Spiritual disciplines are practices and attitudes that we build up through the inspiration and empowerment of the Holy Spirit to strengthen our relationship with God. Spiritual disciplines are to our spiritual development what exercise is to physical development. And just as the intensity and difficulty of exercise is meant to increase over time, our spiritual disciplines are meant to increase as well.
We all start off with spiritual "baby steps." 1 Peter 2:2 shares, "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation." But just like kids, we cannot stick with milk forever. I'm reminded of the time we started training our daughter Alexa to start eating solid food. It was hard, but it was necessary.
Here are four disciplines that we should start doing more as we progress in our walk with God to develop more spiritually.
Fasting
Fasting is never required, but it is highly encouraged. More than just the simple abstaining of food, fasting is a commitment to neglect physical needs to focus more on spiritual needs. Many Bible leaders and heroes fasted. Esther, Moses, David, Elijah, Daniel, and even Jesus fasted.
Acts 14:23 also tells us how leaders of the early church fasted: "And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed." When we fast, we don't twist God's arm to answer our prayers but we do put ourselves in a position to hear His voice better.
Sharing the Gospel
Sometimes we can limit the task and privilege of sharing the Gospel to only a handful of super spiritual Christians. But God calls us all to share His good news to the people around us.
In Romans 1:16, Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." When we truly know the excitement and passion for the Gospel, we will grow in sharing it more with others.
Memorizing scripture
If you have built the habit of reading God's Word, that's great. But what is truly worth knowing is really worth knowing well enough to even memorize it. Psalm 119:11 says, "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." If the Word of God is truly in your heart, it should be able to find its way into your head and your mouth.
Interceding for others
We must pray for our daily bread, but from time to time the Holy Spirit will prompt us to "stand in the breach" (Ezekiel 22:30) for someone else and pray for their needs as well. The effectiveness of your prayer lies in the moving of the Holy Spirit and so is not limited to just what you can do, but what you can do for others as well - including praying for them.
