d d d I understand Whitney’s main argument to be that of as Christian we need to be
disciplined in our lives so that when people see us they will know there is
something different about us that they want to be a part of. d Whitney tells the
story of an employee who had become a Christian the boss stated that it was
great he had been praying for him for years, yet the employee didn’t understand
why the boss had not shared Christ with him in all the years he worked for him.
How was he to know that it was Christ who made the difference in his life.[1] d I
agree that we need to be practicing these spiritual disciplines yet, there may be
time when there is more of a focus on several and not as much on others
depending on what chapter you are going through in life. Many time when I had
young babies I really wanted to serve yet, my time was to be spent loving those
babies and not serving like I had been prior to having children. The silence and
solitude at this point in my life is not something that I can go away for a few
days, but I can go alone to the grocery store and pray and enjoy the little peace
that comes with not having to wrangle the children. I think in a perfect world we
would always be constantly in these disciplines, however, there are many who
perhaps cannot medically fast safely for more than a few hours, so that may look
different, maybe they can fast something that is distracting them from hearing or
seeing God during a time, I guess that would be similar to Lentin fasting. d
d d d d d d d d d d I know that I can always improve my prayer life, I have started lately to
be more intentional in praying without ceasing daily so in continuing this I will
need to be more purposeful in “never really stop conversing with God: (I) simply
have frequent interruptions” during my day.[2] d I would like to begin Journaling
again, it has been over 20 years since I have journaled and really use that time to
digest what I have read in scripture or prayed for in life, I have purchased a few
different journals to begin this again and I am hoping I may be able to help my
daughter to begin this as well in hopes that it may help with her anxiety in life
and help her get her thoughts out and questions that we may mull over about
God and the Bible, I am hoping that this will help with the “charting d of progress
in the other spiritual disciplines and” holding myself accountable through my
goals and seeing what prayers God may have answered that I may not have seen
had I not charted the progress.[3] Lastly, I really want to be able to really study
the Bible more than I have been able to through some of these classes, to really
look at all the aspects of what happened what the world was like when it was
written and why people were behaving the way that they did. I want to be like
Ezra and set my heart on God’s word, to study, do it, and to teach it , which is
also a big part of the great commission in making disciples and teaching them.[4]
[1] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, NAvPress,
Colorado Springs, CO: 2014, 133.
[2] Ibid., 82.
[3] Ibid., 250.
[4] Ibid., 31.
