Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life: Book Review by Jeff Bush

By Donald S. Whitney 

• Disciplines without direction equals drudgery. 

• How can we pursue holiness? How can we be more like our Lord Jesus Christ? We must have discipline. 1 Timothy 4:7 — “exercise thyself rather unto godliness.”

• Man arrives to maturity by way of spiritual discipline.

• Our Lord modeled self-discipline for us.

• Just as practicing to play an instrument requires discipline, so growing in your spiritual life requires discipline.

• God’s Word.
  • • • No spiritual discipline is more important than the intake of God’s word.
      • Listen to the Word of God. Romans 10:17. 
      • Read the Word of God. How often do you need wisdom, encouragement, and strength? Every day! Then read God’s Word every day.
      • Discipline yourself to read the Word of God. Find a time. Find a plan. Find a word, verse, or thought to meditate on throughout the day.
      • What is one thing you can do to enhance your intake of God’s Word every day? 
      • Interview the text that you read. 
      • Consciously commit yourself to take at least one action from your daily intake of God’s Word.

• Prayer. 
  • • • We learn to pray by meditating on the Scripture. 
      • Pray with others.
      • Where there is godliness, there is prayer.
      • Men and women of God are always people of prayer. 
      • Worship is responding to and focusing on God. 
      • Worship is a discipline to be cultivated.

• Evangelism.
  • • • New Testament evangelism is presenting the gospel. 
      • Not every Christian should use the same means of evangelism, but every Christian should evangelize.
      • Evangelism is not a gift for a few, all of God’s children are to be ambassadors.
      • Before we make excuses, we should stop and ask ourselves, are we really too busy to fulfill the Great Commission?

• Serving for Godliness.
  • • • If we don’t discipline ourselves for the purpose of God’s kingdom, we will probably never serve. 
      • Serving goes against two of our biggest fleshly enemies, our sloth and our pride.
      • We are to serve the Lord with gladness. It is a privilege, not a burden. 
      • Psalms 84:10 — “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
      • If we are to be like Christ, we must learn to serve.

• Stewardship. 
  • • • Unless we practice self control, our bodies will choose to please self more than please God. 
      • Evaluate your use of time. The time to value time is right now.
      • Decide to discipline yourself and use your time for godliness.
      • We value time at the moment of death. 
      • Realize God owns everything you have. We are just temporary stewards of the things God owns.

• Fasting. 
  • • • There is fasting from food as well as times to fast from entertainment and other areas.
      • The Lord expects His children to fast. He doesn’t say “if” but “when” you fast. 
      • Before we fast, we must have purpose, a God-centered purpose.
      • Fasting is one of the best friends we can offer to our prayer. 
      • It is more rewarding to feast on God than food.

• Silence and Solitude for the purpose of godliness. 
  • • • God used silence and solitude in the life of both Moses and the Apostle Paul. 
      • Jesus practiced silence and solitude. 
      • One of the biggest reasons to get alone is to better hear God speak. 
      • We have an addiction to noise, and it’s connected to a spiritual shallowness. 

• Spiritual Discipline of Journaling. 
  • • • A personal writing of thoughts to the Lord. Prayers, joys, verse challenge you read, etc.
      • Consider the discipline of journaling for godliness, and to remember God‘s faithfulness.

• Learning for the Purpose of Godliness.
  • • • Wise and righteous people are teachable and continue learning.
      • Wise men seek and store knowledge. 
      • Mark 12:29–30. Our Lord teaches us to love Him with all of our mind.
      • How can we know more about our Lord if we do not learn more about him?
      • Learning is mostly intentional by discipline instead of accidental.
      • Most students don’t learn because their parents don’t learn. When was the last time you read a book to your children?
      • Growing Christians are reading Christians.
      • Godly learning leads to godly living. 

• Perseverance in Godly Discipline.
  • • • Laziness does not lead to godliness.
      • Even though self-discipline is not easy, it is not self-punishment. Self-discipline is actually doing what your spirit need you to do.
      • Just as the only way to God is through Christ, so the only way to godliness is through Christlike practice of spiritual disciplines.