Spiritual Disciplines

2. Spiritual Disciplines Session 9 SF103 Curriculum Training Fall 2010

4. Spiritual Formation: “The process by which God forms Christ’s character in believers by the ministry of the Spirit, in the context of community, and in accordance with biblical standards. This process involves the transformation of the whole person in thoughts, behaviors and styles of relating to God and others. It results in a life of service to others and witness to Christ.”

5. Spiritual Formation: “The process by which God forms Christ’s character in believers by the ministry of the Spirit, in the context of community, and in accordance with biblical standards. This process involves the transformation of the whole person in thoughts, behaviors and styles of relating to God and others. It results in a life of service to others and witness to Christ.”

6. “When we despair of gaining inner transformation through human powers of will and determination, we are open to a wonderful new realization: inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God’s work, not ours…The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us…By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done.” Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

7. “When we despair of gaining inner transformation through human powers of will and determination, we are open to a wonderful new realization: inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God’s work, not ours…The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us…By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done.” Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

8. A farmer … “This is the way it is with the Spiritual Disciplines—they are a way of sowing to the Spirit. The Disciplines are God’s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where he can work within us and transform us.” Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

9. “Spiritual practices don’t give us ‘spiritual brownie points’ or help us ‘work the system’ for a passing grade with God. They simply put us in a place where we can begin to notice God and respond to his word to us.” Adele Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us

10. “Spiritual practices don’t give us ‘spiritual brownie points’ or help us ‘work the system’ for a passing grade with God. They simply put us in a place where we can begin to notice God and respond to his word to us.” Adele Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us

11. Spiritual Disciplines are “nothing but an activity undertaken to bring us into more effective cooperation with Christ and his Kingdom.” Dallas Willard, Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

12. Spiritual Disciplines are “nothing but an activity undertaken to bring us into more effective cooperation with Christ and his Kingdom.” Dallas Willard, Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

13. “We can become like Christ by doing one thing—by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself...We can, through faith and grace, become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of his Father.” Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

14. “We can become like Christ by doing one thing—by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself...We can, through faith and grace, become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of his Father.” Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

15. “What activities did Jesus practice? Such things as solitude and silence, prayer, simple and sacrificial living, intense study and meditation upon God’s Word and God’s ways, and service to others. Some of these will certainly be even more necessary to us than they were to him, because of our greater or different need. But in a balanced life of such activities, we will be constantly enlivened by ‘The Kingdom Not of This World’—the Kingdom of Truth as seen in John 18:36-37.” Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

16. “What activities did Jesus practice? Such things as solitude and silence, prayer, simple and sacrificial living, intense study and meditation upon God’s Word and God’s ways, and service to others. Some of these will certainly be even more necessary to us than they were to him, because of our greater or different need. But in a balanced life of such activities, we will be constantly enlivened by ‘The Kingdom Not of This World’—the Kingdom of Truth as seen in John 18:36-37.” Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

17. An athlete in training… “no one ever says, ‘If you want to be a great athlete, go vault eighteen feet, run the mile under four minutes,’ or ‘If you want to be a great musician, play the Beethoven violin concerto.’ Instead, we advise the young artist or athlete to enter a certain kind of overall life, one involving deep associations with qualified people as well as rigorously scheduled time, diet, and activity for the mind and body.” Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

18. “Our mistake is to think that following Jesus consists in loving our enemies, going the ‘second mile,’ turning the other cheek, suffering patiently and hopefully—while living the rest of our lives just as everyone around us does…If we wish to follow Christ—and to walk in the easy yoke with him—we will have to accept his overall way of life as our way of life totally.” Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

19. “Our mistake is to think that following Jesus consists in loving our enemies, going the ‘second mile,’ turning the other cheek, suffering patiently and hopefully—while living the rest of our lives just as everyone around us does…If we wish to follow Christ—and to walk in the easy yoke with him—we will have to accept his overall way of life as our way of life totally.” Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes

20. “But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” Luke 5:15-16

21. Discuss at your table • According to the gospel accounts, what disciplines did Jesus practice? As a way of “sowing to the Spirit” or “cooperating with Christ and His Kingdom,” what are some ways that you can you incorporate these disciplines this semester? 2. What are some ways that you could bring some spiritual disciplines into your SF group?

22. Resources Barton, Ruth Haley, Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives For Spiritual Transformation Calhoun, Adele, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us Ford, Leighton, The Attentive Life: Discerning God’s Presence in All Things Foster, Richard, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth Willard, Dallas, Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

23. Resources Dallas Willard’s website: www.dwillard.org Gary Thomas’ website: www.garythomas.com Ruth Haley Barton’s Transforming Center: www.thetransformingcenter.org