Weekly Reflections on the Spiritual Disciplines

Week 1 — Spiritual Disciplines

In the first chapter of his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Donald S. Whitney argues that “the Spiritual Disciplines are those practices found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth among believers in the [G]ospel of Jesus Christ. They are the habits of devotion and experiential Christianity that have been practiced by the people of God since biblical times.”¹ He continues to explain that there are both personal, the kind on which the book focuses, and interpersonal Spiritual Disciplines. The former includes reading and studying the Word of God alone, while the latter are Disciplines that are done with the church or in fellowship with other believers, such as hearing and studying the Bible together.² Both forms of Spiritual Discipline are crucial for the believer and follower of Christ as they promote godliness and Christ-likeness, the goals of the Disciplines, and Jesus Himself practiced both forms.³ Furthermore, “the goal of practicing a given Discipline, of course, is not about doing as much as it is about being, that is, being like Jesus. But the biblical way to grow in being more like Jesus is through the rightly motivated doing of the biblical Spiritual Disciplines.”⁴ Therefore, Christians would be wise to follow after Jesus, spending time with Him in solitude and with other Christians to be conformed to His image.

I approve of this definition of the Spiritual Disciplines and agree that Christians should develop a habit of practicing them. I have often struggled with such things. I love to spend time with the Lord in prayer and His Word, yet I could be more disciplined. Most of my time with the Lord is spent in an academic setting, and while I do not think that is necessarily wrong as we are to “do all things for the glory of God,”⁵ I miss spending time with the Lord without having to worry about assignments and grades. Therefore, I am very excited to read Whitney’s book and to study the Spiritual Disciplines to regain this. I pray that as I read this book, I will implement biblical Spiritual Disciplines to a higher degree in my devotional life.

Week 2 — Bible Intake

A certain Spiritual Discipline is most important yet often neglected, and it is reading God’s Word. Whitney declares a terrifying reality regarding this vital part of the Christian life: “[T]he worst dust storm in history would happen if all church members who were neglecting their Bibles dusted them off simultaneously.”⁶ How scary a thought that such negligence could produce such a horrific storm! While hyperbolic, Whitney’s declaration clarifies the great need for Bible intake for Christians of today. Therefore, I would like to examine my intake of God’s Word by reflecting on a method that has been effective for me, how Scripture affects my pursuit of godliness and sanctification, and how my time in the Word of God can be more consistent and improved.

The first question I must ask myself is, “What is the best form of Bible intake I have practiced?” I have never spent more time in the Word of God than when I developed a practice of reading through the M’Cheyne plan, “a plan for Bible reading to take readers through the New Testament and Psalms twice a year, and through the rest of the Bible once each year. There are approximately [four] chapters per day in this plan.”⁷ While the Scottish minister, for which the plan is named, “intended that the Scripture listings in the “Family” columns be read in family devotions, and those in “Secret” columns be read privately, in personal devotions,”⁸ there is much to be gained from reading the four passages in devotional time only. Of course, if one has a family, the intended plan could be followed, but if one is without a family like I am, all four books should be read devotionally. Furthermore, I noticed that listening to this plan was also helpful. Therefore, I started reading and listening to it simultaneously, and Whitney states that these two forms are essential in Bible intake.⁹ While some may see this plan as intimidating, it is far better than reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Whitney argues that reading multiple books a day is one of the best forms of Bible intake, for “when [one] read[s] in more than one place each day, the variety makes it easier to keep up the momentum.”¹⁰ Therefore, I would like to resume this practice to spend more and better time with the Lord in His word.

The second question I must ask myself is this: “If [my] growth in godliness were measured by the quality of [my] Bible intake, what would be the result?”¹¹ The answer to this question is simple. Taking in lots of Scripture is essential, yet if Scripture is not remembered, it is useless in pursuing godliness. To that point, I have not done a great job incorporating the other subdivisions of Bible intake, memorization, meditation, and application into my devotional life.¹² Therefore, to answer the question, “What is one thing [I] can do to improve [my] intake of God’s Word [and thus my godliness also]?”¹³ I must do a better job at memorization and meditation, which will equip me for application, godliness, and defense against temptation.

