After reading Whitney'sSpiritual 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. 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.
Rathertrain 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 63/4daysof 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.
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 theEnglish 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 theEnglish 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.
