How to Work with Jesus in the Transforming of Your Soul

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Do you ever wonder how you can work with Jesus in the transforming of your soul? Are you hungry and desperate for God? Are you doing the foundational stuff (see this blog post) but just can’t seem to figure out how to go deeper?  Let’s dive into how we can work with God in becoming more like Jesus.

“A disciple is a person who has decided that the most important thing in life is to learn how to do what Jesus said to do.”  Dallas Willard

Have you ever reacted in such a way, whether it be an argument, an emergency, or after a long day, that made you cringe? Where after seeking forgiveness, (for the thousandth time), you throw up your hands, and wonder how on earth you are ever going to cultivate patience, kindness, service and actually, utilize it in the heat of the moment no less?  How do you develop life as a disciple of Jesus; someone who actually demonstrates in word and action a life lived in surrender to God?

Galatians 5:22-23 gives us a vision for what the surrendered life looks like: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

So how do we develop the fruits of the spirit in our own lives?  How do we never give up, care more for others than ourselves, develop humility, patience, honesty, trust, etc.?  How do we intentionally be present with Jesus in our everyday lives?

Today, we are going to be answering that question by diving into some practical tools that Christians have been using for centuries. 

1. What is the Purpose of Spiritual Disciplines? 

The purpose of Spiritual Disciplines is to provide practical tools that allow us to work with God in the transformation of our souls.   The Life with God Bible says it this way, “Spiritual Disciplines involve doing what we can to receive from God the power to do what we cannot. And God graciously used this process to make us the kind of person who automatically will do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.”

Bingo!

Practicing Spiritual Disciplines are a crucial part of developing a deep and transformed life. The tools in and of themselves are nothing special, they are just that… tools. But they give us a super helpful and practical framework to work with the Holy Spirit.  Spiritual Disciplines allow us, through God’s grace, love, and the power of the Holy Spirit, to take an active role in saying yes to work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

 “A farmer is helpless to grow grain; all he can do is provide the right conditions for the growing of grain. He cultivates the ground, he plants the seed, he waters the plants, and then the natural forces of the earth take over and up comes the grain…This is the way it is with the Spiritual Disciplines – they are a way of sowing to the Spirit… By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done.” -Richard Foster

The disciplines are not meant to be a rigid rule of life but as a grace-filled, Holy Spirit initiated practice that grows and changes throughout the season of your life.  

 2. What are Spiritual Disciplines? 

So, what exactly are spiritual disciplines? Here is a list of inward, outward and corporate disciplines taken from Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline.   

Inward Disciplines:

Prayer–with God not just at God

Fasting

Meditation

Study– Not just for information, but the transformation of your soul