Week 3 — Prayer

The Discipline of prayer is second only to reading God’s word and is connected to it directly.¹⁴ Whitney says this relationship is deep, meaningful, and beneficial, but “[t]oo often disjointed, the two should be united. Typically, we read the Bible, close it, and then try to shift gears into prayer. But many times it seems as if the gears between the two won’t mesh.”¹⁵ What is the answer to this dilemma? Whitney answers, “Meditation is the missing link between Bible intake and prayer… [for] when enlivened by meditation, prayer becomes more like a real conversation with a real person—which is exactly what prayer is.”¹⁶ We ought to listen to God’s word, reflect deeply on it, and allow it to saturate our entire being before we answer God in prayer. Then, we should go back to the text to listen and reflect more. It is a cycle, back and forth. In this way, we converse with God, and our prayer time and time in God’s word will be enriched.

While I do not think I have practiced the virtue to the degree that Whitney speaks, I have noticed a substantial difference when my reading of God’s word is accompanied by simultaneous prayer than when it is not. Therefore, I would like to practice incorporating meditation and simultaneous prayer more regularly into my time with God in His Word. Doing so will deeply enhance my time with Him; I am sure of it. Previously, I noticed this was true when praying God’s Word back to Him, specifically in the prayers of Jesus and Paul. Praying the Word is so helpful because it teaches us how to pray and influences the content of our prayers to be God-centered. In praying the Word, we align ourselves with the will of the Lord. I would also like to resume this practice so that my communication with God goes two ways: He speaks to me in His Word, and I talk to Him with my heart and mind submitted to His will in prayer.

Week 4 — Evangelism

Evangelism is another spiritual practice that requires great discipline and devotion, and I have often struggled to accomplish this task. A year ago, I shared the Gospel with strangers for the first time with a dear friend, and I felt deeply satisfied with my effort. However, I was even more satisfied with God’s use of me, a mere human and sinner redeemed, to accomplish the delivery of the Message to those unfamiliar with it. Of course, before this event, I was tremendously anxious, but as the conversations went on, God comforted me to speak His Words to the best of my ability while being guided along by the Holy Spirit. That is to say, through practice, devotion, and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me, even only sharing the Gospel with a few strangers, I received a greater confidence in God to use me. Whitney again speaks of this: “[He is] convinced that the main reason many of us don’t witness for Christ in ways that would be effective and relatively fear-free is simply because we don’t discipline ourselves to do it.”¹⁷ Therefore, I can achieve greater comfort in God to use me evangelistically if I continue to practice the Spiritual Discipline of evangelism.

As of late, most of my evangelistic endeavors have been done online through multiple platforms, but I am not content with this. I do not doubt that God uses these conversations to bring His people to Himself, but having seen and engaged in evangelism in person, I know that there is something about personal interactions that cannot be replicated digitally. I have noticed this through interactions with close friends who have slowly yet surely been transformed by the Good News of the Gospel, even if they do not fully accept it. These interactions and changes are always more evident face-to-face rather than digitally. Therefore, I would like to make evangelism in person, with friends and with strangers, a regular devotion of my life, as I have failed to do this in the past. Doing so, whether through committed meetings with nonbelieving friends and acquaintances, following urges from the Holy Spirit to talk to strangers, or participating in regularly scheduled evangelism groups, will significantly help my pursuit of godliness and the salvation of others. More specifically, I wish to pray daily for opportunities to share the Good News. I have practiced this in the past yet have often neglected it. Therefore, I need to practice this prayer again to be disciplined in my evangelistic endeavors and faithful to the Great Commission.

Week 5 — Spiritual Gifts and Stewardship

Whitney exclaims that spiritual gifts are given for a particular reason—service—and that they are from the Holy Spirit, who gives specific gifts to people He chooses.¹⁸ Whitney further posits two things after pointing towards passages such as Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:5-11, 27-31; 1 Corinthians 14; Ephesians 4:7-13; and 1 Peter 4:11. First, all Christians have at least one spiritual gift. Second, service for the kingdom is the reason behind the gift.¹⁹ This leads me to ask two questions: What is my spiritual gift, and how can I use it for the kingdom and God’s glory?

