week 6 – spiritual disciplines

This week our speaker was Pastor Jim Pace from [nlcf]. On both Monday and Tuesday night he spoke about spiritual disciplines and especially on Monday night, how spiritual disciplines relate to the Beatitudes. As Jim was saying, we have this idea of how we think God should work, just as the Jews did (Matthew 20). But we simply do not get God! We want Him to work in fast, direct, fair and predictable ways but He doesn’t always do that. We do not see this world correctly!

In the Beatitudes, its saying “good for you” if you are sad, broken, frustrated (poor in spirit), if you are mourning (you’ll be able to be comforted by God), if you aren’t out for yourself (meek), if you finally learn what it’s like to hunger and thirst for God, if you are persecuted for Jesus, and more. All of these things pull us away from the situation we are in right now and remind us that this world is just a moment, a piece, of what is to come. But, how often do we ever ask for these things… this “bad” stuff? Hardly ever. We regard it as negative and unwanted. But it is how we are reminded of our need for God!

One of the ways to ask for these things, these reminders of our need, is through spiritual disciplines. Some of the disciplines that Jim spoke about were:

- the discipline of shared life – having someone that knows everything, not just certain people that know certain things

- the discipline of solitude with God

- the discipline of living missionally – living just like Jesus would in the situation (do you have pockets of your life that are just for you?)

- the discipline of fasting – it requires you to change the way you go through your day.. to slow everything down. That’s the point!

- the discipline of generosity/tithing

Jesus doesn’t force himself on us. He’s not going to speak and move through you until you seek after Him! You don’t fast just so that every decision or question can be answered, you do it because Jesus said it’s the right thing to do. You don’t read just to solve confusion because confusion is necessary for faith to work. We do all of these things to remind ourselves that we NEED God daily! Also, when it seems like disciplines have become dry, it’s not necessarily what you’re doing wrong but what you’re not doing in another area. Are you doing something in your life that is requiring your faith? A lot of the time God tests privately before He blesses publicly. That’s why the disciplines matter… because God cares about your soul, your character when no one’s looking.

In Lifegroup on Wednesday, we talked a lot about disciplines as well, but mostly about prayer, solitude, and fasting to get prepared for Project Day the next day. Sarah Swann challenged me to concentrate/reflect on things from the recent past/present instead of the future (because I concentrate on the future too much and don’t deal with what had already happened; I just keep moving forward to the next thing without reflecting on what did happen).

Our Project Day this week was something we all were excited/nervous/waiting for. We spent 8 hours in the wilderness alone with God while fasting. You were only allowed to take your Bible, notebook, and pen. No books, devotionals, iPods, etc. so that it really was just you and God. No distractions. I was very apprehensive about the day because I had never spent that much time in solitude or fasted that long and I had no idea how it was going to go. But I must say it was an incredible day. I found this absolutely perfect spot in the huge park that we were in. It was a thirty minute walk there, and it was a long dock that stretch out over the water of a lake and had a small pier at the end just big enough for me to stretch my towel out on and sit. The water was gorgeous, and the breeze was blowing. I saw so many turtles and even two swans floating across the water. :)

I sat down there that morning and the first thing I did was sing as the song “Hungry I come to You” came to mind and I began to cry. I felt like I had just been ignoring God for at least a week and a half prior because I felt like He just wasn’t doing anything and I didn’t know what to do. Obviously, this wasn’t the right response, but on this day I just felt like as I was finally coming to Him, He was right there waiting with wide open arms ready to catch me and welcome me. I spent a lot of time reflecting on the past school year I had, and there were so many things that I felt like God was saying that I needed to work on in my daily life. Then I spent time reading all of 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Philippians, and especially in the last two books I found verses that were saying exactly what I felt like God had just pointed out to me maybe an hour before. It was incredible. I felt like the whole day went by faster than I would’ve ever imagined, and to my astonishment I barely even though about being hungry.

We ended the day by meeting together to share what had happened in our times, then having an acoustic worship session in a field of the park and having communion together.



“Hungry, I come to You for I know You satisfy
I am empty, but I know Your love does not run dry
So I wait for You, I wait for You
I’m falling on my knees, offering all of me
Jesus, You’re all this heart is living for”