SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES: DRAWING CLOSER TO THE
HEART OF GOD
Is there more to pursue beyond studying and knowing about God? I believe so.
It’s called experiencing God and living spiritually transformed lives. The way to
spiritual fulfillment is the way of spiritual discipline – disciplines and practices that
draw us closer to God. These disciplines are available to everyone, even ordinary
people. Spiritual disciplines are a means to an end. The end is a spirit-filled life of
love for and intimacy with God, and of love and service to others.
I. Why the Resurgence in Spirituality?
A. People are fascinated with spirituality.
B. People believe the supernatural is all around them.
C. Most people want to change.
 Christians don’t always live the life they invite people to live
(Can anyone describe a moment where they were not living the life
they invited someone else to live?)
 Jesus invited people to live a life He lived Himself (this is what
fascinated people about Him)
D. People tend to move from spirituality to a life of rules.
Why and how does this happen?
 Hearts get narrow/small
 Hard to invite someone else since we’re not experiencing joy
ourselves
 There are rules to follow but spirituality is more than that
II. What is Spiritual Life?
A. Jesus spent time teaching people not what they needed to know but what
they thought they knew was wrong.
B. “Distorted ideas about spirituality, spirituality wrongly understood, are
one of the primary sources of human misery and rebellion against God.”
Dallas Willard.
C. Begin to seek and understand what spirituality is and what it is not.
D. Spiritual life is a way of seeing our life from God’s perspective.
 People compartmentalize it (pie slices of areas in life)
 God is interested in your life altogether
E. Jesus came to talk about “life.” He said, “I came that you may have life
and have it more abundantly.” People have the desire to be fully alive – in
all areas of life.
What does spiritual life mean to you?
What does life and life more abundant mean to you?