Disciplines of a Spirit Led Life

 This Fall, I had the privilege of teaching a small Bible study group at my church. We worked our way through the Fruit of the Spirit, using a book by Jerry Bridges , The Fruitful Life,  as a resource. I have loved getting back in the groove of teaching and all that entails. I find myself losing track of time as I read sermons and scripture on each topic and spending hours at a time reading and making notes.  I thought this would be a good opportunity to share with you what the Lord is teaching me as I prepare to teach each week.

Each week, as we examined one fruit at a time, we looked at what scripture says about each one in relation to our relationship with God, the world and ourselves.

We know as Believers, we are called to live differently than the world. The fruit of the Spirit are what others see in us as we live our lives, day in and day out. But first, we need to understand what a life lived in step with the Spirit looks like. 

There are 3 disciplines that must be practiced consistently in order for us to walk in step with the Spirit effectively. When we are saved by faith, made right with God through his justification, the Holy Spirit indwells our Spirit. This enables us to live in a way we couldn't before. We now have everything we need to live a life pleasing to the Lord & differently than the world. That's what God did for us, now we need to train ourselves in godliness (as Paul puts it). In order to know God better and live according to his ways, we must practice living godly. 

Prayer

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kind of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18

Prayer rarely comes natural even though it should. Most often we use it as a smoke signal for when we are in trouble, at our wits end and don't know where else to turn. We yell "help!" to God. Instead, we should make prayer a daily habit. It should be conversation we start with the Lord as soon as we wake in the morning. 

 Burk Parsons had this to say about prayer,

Prayer is the daily surrender of our perceived control over lives. 

Submission

Submission is yielding to the authority of another. As much as we would like to think otherwise, submission does not come natural, rebellion does. It's a part of our sin nature that we are constantly waging war with.  Submitting to God is recognizing his lordship and sovereignty in our lives. Until our hearts are truly surrendered to Christ as Lord of our lives, there will be turmoil and strife. We will strive and struggle through adversity rather than trusting God. This is not the life God intended his people to live. in Psalms we are told tole "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)   We cannot walk in the Spirit and think we are in control of our own lives. It just doesn't work. In order for the Holy Spirit to have the ability to work in our lives, we must be surrendered to God and his will for our lives. We much have a clear understanding that God is God, we are not.

Obedience

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 1 John 5:2

And how can we practice prayer and submission and not obedience?  When our daily habits include studying & meditating on the Word, faithful prayer and submission, obedience is not a struggle, because it's our desire. Our hearts and mind are set on Christ and the Holy Spirit is working through us. Obeying his commands, doing his will creates joy and satisfaction in our soul. 

These 3 disciplines are practiced better when the habit of reading and studying your Bible is consistent. It's so important. In fact, unless we know what God's Word says about how we are to live our life, we can't submit to him or obey him well. We may try. We will want to. But his Word is alive and active. It changes us, inspires us and teaches us His ways.

A life lived in step with the Spirit is a life that reflects the character of God. In his book, The Fruitful Life, Jerry Bridges says, 

If we are not taking on the character of God, we are taking on the character of the world. 

We are always growing and changing, who are we growing to become more like?  This is why practicing these biblical disciplines are so critical. 

Peter reminds us in his 2 letter, 2 Peter 1 that God has given us everything we need to live a godly, spirit led life. It's there for us! All we have to do is grasp hold of it, practice it, live it, walk it out. This is the responsibility of ever Christian.