Spiritual Discipline For Life

The true essence of the Christian Faith is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. God desires to know each of His children in a personal and intimate way. Christ's mission on Earth and the true purpose of His death and resurrection was to reconcile God to His children, to restore the relationship that sin had destroyed. Engaging the Spiritual Disciplines to enhance and nurture this relationship with Christ, we need to be committed to growing through the practicing of the Spiritual Disciplines.

At LakeRidge UMC we encourage you to practice these Spiritual Disciplines:

• Prayer which helps us Follow the Spirit
  
  Each of us has a need to know God and be known by Him. Communication with God is the key to growing toward maturity in Christ. We encourage each of you to live a life of active prayer. God's Word encourages each of us to "pray without ceasing," (I Thessalonians 5:17 NRSV).
  
  
• Bible Study and Devotionals which helps us Pursue Truth in God's word
  
  God has given to us a blueprint for our lives. In the Bible, He has revealed the truth about who He is and who we are. For us to grow spiritually we need to regularly study God's Word to understand more of the life-changing truths found there. We have provided a tool that will help guide you through the entire Bible in a Year.
  
  
• Receiving Communion which helps us Experience God's Love
  
  During the last evening of Christ's life, He instructed His disciples to partake in a meal that we share in to this day. Communion, or The Lord's Supper, is a way for us to grow in our relationship with Him by remembering the sacrifice of His body and blood to take away the penalty for our sins. By sharing together in Communion we experience anew the forgiveness and grace that comes through knowing Christ.
  
  
• Worship Attendance which helps us love God
  
  Although our faith is based on a personal relationship with Christ, we are also encouraged in Scripture to come together for corporate worship. Worship is a time for believers to join in praise to God, be touched by the Holy Spirit, and share in Biblical teaching.
  
  
• Fasting which helps us Follow the Spirit
  
  Fasting, the discipline of abstaining from food for a regularly specified time, enables one to experience strength and provision form the Spirit of God when one’s body is intentionally weak and empty. Fasting also enables us to use hunger as a means of thinking of the needs of others.
  
  
• Giving which helps us Respond Greatfully as Stewards
  
  God is the provider of our ability to produce wealth. Giving of our wealth helps us recognize God’s provision and is a tangible act of investing in God’s work through the church in the world. Giving also helps us experience freedom from the soul-robbing belief that money is the measure of success and life.

Practicing the Spiritual Disciplines in and of themselves does nothing to make you more acceptable to God. They are useful only as tools to help you focus on Christ and open yourself to grow in faith and love.