Why do we need spiritual disciplines?
For a non-Christian to be a moral person, he relies on his conscience, social norms, philosophical ideas, or religious doctrines.
For a Christian to be a moral person, he relies on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
One of the cruel realities that mankind needs to face is that we are still under the power of the flesh. The desires of the flesh control us like our debtors. We don’t do the things we want to do and we do the things we don’t want to do. For example: we know we need to control our diet, but we always indulge our appetites. We know that exercise is important, but we always prefer to stay in bed. We know we need to control our temper, but we can’t. We know it’s easy to get caught up in erotic websites, but we always get caught up in them.
The one thing that can combat the desires of the flesh is the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit has freed us and the flesh is no longer our debtor. The power of the flesh (the law) no longer controls us. We already have this power, but it must be exercised. It’s like a baby who naturally has the strength to run a hundred meters, but that strength must be exercised. He must learn to roll over, crawl, stand, and then stumble for a step or two until he can walk normally. After that he must spend years, even a dozen years, in constant practice, before he can run a hundred meters in a race.
Spiritual disciplines are like that. We already have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The Holy Spirit has released us from the power of the flesh. We are like a born-again baby. Even though the lusts of the flesh no longer control us, but we are still in the flesh. Thus, the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the flesh are in us at the same time, becoming two opposing forces. In such a situation, we must train our spirit to obey the Holy Spirit, not the flesh. In every confrontation between the Spirit and the flesh, we must choose to support the Holy Spirit.
Spiritual discipline is what helps us to be strong enough to obey the Holy Spirit.
For example, when we face injustice, our emotion will stir up. This anger provokes the flesh to desire revenge. The desire to retaliate will cause us to do many irrational acts. After the irrational actions, we will have a lot of remorse and pain. To quell this remorse and pain, we must create lies or excuses to rationalize our actions.
However, the Holy Spirit will speak to us when we develop feelings of anger. If we are obedient to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit will lead us to respond to our circumstances in the right way. In the face of injustice, we can protest and fight rationally instead of resorting to emotion or violence.
Spiritual discipline is submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of life and rejecting the desires of the flesh. Such discipline will make our inner being stronger and stronger to resist the power of the flesh.
If we do not submit to the Holy Spirit, then the power of the flesh will grow stronger and stronger until it overwhelms our inner being and we cannot resist the lusts of the flesh and fall into sin.
Discipleship is spiritual discipline, and it is the most effective spiritual discipline. Discipleship is the most effective spiritual discipline. It helps us to be strong enough to obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit.