Spiritual Training Manual
a.k.a. Discipleship a la mode
““Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” ”
““Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” ”
““But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever!” Amen. ”
How do you hope to grow stronger spiritually if you don’t train? Physical exercise provides a great analogy for anyone who wants to ‘grow spiritually’. With physical strength and skill in sport, some people are born with more talent, strength, and speed than others. At early and amateur levels of competition, those natural differences may provide massive advantages, sometimes to the extent that an athlete may not think they ‘need’ discipline training in order to dominate their game. That may, in fact, be true at a certain level. Others may hit a ‘growth spurt’ earlier than their peers without any effort other than eating extra peanut butter and pizza. This can give a huge (but temporary) edge over their competition.
To continue in growth and development as an athlete into higher and higher levels of performance requires one thing regardless of genetic disposition and natural born talent: discipline.
The sprinter knows that, to improve her race time, she must train on and off the track, adding strength to her legs by safely increasing weight and moving in proper form. The boxer who doesn’t train his body before the fight may look good for the first round but will struggle to go the distance in the ring unless he has put in the intense cardio and practice consistently over the weeks before the match. The powerlifter understands that muscles only grow if you feed them and will carefully consume the right mix of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates to support increases in strength and power. The basketball player knows that no matter how tall and talented you are, putting in the work every day is the only path to greatness. Steph Curry shoots 500 practice shots EVERY DAY before practice. Kobe was in the gym every day around 4-5 am. Consistency and practice create the atmosphere for growth, regardless of what sport you play.
So, what does this have to do with our spiritual life? That which is true for athletes remains true for anyone who desires to grow in their relationship with God and in faith. Some people seem more ‘naturally’ inclined to sensitivity to the spirit and things of faith. Sometimes initial growth and change after our conversion may lead us to believe that we are doing so much better than our peers and our former self that we don’t need to do anything different or intentional other than to keep on keeping on. The growth isn’t what you witness at the finish line. It’s what you would find in the quiet everyday moments tucked away from the eyes of onlookers.
If you don’t train, you won’t grow.
Most of the growth you have already experienced spiritually is likely a direct result of the grace of God that you have received through some sort of spiritual discipline, whether you recognize your actions as such or believe it was just a happy accident you stumbled into.
People have developed proven practices for training their spiritual lives since the Spirit of God first beckoned humans into a renewed relationship, expressed through the covenant with Abraham and ultimately through new covenant established by the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus with all who receive the Holy Spirit through faith. For thousands of years, faithful brothers and sisters have established deep roots of faith through consistent expressions of their faith in their day-to-day living.
These amazing individuals and communities exclaimed a radical ‘yes’ to God with the way they navigate their very lives. In that way, the mission leaders in the Wildfire Network bear a resemblance to many of the pioneers and saints who have paved the pathways to holiness across time and around the world. I earnestly believe that history may look back on many of you with the same honor held for the desert Fathers of Egypt, Julian of Norwich, Francis of Assisi, the founders of missionary societies and communities like the Moravians or the Methodists, and countless more who now stand as our great cloud of witnesses.
Who were these people?
Their number include a woman in her prayer closet who contemplated the revelations of Holy Spirit in her heart, interceded for her fellow Christians, carried the woe of the world in her heart, and sought wisdom from God for decades about how to best share her revelations with the world in a society that actively rejected and resisted the input of a woman.
Their number include passionate followers of Jesus who felt that the comfort of the culture wasn’t the best place to cultivate holiness in Christ, so they left to live in the desert to purify their hearts and learn what it truly meant to radically love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love their neighbor as themselves.
Their number include those who remained within the cultures they found themselves in, standing as a light and a beacon in the midst of immense darkness and depravity that threatened to entirely consume the society around them were it not for the faithful witness of a few.
Their number include men and women compassionately considering the desperate needs of a broken world and building a life and a community that could address the issues with hope and integrity.
Their number include courageous prophets who carried fire in their bones for the injustice and oppression they saw in the world. They called it out for what it was: sin that defied the love and justice of God. They brought a renewed Word to the church to revive it from its slumber.
Their number include those that painted moving masterpieces and penned powerful poems and sang sustaining songs. They told new stories rich with whispers of ancient wisdom to shape the imaginations of the next generations.
All along the way, these faithful ones discovered that discipleship in the way of Jesus consisted of disciplines and practices that helped them to ‘be transformed by the renewing of their minds.’ Not only did they discover and develop these over lifetimes, but they also shared them with their immediate friends and followers. In the same way that we can learn from each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, we can look to the ‘cloud of witnesses’ comprised of the believers from the past for gaining wisdom and skills to help train our own spiritual growth.
The Rubric
We would like to craft a new series that explores a wide variety of spiritual disciplines practiced by believers throughout the course of thousands of years. The leaders within Wildfire Network have vast and varied experiences with a diversity of disciplines that facilitate the growth and flourishing of faith in your own lives. Together, we desire to create a resource that dives into many of the disciplines that have rooted and established our faith.
Each discipline will be clearly defined for what it is and will have three sections devoted to the exploration of the discipline:
Story
Substance
Steps
Story will share personal stories from the author about attempts to put the discipline or exercise into practice has looked like in their life. Taylor will serve as the author for much of the series, and you as our Wildfire family are invited to make contributions to this work as well. Pastor Sunil in India is already working on an article on Gratitude. Your story contains the wisdom of God expressed through what you may consider the mundane aspects of your life. We invite you to consider the story God is writing in your life and to share how discipline has strengthened and increased your love for God and his people.
Substance will dive into the biblical support and foundations of the practice as well as describing its historical roots in faithful lives of individuals and communities in the past. This will also be a section that explores some of the realities of why a discipline works if there is any information available from neuroscience, psychology, biology, or other sources of knowledge. We want to dive into the richness of these disciplines as we broaden our view through the evidence given to us through God’s ordered creation.
Steps will lay out simple and clear instructions for suggestions on how to utilize the exercise on your own and in your community. The steps will offer three levels of intensity: beginner (always start here!), growing, and mature. For many, this will be the most practical and helpful portion of the article as it will outline some clear next steps for building that discipline into our lives.
Lastly, each article will conclude with some general encouragement, a list of struggles or challenges that may strengthen your soul using that specific exercise, and ways that the discipline connects with community around you.
Take a look at the full list below, and please reach out at the link at the bottom of the page if one stands out to you that you would like to contribute to in any way. This is an invitation to co-author and collaborate across Wildfire Network on a resource to bless other brothers and sisters with the wisdom and experience God has deposited into each of us.
Below are the exercises that are currently planned for release in the series:
Waiting
Solitude
Community
Prayer (unceasing prayer, contemplative prayer, the Lord’s prayer, the Jesus Prayer, Intercession and others)
Meditating on scripture
Sabbath/rest
Discernment/discretion
Battling Temptation
Obedience
Compassion and Service
Fasting
Silence
Confession
Communion
Gratitude
Worship
Spiritual guidance/counseling
and more
This is not an exhaustive list. It will continue to grow as you contribute.
Although we often assume that someone who is already fit is most likely to hit the gym, that person one day entered a gym for the first time, uncertain of how to use the machines or lift weights with proper form. They continued to show up day after day consistently, repeating movements and exercises and growing in their capacity through faithful movement and the guidance of someone who could help them with their form or to encourage them to keep going when the work felt too difficult to continue.
This translates to our spiritual lives as well. We may think that a person who consistently fasts or meditates on scripture is already walking with Jesus in confidence and strength, and yet that person also started at the beginning one day on the invitation of the Holy Spirit to go a little deeper. Day by day, they continued to work out the exercises of their faith and built endurance through regular practice.
The reality is that spiritual exercises can be medicine for a sick soul, much like how physical therapy can restore a broken body back to health. Many times, we find ourselves injured or struggling spiritually for similar reasons that an athlete ends up injured: bad habits practiced over and over, just doing what feels right to us, and not learning how to move the right way, proven by the ones who have gone before us. For myself, I have often found that physical therapy for an injury, with all the new stretches and proper lift techniques or the focus on neglected muscles or tendons, helps me in a way that is much greater than simply bringing me back to me former strength. The therapy and renewed focus make new horizons possible. Similarly, I have often discovered that a newly prescribed spiritual discipline for my struggling soul has not only healed what was broken but carved a pathway to greater strength than ever before because of learning a new way to sustain spiritual health.
Are you ready to enter training? Whatever your starting point, this series is a direct invitation for you to grow stronger.
In physical training, sometimes we need some inspiration to get our butts off the couch and get into an exercise routine. Often that comes in the form of a clear target like signing up for a 5k or joining a softball team for a season (or ice hockey for me, lol). I want to challenge every member of the Wildfire Family to make a contribution to this series, even if it’s small. Please consider sharing even one story of how you tried a new spiritual discipline. We aren’t looking for perfect form, just willing sons and daughters who are ready to be curious about a new path. Think of it as signing up for the opposite of spiritual complacency!
What are you waiting for?
I can tell you that the whole world is waiting for you.
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. -Romans 8:19 NIV.
Let’s create a resource together that will empower God’s people in our generation to appear in their neighborhoods and nations ever more in likeness of Jesus, our Lord and our King.
Art credit: Ashley Rogers, Created Ministry