How are you doing spiritually? Do you feel like you are on fire or apathetic? Many likely resonate with the latter, but you don’t have to settle for spiritual dryness – you don’t have to feel defeated.
If over time your once bright devotional life has seemingly faded away, take heart because “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6). Don’t lose hope, there is still time to “fan into flame the gift of God” (2 Timothy 1:6).
Your Story Matters
Stories matter. Through our stories, we make sense of and interpret our world. Many people’s stories are filled with heartbreak, adversity, shame, and discouragement.
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The Christian faith offers a multitude of rich spiritual resources. Secular counseling is even beginning to recognize the power of faith and spirituality when facing mental distress or a mental disorder. Paul encapsulated Christian strength when he wrote: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8a).
Every good story begins with conflict before arriving at a resolution. Jesus did not come with a promise of a life free from suffering. Instead, he came promising salvation, accompanied by pain and suffering. The Christian story is no different than any other good story. In it, pain and suffering precede the ultimate deliverance.
If you find yourself suffering from the promised pain and suffering of the Christian life, know that the struggle you face is not in vain. God is at work, preparing the victory ultimately intended for you. Our role in the story is to keep our faith and await our final salvation. Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it isn’t the end of the story. Don’t let the circ*mstances of your life dictate the vibrant spiritual life God has for you.
Light Overcomes Darkness
How should you revitalize your spiritual life? By taking action. Don’t get stuck in the difficulty, giving it greater power. Instead, invite the Spirit in to illuminate your heart. As the Renaissance scholar, Erasmus wrote: “Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.”
Analyzing the problem is easy. We often get lost wrestling with the different nuances and facets of an issue. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always help us to solve the problem. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us that, “darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” The first step is waking up and taking action to turn on the light.
What You Can Do
Now, you’re probably thinking “this sounds awesome, but how do I that?” The first step is to realize you can’t change yourself, but you are responsible for preparing yo
ur heart. Similar to a farmer cultivating the earth before harvest, we too must cultivate our hearts. It is the farmer’s role to prepare the crops to receive sunlight and rain, and we too need to till the soil of our hearts before we reap.
Unfortunately, many people just say that they are “waiting on God,” while taking no serious action to cultivate their own hearts. Dallas Willard, a philosopher and theologian, speaks to this issue in his recent book, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23, “You may very well say, “Can’t God just move in on us and touch us or do something to us?”
Yes, he can do that, and he does that on many occasions. But when it comes to experience the sufficiency of God, we are not talking about what God can do; we are talking about what we need to do.”
We are not to be farmers watching untilled fields, awaiting a harvest. We should live actively preparing our hearts for God. Among the best ways of opening our hearts to the power of God is active participation in spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are habits used to prepare our hearts and minds to experience the gifts God has for us.
One of the main resources we will be pulling from is the devotional classic Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard J. Foster. If you would like to know more about this topic, his writings come highly recommended.
Foster explains our role in the spiritual process in the introduction of his book: “God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.” (Richard Foster)
3 Classic Disciplines to Spark Spiritual Awakening
Below are 3 classic spiritual disciplines, which can help awaken your mind and hear.
1.Meditation
Meditation is a fundamental discipline in our noisy, chaotic world. The busyness and noise of the world drain our energy, leaving us mentally, physically, and emotionally spent. We, along with David, long to partake of the divine peace, crying out “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:2).
Meditation can prepare our heart for the Spirit of God. In the quiet, meditative place, we create space so we can sense God, and He will meet us there.
You have probably heard of meditation, usually related to Eastern ideas of detachment. But, this isn’t the same as Christian mediation. Foster draws a distinction between the two saying, “Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to fill the mind. The two ideas are quite different… detachment is not enough; we must go on to attachment. The detachment from the confusion all around us in order to have a richer attachment to God.”
To more analytical and pragmatic minds, meditation may appear overly mystical and even misleading. Likely, this perception is rooted in an unclear understanding of Christian meditation.
Mental health professionals regularly make use of meditation techniques in order to assist patients as they focus on harmless or positive thoughts. This is done to shift their attention from their stress and concern and to give the patient power over their own thoughts. Over time, regular meditation can actually set positive thought patterns.
Christian meditation is similar. The goal is for participants to focus on Christ, rather than the anxieties and worries of life. Focusing on Jesus will have a powerful and lasting effect. One of the greatest promises in scripture is the concept that: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3).
Willard notes that “We bring the reality of God into our lives by making contact with him through our minds, and our actions are based on the understanding that results from the fullness of that contact. There is nothing mysterious here. This is why the mind, and what we turn our minds to, is the key to our lives.”
2.Prayer
Prayer is the most fundamental of all spiritual disciplines because it is our way of communing with God. If prayer is neglected, we will be doing everything in our own strength, apart from God. Overtime, we will surely notice the effects of this isolation.
Despite this importance of prayer, many Christians avoid it because they aren’t sure how to pray “correctly” or are afraid God won’t hear them. Lack of prayer perpetuates the problem, rather than inspiring them to step into a life of prayer.
Satan loves the absence of prayer. Christians striving to operate in their own strength, relying on their own idea of God is exactly what the enemy wants. From this place, Christians exist in a state of brokenness and insecurity effectively neutralizing any efforts to grow. Prayer is the process of coming before God in authenticity and openness, seeking forgiveness and love.
As Foster writes, “To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ.”
3.Fasting
Fasting is one the most misunderstood and neglected of the disciplines. It is often seen as outdated and an overly austere denial of self. “Of course God intends for us to be well fed and healthy,” we say to justify ourselves. While simultaneously turning our backs on a discipline regularly practiced by figures such as Moses, Paul, and Jesus himself.
Furthermore, we are deeply shaped by our culture. As Foster writes, “The constant propaganda fed us today convinces us that if we do not have three large meals each day, with several snacks in between, we are on the verge of starvation. This, coupled with the popular belief that it is a positive virtue to satisfy every human appetite, has made fasting seem obsolete.”
While fasting in a Christian way is typically only seen as a form of self-denial, that isn’t the heart of the matter. Instead, the heart behind the practice is to give up physical food while filling yourself with the nourishment of God’s word.
Put another way, Christian fasting really isn’t focused on self-denial, it only uses it as a tool to highlight and fulfills our need for some more lasting and real than physical sustenance can ever be.
When opening yourself to the practice of fasting, be compassionate and patient with yourself. Don’t rush into a long fast. Wade in slowly and become accustomed to the process. The importance does not lie in the act itself, but on what happens on the inside. Again, Foster: “What goes on spiritually is much more important than what is happening bodily.”
If you are feeling led to begin practicing the disciplines, consider reaching out to a Christian counselor who can help you down your new path leading to growth and transformation.
Photos:
“Country Church”, Courtesy of Max Kukurudziak, Unsplash.com, CC0 License; “Cold Lake”, Courtesy of Dominik Dombrowski, Unsplash.com, CC0 License; “Old Harry Rocks”, Courtesy of Will van Wingerden, Unsplash.com, CC0 License; “Prayer”, Courtesy of Jack Sharp, Unsplash.com, CC0 License
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