Spiritual Growth through Various Spiritual Disciplines

From time immemorial, spectral fruit has strengthened the faith of believers and has inspection and repaired them depart surrounding(prenominal) and make them believe much(prenominal)(prenominal) in their spectral dogma. This is besides evident in deliverymanianity. From the time of Jerusalems height, chastening has al focusings found a weaken in Christian beliefs and in alter the faith of the congregation. Over the years, heap subscribe to attended that particular mannikins of corrects when habituated help them arrest the partnership between perfection and themselves open and help keep alive their passion towards divinity.It is worth noning early on that these ghostly conditions be not the surest way to heaven and that thither is no cover account that they endure even dissemble you a holy soulfulness. On the separate pay, being equal to(p)-bodied to practice weird line of business thunder mug heighten your desire, awargonness, and know of immortal by stripping knock d declargon the barriers that you put up within yourself and opposite barriers that early(a)s contain gaind for you that hinder you from being impendent to divinity (Benner, 2002). A practice or activity nooky be considered a spectral chastisement when it absorbs a item part of your way of vitality and outlaws it toward graven image.A sacred discipline is, when practiced faithfully and regularly, a habit or regular con systema skeletaleation in your keep that repeatedly offer ups you the hazard to be suffice surrounding(prenominal) to paragon, opens the practiti peerlessrs heart to matinee idol and makes single ductile and open to weird guidance and popular opinion. Christian devotional practice is centered in the main on the holy trinity the Naz bene Christ, god the Father and the Holy life (Foster, 1998). In this piece of work, we put modified c atomic number 18 on a comprehensive abbreviation of spiritual growth th rough and through the practice of six kinds of discipline and how these be up to(p) to contri alonee to spiritual growth.In the succeeding separate of the paper, we leave focus our study on spiritual disciplines such as surmisal, plea, temperance, study, expediency and relief. We forget as well provide a discussion of these particular disciplines and how they atomic number 18 able to make people grow adpressed to a perfection of relationship with Christ. The freshman part of the study is dedicated to a discussion of spiritual growth thru guess. Essenti for each one(prenominal)y, conjecture is subdivided into three parts Concentration, speculation and considerateness. The source part of meditation is concentration.Concentration is being able to conceive special fear on a certain point, topic or ara. It entails 100% of taking special vigilance on a single thought, in our case 100% focus to idol. Meditation green goddess be achieved by being able to produce on es approximation of unnecessary opinions and distractions as this can make it easier for people to be more connected to god. Concentration brings people to an another(prenominal)(prenominal) enlist aim of consciousness that promotes for cle atomic number 18r thought and a heightened sense of feelings. This precursor must be achieved in cabaret for people to grow in a meditative state. The siemens stage of meditation is actu tot all in all toldy toldy meditation itself.The uninterrupted flow of ones Attention, then, is Meditation. By being fixated in a single quarry, a somebodys thought is totally foc habitd on that object. This is the clearest and or so Copernican aspect of meditation. With this, the double-dyed(a)st opinions and feelings are released between the person and immortal. with meditation, God has a true and clear connection with the person that helps provide a clear and uninterrupted line of discourse. sacred meditation creates for a in reality clear communication between God and the person, which promotes for better dread of God and a early hand experience of Gods presence.This is also evident in lay religious requests such as Buddhism that takes special tending on intense meditation to clean house the mind and body of evil and wrongdoing. Through continuous Meditation, one becomes one with the object of ones Concentration. The third level is contemplation. By heart of meditation one is able to acquire a parcel emerge of pure experiences that has to reflect on and analyzed. Contemplation is a method that helps people get a lineably explain and analyze the events that had transpired during meditation.Contemplation oft takes more time than the meditation itself, as it is principal(prenominal) to clearly understand what the manufacturing business has communicated to the person (Keating n. d. ). This can be in wee of a group with a facilitator or contemplating alone. At any case, what is important is the resulting st opping point made that is important, regardless of contemplative medium. unitary can meditate by means of study. In studying, one is in a meditative state that is focused on the holy scriptures of God. With study, we are encapsulated within the scriptures of Gods interchange.In studying the word of God, we are led to deeper meditative state and we can gain more knowledge and be close to God through his word (Beers, 2006). It has been said that pure existence can completely be experienced when the mind becomes purely at ease with the environs he/she is in. In nightspot for us to be truly one with God, we have to imbibe into our daily routine a portion of meditation in establish to experience, even a little at the very least, pure existence and a unbroken line of communication with God in secernate to further break in our spiritualty and relationship with God.With pure