After reading Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, what do you understand
his main argument to be?
Spiritual formation and Spiritual discipline are not the same, Spiritual formation is what
God is trying to do by using Spiritual disciplines to achieve a certain goal Pettit said this,
“Spiritual Formation is a broader concept. Spiritual Formation is a composite term not
found explicitly in the Bible. It refers to all God undertakes and undergoes for us to bring
us to maturity. It points to the resources he brings to the task of forming us into his
likeness, as well as to what we do in the pursuit of this goal. The closest single term to this
idea in the New Testament is found in 2 Cor. 3:18, where Paul says we as believers are
being “transformed” (μεταμορφονμεθα, metamorphoumetha) into the image of God and
from one glory to another by God’s Spirit. This verb means “to be changed” “be
transformed”. In this 2 Cor, text, this spiritual formation is what God does to and for us,
along with all he makes available to make this transformation possible, a process that never
ends until he brings us to himself.”[1] I surmise that people use this word interchangeably
with Spiritual Discipline, what they would consider, the going to church, worship, reading
the Bible, and prayer. The stuff we do in church on Sunday. e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
e e I believe that Whitney’s main argument is based on this, “First, we must understand what
we shall become.”[2] He was saying that in order for us to become more like Christ, then we
must first, understand what it is that God is trying to do with us. Romans 8:29 which states,
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his
Son.”[3] (E.S.V.) Whitney, said this, “We find a clear answer in 1 Timothy 4:7: “Have
nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness. (E.S.V.) In
other words, if your purpose is godliness and godliness is your purpose if you are indwelled
by the Holy Spirit, for He makes godliness your purpose then how do you pursue that
purpose? According to this verse, you “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”[4]
Not only this, but. God wants time corporately and individually with us. When you look at
church services, most of the worship, some Bible reading, and prayer are done in a situation
where everybody is gathered together. The message delivered might be for several different
people or even collectively. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes God wants alone time,
one-on-one with us to work on us specifically. He might want to minister to us, when we
are alone with him, we can let our hearts spill out and collectively that is not always
possible. The preacher might not even have an alter call at the end of the service. When we
journal, we can keep track of answered and unanswered prayers, we can keep track of stuff
throughout the day and reflect back two or even three weeks back and recall a situation that
would not have been remembered without have written it down earlier. Journaling is good
because we can say anything. Some people empty themselves better on paper verses word
or deed.
Do you agree with him or disagree? Why or why not?
I agree with Whitney because everybody knows that fellowship, worship, prayer, reading
the Bible, and alone time with God help in our Spiritual Formation. The problem comes
when we only do these thing’s once and a great while. Whitney said this, “Discipline
without direction is drudgery.”[5] If we consider these activities drudgery, then we need to
check where we are at in our Spiritual walk with the Lord. Not to say that it is lagging,
because it seems like in my experience hardly anybody does some of these activities on an
everyday basis. That would imply that everybody is messed-up spiritually. We should want
to do these things more than we do, but like anything else, we make excuses that justify our
actions and seem to assume that God is o.k. with it. Whitney commented this, “Although
God will grant Christlikeness to us when Jesus returns, until then He intends for us to grow
toward it. We aren’t merely to wait for holiness; we’re to pursue it. “Strive for peace with
everyone,” we’re commanded in Hebrews 12:14, “and for the holiness without which no
one will see the Lord.” (E.S.V.) Notice carefully what that says: Without holiness that is,
Christlikeness or godliness no one will see the Lord, regardless of how many times they
have been to church or how often they have engaged in religious activities or how spiritual
they believe themselves to be.”[6] When you think about it, we can’t grow to be more like
Christ only two-hours a week in church. It is like, once we leave church, then that gives us
time to get 63/4 days of the world into our hearts and lives which can have more of an
influence on our growth process. Deuteronomy 11:19 states this, “You shall teach them to
your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are
walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”[7] (E.S.V.) One of the
reasons that we do not have time to keep our minds filled with or do some of the extra
curricular activities is because we have more of the world in our hearts than God. Satan is
smooth, and if we do not have our guard up, then he can fill our minds with stuff that is
hindering our walk and taking up our time. We got to remember that we are to be renewing
our minds constantly, two-hours a week does not cut it. We deal with people who are
unsaved all the time, Satan could be ordaining their foot steps to clash with ours in hopes of
throwing us off track of hindering or time with God. I get the impression that Holiness is
built in our alone time. Because church is only on Sunday and Wednesday, so, we need to
be intentional in finding time to be with God alone to develop that Holiness. Now our
church has men’s ministry last Monday of the month and prayer meetings on Tuesday, in
addition to the twice on Sunday and Wednesday Bible study which helps. Even then, we do
not see a lot on the prayer nights. The women’s ministry is on the same night as the men’s
ministry on that last Monday of the Month. e e e
What are three spiritual disciplines you need to strengthen and how do you plan to
implement them?
