Day 123: What Are Spiritual Exercises?
One of the goals that we have for MilktoMeat as a whole is to provide you with both the proper “diet” and “exercise” for spiritual growth. The proper diet for a Christian is the Written and Living Word of God. As Jesus told the Tempter, “A person does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). The Word of God is our spiritual food.
We also know that proper diet is not enough, we also need exercise. This is true both in the physical and spiritual realms. Today we want to think about the nature of spiritual exercise.
Spiritual exercises have been largely neglected in contemporary Christianity. Nevertheless, they are essential to growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. Some call these exercises “disciplines.” We are going to use the term “exercise” because it describes what we are doing by engaging in these activities: we are exercising “spiritual muscles.”
The more we engage in theses exercises, the more we form habits that keep us heading in the right direction, focused on Christ, following Him closely. So, generally speaking, what is a spiritual exercise?
KEY Definition: Spiritual Exercise
A Spiritual Exercise is an activity that involves our whole being (physical and spiritual, body and spirit) that we intentionally practice for the purpose of developing Christlike habits, empowered and sustained by the grace of Father God.
Notice a couple of things in this definition:
An activity that involves your whole person | Spiritual exercises involve both our “external/physical” selves and our “internal/spiritual” selves. These are activities that involve our bodies, minds, and hearts
Intentional Practice | These are activities that we pursue with purpose. We are willfully and intelligently taking on these practices to focus on growing more like Christ.
Christlike Habits | These are practices that we are “building in” to the flow of our whole life, for the rest of our lives.
Empowered and Sustained by the Grace of Father God | These are not things that we do on our own; they are completely intertwined with God’s grace at work in us. These activities will build up our “spiritual muscle” so to speak. This does not mean that we are becoming strong on our own but learning to rest in Father God’s power and strength available to us In Christ.
What Is The Principle Of Indirect Effort?
First of all, we remember that our Father is working all things together to make us like Christ. We want to cooperate with Him in that goal. In our pursuit to be more Christlike, we find that we cannot will ourselves to achieve this goal. Many new disciples have been disappointed to discover that you cannot say, “Ok, today I am going to be more like Jesus…” and have everything fall into place. In fact, most of us have discovered that the minute you say something like that, failure and shame are usually quick to follow. Instead of pursuing this goal head on, we practice the types of things Jesus did and this will create space in our souls for His goodness to fill us.
To give another example, I cannot love my enemies by simply willing this. Instead, there are things that I can do to train my mind and heart and in the process I will be transformed into the type of person who is able to love my enemies. You cannot change your thoughts or desires or emotions by simply willing it to be so (how great would that be!!!). Instead, you must do other things that will indirectly cause this transformation to take place.
The Spiritual Exercises are simply activities that we have the ability to do in order to open ourselves to the power of Father God’s grace which works within us. These exercises are built on the pattern of Jesus’ own life.
What Is The Principle Of Grace Empowered Effort?
As we just said above, Father God’s grace is a major component of the exercises. If you remember, we defined His grace as His favor/blessing given to us In Christ that gives us access to His unlimited power in the Holy Spirit. All that we do is empowered by Father God’s grace. We will have more to say about that tomorrow.
Although we depend on the empowerment of the Lord’s grace, this does not mean that we are inactive, or just “coast along.” Cooperating with the Lord, acting in and through His grace, can mean work, effort for us. Take a look at the following passages:
1 Corinthians 15:10
[Paul speaking] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them [the other Apostles!]—yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
Colossians 1:28–29 1:28
We proclaim Him [Christ] by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ. 1:29 Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to His power that powerfully works in me.
In the 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul seems to be doing a little boasting! But take note of what he is saying: Paul’s hard work was empowered by the grace of God within him! In the Colossians 1 passage, Paul says he labors and struggles—the word he uses there implies “working your fingers to the bone…”—according to the power of God at work in him.
There is an important point to be made here: Father God’s grace stands opposed to our trying to earn His favor. He has blessed us freely, out of His own goodness and provision in Jesus Christ (a costly thing for Jesus!). But, His grace does not stand opposed to our effort in cooperating with Him. We call this principle grace empowered effort and it is one of the great “secrets” of spiritual growth and formation.
Some Practical Advice On The Exercises
We learn by doing. Cultivating a useful and effective method of exercise that follows this principle of grace empowered effort will take two things:
Time | Spiritual transformation does not happen overnight. Just as there will never be a time in your life when you can give up eating and exercising to maintain your physical body, there will never be a time when you can give up spiritual exercise. These are lifelong pursuits.
Experimentation | There is no one “blueprint” for every student/disciple/apprentice of Christ. We are each unique individuals. As such, what works for me may not work for you. You will want to discover what actually helps you cultivate a deeper communion with Father God by getting insight from others and by patiently figuring out what works best for you.
Thankfully, the Lord’s grace and goodness creates space and permission in our growing, deeper relationship with Him to pursue Him in these ways.
We have already covered a lot of ground in this short section today. The truths we have covered here are central to every thing else we will cover. Make sure you have a good understanding of them before moving on.
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
