Spiritual Practices

Part Two

Introduction to Building Spiritual Practices

So often people instruct us to activate certain practices in our lives. We know that they are correct and we “ought” to do these things in our lives. But the problem is that no one tells us how. This is the objective of this section. We will discuss different spiritual practices and tell you how to develop the habits of incorporating them into your life. God will not be giving you Brownie points for doing them, but He will bless your life as you seek more of Him.

We know that God instructed Adam not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. Because of Adam’s one act of disobedience, the whole earth is subject to the same death and decay; we see it happening. Because we are born into Adam, we are all condemned; it is not because of anything WE have done. It resulted in a separation from God, which leads us to say, “I am my own god.”

When we are born again, we come out of Adam and INTO Christ. The one act of obedience of Jesus taking the penalty of our sins on the cross, Jesus provided a way for us to live an abundant life here on earth AND live with Him forever in heaven!

We grow in grace through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us EVERYTHING we need for a godly life THROUGH our knowledge of Him. He wants us to grow to maturity. We strive to grow in all aspects in Him. We learn how to develop in our likeness of Him so we can reproduce and multiply Him on the earth.

There are Six Sessions in this section with the Spiritual Practices divided evenly into four sessions:

Session 1 Introduction to Habit Building you will learn the importance of developing spiritual habits and how they will help you to avoid the sin that so easily entangles us, to walk by His Spirit, be filled with His grace and love for Him and others. By His Word, He will lead us in ways to look and act more like Him in our world.

We delve into the actual habit process, how to create good ones, and how to break the bad ones. There are tools and strategies to see habit development in a whole new way.

Session 2 – Developing Spiritual Practices defines what spiritual practices are and explains why these disciplines are invaluable to deepening our walk with the Lord. We learn why specifically why a gardener prunes a plant and see the parallels of why the Lord prunes us. Later in this section, more helpful information about developing spiritual habits will be given. We see why the sixteen spiritual habits are divided into three sections. This session also delves into how to establish the habit of being intentionally inspired.

The funny thing about habits is that when you explore habits so many think that they actually do not have any habits. This is why the Habit Tracker is invaluable. You simply record activities you are currently performing repeatedly.

Session 3 – Devotional Practices This section covers five spiritual practices of confession, Presencing, worship, abiding, and praying. This is an especially important session; most of the time is spent on meditation to dismiss the onslaught of misinformation in our culture. It introduces the practice of Presencing, which is meditating on Jesus, His Word, and His glory.

Session 4 – Life-Supporting Practices-explores studying, fasting, guidance, and contentment. You might have not some of these as a spiritual practice, but you will see how not only you are growing your relationship with Jesus you will see how contentment is becoming part of your identity in Him. Will guide you into a deeper understanding of who He is and who He wants you to be.

Our objective is to remove the blinders that the “self” produces in our lives. Studying helps you grow in depth in awareness of who He is and who He has made you to be. Fasting will lead you into a greater dependence on Him to sustain you.

Session 5 – Practices for Others You are also developing skills with others as we live in this world. We learn about serving, giving, relationships, and outreach. All Christians are ministers, we all are called to serve Him as well as others. Giving is more about purposely giving so that only the Lord knows about your action. We are called to love our neighbor, who is anyone who has a need as well as our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus said that they will know us by our love. We have been given a commission to make disciples who make disciples. We are each called to reach out and bring others into a relationship with Jesus.

Session 6 –Practices for Caring for the Temple We are a temple of the Holy Spirit and He is to be glorified in our body. Many of us know this scripture but choose not to follow it wholeheartedly. The temple was designed, and each aspect had a distinct place that was meticulously planned. In Acts 17:26, Paul says, "From one man He made all the nations … and marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. He placed you exactly where He wanted to live and within the sphere of influence of who He wants you to affect.

He could have made us angels, but He made us have a body, soul, and spirit so that we could bring others like us into His kingdom. We need to care for every aspect of this life we have been given. It is for Him that we live and move and have our being.