To discipline is to enforce provided boundaries or safeguards. Although we don’t usually think of it in this way, discipline is a positive! Military discipline shapes people into strong and conscientious adults. Disciplined eating extends life and trims the waistline. Disciplined work habits produce excellent work ethics and a good reputation. Discipline is a wonderful thing. Especially the discipline of the Spirit! It helps us to intentionally guard our faith from attacks of unbelief, fear, and pride.

Spiritual disciplines is not a well-known term. Ask anyone outside of the church walls. Honestly, some inside of the church walls may not be able to define the term. It’s plausible that a great number of Christians are practicing prayer, fasting, giving, reading Scripture, meditating on Scripture, solitude and silence, and confession, but would not condense these under the term spiritual disciplines.

This unit’s goals are to introduce to some and reintroduce to others the activities and practices that have the potential to make us more like Christ. After studying this unit, you should:• Be able to list spiritual disciplines• Articulate the benefit of each discipline• Have an idea about how to incorporate spiritual disciplines into your life• Understand the purpose of practicing spiritual disciplines• Cite scriptural references for spiritual disciplines• Identify opportunities to share disciplines with others

We might debate the relatively good or bad of certain habits, but there are some things we can do that are definitely good for us. Anything we do that helps us grow in our walk with Christ is definitely good, and we would do well to discipline ourselves to do these regularly and faithfully.