On the topic of “Spiritual Disciplines”

This post provides some basic thoughts as well as links for the topic of “spiritual disciplines” for Christians.

Sometimes, this topic comes up around New Years’ – it’s sometimes seen as a resolution to grow more spiritually through disciplines of better routines and priorities. Or shortly afterwards, around Lent.

It’s good to obey the Scriptural instructions and be a godly example for the believers (1 Timothy 4:12) and to prioritize time for Bible reading and study, talking to God, and worshipping our Saviour!

But the topic of “spiritual disciplines” has been also a trendy one in recent decades – in churches and especially among Christians who find themselves tested with sickness, tragedy, fatigue, overwhelm of any reason. The search for more rest (or some would say peace) is huge.

“Can _____ help me get what I want?”

Sometimes the desire for physical rest and emotional/mental rest is taken to mean the same as the desire for spiritual rest. Sometimes the quest for spiritual rest (or what they think they are needing to feel), leads them into temptations away from the One Who gives spiritual rest, into other spiritual-sounding practices which are rooted in paganism.

Deception can be sneaky – coming at a time when we’d like to flee like a bird to a mountain…

“…How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
For look! The wicked bend their bow, They make ready their arrow on the string, That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?
…In the LORD I put my trust…”
from Psalms 11:1-3 NKJV

In my audience, we also have homeschooling families – those who diligently seek subjects of education to find answers…. in history (and philosophy), in philosophical sciences, in the arts. To be sure, the topic of “spiritual disciplines” (as typically described in writings) reaches into those subject areas – to provide answers from “great” thinkers and artistic expressions which compel with their eloquence and beauty.

I’m putting this post up to acknowledge the topic and to highlight some of the resources which we have found helpful on this topic to steer us away from the bad and towards the good of how to consider the role of spiritual disciplines in our lives.

For example, I don’t give up chocolate or technology for reasons of seeing if I can spend my time differently for just a few weeks until Easter when I could go right back to doing what I’d like.

Is it really “denying oneself” if it is just going through the motions of setting aside something to makes me look or feel good or godly or a sense of accomplishment for my efforts of trying to make myself suffer in some way “like Jesus”? Or could it be false humility, self-pride, or even a belief that self-discipline earns spiritual graces? Verses such as Colossians 2:17b-23 and 1 Corinthians 8:8 were written in context of traditional celebrations:

“… the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize…. Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”

“But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.” (In other words in this example, food or lack of it, in itself, has no spiritual value for restraining sin. It is true that fasting is sometimes used to provide more time for spending in prayer. But with fasting, it isn’t a plain lack of food like a diet; it’s the time for prayer or learning from God’s Word, which has the real value.)

Sin has a strong power over us. And sin has punishment (Romans 6:23). We need a Saviour – Someone stronger than ourselves – to deal with sins such as bad habits or lack of spiritual growth. Jesus is that Someone and the only One Who could pay for our sin’s punishment for us plus give us strength to overcome sin’s power to live to serve God!

Billy Graham spoke about how to know Christ as your Saviour in this quote: (video/audio source linked here)

“That decision means this: that you repent of your sin – and what does that mean? You say, “God, I have sinned.” Will you say that tonight? Sure you will; you know you have. Then the next part of repentance is “I’m willing to turn from my sins”. The word repentance means ‘change your mind, turn. “I’m going in one direction in my life. “I’m willing, Lord, if You’ll help me, I can’t do it alone but I’m willing to turn and change directions.” And any attempt to deal with sin apart from that will NOT WORK. And then by faith, you receive Christ into your heart – by faith. You can’t prove it, you can’t come intellectually to God (alone) – you must come by faith and trust Him.”

In a nutshell –

If having a routine or tradition helps you reflect on your priorities more than just a temporary denial of something that should be reduced in your life, then that can be fine and good (2 Peter 1:5-9).

There can be a time(s) to restart or rededicate (e.g. Romans 12:1-2). But then, that also means to continue in that direction of prioritizing better things in a manner that honours God and aligns with His Word.

