Category Archives: Spiritual Disciplines

How We Grow: Silence

Miguel de Molinos was a Spanish thinker and writer in the 1600s. He wrote about three kinds of silence: the silence of words, the silence of desires, and the silence of thoughts. These silences are unique and yet they are … Continue reading

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How We Grow: Solitude and Silence

For the past few weeks, we have been talking about the spiritual disciplines. We’re thinking about these practices God uses to grow our souls. These practices overlap and they build on one another. We began our series by talking about … Continue reading

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Confession: Penitential Psalms

There are many different types of psalms — psalms of praise, thanksgiving, lament, for example. Several psalms have been designated as “penitential psalms” because of the emphasis on confession and repentance. Below are a few excerpts from these psalms. May … Continue reading

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How We Grow: Confession

The first thing I want to say today is this: God loves to forgive. This is the good news that changes everything for us. Someone has estimated that one-third of the parables Jesus taught are about forgiveness. In the Lord’s … Continue reading

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How We Grow: Meditation

The author Richard Foster says that our enemy majors in things like noise and hurry. The devil would be satisfied for the majority of our lives to be consumed with “much-ness” and “many-ness” because such a life is a superficial … Continue reading

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How We Grow: Generosity and Goodness

Generosity is living with a large heart, about having a heart that’s open and responsive to others. In the words of the song we just sang, it’s about giving yourself away. Not just talking about your finances. That’s such a … Continue reading

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How We Grow: Generosity

As we continue our study of the spiritual disciplines, our focus for today is on the discipline of generosity. I would define generosity as “living with a large heart.” It’s a posture of openness and a willingness to give of … Continue reading

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How We Grow: Fasting

Today we want to continue our series by looking at what the Bible has to say about fasting. Last week, we kicked off this series by focusing on prayer as a way of keeping company with God. And it’s fitting … Continue reading

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How We Grow: Grace

Last week we noted that we don’t grow very much from doing many things one or two times. No, we grow from doing a few things many times. That’s a key to practicing the spiritual disciplines. We have to engage … Continue reading

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How We Grow: Prayer

Today we begin with the gold standard spiritual practice: the discipline of prayer. What’s unfortunate is that so many believers feel inadequate when it comes to prayer. Public prayer in church is partly to blame, if I had to guess. … Continue reading

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