Blogging the Spiritual Disciplines: May Our Cups Overflow
I was asked to be a part of a collective writing project by my friend Joe Kennedy on the spiritual disciplines. He asked several bloggers if they would be interested in writing on several of the disciplines on Tuesdays from today until around October when we finish them all. I didn't think I could do it every week, but I chose 5-7 of them that I had some insight on. Over the past many years, I have taught through Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline three times and it has been a refreshing experience each time. There are certain disciplines that I have incorporated into my life that help me grow spiritually and keep me connected to God.
Some people think of a focus on "spiritual disciplines" as being a dry thing. Who wants to think about discipline? Wouldn't we rather talk about something more exciting like ministry, grace, growing churches, denominational politics, personal fulfillment, etc? But, I find that the most exciting thing in our life is when we actually connect with God. The spiritual disciplines are just ways to connect with God. They can be seen as vehicles into His presence, if you will. We need these things, because we need to consistently position ourself in a place to receive God's presence and power in our life. If you don't put the glass under the pitcher, then how will it get filled up? We are to have rivers of living water flowing from within us (John 7:37-39), but we must put ourselves in a position to receive from God.
The spiritual disciplines help us do just that. They put us in a position to receive life, wisdom, healing, and power from God. They are pathways that He has established that lead us into His presence. They are not to ignored for those who want to grow closer to God on a continual basis. Here is a list of the disciplines that we will be studying, with the attendant dates:
I'll start writing on "simplicity" on August 28, but you can go to Joe's site if you want to keep up with it each week.
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