Christians ARE to lead a “disciplined life”, meaning a self-controlled lifestyle (1 Corinthians 9:23-27, James 1:19-27, 2 Peter 1:5-9, 2 Corinthians 7:1). Christians ARE to have a seriousness and watchfulness/thoughtfulness in their perspective on life such as in prayer: “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.” 1 Peter 4:7 NKJV

Concerns about “Spiritual Disciplines” –

• Deception can be attractive, appear like doing good or being nourishing, pleasant, even appear to be pointing to God. (e.g. Genesis 3:4-6, 13, 17; Matthews 7:21-23; James 1:13-16; 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 11-15; Galatians 1:6-8, 11-12 – the true gospel didn’t come through education of man’s thinking; it came from God to the authors of the Bible.) (See also 1 Timothy 6:3-9, 4:1-8.)

• Imagination, as seen in artistic expressions, can be marred, and so can our subjective experiences, even if they are historical happenings. These things are not trustworthy for basing spiritual truth on – it is too shaky of a foundation for our lives (Genesis 6:5, 8:21; Colossians 2:18-23). (You can see also this linked article.)

• We need the word of God (that includes the words of Jesus and the words from the Holy Spirit, which means the Bible) to be our final authority, our sufficient foundation, for what is spiritually necessary and good for us. This means that the “historical traditions of the Church” are meaningless and can be even in error, unless those traditions are ALSO instructions for us found in God’s Word! (e.g. Matthew 15:8-9; 1 Peter 1:12-13, 23, 25, 2:2-5; 2 Peter 1:16-21, 2:1-2; 3:14-18).
  • Additionally, it is odd to us to notice that a number of Christian traditions or denominations which claim to believe in “Sola Scriptura”, but do not demonstrate that they actually believe in “Sola Scriptura” – which is that God’s Word is the final and sufficient authority for what Christians are to believe and practice. They want to add methods or disciplines based on experiences of Christians in history that seemed to “make” the person grow in godliness.
    • Some of them like to add traditions of Church “fathers” who were NOT authors of the Scripture, to influence how they find their spiritual strength. They can become distracted with stories of experiences, web articles, social media suggestions, books and audios (which are not the Bible but rather human ideas).
    • It is not wrong to study church history. But it is wrong to try to re-interpret the Scripture to now align with post-Bible writings of all human experiences we think are great.
    • The writings of authors outside of Scripture are only spiritually of benefit to us if those points are ALSO upheld by the message found in the whole of Scripture (2 Peter 1:20, Philippians 3:16-19). Otherwise, the worth of those writings and ideas are only historical or artistic, nothing more. These are not additions of some sort of new “words from God” for us today. Nor should we value those ideas to say that we must practice them to gain godliness.
    • You can see my post about the sufficiency of the Bible at this link.

• Some of the “spiritual disciplines” typically written about are a “bridge” towards other ideas which are Biblically in error, such as towards the new age/spirituality and/or into the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox religions which have heavily promoted a few of these “disciplines” in efforts to encourage people to join with them and discover what they have been “missing”.
  • An example is a discipline of pursuing “the silence” in order to “hear from God”, using practices that are never mentioned for us to do in Scripture (but has historical roots elsewhere). While the people who are in those religions can be very nice people, many of other main points of their beliefs, are also in opposition to what God teaches us in the Bible (such as elevating humans to a point of being able to answer prayers or wishes).
  • Biblically, our faith in what/Whom we trust for spiritual needs, is to be firmly rooted with personal faith in Christ and what He has done on our behalf…. not leaning on traditions (e.g. John 3:3-16, Colossians 2:7-8), not in ourselves (e.g. Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 2:11-12, 3:5), and not faith in a community or membership, even though we become part of one for fellowship, including serving together. (Also see for example, Romans 10:8-13, Ephesians 3:16-18.)

• Historical background: The typical presentation of “spiritual disciplines” is based on the “Desert Fathers” (monks) and ideas that were popular in the 3rd century and Middle Ages with some foundations in the Asceticism and Gnosticism sects. It generally teaches at least one of the following ideas:
  • that these disciplines must be practiced in order to receive God’s grace/favour,
  • that there are “secrets” from God which only those who learn to practice the disciplines will experience and/or
  • that this is the way to receive relaxation, peace, and reduce stress.

