THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES:

PRAYER

Counting the Cost

•Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried—G. K. Chesterton

The cost of discipleship

Counting the Cost

•Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried—G. K. Chesterton

•Lk 14:25-33

The cost of discipleship

Counting the Cost

•Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried—G. K. Chesterton

•Lk 14:25-33

The cost of discipleship

•Crushing burdens, failures, disappointmentsThe cost of

nondiscipleship

Counting the Cost

•Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried—G. K. Chesterton

•Lk 14:25-33

The cost of discipleship

•Crushing burdens, failures, disappointments

•Unresolved problems

The cost of nondiscipleship

Counting the Cost

•Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried—G. K. Chesterton

•Lk 14:25-33

The cost of discipleship

•Crushing burdens, failures, disappointments

•Unresolved problems•Mt 16:24-26

The cost of nondiscipleship

Character Transformation

Solid beliefs and doctrines

Character Transformation

Solid beliefs and doctrines

Definitive actions

A Holistic Salvation

Provides deliverance leading toward an abundant

spiritual life

A Holistic Salvation

Provides deliverance leading toward an abundant

spiritual life

Invites participation in the reign of God

through bodily action

Spiritual Life - Willard

That range of activities in which people cooperatively interact with God and with the spiritual order, which flows from and through God’s personality and action.

Spiritual Person - Willard

One whose life is correctly integrated into and dominated by God’s Kingdom.

What spirituality is notA

lifestyle

What spirituality is notA

lifestyle

A commitment

What spirituality is notA

lifestyle

A commitment

A social or political stance

What spirituality is notA

lifestyle

A commitment

A social or political stance

An attempt to correct social and political

injustice

Christian spirituality includes…

Activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken to bring personality and being into effective cooperation with the divine order;

Christian spirituality includes…

Activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken to bring personality and being into effective cooperation with the divine order;

Bringing fulfillment to the body as well as to the spirit.

Christian spirituality includes…

Activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken to bring personality and being into effective cooperation with the divine order;

Bringing fulfillment to the body as well as to the spirit.

The idea that a lack of the disciplines associated with spirituality damages the body as well as the spirit

Elton Trueblood

What we are beginning to learn is that asceticism is a valid part of religion or of any other important enterprise.

Meditation Prayer

Fasting Study

Prayer What is prayer? An attempt to define (Calhoun)

Relationship with GodAttention to GodDivine dialogue through intentional

encounter with God

Prayer Why should disciples pray?

Prayer catapults disciples into the frontier of the spiritual life (Foster)

To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart and there stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all seeing, within you (Nouwen)

Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform his disciples (Foster)

Prayer Something to be learned (Foster) Prayer disciplines provide ways to enter

into prayer (Calhoun)Breath – God becomes the “oxygen to the

soul”Centering – the act of quieting the spiritContemplative – the act of waiting with an

awake heartConversational – natural dialogue with God

Prayer The practices of prayer

Spiritual Practices (204-18)Spiritual Classics (31-2, 48ff)

Small Group Exercise – “Breath Prayer”

Prayer Additional prayer disciplines

Fixed-hourInner HealingIntercessoryLabyrinthLiturgicalPrayer PartnersPraying ScripturePrayer of RecollectionPrayer Walking