Fullness of Joy: Spiritual Disciplines
by Mary Beth Wood
My earliest childhood memories are rich with the things of God. I was raised in an environment in which pursuing Him, praying, scripture study and memorization were as normal as meals and bath time. The presence of God was not something mystical, only found in certain perfectly orchestrated “spiritual” contexts, but tangible and abiding. When I closed my eyes at night I felt His nearness and did not hesitate to speak to Him freely as a little girl. As I grew, the spiritual disciplines of reading scripture, prayer, and journaling were disciplines that brought growth and life to the full. They did not produce needless guilt, but conviction that led to repentance and change. As I grew in maturity, I didn’t read my Bible, journal, or pray to please God, but because abiding in his presence pleased me. I grew to savor time with Him. I knew that true abiding joy came from the presence of my Father.
Spiritual disciplines are practices that Christians from all over the world have employed throughout the ages to grow in their love for God and obedience to His commands. There are many, and they are practiced in a variety of ways even today, but some include prayer, scripture reading, meditation, silence, solitude, fasting, generosity, and feasting.
My purpose here is not to unpack every strategy for forming new habits, establishing a new Bible reading plan, or how to pray. It is to simply point us to the parts of Scripture that say that a life of joy, peace, and freedom can be had. The scriptures declare these truths again and again:
“In His presence there is fullness of joy. At his right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16)
“To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:5)
“…the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ [...] we rejoice in our sufferings…” (Romans 5:1-2)
“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:11)
This is why we discipline ourselves to godliness. This is why we as believers practice the spiritual disciplines.
Two-Fold Freedom
There is fullness of joy to be had. This “fullness of joy,” comes in a way that seems to be paradoxical. In scripture, joy and peace in God’s earthly kingdom come in a two-fold way – first by the grace-filled work of God through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. It is a work only God can do, and our coming to Him takes place miraculously through His drawing us to Himself. He calls us, and He keeps us (Jude 1:1) through the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit. We are dead (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5) prior to this glorious work only He can do, and dead people cannot resurrect themselves. We rejoice and find delight, peace, and freedom in this work of the gospel. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
The second aspect of this two-fold work is where paradox seems to enter. Scripture speaks to freedom, to joy, to boasting in our weakness, because our boast then may only be in the grace of God. But in most places in scripture when we read about the work of God in our lives, it is coupled with the work we must now do. Yes, work. The New Testament speaks of slavery, bond-servanthood, taking up our cross, and laying down our lives. Jesus speaks to the importance of obeying his commandments if we love him. James admonishes us that faith without works is dead. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) None of our works will earn salvation or favor with God - that is all secured by the work of Christ - but they are a natural and necessary product of a life that has been rescued and redeemed by grace.
In our culture, we are comfortable with work in most contexts. We glorify the “hustle” and being a “boss”, we wave busyness as a banner of success. We place immense value on disciplining our bodies for the purpose of health and wellness. And yet, when it comes to our spiritual life with Christ (which is all of life for the believer), we are scared to offend or we overreact to the legalism many of us grew up in and balk at any expectation of obedience and holiness. It is ok for married folks to tell newlyweds, “marriage takes work….” Or for us to remind each other that “parenting is hard”, but many of us cringe at the suggestion that our life with God might take hard work.
This all begs the question, how does pursuing obedience and discipline enable us to find freedom and joy in Christ? How could being a slave to Christ give way to freedom?
In the Beginning
When Adam sinned, he set about an unnatural state of inertia in humanity pulling us away from God. It takes work to overcome this state. In his book, The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard points out that despite salvation, our life experience that is “embedded in our bodies” – bodies brought up in a world “set against or without God,” won’t easily submit to our redeemed desires to be like Jesus. “[Our conscious will] largely retains the tendencies in which it has so long lived.” God has done a mighty work to overcome this sinful state that has become embedded through the gospel. Our salvation is secured by the work of Christ, and this leads us to joyful obedience to Him. Because we believe that God is the true source of joy, we can labor with God to return to our intended state, one of perpetual abiding and obedience, leading to pleasure, peace, and joy. “The disciplines for the spiritual life, rightly understood, are […] activities undertaken by us as new men or women to allow our spirit ever-increasing sway over our embodied selves. They help take the place of the habits of sin embedded in our bodies.” (Dallas Willard)
“Abide in me, as I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4-5)
When Jesus says in John 15 to keep his commandments and abide in him, he is not making a new law, and it is not arbitrary or legalistic. Out of an overflow of love for us, he is telling us how to return to our intended state of joyful communion with God. We cannot acquire salvation through the law; however, Jesus wrote the law and loved the law, and it is intended for our good. “Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night (Psalm 1). “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) It is only through sharing David’s delight in the law, and through obeying Jesus’ commandments, that we can keep the Lord always before us, and through keeping the Lord always before us, we find life to the full.
In Christ, A Disciplined Life
Henri Nouwen says simply, “A spiritual life without discipline is impossible.” (Making All Things New) While the term “spiritual disciplines” is not found in scripture, you only need to read a little to find examples of spiritual disciplines. Jesus is the best example of a life of spiritual disciplines for us to follow. And what better figure to pattern our lives after, than the one we as Christians apprentice under? In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Jesus, being fully God and fully man, had to labor in his human body, the same way we must, to keep the Lord always before him. He practiced a minimal life, in community, loving and laying himself down for others, studied the law and prophets, and would seek out silence and solitude with the Father often. He prayed and fasted and taught us how in Matthew 6. Jesus, despite taking on our broken human form, was perfectly joyful in his humanity, always abiding with the Father.
Romans 8 tells us there is life and peace for us through the miraculous work of the gospel, and when we set our minds on the things of the Spirit, and we are by the Spirit putting to death the deeds of the body, we will live. Psalm 16 declares the truths of God’s preserving us and teaching us, and David also says “I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand I will not be shaken.” We partner with the indwelling Spirit, to keep the Lord always before us. In Philippians 4 we rejoice that it is God who imparts peace to us, but we also must partner with him when we choose to “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Because we are no longer under condemnation and are set free from the law, we obey, we abide, we strive (Hebrews 4:11) to “work out our salvation” (Philipians 2:12) and he is still the one who completes the work. Because he has called us and is keeping us, we are free to proceed in freedom and joy, not out of obligation or fear, but because we believe that when Jesus tells us to abide, his heart is for us to find joy in the Father the way He found perfect joy in communion with the Father.
While the spiritual disciplines are not required for salvation, they are a gift of grace to us as believers. Through them, we labor to keep the Lord always before us because we believe that this truly does bring delight, peace, and joy that overflow into the building up of the church, and the good works we are called to.
I do not claim to understand the paradox of God’s grace and my work. And in true fleshly form, I, with Paul, am keenly in tune with my failures. “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! […] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 7:25-8:1). I fail at keeping the Lord always before me often. I am fleshly, tired, busy, overextended, distracted, and often live as if I misbelieve the truths of my first love. We will never abide with our Father perfectly on this side of new creation, but as we pattern our life after the life of our Savior, we partner with the Spirit in the work of sanctification, and the happy result is a life of deeper joy and a more profound peace spilling over in love for those around us. This life can only be found in our intended state – in joyful communion with our Father.