficult to honor. And there is the beautiful place for an ongoing conversation with the Holy Spirit, saying, Holy Spirit, what does it look like in this moment for me to honor this person who may not be acting honorably, conscious consciously putting on Christ, and letting all of life be a training ground for that? Same if I struggle with lust, then I asked the Holy Spirit what opposite to practice with his empowerment and guidance? Some would suggest purity? Honestly, I almost think it's also honor. Think about that when we lost after someone, we are diminishing them to an object. What if we were to honor them instead, as a person created in the image of God? I don't know. Ask him. So I don't guess it needs to be said that this is not a DIY project. If I struggle with greed and selfishness, I'm not do it yourself. Sorry. If I struggle with greed and selfishness, I am not going to be able to do a do it yourself project to get myself out of that. This is just doing our part in cooperating with the Holy Spirit, to see Christ revealed in us. Dallas Willard again says, in the person with a well kept heart, the soul is properly ordered under God and in harmony with reality. I love that. So regarding the other disciplines, consider, when was the last time you took significant time a half day or longer, to be consciously alone with the Lord? Or spent significant time maybe over the course of days or weeks? Just dwelling in one passage of scripture getting all the meat out of it? You can? That would be solitude and contemplation, or scripture meditation? Do you make it a regular practice to observe a Sabbath in some way, just enjoying the Lord's gift of rest? I personally, I think that engagement with Scripture is not optional for Christians. But there's not just one right way. How's yours working? Is it life giving? Is it taking you deeper into friendship with Jesus? If not, try a new one. How about this, if your visual, maybe a spiritual discipline of meditating on sacred art would be meaningful to you. I just discovered a website. I think it's put out by the Catholics but it's beautiful. And it's beautiful, called Christian art dot today, Christian art dot today. And they send out a daily gospel selection and a work of art curated from the masterpieces relevant to that passage, along with a brief meditation on it. And so that sounds like something that if you are visually inclined, that might breathe some fresh life, on your consideration of the word. Try that Christian art thought today. So, another discipline is prayer. Prayer isn't optional for Christians either. But again, there are so many ways to practice prayer. What would ignite your prayer life? How long? In your prayer times with the Lord? Are you generally completely silent? To give the Lord time to speak? Have you tried a kinetic form of prayer like walking a labyrinth or taking a prayer walk? Maybe you'd find beauty in liturgical prayers like The Daily Office, or the book called every moment holy that you've seen us quote from in the prayer stream. I spent yours avoiding liturgical prayers. And I've only recently discovered how beautiful and drenched in anointing they can be if your hearts right, they're gorgeous. So another prayer practice you've probably heard Ron talk about is the prayer of examine. This is a simple practical tool. Many people prayed at the end of the day. And it's a great time to incorporate that discipline of confession. There are lots of different versions, but most include these elements, gratitude for God's gifts, self examination and confession were necessary. And then some form of identifying the things that gave you life, and the things that drained life from you, over the course of the day. It's a wonderful time to assess how your other spiritual disciplines are serving your desire to draw on your to God, did you feel closer to God today, than maybe take a look at those spiritual disciplines? What might you need to add or change or just come to with a fresh heart? Another idea for prayer is to go to a place that's dedicated to prayer. This is one that has been so important for me, when we lived in Korea, we were only about an hour away from Yahweh doe churches fasting and prayer Mountain, which is very near to the DMZ. And for decades, they have maintained a place there that's only purpose is fasting and prayer. It's so anointed, and I would go up there at least once a month as often as I could, just to pray. And I've missed it so much. And since I've been here, I have rediscovered the Jericho Center, which has a very similar feel to it. And here's the best way I know to describe that. I walk into this place that has been just an open heaven of intercession for years and years and years. And I get to step in on the ground floor and ride the elevator up to the places in intercession that they've gotten to that I haven't. It's amazing. And so I just I highly recommend it, whether you go to Jericho center, or I'm sure there are others around that I'm not aware of just to go and even if you're not praying with other people, your prayers are rising with the intercession that rises from that place. And it's a completely different feel. Okay, just a couple more, when was the last time you got out of your typical context and came face to face with the poor. That will jar you out of your comfort bubble faster than anything I know. Service can be many things. But I have found serving the poor to be particularly holy. And it's something I need to do more of the middle class comfort bubble I live in has a tendency to low me into complacency. And I forget that there are so many people out there in need that Jesus loves. And if I love him, I will not forget them. Here are a few that are not mentioned on the lists that I gave you, hospitality. This is something that there are so many things that you can do that can be done as a spiritual discipline, or not as a spiritual discipline. You can do hospitality and do it just because you enjoy having people over. But you can also perform acts of hospitality, as a spiritual discipline as a way of loving people and getting to know God better, if you will do it with that heart, that mindset. Another one that's so exciting to me is creativity. We all watched Lucy, engage in the spiritual discipline of creativity as she painted those amazing pictures that she painted. Just the discipline of saying, Lord you You created me to be a creative being I want to create with you. And doing that regularly, whether it's writing music, writing words, painting, whatever it might be. Another one is honoring the body. I've talked a lot about working out, you know, getting in shape. God actually gave you that body and he intends you to take care of it, not worship it, not be obsessed over it, but take care of it. And if you do that with a heart to honor the Lord, it can be a spiritual discipline. How about you're gonna like this one, Mike. How about fishing with Jesus? Right? That's one of those things you can do not as a spiritual discipline, or you can do as a spiritual discipline, communing with God in nature. The Cathedral of nature is one of the best places I know to encounter the Lord. I've been doing that like I'm not a fisher, but I'm a hiker. And so I've been doing that lately by hiking and it is life to me, and I experience God in different ways hiking than I do in any other way. You will think of more there are so many things that you can do as spiritual disciplines, those things that you intend attentionally regularly participate in as an as an opportunity to encounter God, to know him more, to love Him more. And to follow him more closely. A rule of life is just your chosen rhythm of spiritual practices. And your rule of life will almost certainly change over time. It has to serve the season you're in. And it should include a mix of spiritual disciplines that are your happy place that you're really comfortable with. Coffee and Bible in the morning, that's my happy place. That's my time with Jesus. But I can still change up the way that I spend that time. But also maybe incorporate some that are a stretch for you that will allow you to experience God and His people in ways that are not familiar to you. Thank you for joining us today. Aaron ova is raising up spiritual leaders in many nations through our spiritual enrichment events, syndicated NetCast international prayer Council network, and numerous international seminary scholarships. Together, we are lighting the fires of revival, fueling prayer movements and raising up friends of Jesus in the nations. We invite you to partner with us in this extraordinary movement. 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