A gift that has been affirmed in my life and walk with the Lord is the gift of teaching. Although I am not perfect at it, it has become evident that God has made me for this purpose. A few years ago, I served as a youth intern at a church here in Amarillo, TX, and I had the privilege to lead Sunday school for a group of a few young men, some of which were brothers. They were a wild bunch, yet when we opened the Bible together to study, they would give it their full attention, ask thoughtful questions, and even provide insightful answers. They trusted me as a teacher not only because I was somewhat knowledgeable but because I allowed myself to be young with them and to have a great time, all while taking the Scripture seriously. During this time, I was asked to preach at the Amarillo Children’s Home, my first time preaching to a larger crowd. I did not do as well as I had hoped or planned, but the words I delivered to those children were providentially what they needed. Ever since, I have deeply loved exegeting the Word of God and preaching, but there remains something about the Sunday school room that is just me. Therefore, I would like to lead classes again, and that is a possibility very soon.

Another Spiritual Discipline is stewardship. Recently, I have been quite stressed due to my poor time management. I have not used my time wisely in the way that Whitney argues in his book.²⁰ While I was very disciplined in the past, making a schedule or calendar for nearly everything I did, this has not been my practice lately. However, I deeply desire for it to be so, not only for my peace of mind but so I can use my time and gifts wisely to serve God and His kingdom. For this reason, a practical step will be to prayerfully consider my time and gifts and where they can be best used. I will set a schedule for my work, class time, and regular acts of service inside and outside the church. I genuinely believe this will help me to be less stressed, to worry less about tomorrow, and to live for today. As Jesus says, “[S]eek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”²¹

Week 6 — Fasting, Solitude, and Silence

In high school, I vividly remember experiencing the Disciplines of fasting, solitude, and silence when I traveled on a self-initiated retreat to the mountains of New Mexico. I had been struggling with a particular sin, and the consequences and reality of it weighed heavy on my mind, heart, and soul. Therefore, I escaped to the mountains for a few days to spend quality time with God away from the distractions of my everyday life. Fasting enhanced this time of solitude and silence, enveloped in prayer and reading God’s Word, as “It’s common to practice fasting during times of silence and solitude.”²² Moreover, “it would be expedient to appoint fasting along with prayer,”²³ and “There’s something about fasting that sharpens the edge of our intercessions and deepens the passion of our supplications.”²⁴ This time was crucial in my repentance and mortifying the particular sin, for God extensively worked through it to give me a greater love for Him, solidifying my dedication to glorifying Him through godly living.²⁵

However, it is hard to call these three disciplines—fasting, solitude, and silence—disciplines if they are not practiced regularly. While there are spontaneous moments when I try to practice them, I have not diligently disciplined myself to do them regularly. Therefore, I would like these disciplines to continue to be spontaneous in spiritually serious situations that require great contemplation and discernment and to be structured into a regular schedule. Whitney recommends doing this by setting aside time, ensuring our responsibilities are covered, and finding a special place to focus on the Lord and rest.²⁶ Thus, I know that incorporating these practices into my regular rhythm of life will not be difficult, for silence and solitude are already a part of it to some extent in my regular devotions. To plan for them more exhaustively will significantly benefit me, as will a regular rhythm of fasting.

Week 7 — Journaling and Learning

While I have never written large sections of the Bible by hand, I have practiced journaling my thoughts as I read from Scripture and pray. This devotion has made me much more capable of expressing my ideas on paper than in my head. When ideas are in my head only, they are abstract, but when they are written, they become material so I can see them visually. Previously, I journaled these reflections on Scripture, my day, and prayers on loose-leaf paper, and I have found that of all the methods I have tried, this works best for me, for loose-leaf notes are modular and can be arranged in any way desired. Whitney also favors this method, stating that he “find[s] loose leaf paper more workable” and convenient.²⁷ Almost nothing excites me as much as when I skim through an old book and come across a loose-leaf note shoved in its pages. I have since been less diligent about journaling for devotional reasons and now mostly write for school and my job. I deeply desire to return to the discipline, for I know that God greatly works through the means He has given us, including writing.

