Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

Posted on

5 Reasons To Hand Copy God’s Word

A few years ago, I stumbled across a passage of the Old Testament that I had probably read dozens of times, but never really noticed. But once it grabbed my attention, I haven’t been able to let it go. It has been on my mind ever since.

Fountain Pen

The passage is found in the book of Deuteronomy, one of the most encouraging books of the Old Testament. In chapter seventeen, at the end of the chapter, you find some instructions for the king. This is included:

Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

This passage gives the kings of Israel the instruction to hand copy the Scriptures.  And from this passage, I see a couple of specific benefits for our lives. And from my own practice of this discipline, I see a few more.

Posted on

Developing A Life Plan (ESD)

Spiritual Disciplines Banner

A personal Life Plan is perhaps one of the best ways to help keep your life on track, and is a tool that can help you become the person that God created you to be. Developing a plan for your life is a critical aspect of spiritual growth, because it lays our a tangible blueprint that can help you achieve the goals that God has for your life.

Unfortunately, most people never stop to accomplish this simple task.

Blueprints

I’ve maintained a personal Life Plan for several years now, initially starting to develop my own after reading about it on Michael Hyatt’s website. Once I got my plan in place, I wrote a blog post detailing it slightly. You can read that post here.

However, over the years, I’ve tweaked my plan to fit my life like a glove. And the more I utilize this tool, the better it becomes. This one simple activity can be traced to a significant portion of my personal and spiritual growth over the last few years.

Creating a personal Life Plan is simple, but it’s not easy. It’s simple because it’s your life. You already know your plans and goals. You know yourself better than anyone else and what you want to accomplish in life, how you impact the people and things most important to you, and where you’d like to see yourself in the next few years, and longer.

But it’s not easy. It takes some work. It requires some effort. However, it is well worth the time invested.

Posted on

The Benefit Of Heading Outdoors

I’ve been reminded frequently over the past few weeks just how important it is to take a break once in a while. I’m not talking about taking a vacation, although that’s necessary as well. What I’m seeing the need for is for brief breaks throughout the day to help you stay effective.

Rocky Mountains near Como, CO

I don’t know if you are like me, but once I get into a zone of productivity, everything else takes a back seat. Once I get into the swing of a project, I will continue working on it until I finish, or until I must shift gears to something else. I’ve been known to skip lunch or stay late at my desk, or even stay awake half the night, simply because I’m on a roll.

That’s great for productivity.

But it’s not so great for my health, physical or spiritual.

The need to take a break is an essential part of our being. We were created to rest; we need to stop and slow down occasionally.

Posted on

Personal Retreat Days (ESD)

Spiritual Disciplines Banner

Creating margin in your life is important if you are going to grow in your faith. Taking the time to develop space for God to work on your spiritual growth is a key aspect to maintaining that growth throughout your life.

One of the best ways I’ve found to do this is through a series of Personal Retreat Days.

Bear Trap Ranch, Colorado Springs

Let me state this right up front. This is not my idea originally. I wish it was. I would love to be able to claim credit for something that has impacted my life so drastically. But I can’t. I took this idea straight out of Leading On Empty, by Wayne Cordeiro. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it. It is easily on of the most influential books I’ve ever read. You can find more helpful tools based on this book at LifeJournal.cc.

The tenth chapter of Cordeiro’s book is perhaps the most important. This chapter is all about developing the intentional life. Beginning with the daily flow, the chapter gives some incredible insights for creating a cadence for your life. From there, Cordeiro turns to the weekly life, and how to practice Sabbath. Both of those could be examined closely and give a lot of benefit.

But the next section is what changed my life. Looking at life from a seasonal view, one of the main activities is a Personal Retreat Day. My purpose here isn’t to repeat everything Leading On Empty discusses. You can pick up the book and see what Cordeiro suggests on your own. What I would like to share is a brief overview, a look at how I use the day, and the benefits I’ve gained in my life.

Posted on

Cultivating Solitude (ESD)

Spiritual Disciplines Banner

Solitude is a necessity for anyone who wants to listen for the still, small voice of God. Just like any other discipline, it takes some effort and it takes some practice. The more you work at instilling opportunities for solitude in your life, the easier it becomes to shut out the noise and distractions of daily life and focus on listening to God.

But how do you do that? How do you cultivate solitude into your everyday life?

Cultivate Solitude

It’s not as difficult as you might imagine. In order to be effective at this, you need to remember that this is a twofold discipline. Every spiritual discipline is something that you do. But it is also a state of mind. Doing these things helps you to be who and what God has created you to be.

Understanding that, there are several things that yo can do to eliminate the distractions and instill solitude. There are many way to do this. Here are a few that I’ve found to be most effective in my own life.

Posted on

The Need For Solitude (ESD)

Spiritual Disciplines Banner

We live in a very busy culture. And it seems as if it gets busier and busier all the time. Have you ever wondered why this is true? I Suspect that it has to do with our fear of loneliness. You may not want to admit that you fear being alone, but I believe that the fear of loneliness is one of most deep seated fears that we face. And I believe that more of us face that fear than we know.

Audio Plug

Because we are afraid to be alone, we surround ourselves with noise and busyness. We succumb to the crowds, and keep the constant hum of humanity around us at all times.

My generation was bad, but my kids’ generation is even worse. One of my daughters wears earbuds at all times, one in her ear, the other hanging down. My sons keep a radio station on in their room almost all the time. We even play white noise in the baby’s room. This keeps him asleep when the rest of the house is noisy. It masks the other sounds. I get that. But are we instilling in him from day one the fear of silence and aloneness?

But loneliness and noise aren’t our only options. There is another path we can take. We can develop the discipline of solitude and silence into our lives, and learn to live in that place, without the need for noise. Richard Foster, in Celebration of Discipline, says this: Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.

Posted on

Rejuvenating Your Prayer Life (ESD)

Spiritual Disciplines Banner

Probably one of the most difficult spiritual disciplines I face is the challenge of keeping my prayer life fresh and meaningful. It seems too easy to slip into a dull routine, praying the same prayers, or types of prayers, every day.

Once you fall into that rut, it can be difficult to pull yourself out of it. But if you want to experience a vivid and meaningful prayer life, you must do something to revitalize your prayers.

Woman Praying

Building a vibrant prayer life isn’t as difficult as it seems. Of all the methods I’ve tried in my life, none of them has been difficult. The only difficulty I’ve experienced has been in my consistency in maintaining the habit. It’s easy to fall into a dulling routine, or to become complacent in your prayer life.

But when that happens, your spiritual health suffers as if you’d just been sealed away from the life-giving oxygen that we need to survive. The frightening part is that we may not even notice that we’ve drifted until the effects are drastic.

For that reason, it’s crucial that we develop and maintain the discipline of a healthy prayer life. Over the course of my life and ministry, I’ve discovered a few ways that have helped me to keep my perspective fresh. Hopefully, they will help you as well.