Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

Review Title: Looking for Spiritual Growth? (Review of Spiritual Disiplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney) Reviewer: Janice S. Garey ***** 5 Stars This book needs to be on the Reading List of all Christians whether new to the faith or mature believers. It has a wealth of information, inspiration, motivation, and cultivation of what Christians need planted and watered in their hearts to remain and thrive in the vine of faith in Jesus. My ladies’ Bible study group chose to use the study guide without the accompanying book. That works for our group needs. Personally, I wanted to read the book itself and got the Audible version for listening to while walking or doing chores. That has been a wonderful choice for my enrichment and reinforcement. I do glean a lot from our group discussions in finding out how others pursue the spiritual disciplines. The subjects covered are: prayer,worship, scripture memorization, evangelism, serving, stewardship of time and money, scripture application, fasting, silence and solitude, and journaling. I have picked up many insights about the disciplines that I had never considered before. The book does not give a cookie cutter approach, but the author lets the reader know about best practices. As an example, Whitney read of a Puritan who had excellent results from Bible reading combined with meditation on Scripture that is turned into prayers. The author feels that once he put that sequencing of activities into his personal quiet time, his prayers got better results. I am thankful this book is written by a man so that it will be used by all Christians and will not be neglected by many who can benefit from it. I believe this book belongs in the category of a classic Christian book on the faith. The narrator of this book on Audible has a pleasant yet serious tone and is easy to listen to. I think this is one book I need to listen to at least once a year.

I have much difficulty putting this book down whenever I pick it up and start reading. This is such a great book to guide you in your Christian walk, whether you're a new believer or you've been a believer for a while now. It teaches you about real discipline and the importance of reading the word of God in addition to prayer and diligently yielding to the Holy Spirit in your walk. I'm a new believer and it has helped me out a great deal. This teaches you that being a Christian doesn't just mean that you understand the gospel and believe it intellectually; it means putting your full trust in our Lord Christ Jesus by following Him and humbly surrendering to everything He commands for us to do for His glory. If you don't submit to God's will that means you do not trust in His path and you don't trust that obeying His word and living for Him is worth it. I'm here to tell you that living for Christ is totally worth all the pain you may endure in this lifetime due to people rejecting you, unfriending you, and calling you weird because you choose to follow Him and make Him your main priority. If you haven't heard the gospel, here it is: Our Heavenly Father sent His son Jesus Christ to earth in the form of a man. He was born of a virgin supernaturally through immaculate conception and lived a perfect sinless life here on earth for 33 years. Because He was God incarnate, He was able to successfully live without sin. His sole purpose for being sent to Earth was to die for our sins through Crucifixion. One the third day, Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead by His own power, thus proving that He is God and fully capable of defeating Hell [eternal separation from the Heavenly Father]. Jesus came to Earth to become a human sacrifice for those who put their full trust in Him, so that they would spend eternal life in Heaven with Him, as opposed to eternal damnation that all of us rightfully deserve due to our sinful nature. In order for us humans to enter into heaven on our own, we must live a sinless life. This is an impossibility, as we all are sinners. This is why we need salvation from Jesus Christ. When we place our full trust in Him by confessing to Him all of our sins, asking for His forgiveness and repenting, He gives us His precious gift of eternal life. Instantly He will place His Holy Spirit inside of you and when it is you're time to pass away, your spirit and soul will resurrect by the power of His Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead! It is only by the power of Christ's Holy Spirit that we can enter into heaven. Those who reject His Holy Spirit [people who continue to live in sin and never repent] will be sentenced to Hell by default. Jesus didn't have to do this for us, yet He was willing to die for our sins and withstand our punishment on the cross. The punishment that He didn't deserve because of how perfect and Holy He is. God humbled Himself to die in our place. What an amazing demonstration of love. This is real love. Glory be to God Alone <3

Excellent resource. Theologically Rich and biblical.

I try to be judicious in assigning stars to books and products, but I feel this is truly a five star book. The material may not be for everyone, but for its intended audience, i.e. those intent on pursuing godliness, I have found this book to be worth reading and re-reading. I disagree with those who say it is not practical - there are multiple concrete examples of how to _practice_ these disciplines... for example, taking a short chunk of Scripture and meditating on it; emphasizing different words of the text when speaking a verse in the mind or aloud; praying through a verse; setting a goal of writing down X number of insights about a particular goal; etc. (Forgive me if there are errors here in my recollection, I am going from memory). While it is practical, he is also clear on our motivations to lead a spiritually disciplined life. I feel he was successful in increasing a spiritual hunger in the reader. Again I would echo those who have mentioned this in their reviews and also JI Packer who wrote the introduction - this is book worth rereading! I am going to ask to work through the book in a group setting at my church - it would work perfectly for a group study. I believe there are 13 chapters, so it could be easily done in one season of study.

Fantastic read on the spiritual disciplines. Practical and highly applicational. Adds theology where needed but the focus throughout is on the practical everyday use of the core spiritual disciplines to train oneself towards godliness (1 Tim 4:7). I loved Dallas Willard’s excellent book “The Spirit of the Disciplines” but if Willard’s book is about the design of a car, this one is all about where the rubber meets the road - everyday life. Takes the mysticism out of a topic that has mystified many through the ages. These are the practical tools of a spiritually disciplined life not the wishful thinking pretty ornaments of such a life that sit on the shelf to be admired from afar, but never to be actually used. As others have mentioned both the spiritual newborn and the old saint will find something of value in these pages. This truly is one of those rare books that is not meant to just be read but rather put to daily practice and the author shows us how this is done on nearly every page. Cannot recommend highly enough.

Good content, but editing out some of the wordiness would have been an improvement. The author had a tendency to repeat himself.

Great product

This is a "should read" for anyone wanting to grow in their relationship with God (the only true "must read" is the Word). Many of the disciplines are what you would expect to find in such a book (Bible intake, prayer, stewardship), but I was really challenged to think about several other disciplines that I had not given much thought to before (fasting and journaling). While the "disciplines" (topics) presented here are well-chosen and presented, what makes this book a really valuable resource and help is the practical suggestions and applications presented by the author. I have just entered what will probably be the busiest season of my life, so I am glad to be finished reading through this book; however, I don't think I'll put it away just yet, as I have a feeling I will be turning back to these pages for practical suggestions to help me grow in these disciplines (in my pursuit of growth in godliness). Finally, I am especially grateful for Donald Whitney's emphasis on the "spiritual" aspect of these disciplines. While these disciplines are presented as necessary/helpful in our growth, he repeatedly emphasizes that the goal is not a completed checklist, but a Spirit-driven growth in Christ-likeness!

This book is one of the best books available regarding the value of practical Christian discipleship and practical Christian living.

El libro llego en perfectas condiciones. El material es de calidad. Y a pesar de llevar pocas paginas leídas. Es un libro bien enfocado.

I really enjoyed this book - insightful, practical and well laid out

Amazing book! Definitely recommend it, makes for a good book study. Lots of practical tips for the daily Christian life.

An excellent call to the disciplined life required to follow Jesus. Compassionate and gentle yet challenging and bold. Laziness is never a good thing. The book is full of instruction and incentives to live a purposeful life. Love the illustrations and quotes from others who have endeavoured to live the Christian life. Thoroughly recommend this book. It has helped me immensely in my own walk with God.