SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
Text: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
First and foremost we will define each individual
term.
What is Spiritual?
Contrary to popular opinion, being spiritual has
nothing to do with being religious. They are two different things. Your walk
with God is more important than your work for God. When we talk of
spirituality, we refer to the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or
physical things. Spirituality means driven by the Holy Spirit.
What is Discipline?
1. Training expected to produce a specific
character or pattern of behaviour, especially training that produces moral or
mental improvement.
2. Controlled behaviour resulting from
disciplinary training; self-control.
3. Punishment intended to correct or train, eg
when we are being punished for an offence.
4. A branch of knowledge or teaching.
What is Spiritual Discipline?
Spiritual discipline is a series of spiritual
activities carried out for the purpose of cultivating spiritual development.
Spiritual discipline can be defined as a behaviour
that augment our spiritual growth and enable us to grow to spiritual maturity.
This process begins to take place the moment a person encounters Christ. 2 Cor
5:17
It is a natural component of our Christian life. If
we want to accomplish any significance in our lives we need to discipline
ourselves.
Many of us have been taught that this action
consists primarily in attending church or giving towards its programs. As
important as these are, they fail to address the need for a radical inner
change that must take place in our hearts to be of significant use to God. The
teaching of Scripture and specifically the life of Christ tells us that the
deep changes that must occur in our lives will only be accomplished via the
disciplines of abstinence such as fasting, solitude, silence, and chastity, and
the disciplines of engagement such as study, worship, service, prayer, and
confession. These disciplines, along with others, will result in being
conformed to the person of Christ, the desire of everyone born of His Spirit.
Why do we need Spiritual Discipline?
The purpose of spiritual discipline is the
development of our inner being our spirit man. We all have spirits and our
bodies are the temples to house our spirits 1 Corinthians 6:19.
When we first gave our lives to God, we acquired a
new nature that is the nature of Christ and since we have long dwelled in our
old nature, which is the sinful nature, we have to discipline ourselves to get
rid of the old nature. We have to circumcise our hearts Colossians 2:11.
Believers experience renewal from within. Spiritual
discipline helps to transform our inner being which will reflect outwardly. We
have to do away with our old nature Colossians 3:5-10 and put on the new nature
Colossians 3:12-14
Spiritual discipline helps to keep our bodies under
subjection. Matthew 26:41b the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We are
human being and we are limited. We need to discipline our flesh to succumb to
our spirit man.
Spiritual discipline strips away the nonessential
and helps us focus on running the Christian race; we are told in Hebs 12:1 to
get rid of anything that will hold us back and slow us down from running this
race. God has set a race before us and our goal is to run this race to the end
without hindrances; we need to discipline ourselves to get rid of those weights
and sin that can easily hinder us E.g. Pilgrim progress.
Spiritual discipline will help a Christian to move
towards their goal. You are ready to lose everything to gain that which is
imperishable Philippians 4:7-21.
For example, we are in this university for different
purposes. As a student, there are times you don’t want to go for your classes
or even study but when you think about your parents or sponsors and how much
they have spent on your tuition or you think about the consequences of skipping
class which could result to failure, you are compelled to attend your classes
and you think about your future as well and what you want to achieve.
During the weekends when your friends or housemates
are busy partying, you are in the Library studying. You are ready to give up these
things so that you can graduate with honours because you know what you are
aiming for. That is how it is with Christians, when we think about the price to
be won, we think about the sufferings Jesus went through just to save us; we
will be compelled to discipline ourselves.
Just as we do physical exercise to make us fit, we
also need spiritual exercise to make us spiritually fit. We are told in 1
Timothy 4:7-8 not to waste our time arguing over foolish idea but instead spend
your time in keeping yourself spiritually fit. Bodily exercise is good, but
spiritual exercise is much more important.
If we don’t discipline ourselves, how can we then
differentiate ourselves from the world? If we don’t pray, fast etc? We will
become weak and easy prey for the devil.
If we don’t discipline ourselves, God can discipline
us Hebrews 12:5-6, Proverbs 3:12, Job 5:17-18, 1 Cor 11:32, Prov 20:30,
Rev 3:19, Rom 11:22. As a matter of fact God loves us so much to leave us in
our wretched state. If you are in doubt, we will read John 3:16.
God uses discipline as a last resort. If all God
needed to justify mankind to himself was a bigger cattle-prod, then Christ died
for nothing! No, God's plan for the earth is love first, discipline last. To
get us to listen and repent, he will use deep conviction, the rebuke of
friends, coincident sermons, the quickening of Scripture, and every other means
before disciplining us. But if we resist God's Spirit of light and mercy, we
are promised the rod of correction. When God disciplines, the
punishment fits the crime. Time and again, we realize that we cannot get
away with unrepentant sin. God is sculpting us into holy vessels, and the
process can be painful.