Saved by Grace, Walking by Grace –

The Bible is clear – we’re not only saved by God’s grace, an undeserved gift paid for by Jesus. It is ALSO God’s grace that teaches us how to live for the Lord!

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.” Titus 2:11-14 (NIV ’84)

Spiritual refreshment and rest comes from God, not from our efforts to keep up with a routine of practices (1 Peter 5:10; 2 Peter 2:9, 19; Matthew 6:7-13; James 4:4-5; Colossians 2:2-4, 6-10; Ephesians 2:13; Romans 10:8-13; Psalm 23; Galatians 3:2-5. See also the story of the Pharisee (who had a routine of spiritual practices) and the publican (who humbly accepted what God could do) in Luke 18:9-14.)

Here’s a promise from God, in His Word:

Christians have already the source of rest to go to – and that is in a Person (Jesus Christ), not a practice:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Matthew 11:28-29 NKJV

“So which ‘Spiritual Disciplines’ are “good” for Christians to practice?”

Spiritual restlessness is not cured through a formula. Only God has the power to change it.

If, as a Christian, you don’t have “spiritual rest”, then your problem is sin.

We’re to take our sin to God (1 John 1:9, Colossians 1:21-23) so that our spiritual walk is back on track again. Jesus is the One Who makes anyone “whole”, spiritually complete; not ourselves! (Acts 4:10, Colossians 2:10, Acts 3:12)

• You might still be suffering from lack of physical rest or mental/emotional stuff going on, but spiritual rest is a promise when we come to Jesus. We all should try to remember that spiritual rest is not equivalent to physical healing for a body or a mind.
  • Some Christians will continue to suffer with health issues until their heavenly home, perhaps using a wheelchair or on dementia medications. But even within that kind of tiresome physical/mental/emotional suffering, they can be spiritually at rest.
  • It might look simple like a child-like faith that “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so!”
  • (You can read my posts “Why Do We Suffer?” here and “The Christian’s Security” here.) See also 1 Peter 4:19.

Obedience

On that foundation, the Christian who loves coming to Christ in such a relationship, only needs to be an obedient Christian – simply following the instructions found in the Bible.

• That means that the “spiritual disciplines” of things that Christians are to do for spiritual well-being are the instructions given to us in the Bible – the Scriptural commands and principles for pleasing our LORD that He has told us all about in the Bible.
• Read the Bible! It’s His Word for you and me, for today. We do not need to go after any other ideas for “spiritual rest, peace, or refreshment”. God has put in His Word all that is necessary for our spiritual well-being (2 Corinthians 9:8-11, 2 Peter 1:3).

Since Christians already possess spiritual rest, from Christ, when they are in a right relationship to Him, how they are to live their lives is simply in obedience to the instructions of God’s Word for Christians.

Read it, understand it, and obey it. If disobeying, we’re to be truly sorry and repent (change direction), confessing to God and then being obedient in what we know we’re to do.

“”Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” Matthew 7:24-29 NKJV

Resources

Here are a handful of resources which warn of pagan ideas within the Christian practices called “spiritual disciplines” and/or topics of Christian theology related to this one:

