Today I'm adding Spiritual disciplines for the Christian life by Donald S Whitney to the Master Reading List under the category of Prayer (Available from Amazon).
What should the life of a Christian look like? In this helpful book Whitney teaches us that the Christian should look like Christ. And the way to look like Christ is through through Spiritual Disciplines.
What are Spiritual Disciplines? I'll let Whitney himself explain: 'The Spiritual Disciplines are those personal and corporate disciplines that promote spiritual growth. They are the habits of devotion and experiential Christianity that have been practiced by the people of God since biblical times. This book examines the Spiritual Disciplines of Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning. This is by no means, however, an exhaustive list of the Disciplines of Christian living...Whatever the Discipline, its most important feature is its purpose. Just as there is little value in practicing the scales on a guitar or piano apart from the purpose of playing music, there is little value in practicing Spiritual Discipline apart from the single purpose that unites them (Colossians 2:20-23, 1 Tim 4:8). That purpose is godliness. Thus we are told in 1 Tim 4:7 to discipline ourselves "for the purpose of godliness"...Godly people are disciplined people. It has always been so. Call to mind some heroes of church history - Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Bunyan, Susanna Wesley, George Whitefield, Lady Huntingdon, Jonathan and Sarah Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, George Muller - they were all disciplined people. In my own pastoral and person Christian experience, I can say that I've never known a man or woman who came to spiritual maturity except through discipline.'
This book will help encourage you to change your life from one of sinful chaos to one of orderly growth in godliness.
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