“The disciplines are activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken, to bring our personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order.”
What are Spiritual Practices?
For a follower of Jesus, spiritual practices are the means of a spirit-driven process for our transformation into Jesus image. God’s overall goal for us is “Christ-likeness (Romans 8 v 29). Spiritual formation is the process leading us back to our true selves. Dallas Willard calls it the “renovation of our hearts”.
At the moment of salvation, Christ is formed in you (Gal 4 v 19) but you are also called to be conformed to the image of Jesus, as well as transformed into His image (2 Cor 3 v 18). The outcome is obedience to Jesus as Christ is formed in us.
Spiritual practices is our training (not trying) as we learn to co-operate with Holy Spirit. Through these spiritual practices we choose to present our bodies before Jesus, while renewing our minds in order to reveal our new natures. These practices are the means of reordering our lives around Jesus and developing how to be sustained by God as well as discovering our new reality, all the while trusting that His way is right. They are our means of learning to wait on God, while teaching us to surrender to Jesus and His way of living. They teach us how to live from a place of rest, both training and preparing us for God’s presence.
Our primary goal is being with Jesus
Our first practice is to learn how to receive His love and then to rest in His love. This is our highest value as a follower of Jesus. Our desire to do spiritual practices is never out of obligation or guilt. Instead, we are compelled to choose a way of life that opens us to experiencing the fullness that the presence of Father God brings us. This is our personal journey of discovery!
For most of us, the lie is that we don’t have enough time. However the truth is that if we had more time, we would fill it with more of the same. Our solution lies in a decision and a new practice, to let go of our old ways and allow God to do his part, which means we leave all outcomes to Him. Our part is trusting Jesus, and in that we will find our rest in Him. To give up our striving and quest for rest through excitement and diversion and to radically reorder our lives around the ways and teachings of Jesus.
Transformed within Community
Although spiritual practices are personal, our spiritual journey was never meant to be private. We need community to heal and mature together. Our commitment to friendship and community is in itself is a spiritual practice. Becoming like Jesus is allowing God to form and transform us, within His spiritual family (community) and our daily occupation (where we place our time and energy) is an ever-growing realisation that we are His children. This new identity changes the way we think, as we learn to accept and receive our Fathers love.
The importance of community, accountability and the guidance from spiritual leadership, while practicing spiritual disciplines, is vital. They help us become more effective in our co-labouring with God in His Kingdom work. All spiritual practices are designed to be first worked out within a church community and then extended to involve the surrounding community that we have influence with.
We learn best by watching how others do it, Bible calls us to imitate our leaders as they imitate Christ (1 Cor 11 v 1). Before embarking on this journey, we need to know what to do and how to do it. Through the local church we are trained and help train others in the ways of Jesus. This helps protect us from potential dangers of going beyond what God has set in place and avoid the excesses and deceptions that can occur.
“Scripture knows nothing of a solitary Christian. People of faith are always members of a community.”
TAKING OWNERSHIP
Through spiritual practices we discipline our tongues, minds, bodies and emotions in order to hear God’s voice more clearly in a noisy world. They are a means to help still our striving, while learning from Jesus that His yoke is easy and His burden light. As we begin to take more responsibility which in turn allows God to heal our inner wounds.
Learning to live like an apprentice of Jesus will look different for each person, as there is a constant shifting in our ever changing seasons of life. It requires an ongoing need to arranging and rearranging our life practices. However our goal remains the same, to become who God has made us to be - like Jesus.
“The longing for significance, love, for deep and fundamental change, for a way of life that works, to connect experientially and even viscerally with Someone beyond ourselves—these longings led me to search out spiritual practices and establish life rhythms that promised something more.”
“Spiritual formation in the Christian tradition is a process of increasingly being possessed and permeated by the character traits of Jesus as we walk in the easy yoke of discipleship with Jesus our teacher.”
Why do we need Spiritual Practices?
We are all being shaped and formed by our environment, relationships and the stories we believe. We become the cumulative effect of our habits, for better or for worse. What we do, who we hang out with on a regular basis will forge us as well as being shaped and formed by past experiences into who we are today. The reality is that we are all ‘disciples’ (apprentices) of someone or something.
The question is: Who or what are you an apprentice of ?… Who are you becoming?… Is it Jesus?
The Bible uses the word ‘disciple’ which means to intentionally follow Jesus as His life-long student. The first disciples left their homes and spent 3 years immersing themselves in the life and teachings of Jesus. For them, it was like a total immersion of learning a new language and culture. Your goal is to be with Jesus so that you become like Him (Romans 8 v 29). Spiritual practices are the means to help you in that goal. To be intentional with your spiritual formation and learning to cultivate relationships (knowing and experiencing) with Father God, Jesus and Holy Spirit on a daily basis.
Are you willing to shift your daily habits to create space for Jesus so that He can shape you into your true self?
Sounds a bit tedious and overwhelming doesn’t it?
A mistake we often make, is thinking that we want is right and yet not willing to commit to that way of living in order to produce the results we long for. We intend to live right but we avoid doing what it takes to make it a reality!
Sounds a lot like exercise…
Most of us long to be fit and healthy but few are willing to make the small constant choices to get there. There is a saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”! Most of us possess an idea of spiritual growth yet seem to lack the will for it. We tend to skip over the discipline of practice and somehow still hope to find an easy short-cut to sainthood.
“Be quick to abstain from senseless traditions and legends, but instead be engaged in the training of truth that brings righteousness. For athletic training only benefits you for a short season, but righteousness brings lasting benefit in everything; for righteousness contains the promise of life, for time and eternity.” - 1 Timothy 4 v 7-8 (TPT)
Ironically in all our efforts to avoid the pains of discipline, we miss the easy yoke of Jesus. We cannot expect to suddenly react “on the spot” like Jesus did, if we live like everyone else. Mistakenly, we believe that we can control our “on the spot” moments with no practice “off the spot”. Jesus immersed himself in spiritual practices, while living here on earth as a man. His life in the spotlight of public ministry was a natural outflow of the life he lived “off the spot”.
THE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY
It is important to acknowledge and note the damaging effects of technology on our souls, minds and even relationships. Technology is not evil, but how we use it will determine whether it is good for us or not. We need to consider the temptations and effects that come with technology so we can protect the things we value most.
The intrusion of technology into every corner of our lives makes spiritual practices even more needed. We need to be aware about our use of technology as more people are becoming increasingly anxious with the thought of not having a constant access to their devices. However, for silence and solitude, we need to learn unplug completely from technology.
How you spend your time, especially in the morning, can potentially set the tone for your whole day.
Do you have a habit of checking your phone first thing in the morning?
Are you unable to unplug from the world, emails and laptops to be fully present with your family in the evening?
Spiritual practices are invitations to you becoming more effective at being your true self. Allow God to “show you if there is any path of pain you’re walking on, and lead you back to His glorious, everlasting ways” — these are the pathways that will lead you back to Him!
We love the metaphor of a journey, walking alongside Jesus. This journey involves all of our being. Alexander Venter says in his book, Doing Spirituality, that “We learn by doing. Knowledge that is life-changing is interactive - it comes by hearing, applying and obeying”. This is a life-long, progressive goal of learning and applying Jesus’ way of life into our everyday life.
Unless we are committed to being intentional about following Jesus, life will do it for us.
Spiritual formation requires a change in lifestyle - but don’t freak out! Be patient and know that it takes many years to change habits and Jesus is okay with that! The point is to start somewhere. Pick one thing that you can do and go from there.
“If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.”
If you are ready to make a change and start somewhere… The first step is to learn to be with Jesus… Click on the link below