1. Whitney remarked, “To those unfamiliar with fasting, the most surprising part of this
chapter may be the discovery that Jesus expected His followers would fast. Notice Jesus’
words at the beginning of Matthew 6:16-17, “And when you fast, but when you fast”
(emphasis added). By giving us instructions on what to do and what not to do when we fast,
Jesus assumes that we will fast.”[8] I think that the biggest hinderance to fasting is that many
do not know it is a command, not an option. When we fast, it helps to crucify the flesh to
where we can hear from God better. It does not however, put him in a position to where he
has to move. With the same token, there will be times when he will move on our behalf
because of the faith we are showing and the time we are taking to seek him in a more
intimate way. I will implement this in my ministry by taking the time to adjust my schedule
to where I can find the time to fast. Time because it might need to be like an electronics
thing verses food or water.
2. Solitude is good, it never hurts to clear our minds from distractions that keep us from
hearing from God. Although, I have heard of people hearing from God in the middle of
what some would say was as loud as a freight train. I believe God does this because he
wants us to know that he can get through to us even during the hustle and bustles of life.
Whitney said, “In silence we learn to rely more on God’s control in matters where we
would normally feel compelled to speak, or to speak too much. We find out that He is able
to manage situations in which we once thought our input was indispensable.”[9] The only
problem I see with this is this, we might confuse what is going through our mind is from
ourselves God, or Satan. We must analyze what we think about to see where the thought is
coming from. I have always heard that depending on if we are in God’s will and he is
controlling the body, soul, and spirt. Or, if in Satan’s will which he controls if he has access
to your life, the mind, will, and emotions. The thoughts are going to be wrong if he is the
one putting them there. To implement, I will get up an hour earlier everyday to spend with
God.
3. Journaling is good because it helps us to keep track of the stuff that can be forgot about
if we let it go to long before we Journal it. Whitney stated this, “No matter how close the
friendship or how intimate the marriage, we can’t always tell others what we think. And yet
sometimes our feelings are so strong and our thoughts so dominant that we must find some
way to give them expression. Our Father is always available and willing to listen. “Pour out
your heart before him,” (E.S.V.) says Psalm 62:8. A journal is a place where we can give
expression to the fountain of our heart, where we can unreservedly pour out our passion
before the Lord.”[10] People vent in various ways, sometimes writing them down is the only
way to say what we need to say without leaving anything out. Journaling is good to reflect
back and see where God has worked for your good in your life to help build or even restore
faith that might have been lost. Journaling can connect dots to fill in the bigger picture to
what is going on in terms of where God might be leading a person. After so many dots get
connected, then a picture will be revealed. If the journaling is not too bad, then it can
encourage somebody else and help the to decide to journal as well. Journaling is a great
faith builder. To implement, I will spend at least a half hour before I go to bed keeping
track of my thoughts. Either that, or, I will keep a small notebook on me and write down
key moments throughout the day to keep track. The latter might be better because I will not
run the risk of forgetting something that happened earlier in the day.
Words. 2,022
Bibliography
Pettit, Paul. Foundations of Spiritual Formation, A Community Approach to Becoming Like
Christ. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2008.
Whitley, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. 2nd ed. Colorado Springs:
NavPress., 2014. https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com/workspace.
Footnotes
[1] Paul Pettit, Foundations of Spiritual Formation, A Community Approach to Becoming Like Christ.
(Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2008), 105.
[2] Donald S. Whitley, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life., 2nd ed. (Colorado Springs: NavPress.,
2014), 2, https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com/workspace.
[3] Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the English Standard Version (Wheaton,
IL: Crossway, 2008).
[4] Donald S. Whitley, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life., 2nd ed. (Colorado Springs: NavPress.,
2014), 4, https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com/workspace.
[5] Ibid., 1.
[6] Ibid., 2.
[7] Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the English Standard Version (Wheaton,
IL: Crossway, 2008).