• “Whosoever Will May Come: Did Jesus Die for You?” (David Doherty, TH.D.) This thinner theological book was recently written by a Canadian professor, serving on the faculty of a Bible college for over thirty years. It is about what the Bible teaches about having a personal relationship with Christ, while the author is well-aware of church history and various academic literature. ISBN:978-1-988627-44-1.
• “This Little Church Stayed Home” (Dr. Gary E. Gilley) This thinner theological book is written by a pastor about what a Biblical church should be like. It is subtitled: “A faithful church in deceptive times”. There are four sections:
  • A Postmodern World (An Historical Overview, Whatever Happened to the Truth?, Postmodernity and…)
  • The Church’s Mandate (Building Up the Body, Church Discipline and Church Growth, Love for an Offensive Gospel)
  • The Scriptures (The Use and Misuse of Scripture, The Purpose Driven Life: An Evaluation, The Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture)
  • Pressing Challenges (The Challenge of Mysticism, The Challenge of The Emergent Church)
• Booklets: “The New Evangelization from Rome or Finding the True Jesus Christ” and “How to Know When the Emerging Church Shows Signs of Emerging Into Your Church” (Roger Oakland) These booklets are free to read online (and inexpensive for the printed format). The titles are linked to the online version of each booklet.
• Rome Rising: Religion and Rulers (Dr. Jimmy DeYoung) This video looks at some less-known historical background, including showing an example of what can happen when pagan ideas are blended in with Christianity.
• “Faith Undone” (Roger Oakland, 261 pages). It is subtitled “the emerging church… a new reformation or an end-time deception”. Chapter titles (with example subtitles to show the sort of thing written about in this book) are:
  • A New Kind of Church? (A Way that Seems Right, Always Searching, Never Finding)
  • The Birth of the Emerging Church
  • A “New” Faith for the 21st Century (e.g. The Process of Reimagining, When the Word is Not Heard)
  • Riding the Emerging Church Wave (Experience Over Doctrine, Experience-Driven Christianity, Ancient-Future Faith, The Impact of Imagery)
  • Ancient-Future Worship (Mystics from the Past, Multi-Sensory Worship, The Labyrinth, Drumming Up “Jesus”, A Catholic Perspective of the Church Fathers, Journeys Home)
  • When West Meets East (Thomas Merton – God in Everybody, Celebration of Discipline, Enamored by Mysticism, Spiritual Formation and Transformation, A New Age Christianity, “Christian” Yoga, From the New Age to Jesus Christ, Contemplative Prayer or Terror?)
  • Monks, Mystics, and the Ancient Wisdom (The Sacred Way, The Alpha State, Thin Places of “Oneness”, Spiritual Disciplines)
  • The Second Coming of the Eucharistic Christ (Eucharistic Evangelization, Rekindling Amazement, The Eucharist and the Evangelical Church, Eucharistic Adoration and the Emerging Church)
  • The Kingdom of God on Earth (An Emergent View on the Future of Planet Earth, The Kingdom of God and a Man of Peace, Purpose-Driven Ecumenism, A Utopian Kingdom and Global Healing?
  • The Undoing of Faith (“They Like Jesus but Not the Church”, Emergent Missiology, “Churchless” Christianity, The Inclusive Gospel)
  • A Slaughterhouse Religion? (False Advertising for God, “That God Does Not Exist”)
  • A New Reformation? (Apocalyptic Millennialists, Resisters)
  • Or an End-Time Deception (Is Christianity the Reason the World is in Trouble? A Global Community)
  • Endnotes, Index
• Roger Oakland also taught in a 4-part DVD series, now available to watch online at this playlist linked here. The titles of these four sessions are:
  • Man’s Spiritual Journey
  • The Emerging Church: Road to Rome
  • The Emerging Church: Road to Babylon
  • Proclaiming the Gospel
• A Time of Departing (Ray Yungen, 240 pages). It is subtitled “How Ancient Mystical Practices are Uniting Christians with the World’s Religions”. The back of the book includes the following descriptions:
  • “…ever wondered about labyrinths, breath prayers, centering prayer, the silence, yoga, the Desert Fathers, spiritual formation, contemplative prayer, and ancient wisdom practices…”
  • “Through which avenues has this new spirituality entered the church? You may be surprised at the answer! Purpose Driven, Emerging Church, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual Directors, Postmodernism, Youth Ministries, Seminaries and Christian Colleges.”
• Ray Yungen also presented a series of DVDs, called “The New Face of Mystical Spirituality” now available to watch online at this link here. We’d specifically recommend the one about contemplative prayer since much of the content of his other titles are generally covered better (in our opinion) on Roger Oakland’s series.
• You can also go to our post entitled, “Peace and Rest” here.

God Restores and Comforts

You might also like to go to another blog post of ours called “God Restores and Comforts” (- linked here when it gets posted, hopefully soon).

A Song

(Click on the title to hear it sung.)

Jesus Paid It All (by Elvina M. Hall, 1865, public domain)

I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small,
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.”

Refrain:
Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Lord, now indeed I find Thy pow’r and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots, And melt the heart of stone.

For nothing good have I [done], Where-by Thy grace to claim;
I’ll wash my garments white, In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

And when, before the throne, I stand in Him complete,
“Jesus died my soul to save,” My lips shall still repeat.