After a heavy week of activities, some things ran through my mind in regards to growing in my relationship with God. By what means do we grow close to God and become more like Jesus? What spiritual disciplines (both personal and corporate) further our spiritual formation?
Don't know if you have read this book but in The Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster he describes three categories of disciplines:
· Inward – meditation, prayer, fasting and study
· Outward – simplicity, solitude, submission and service
· Corporate – confession, worship, guidance and celebration
Another great author and teacher, Dallas Willard, puts them a little different. In The Spirit of the Disciplines, he groups them in two areas:
· Abstinence – solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy and sacrifice
· Engagement – study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession & submission
Whatever way best describes your journey, the message is that spiritual maturity does not simply happen to us. To grow in intimacy with God and to develop Christ-like qualities requires our that we have ACTIVE PARTICIPATION.
Our role in this divine-human dance is to place ourselves – with intentionality and regularity – in the loving arms of our Lord. He has promised to do the rest.
Have a wonderful dance....
