A Compelling Testimony: Maintaining a Disciplined Walk, Christlike Character, and Godly Relationships as God's Servant

Ses s i on 4: Cu l t i vat i ng Our Commun i on: The I nward Di sc i p l i nes 163

give life to the soul” (2 Cor. 3.6, Phillips). As we enter the inner world of the Spiritual Disciplines, there will always be the danger of turning them into laws. But we are not left to our own human devices. Jesus Christ has promised to be our ever-present Teacher and Guide. His voice is not hard to hear. His direction is not hard to understand. If we are beginning to calcify what should always remain alive and growing, he will tell us. We can trust his teaching. If we are wandering off toward some wrong idea or unprofitable practice, he will guide us back. If we are willing to listen to the Heavenly Monitor, we will receive the instruction we need.

~ Richard Foster. Celebration of Discipline . pp. 10-11.

A. Principles

1. The discipline of the Word involves ingesting the Word of God, which is the chief means whereby we hear the voice of God is through the Spirit-inspired and illumined Word of God (i.e., our Holy Bible).

2. The discipline of prayer is our constant and ongoing personal and corporate conversation, petition in direct address to the triune God.

3. The discipline of fasting involves abstaining from food (or other things) for spiritual purposes, i.e., to receive provision and revelation from God in the midst of our humility before him.

4. The discipline of study involves our aspiration to become a critical thinker, i.e., a person who judges all things in light of how they interface with the mind of God given to us by the Holy Spirit in the inspired Word of God.

B. Critical Implications