meditation, it is actually hard to understand the words of God. Our opinions and speculations are like a veil covering our true Nature. In addition to this, a most serious problem is when we secern with a certain mind-structure, the personality or ego, and the body. simply even with so a great deal(prenominal) of this demystifying our meditative state, meditation is used to divulge our true Nature and relationship with the Lord, we power still continue to cling to this fake personality and fear its dissolution (Foster, 1978).Since we cannot only bless the mind to be still, we base it round thing to hang on to. This is to facilitate telling meditation that would help us greatly in opening a pure line of communication with the Lord. Words kno net profitg for that think are called mantras. In Christianitys case, a mantra can be of the form of a request or Christian ritual. The application of mantras during meditation is called transcendental meditation. Mantras are repeated mentally for the sole goal to calm the mind, remove inhibitions and clear out any unnecessary opin ions (Beers, 2006).By continually control out unnecessary thought can the mind be bonkly unsounded and only when the mind comes to a complete standstill are we enabled to identify with the silent observer. Spiritual meditation is inbornly a mental exercise that drives the mind to take special attention on the Lord in order to remove all opinions not relevant to the Lord and create a connection between him for effective communication and to further our relationship with the Lord. The ad get hitched withing kind of spiritual discipline that is well linked to meditation is prayer. The second discipline is prayer.Spiritual discipline is not spiritual discipline if in that respect is no prayer, of course, is much more than a spiritual discipline it is a way of life. However it should be notable that prayer, as with all spiritual disciplines, should never be taken only as a discipline and nothing more. It would be a rather low-voltage spiritual life in which prayer was in the ma in undertaken as a discipline. On one hand, prayer is a very male practice for opening our lives to God (Catechism of the Catholic Church n. d. ). In present times, it is very important to practice prayer as a discipline.In our culture today, a grand margin of Christians attention span is disadvantageously impaired. In prayer we ensure our minds to God, and all too a great deal that attention lasts for a few seconds. We may be scratch finish up with professing our faith by means of saying the Lords entreaty scarcely it is not dogged before our minds tend to wander out and we start to forget who we had addressed in the first place (Thompson 2005). It is for this rationalness that we must undertake prayer as a spiritual discipline in order to enable ourselves to attain the single-mindedness necessary to attend to the God-who-is-present.It is also vital for us to understand that prayer, unless as all(prenominal) other discipline, is a learning process. We get out check ourselves distracted. We will notice our minds wandering among the unbounded concerns of the day. However, as we continue in the roadways of prayer, our meanders will be shorter and less frequent. Prayer is parley or communication with God. It involves both discourse and attending. So often we pray as if it were a monologue. But prayer is so much more than a uni commandional communication towards God.As a matter of fact, the most diligent person that practices the discipline of prayer knows that prayer is more astir(predicate) just listening towards God rather than talk of the town to him. In addition, prayer is also about being open to God for change. Prayer is recognition that God is God and we are not, and so in prayer we refund our desires to Gods. As much as people might say it is, prayer is not at all complicated. Prayer is not just about saying the secure combination of words and thought but it is the right orientation of our out savour towards God.In addition, pray ers do not need to be flowery. Those kinds of prayers are either said in order to impress others or just to parry God. A prayer is not something that is through with(p) during mealtime, in times of church avail or in times of distress. It is not just about bowing our heads, clasping our manpower together, and closing our eyes. If we really consider the description of prayer as something that is really give attention to God, we really can action the discipline of prayer without actually stopping.What is important is that in whatever thing we do, we do it with the awareness that God is eer there beside us (Thompson 2005). With that in mind, we can take special attention all of what we do and offer it to him. To pray without ceasing means that wherever we go and in whatever we are doing, we go and do with the awareness that God is always watching whatever we do. We listen through prayer and meditation for his opinion on everything that we do in our lives. We look at others and ourselves through His eyes.We ask God to show us the right path and the right decision for whatever we do. In prayer God invites us to join him in his community and wants us to strike our lives in his ways. The third part of the spiritual discipline is self-control. Biblically, fast(a)ing is abstaining from food, drink, sleep or sex to take special attention on a period of spiritual growth. Specifically, we humbly deny something of the flesh to spiritualise God, enhance our spirit, and go deeper in our prayer life. Christian abstinence isnt some kind of a work thats commanded by Christ or required by Scripture.On the other hand, it doesnt imply that frugality isnt suggested to be part of our spiritual growth. Fasting is often linked to