Posts Tagged spiritual discipline
100 Words or Less
Posted by Chance in Community - Lane 2, Outreach - Lane 4, Spiritual Growth on March 4th, 2010
In response to a sermon series by Ron Woods, I wanted to create a forum where people could post their homework assignment. I know most people didn’t do it, but that isn’t your fault. It is probably a low accountability hangover from your previous educational experience. I know that I have suffered those myself and even created them for others.
However, let’s grow together.
What is your story?
The critical contrast is Jesus Christ, so respond and let us know what story you are prepared to tell to those who the Holy Spirit leads you to.
Chance
Spiritual Heart Rate
Posted by Chance in Discipleship - Lane 3, Spiritual Growth on February 18th, 2010
There is a discipline in sports that requires you to control your breathing as you increase in strenuous activity. In fact, it goes beyond breathing into managing and understanding how your heart rate effects your ability to compete. It is a physiological look at the old story of the “Tortoise and the Hare.”
In short, you have the “Rabbit” (anaerobic)
Strenuous exercise, low oxygen intake, high heart rate, inability to turn carbohydrates into fuel, longer recovery period
Then you have the “Turtle” (aerobic)
Medium exercise, high oxygen intake, medium heart rate, effective use of carbohydrates and fats for fuel, shorter recovery period
So what does this have to do with spiritual growth?
While swimming and monitoring my own heart rate, I began to understand a parallel between our physiology and our spirituality. In order to maximize your ability to compete and achieve success you must be willing to use both anaerobic and aerobic activities. Through planning the level of strain and trauma you put on your body, you can increase the effectiveness of your exertion and create sustained success.
Spiritually, God needs us to go through periods of hardship, strain, and trauma in order to teach us how to rely on him. The problem is that if we rely on him in only short bursts, we experience spiritual anaerobic side-effects. We suffocate our spirit, cut off our understanding that comes from the word’s nutrition, and we find ourselves unable to recover.
The parallel continues with those nagging hardships that are designed to keep us on a regular rhythmic path. However, we don’t grow in God by only experiencing one type of strain. Together, all the events of our life our used as an opportunity allow us develop quickness and endurance.
Don’t fight your spiritual training…recognize it, and use it to become effective and successful.
Chance
Drowning in Change
Posted by Chance in Spiritual Growth, Worship - Lane 1 on December 22nd, 2009
I was swimming laps the other day and unlike those with strong endurance, I have to rotate strokes in order to stay afloat. The truth is, I spend most of the time using the breast stroke because it’s the easiest. However, while doing the side stroke for a couple of laps, I caught the attention of the swimmer next to me. As I was taking a breath between laps, he was leaving the pool. He asked for permission to correct my stroke, which I, knowing that the Olympics are just three years away, readily obliged. He stated that my hip was too low in the water, forcing my head up, creating tension on my neck, and reducing my glide in the water. He gave me tips on how to fix it and then I nervously performed the side stroke with my new teacher watching. What ensued was ridiculous. I began to suck up water, but not wanting to show weakness, I kept swimming and then began to swallow the water. In simple words, I was drowning. As I stopped and placed my feet on the bottom, he encouraged me by saying that I may “drink” a little water, but I would figure it out in time.
Such a brief moment in my life, that has such deep spiritual growth lessons. Over the next few days, when I was doing the…..breast stroke…(it’s easier)…I began to think about the lesson and apply to spiritual growth.
With a new emphasis from our pastor on reading the bible over the next year, I wonder how many of us need to change our technique. Are you like me in that you have become very efficient at using poor techniques? Are you creating tension in the body by doing things your way? Would you rather do things the easy way, instead of the best way? Are you going to keep trying the new way, or return to your own ways?
These questions are almost endless.
Transitioning from swimming to reading the bible. Let’s be honest…………are you ready?………most of us don’t read the bible…Shouldn’t have shocked anyone there…However, now is the time to start!
For those of us that do, well, we use strokes and techniques that don’t get us the distance we could get if we used better strategy. Our genuine quest for God is still distorted by our humanity of easiness. One simple technique tip is to sacrifice quantity for quality.
Read less, Change more!
slow down
read the same thing multiple times
memorize it
teach it to others
use it in conversations
journal it
pray it
draw a picture about it
sing a song about it
twitter it
post in on your wall
create a collage of it with pictures or words
This list is far from exhaustive and is not intended to be a single alternative. We should take a simple reading plan and turn it into a complex structure that changes our lives. This is the only way to move the history of Genesis or any other book to a personal narrative of redemption.
Lastly, when these things become difficult and you find yourself drowning in your own genuine effort, put your feet on the ground and start again. In the mean time, I’ll be sucking up water as I practice my side stroke.
Chance
Starving for Growth
Posted by Chance in Discipleship - Lane 3, Spiritual Growth on October 26th, 2009
Paul’s tongue tying discourse on the internal battle we have to do good is perhaps the unveiling truth of spiritual growth.
Romans 7:15 (NLT) “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but i don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.”
The difference between a disciple of Christ and a decision to believe in Christ is the use of the Romans 7 realization to create intentional change. Instead of a crutch, the human frailty becomes a catapult for making specific decisions for feeding the spirit man and starving the flesh.
Romans 8:6 (NLT) “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”
There is a distinctive separation between the power found in God and our freedom to make daily choices. However, the separation is not in God’s ability and our inability. Instead, it is in our effort combined with the grace/Spirit of God to create life and peace.
We stand in verse 6 as the entity free to let or allow the sinful nature to control us or the Spirit to control us. Ultimately, you have to give your best effort to starve the sinful nature. Sometimes the starvation is pushed upon us through consequence or divine providence. However, we can begin today to strategically and effectively cut off the nutritional source of our sinful nature.
Examples include:
Limiting television time
Limiting unhealthy music selections
Denying yourself desires of the flesh
Please make a comment on how you are starving your sinful man!
Chance
