Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life Study Guide

This updated companion guide to Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (see description below) takes you through a carefully selected array of disciplines that will help you grow in godliness. Ideal for personal or small-group use. Drawn from a rich heritage, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life will guide you through a carefully selected array of disciplines. By illustrating why the disciplines are important, showing how each one will help you grow in godliness, and offering practical suggestions for cultivating them, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life will provide you with a refreshing opportunity to become more like Christ and grow in character and maturity. Now updated and revised to equip a new generation of readers, this anniversary edition features in-depth discussions on each of the key disciplines.

Drawn from a rich heritage, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life will guide you through a carefully selected array of disciplines. By illustrating why the disciplines are important, showing how each one will help you grow in godliness, and offering practical suggestions for cultivating them, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life will provide you with a refreshing opportunity to become more like Christ and grow in character and maturity. Now updated and revised to equip a new generation of readers, this anniversary edition features in-depth discussions on each of the key disciplines.

The Christian life is built on three seemingly unremarkable practices: reading the Bible, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. However, according to David Mathis, such “habits of grace” are the God-designed channels through which his glorious grace flows—making them life-giving practices for all Christians. Whether it’s hearing God’s voice (the Word), having his ear (prayer), or participating in his body (fellowship), such spiritual rhythms of the Christian life have the power to awaken our souls to God’s glory and stir our hearts for lifelong service in his name. What’s more, these seemingly simple practices grant us access to a host of spiritual blessings that we can only begin to imagine this side of eternity—and the incredible joy that such blessings bring to God’s children today.

When we mistake spiritual disciplines for to-dos, time slots on our schedule, or Instagram-able moments, we miss the benefits of Christ's continual and constant work for us. In Ragged, Gretchen Ronnevik aims to reclaim spiritual disciplines as good gifts given by our good Father instead of heavy burdens of performance carried by the Christian. Only when we recognize our failures to maintain God's commands do we also realize the benefit of our dependence on his promises. Gretchen uses this distinction on law and gospel, presented throughout Scripture, to guide readers through spiritual disciplines including prayer, meditation, Scripture reading, and discipleship among others. Despite our best efforts, the good news is that spiritual disciplines have less to do with what we bring before God and more about who Christ is for us, not only as the author but also as the perfector of our faith.

How to Live as Jesus Lived Dallas Willard, one of today's most brilliant Christian thinkers and author of The Divine Conspiracy (Christianity Today's 1999 Book of the Year), presents a way of living that enables ordinary men and women to enjoy the fruit of the Christian life. He reveals how the key to self-transformation resides in the practice of the spiritual disciplines, and how their practice affirms human life to the fullest. The Spirit of the Disciplines is for everyone who strives to be a disciple of Jesus in thought and action as well as intention.

Transformation is what Christianity is all about. To follow Jesus is to enter into a journey from an old way of living to a new way of being. As Christians our goal is to become ever more conformed to the image of Christ. Of course we cannot attain this high goal in our lifetime. But we can make progress. We can become more of who we long to be. We can leave behind old ways that have not served us well. We can become more loving to others, more open to God, more in tune with who we are called to be. Such transformation does not happen automatically, even though it is the Holy Spirit working in us to change us. We are asked "to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil 2:12-13). We work; God works in us. This book is about our part in the work of transformation. Spiritual Transformation examines two main themes. 1) The Dynamics of Spiritual Transformation are explored in six small group sessions: what it is and how it happens. 2) The Goal of Spiritual Transformation is described in six small group Bible studies focusing on Romans 12 & 13, where Paul provides a blueprint for how we are meant to live as followers of Jesus.

In the six-session small group Bible study, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, John Ortberg guides you and your group through the spiritual disciplines and teaches you how they can transform your spiritual life. What does true spiritual life really look like? And what keeps you from living it? What can you do to pursue it? If you’re tired of the status quo—if you suspect there’s more to Christianity than what you’ve experienced—John Ortberg invites you to join him on a road to transformation and spiritual vigor that anyone can take. Cultivate new intimacy and confidence in prayer. Discover the freedom of secrecy. Taste the benefits of slowing life’s frenetic pace. Learn how to be guided by the Holy Spirit … and much more. As in a marathon, the secret lies not in trying hard, but in training consistently. Proven by followers of Jesus over the centuries, the spiritual disciplines are exercises that strengthen your endurance race on the road to growth. Sessions include: It’s Morphing Time Slowing Down and Celebrating Praying and Confessing Meditating on Scripture and Seeking Guidance Practicing Servanthood, Finding Freedom Going the Distance with a Well-Ordered Heart Designed for use with The Life You’ve Always Wanted: A DVD Study 9780310810506 (sold separately).

How can I know God better and, in the process, learn to live out my identity and calling? Too many readers finish a book or Bible study only to be left with unanswered questions about how they can actively and practically nourish their spiritual desires. Intended for use alongside the Conformed to His Image Video Study and as a complement to Kenneth Boa’s highly regarded Conformed to His Image textbook, the Conformed to His Image Study Guide will help you formulate answers and engage in spiritual practices as you review key concepts and truths of what it means to conform to the image of Christ. Designed for use by independent learners, in small-group and church settings, or in college and seminary courses, this study guide will help you build your life on a biblical foundation, encapsulated in twelve facets of authentic Christian spirituality, which include: Relational Spirituality: Loving God Completely, Ourselves Correctly, and Others Compassionately Paradigm Spirituality: Cultivating an Eternal versus a Temporal Perspective Disciplined Spirituality: Engaging in the Historical Disciplines Exchanged Life Spirituality: Grasping Our True Identity in Christ Motivated Spirituality: A Set of Biblical Incentives Devotional Spirituality: Growing in Relationship with God Holistic Spirituality: Every Component of Life under the Lordship of Christ Process Spirituality: Process versus Product, Being versus Doing Spirit-Filled Spirituality: Walking in the Power of the Spirit Warfare Spirituality: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil Nurturing Spirituality: A Lifestyle of Evangelism and Discipleship Corporate Spirituality: Encouragement, Accountability, and Worship The Conformed to His Image Study Guide is an invaluable tool for anyone who desires to follow Christ more closely.