prayer and meditation as well. Too often, the focus of fasting is on the lack of food. On the other hand, the purpose of fasting is to take our eyes off the things of this world and instead take special attention on God. Fasting is a way to dem onstrate to God and to ourselves that we are serious about our relationship with Him. Although fasting in Scripture is almost always a fasting from food, there are other ways to fast.It can actually be as easy as giving up something temporarily so that you can better focus on God can actually be considered fasting. It is recommended that fasting be limited to a given period of time, more so when food is part of the fasting. It is important to personal credit line that fasting is never intended to revenge the flesh but to let we take special attention on God (Catechism of the Catholic Church n. d. ). In addition, fasting according to scripture is not a prerequisite. However it is highly recommended. The only reason indicated within Holy Scripture to fast is to develop a deeper relationship with God.Christian fasting is more than just not permit ourselves eat or deny ourselves of some kind of passion or thing that we crave for but it is a throw of something that we hold dear in or der to offer it to the Lord. Fasting imbibes humility and loosens us from the duress of worldly-minded materials and involve. This concept of fasting is not a one-day thing it is a lifestyle of servant living for God and others. The next kind of spiritual discipline that is the focus of our study is simplicity. Simplicity, as some another(prenominal) people would have it, is not but having less stress in life and having more fun and recreation.But, simplicity is a spiritual discipline that when practiced moves us next to God and removes us from the chains of worldly possessions. Some people turn to God in order to simplify their lives. In some cases, this can notice but this would entirely be on what Gods plans for you (Boa, 2001). But all too often, God makes our lives more complicated. God continually tests us in order to determine our faith and love in him. As we are continually tested, Gods love then calls us to act. Part of what makes a Christian spirituality honest is that is has a single attention Christ.All else radiates from there or is to be set aside. Spiritual discipline trains us to stay on course when our lives are rocked out of normality. But if we do not stay plastered and stay the course, we lose our connection and ourselves to God. Christian spirituality helps make life simpler and expert to live. When we drop behind a wealthy life style, we thread a very touchy and often unholy affair the standards keep on changing day in and day out, and our anxiety never ceases. That is why Christian contemplatives and mystics speak so often of detachment.By taking away the direction on acquiring and amassing wealth, we have more of ourselves made free in order to direct ourselves to take special attention on learning to love correctly, to meditate towards God, to provide the necessary aid to those that need it, to learn more about our Lord through scripture or learning how to depend on the Spirit. Simplicity guides to so many other spiritua l disciplines such as giving time to others service. By means of simplicity, you are actually attuned more to the needs of others and can actually help them, as you are not preoccupied with other material things in life.Service can also be a form of simplicity as you provide help to others. With service, you are closer to God as you gather one of the very tenets of Christianity, and that is not to just be closer to God but more importantly be closer and be in a common relationship with the people around you (Ortberg 2004). In life, you cannot have everything. You always have to distinguish between something. You cant follow Christ and chase wealth. Most of the time these two paths go in extremely opposite directions. The simple life, the contented life, means that we have larn to trust God rather than worldly possessions.People currently worry so much about money that they forget the essential things in life. We think that money will take away all our worries but in reality mon ey will only produce more and more worries. Take for instance the people that win the lottery and just go bankrupt. riches and abundance are like a wolf in sheeps clothing. They come in reeling in the bait, they are tog as sheeps clothing computer simulation to be security against anxieties and they then become the object of anxiety that in the first place they try to remove.Worldly possessions not only take away our concentration towards God but also make us closer to evil (Mcknight 2004). In conclusion, prayer, meditation, study of the holy scripture, service to ones fellow men, simplicity and fasting all guide people who do these spiritual disciplines closer to God. Each on its own can contribute to making this person closer to God. It is also evident that each spiritual discipline leads to the other moreover, everything is intertwined and every part of each spiritual discipline is founded on another kind of discipline.This is powerfully apparent in existing studies and prescr iptions that it is important to practice not just only one but many of these spiritual disciplines if one were to aspire to become closer to God. As a concluding remark, these disciplines are not made in order to be just followed and it will logically guide to being saved from unadulterated damnation. Instead, these are carried out in order to be a guide for us to be ever closer to God. We use these disciplines as tools to make us closer to God but inevitably, it will all redound to the choice we make whether or not we would want to authentically wear God in our lives.