Waiting On God

The Three Hardest Words: In the World to Get Right buy In Bruges

The Grace Awakening: Believing in Grace Is One Thing. Living it Is Another.

Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading

What’s on your summer reading list?

P.S. – If you need some help finding a book, check out my library. If you live close by, I’ll even loan it to you!

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In his book Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation

M. Robert Mulholland, Jr.

Adam Had Four Sons divx

presents an extensive look at what Christian spiritual formation is and how we go about it.

This book has theological depth and offers a very good look at the nature and practice of spiritual formation. Mulholland manages to make theology practical here as he first lays out a definition of spiritual formation and then a road map of spiritual disciplines. I especially liked the definition presented in this book: The process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others. He also does a good treatment of the spiritual disciplines and how they are used to help accomplish the work of transformation in us.

Some Kind of Hero movie download The middle part of the book (Part II: The Vehicle: Personality and Piety

Tony Arzenta

Little Miss Sunshine move ) gives an excellent look at the role of individual personality in spiritual formation. Using a slightly modified version of Paul’s 1 Corinthians 12:14-21, he helps to show us that our unique personality is not something to be ignored and suppressed when it comes to spiritual growth, but rather it is something that we must embrace and understand and ultimately offer to God as he changes and refines us. Along these lines, he also explains the need of true Christian community for authentic holistic spirituality. For in such a community of believers, personalities feed off of each other and help individuals find balance.

The Riveter

I would recommend this book for church leaders and for people who desire to learn more about the nature and theology of spiritual formation. Mulholland is a seminary professor so his writing style can be slightly more academic, however if you take your time in reading, this will surely be a great value to your spiritual growth.

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“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” – Luke 16:13

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” – Luke 12:15

We live in a world that is far from simple. However, amidst the chaos of modern life, Jesus invites into the freedom of simplicity. In this post, we will take a look at the discipline of simplicity and how practicing it well will help us in the journey of following Jesus.

Simplicity vs. Duplicity

Richard Foster writes in Celebration of Discipline, “Simplicity is freedom. Duplicity is bondage. Simplicity brings joy and balance. Duplicity brings anxiety and fear.” Jesus talks about this when he says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines duplicity as: “contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action” A life of duplicity is one that has divided devotion, it lacks a singular focus. On the contrast, a life of simplicity is one that has a single focus, a pure devotion to only one master. As Soren Kierkegaard said, “purity of heart is to will one thing.” Now, what we are talking about here is not just simplicity in a generic sense, but simplicity in the sense that God and His kingdom become our single devotion; our “one thing”. That is the goal of this discipline, to eliminate the duplicity in our hearts and come to a place of simple, pure, and singular devotion to God. As James 4:8 says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Purity of heart is what the discipline of simplicity is all about.

Internal and External

It is important to know that true simplicity has two equally important aspects: internal and external. To only have one means that we really don’t have it at all. They are both necessary.
The internal deals with the heart. From the heart is where our actions flow. If we do not have the internal attitude of simplicity than any external actions of simplicity will only lead to legalism. When we speak of the heart, we must address the issue of trust. We must ask ourselves the question, “Who do I trust?” When Jesus spoke (Matthew 6:25-34) of seeking the Kingdom first and then all the other things of life would be taken care of, he was getting at the issue of trust. In part, he was saying that if we will seek the Kingdom first, make it our priority, than we can trust that God will take care of our needs just as he takes care of the needs of birds in the air and flowers in the field.

3 Attitudes of the Heart
Foster gives us three internal attitudes that characterize simplicity:

1. To receive what we have as a gift from God. We must come to understand that we though we work, we live by the grace of God alone. He is the supplier of all that we have.
2. To know that it is God’s business, and not ours, to care for what we have. We come to know that God is able to protect what he gives to us. It does not mean that we throw common sense out the window, rather we have a clear understanding that it is God is the ultimate protector.
3. To have our possessions available to others. We do not cling to and fear the loss of possessions, because we know that God will provide what we need. Again, this does not mean that we do not use common sense in the sharing of our possessions, but it does mean that we learn to loosen our grip as we grow in our trust in God.

You may notice, that these internal characteristics directly address the anxiety that so often plagues us when it comes to our possessions. But, if these attitudes are developed, then we will come to discover the freedom Jesus invites us into when he says, “do not be anxious”.

External

The external side of simplicity is just as important as the internal. The outward lifestyle of simplicity is the natural expression of the heart of simplicity. We cannot just have the internal and not the external. The change of heart should be expressed in the way we live.

Foster gives us 10 simple external practices of simplicity that will help give expression to the internal heart change:

1. Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status. “Stop trying to impress people with your clothes and impress them with your life.”
2. Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you. In our media saturated culture it can be hard, but “any of the media that you find you cannot do without, get rid of.” And, “if money has a grip on your heart, give some away.” “Refuse to be a slave to anything but God”.
3. Develop a habit of giving things away. De-accumulate!
4. Refuse to be lured into the need for gadgets and “new” everything.
5. Learn to enjoy things without owning them.
6. Develop a deeper appreciation for the creation. “Simplicity means to discover once again that ‘the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof’.”
7. Look with healthy skepticism at all “buy now, pay later” schemes. Be extremely cautious of incurring debt.
8. Obey Jesus’ instructions about plain, honest speech (Matthew 5:37).
9. Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others. “In a world of limited resources, does our lust for wealth mean the poverty of others?” Consider buying food and other items that are “fair trade”.
10. Lastly, shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the Kingdom of God. This is ultimately where the heart of true simplicity lives. “always hold the Kingdom of God as the number one priority of our lives. To do so is to live in simplicity.”