Types of Spiritual Discipline
We will look at three basic types of spiritual
disciplines:
1) The inward disciplines cultivate the inner
spiritual life.
*Bible Study (reading, study, memorization and
meditation of scripture, Luke 4:16-22)
*Prayer (Take deliberate steps to pray regularly
and with purpose. Praying through the Psalms is a good way to increase your
“prayer vocabulary. Col 4:2 devote yourself to prayer, being watchful
and thankful)
*Fasting (Abstain from food, media,
entertainment, or anything else that occupies your time E.g Jesus fasted 40days
and 40nights Luke 4:2, Isaiah 58:5-8, Math 17:21, Mark 9:29)
*Chastity (Abstain from sexual immorality 1 Cor
6:18)
2) The outward disciplines govern the individual
activities we pursue to encourage spiritual growth.
*Evangelism (we have been given the great
commission to preach the gospel Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15)
*Service (Give your time to the church and/or to
others. Ponder tithing your time. Example Jesus washing his disciples’
feet John 13:12-16)
*Simplicity (don’t bring tradition, Christ has
made it simple Col 2:8-10)
*Stewardship (1 Corinthians 4:2)
*Solitude (Having an alone time, the
practice of spending time without any others or any distractions, Jesus prayed
in a solitary place Mark 1:35.)
*Submission (Submit to the proper people in the
proper ways—fight against the sin of pride. Be humble 1 Peter 5:6-7)
3) In corporate disciplines or inter-personal, we
join other Christians in mutual ministry for spiritual growth. There are those
we practice with others
*Celebration (Practice being grateful and
thankful both in your own relationship with Christ and with other believers.
Express encouragement and thankfulness to others. Rejoice always Phil 4:4,
1 Thess 5:16-17, Eph 5:20)
*Confession (Practice confessing your sins to
trusted people who will pray with you and be spiritual allies James 5:16)
*Seeking Guidance (seek God’s guidance in
everything you do Prov 3:5-6)
*Worship (Engage in corporate worship and
include worship in your own prayer time)
*Fellowship (Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up
meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one
another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching”)
The first major area where Christians lack
discipline on godliness is daily interaction with God through reading the word,
prayer, hearing the word preached. We do lots of other things, but we often
don’t discipline ourselves to do the most fundamental things. It is like
getting dressed in the morning. You have to put the word on to draw near
to God to be able to know what He wants you to do and to be able to have the
Spirit strengthen you to be able to do it. It is so fundamental but there
is a lot of lack of discipline in that area. What is the game plan for
being successful as a Christian? It is about raising your spiritual GPA
and the first one is interaction with God. If you are not disciplining
yourself to do it, you are not doing it. It needs to be done. When
we discipline ourselves every time, it becomes part of us.
For example, I hear people say that doing their
devotion in the morning is a struggle, at first I was amazed, and I was like
really? But when I began to ponder on it, it dawned on me that we are all from
different backgrounds. In my house, we always our morning devotion and at night
before we sleep, we pray. So, it was something my parents cultivated in us
right from our formative years and we became used to. So, I see it as a big
deal to do my devotion in the morning. But there are other people who mayn’t
have had that opportunity, maybe they grew up from some other religious
background and somehow along the way they found Christ. They will need to
discipline themselves to learn how to do it.
Bible Study
The most important discipline is that involving the
word of God and constitutes the reading, study, memorization and meditation of
the scripture. If this discipline is neglected, no other effort to discipline
ourselves will be successful because we simply do not have the power to
overcome the resistance of the sin nature in which our new nature reside or do
we have the power to overcome the resistance of demonic influences whose aim is
always to separate us from our only means of spiritual growth, the word of God
(Romans 12:2, Psalm 119:11, 99, 105, 2 Tim 2:15, Prov 6:23). We need to focus
on Jesus through his word not looking at the cloud. Paul reminded Timothy of
the inherent nature of the Scripture, that it is literally from the mouth of
God, i.e. “God-breathed,” and, as such, contains the very power of God. He also
refers to the gospel as the very “power of God” (Romans 1:16) and exhorts
Christians to take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” as
our only offensive spiritual weapon against demonic forces (Ephesians 6:17). We
must begin any effort at spiritual discipline with the only source of power,
the Word of God. The word of God is our constitution.
Scripture memorization is also essential. We always
have the freedom to choose what we place in our minds. With that in mind,
memorization is vital. Memorization enables us to keep it constantly in the
forefront of our minds, and that makes it possible to react to all life
circumstances according to its precepts. One of the most powerful passages of
Scripture regarding the necessity of memorization is found in Joshua 1:8: “Do
not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and
night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will
be prosperous and successful.” It is through the discipline of memorization
that we are enabled to pray more effectively and to meditate. This in turn
enables us to “be prosperous and successful” as God defines “success” for us.
