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. f f f f f f f f f f f f f
f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f 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. f f f
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).
[8] Donald S. Whitley, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life., 2nd ed. (Colorado Springs: NavPress.,
2014), 195, https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com/workspace.
[9] Ibid., 237.
[10] Ibid., 255.