Speaking of school, I am deeply thankful for my education and for learning about God, His will, and His people in an organized environment. I know I am learning for His purpose and Church, which brings me pleasant joy. Yet, a common red thread of these entries is that I have suffered from neglect of the spiritual disciplines. I often give all my time to school rather than spending time with the Lord through any means, whether devotional reading, prayer, or journaling. For this reason, I know I must do a better job at this and redeem my learning by accompanying it with deep devotion to God in the spiritual disciplines. I know that to be conformed to the likeness of Christ, I must do better, for “there is a sense in which everybody ‘craves’ to learn something and every Christian wants to be more like Jesus. But only those who diligently discipline themselves to learn will satisfy those desires.”²⁸ This logic comes from Proverbs 13:4: “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.”²⁹ Therefore, I wish not only to be diligent in learning but also in other disciplines.

Week 8 — Spiritual Disciplines and Conclusion

Because I have neglected some of these disciplines in favor of others, answering the question, “If your growth in godliness were measured by the quality of your spiritual disciplines, what would be the result?” is quite scary. In all truthfulness, I am fully aware that I am not what I should be, yet I am not where I was when I first became a Christian. I am confident that God has sanctified me to resemble Jesus more closely over time, yet I want to resemble Him even more so! For this reason, reading Whitney’s book has been very helpful, for I have discovered certain aspects of Christian living and devotion that I must embrace. Primarily, and starting simply, I wish to be devoted to Bible reading and prayer every day, just as I was in the past.

Furthermore, I want to remain devoted to learning yet not allow it to overcome other devotional disciplines as it has. How can I do this? The Role of the Spirit is the answer. Whitney writes the following clarification: “We must perpetually remind ourselves that despite the most fervent diligence to our responsibility to discipline ourselves “for the purpose of godliness,” we cannot make ourselves more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit does that, working through the Disciplines to bring us closer to Jesus and making us more like Him.”³⁰ It is so helpful to see the Disciplines not as a chore but as a means to spend time with the Lord in a genuine relationship, communicated by the Spirit and grounded in the work of the Son. The catholic ideology, “ex opere operato” (from the work performed), is invalid in this instance and all instances as an unbiblical position, yet, if we change the words, we can genuinely say “out of the relationship” that works through disciplines, the Christian is sanctified. Therefore, I resolve myself to do such things, for in them, I will come to know God and myself better than before.

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Footnotes

1. Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life: Revised and Updated (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2014), 4. ↩

2. Ibid., 5. ↩

3. Ibid. ↩

4. Ibid., 6. ↩

5. 1 Cor. 10:31. Unless otherwise specified, all subsequent Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version (ESV) (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016). ↩

6. Whitney, 23. ↩

7. “M’Cheyne Reading Plan,” Bible Plan: Daily Bible Email Reading Reminders, accessed August 30, 2024. https://bibleplan.org/plans/mcheyne/?startDate=2024-01-01 ↩

8. “M’Cheyne Reading Plan.” ↩

9. Whitney, 23-31. ↩

10. Ibid., 30. ↩

11. Ibid., 33. ↩

12. Ibid., 39-78. ↩

13. Ibid., 34. ↩

14. Whitney, 80. ↩

15. Ibid., 86. ↩

16. Ibid., 86-87. ↩

17. Whitney, 120. ↩

18. Whitney, 151. ↩

19. Ibid. ↩

20. Whitney, 160-162. ↩

21. Matt. 6:33-34. ↩

22. Whitney, 237. ↩

23. John Calvin qtd. in Whitney, 200. ↩

24. Whitney, 200-201, 207-208. ↩

25. Ibid., 212-213. ↩

26. Ibid., 240-244. ↩

27. Whitney, 267. ↩

28. Whitney, 284. ↩

29. Ibid. ↩

30. Whitney, 290. ↩