When we are walking in His ways and in His will, we are imbued with a new
Spirit-filled inner being, one with a heart like God’s.
Richard Foster, a Christian writer on spiritual
discipline emphasised that Christian meditation focuses not of the emptying of
the mind or self, but rather on the filling up of the mind or self with God.
Discipline ourselves to be like the Berean
Christians when they hear the word they go back to study Acts 17:11. Some
people don’t take notes during sermons. The faintest ink is greater than the
best memory.
Praying
The second discipline is that of prayer. Our prayers
are a spiritual communion with God through means of thanksgiving, adoration,
supplication, petition, and confession; we can see that in our Lord’s Prayer
Matthew 6:9-15.
The wonderful thing about prayer is that God meets
us where we are. He comes alongside us to lead us into a deeper, more real
relationship with Him, not motivated by guilt, but driven by His love (Hebrews
10:19-22, Romans 8:26-27). Prayer changes us. Prayer changes lives. Prayer
changes history. Our knowing God really makes us want to conform to Jesus and
His will for our lives. God slowly and graciously reveals Himself to us while
we pray, and it is during those moments that we can more deeply understand and
experience His love. Of course, one of the major outcomes of disciplined prayer
is answered prayer. But, in all truth, that is secondary to the real purpose of
prayer which is an ever-growing, unending communion with God.
Taken pari-pasu, the spiritual disciplines of prayer
and the Word will provide us with a rewarding program which will lead to godly
living, praise, submission, service and celebration of our salvation and the
God who provided it. Through these disciplines, we are enabled to obey God’s
command to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who
works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians
2:12-13).
Before I wasn’t really a fan of long prayers, and
sometimes when my parents prayers are taking ages I begin to grumble. I
remember that there is this Reverend that comes to my house to pray with us,
his prayers takes forever. I am yet to see someone who prays as long as that
man. The Reverend is really tall and will always make us stand for his prayers,
you cannot sit nor knee down. So, my siblings and I made a plan that whenever
the man is around and its almost time for him to leave, we will disappear, my
brother and sister goes out and chill in my neighbour house, I pretend am using
the toilet just so we don’t have to do the everlasting prayer.
Later, I began to ask myself how people pray so long
without getting tired.
How does Spiritual Discipline work?
The Christian walk is just like nurturing a child.
When you give birth to a child, you start by feeding them with milk; you don’t
give a new born aby eba or rice. But overtime as they begin to grow you start
by giving them little of these foods, so also is the Christian walk, when you
first gave your life to Christ, you start by learning the elementary teaching
of Christ. Same as building a house, you start from the foundation. You
don’t tell someone who has just given their life to fast for a month; they
won’t be able to do that. First start by teaching them how to get rid of their
old nature, teach them how to study their bible, how to pray and overtime they
will need to develop their faith.
Some people do not know how to pray- that is why
Jesus taught his disciples how to pray and that is a model for us today (The
Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-15)
Spiritual discipline is a good habit that allows us
to remain open to God and develop ourselves spiritually. It should be something
we do on a daily basis. Discipline is one of the hardest things for us to
learn. Think of some finest athletes, most of them have a good sense of
discipline, think about the soldiers, farmers etc. Athletes discipline
themselves and go through rigorous training because they want to win a price in
a competition. I am not a professional athlete and I haven’t gone through any
training lately and if you put me in a race with Usain Bolt or Mo Farah they
will definitely outrun me. You know why, because they discipline themselves
every day to beat their previous record but on the other hand if tell Mo Farah
or Usain Bolt analyse a system’ requirements, they probably would not have a
clue as to what to do. Software engineering is my discipline and athletics is
their discipline.
Spiritual discipline helps to exercise our spirit
mind and emotions so that we become closer to God. The more we practice these
discipline the better we get at them and the stronger we make our faith.
Spiritual discipline differs from the spiritual
gifts. When we studied the spiritual gifts, we saw that these gifts are given
to us by the Holy Spirit, we didn’t have to go through any special training to
possess these gifts, he gives them as he wills, but spiritual discipline are
tools that can aid us in our spiritual walks, they take time and effort to
incorporate into our daily lives.
Conclusion
“The Disciplines are God’s way of getting us into
the ground; they put us where he can work within us and transform us. By
themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to
the place where something can be done. They are God’s means of grace. The inner
righteousness we seek is not something that is poured on our heads. God has
ordained the Disciplines of the spiritual life as the means by which we are
placed where He can bless us.” Richard Foster
We should bear in mind that it is a gradual process;
you need to be consistence for changes to occur.
You can write down your weaknesses and also the
measures you will take to correct them. Look at it every day. Evaluate yourself
weekly or monthly to know how you are doing.
Read Romans 6:1-23