Remember, the discipline of simplicity is not just about our actions, it is about our hearts and where our trust and focus are. Jesus calls us into a simple, pure life of trust in God and singular devotion to Him. By His grace, may discover this life.

Please feel welcome to share your experiences with this discipline in the comments section below.

Also, check out the other posts in this series:

• Stop Trying, Start Training Sermon
• Discipline of Celebration
• Discipline of Service

Recommended Reading

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The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg is an easy to read yet extremely insightful book on the Christian life.  The author himself describes it as Dallas for Dummies (referencing Dallas Willard) as the focus of the book is the spiritual disciplines, something Willard often writes about.  Full of real life examples and hilarious stories, Ortberg not only makes you laugh but he makes you think.  This is not a book that should simply be read quickly through and put on the shelf, but it is one that should be read and digested and put into practice.  TLYAW would make a great small group study and in fact I’ve used it several times as a Sunday school class.  One of the things that I love about this book is that it goes beyond just a theory of the spiritual disciplines and presents them as real practices for real life.

If you are interested in spiritual growth and/or the spiritual disciplines I highly recommend this book.  As I said before, it would serve as a great small group study as well as a personal study.  Related resources such as a DVD, leader guide, and participant guide are also available.

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If you live locally and would like to borrow a book, just e-mail us

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Side 1. The faithful acceptance of everyday problems. This is where we learn to do what the book of James teaches (and what Jesus modeled) and endure the trials and temptations that come our way. We see them as opportunities to strengthen our faith and produce patience and endurance. see James 1:2-3

Side 2. The interaction with God’s Spirit in and around us. This is where we learn to live and walk in the Spirit, as the Apostle Paul writes. As we do this, the gifts and fruit of the Spirit begin to become evident in our lives. It is in our daily living and interaction with the Spirit that we are transformed into Christ-likeness – becoming more like Jesus.

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As the title indicates, Earl Creps‘ first book, Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders, is about the Spiritual Disciplines that help to shape “missional leaders.” In it, Creps takes the classic teaching of spiritual disciplines, brought to the forefront by Christians such as Richard Foster and Dallas Willard, and takes them “off-road”. In other words, this is not a book about the practices of prayer, Bible reading, solitude, and meditation (as important as those are). With a leaning towards leadership, he includes disciplines such as gaining perspective, reverse mentoring, missional efficiency, surrendering preferences, and passing the baton.
The book is broken down into two sections of off-road disciplines: personal and organizational.

At first, Creps’ writing style was a little difficult to get used to, but once I got going I was able to follow his thoughts easily. Earl uses a lot of real life stories and examples, many of them taken from his years of “field research” on the American church. This helps in making each discipline clearer and more practical, as I was able to relate to many of the stories.

Off-road Disciplines is not a book that you skim through or read quickly hoping to find quick little nuggets. In my opinion, some chapters carry more weight and impact than others, but each one has an important message worth reading and digesting fully. Furthermore, this is a book that is meant to be applied to life, not just read and put on the shelf. Each chapter issues a challenge to the reader to examine themselves and use the off-road discipline as a means of transformation.

Now, the word “missional” has become quite the buzzword in many Christian circles, but Creps helps to bring clarity to what exactly that means, not just in theory, but in practice. And after reading this book, I personally am inspired to live more “missionally.”

Overall, I found this to be a great book with hardly any shortcomings. I can see this being a powerful resource for church leaders, in fact I plan on facilitating a study of this book among the ministry leaders in our church. I recommend this book, whether or not you consider yourself a leader (which we all are in some way or another), as a valuable resource for helping you become a truly “missional” disciple of Jesus.

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If you are in the market for a new Bible (and even if you aren’t) I highly recommended the Renovare’ Spiritual Formation Bible.  Here’s a description from the publishers:

Five years in the making, the Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible seeks to recover the dynamics of Scripture for the spiritual trans^formation of the people of God: past, present, and future. It provides a view of Gods community through history, the ups-and-downs, ins-and-outs of a with-God life. While other study Bibles serve as resources for sermon exposition, higher criticism, or personal devotion, the Renovaré Bible helps us capture the reality of living with the Trinitarian community in the ever-present kingdom of God. It recasts the Bible as the primary written resource for informing our minds and transforming our spirits in Christlikeness.

As part of making the Bible more accessible for the process of intentional formation in Christlikeness, the Renovaré Bible includes:
– major essays and graphic representations highlighting 15 expressions of the With-God Life;
– essays and notes for each book of the Bible;
— 50+ character sketches giving a sense of the ways key Biblical figures lived with-God;
– an index of places various spiritual disciplines appear in the Scripture.

Compared to similar study/devotional Bibles it is very affordable ($26) and comes chock full of helpful resources that enhance and enrich rather than distract. 

It can be purchased at either the Renovare’ site or at Amazon.

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, written by 15th century monk Thomas a Kempis, has long been considered one of the most important books on the Christian life and is the second most distributed book (the Bible is number one).

During the month of August you can download the free audio book from Christianaudio.com here

Also, you can download the free PDF version of the book here

Enjoy!

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