Title: Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Author: Donald S. Whitney
Published: 1991 by NavPress
Background Information: Donald Whitney is the associate professor of spiritual formation at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminar in Kansas City Missouri. He is the best-selling author of Simplify Your Spiritual Life, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, and How Can I be Sure I'm a Christian? (all that was taken from the back the book)
Since 2005, Don Whitney has been Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also serves as Senior Associate Dean. Before that, he held a similar position (the first such position in the six Southern Baptist seminaries) at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, for ten years. He is the founder and president of The Center for Biblical Spirituality. (all of that was taken from the website mentioned below)
You can learn more about Donald Whitney and his resources at: http://biblicalspirituality.org/
Spiritual Disciplines, Chapter 3, entitled "Bible Intake (Part 2)...For the Purpose of Godliness"
Bold emphasis is my own. Also, I mostly included the heading of each section in the book, if you want more detail, email me, and I will give some more.
Chapter 3 starts out with an illustration of two brothers walking on their father's "extensive, wooded acreage when they cam upon a young tree heavy with fruit." (p. 41) Both of the brothers enjoyed as much fruit as they wanted. On the way back, one brother gathered up as much fruit as he could and took it with him, the second brother, took the entire tree and planted it on his own land. This tree grew and this brother was able to have fruit whenever he wanted, unlike his brother.
Don Whitney writes: "The Bible is like the fruit-bearing tree in this story. Merely hearing the Word of God is to be like the first brother. You may gather much fruit from the encounter and even bring home enough to feed on for a few days, but in the long run it doesn't compare with having your own tree. Through the Disciplines of reading and studying, we make the tree our own and enjoy its fruit. Among the Spiritual Disciplines we also find the tools of memorization, meditation, and application, which bountifully increase our harvest of fruit from the tree." (p. 41)
He then begins writing on the importance of memorizing God's Word. He begins by writing about how many Christians today think of "memorizing God's Word as something tantamount to modern-day martyrdom" (p. 41) He suggests some reasons why people think this way is possibly because they associate it with school, and memorizing in school was work and it "was uninteresting and of limited value" (p. 42) Another excuse is having a bad memory. He points out that if he offered you one thousand dollars for every verse you could memorize in the next seven days, your ability toward memorizing Scripture would probably change. :-)
He then lists several sub-points/arguments/reasons for memorizing, and goes into about a paragraph explaining each. I will just give you the headings, not the explanation.
Memorization Supplies Spiritual Power
Memorization Strengthens Your Faith
Memorization and Witnessing and Counseling
A Means of God's Guidance
Memorization Stimulates Meditation
You Can Memorize Scripture (in this paragraph he gives an illustration of a truck driver who would memorize a verse a day, after three years, he memorized a thousand verses! Whitney challenges us to: "If he could memorize over three hundred verses a year while driving, surely we can find ways to memorize a few." (p. 45) )
Next he gives some practical help in getting started in memorizing. He suggests:
Have a Plan
Write Out the Verses
Draw Picture Reminders
Memorize the Verses Word-Perfectly
Find a Method of Accountability
Review and Meditate Every Day
His second topic deals with meditating on God's Word.
He writes: "The kind of meditation encouraged in the Bible differs from other kinds of meditation in several ways. While some advocate a kind of meditation in which you do your best to empty your mind, Christian meditation involves filling your mind with God and truth." (p. 47)
He goes on to define meditation as "deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer. Meditation goes beyond hearing, reading, studying, and even memorization as a means of taking in God's Word." (p. 48)
He then gives an analogy of tea. "Hearing God's Word is like one dip of the tea bag into the cup. Some of the tea's flavor is absorbed by the water, but not as much as would occur with a more through soaking of the bag. In this analogy, reading, studying, and memorizing God's Word are represented by additional plunges of the tea bag into the cup. The more frequently the tea enters the water, the more effect it has. Meditation, however, is like immersing the bag completely and letting it steep until all the rich tea flavor has been extracted and the hot water is thoroughly tinctured reddish brown." (p. 48)
He uses Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:1-3 to write some more on meditation. He also quotes the Puritan pastor, Thomas Watson: "The reason we come away so cold from reading the word is, because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation." (p. 49) He then continues to write at length on the importance of meditation in our day. After that, he gives some practical suggestions on meditation, they are:
Select an Appropriate Passage
Repeat It in Different ways, example:
"I am the resurrection and the life."
"I am the resurrection and the life."
"I am the resurrection and the life."
"I am the resurrection and the life."
"I am the resurrection and the life."
"I am the resurrection and the life."
"I am the resurrection and the life."
He says, "Of course, the point is not simply to repeat vainly each word of the verse until they've all been emphasized. The purpose is to think deeply upon the light (truth) that flashes into your mind each time the verse is turned. It's simple but effective." (p. 53)
Rewrite It in Your Own Words
Look for Applications of the Text
Pray Through the Text
Don't Rush--Take Time!
He writes: "Read less (if necessary) in order to meditate more. Although many Christians need to find the time to increase their Bible reading, there may be some who are spending all the time they can or should reading the Bible. If you could not possibly add more time to your devotional schedule for meditating on your Scripture reading, read less in order to have some unhurried time for meditation." (p. 55)
His third topic deals with applying God's Word.
He gives some more reasons/applications for this:
The Value of Applying God's Word, he writes:
"But if we do not apply the truth as we meet it, we delude ourselves by thinking we have gained practical value, regardless of how wonderful the experience of discovering the truth has been. The one who "will be blessed in what he does" is the one who does what Scripture says." (p. 57)
Expect to Discover an Application, he quotes Thomas Watson again:
"Take every word as spoken to yourselves. When the word thunders against sin, think thus: "God means my sins;" when it presseth any duty, "God intends me in this." Many put off Scripture from themselves, as if it only concerned those who lived in the time when it was written; but if you intend to profit by the word, bring it home to yourselves: a medicine will do no good, unless it be applied." (p. 57)
Understand the Text, he make several points on the importance of this, a few are:
"A misunderstanding about the meaning of a verse leads to misguided applications of it." (p. 58)
"We must understand how a passage applied when it was first given before we can understand how it applies now." (p. 58) He also writes: "I still maintain that much of Scripture is plain and straightforward in its meaning. Our problem continues to be more of a lack of action that comprehension. The words of Scripture must be understood to be applied, but until we apply them, we don't really understand them." (p. 59)
Meditate to Discern Application, he writes:
"The way to determine how any scripture applies to the concrete situation of life is to meditate on that scripture" (p. 60)
Ask Application-Oriented Questions of the Text
He writes that doing this is one of the best ways to meditate, here are the examples he gives of questions:
Does this text reveal something I should believe about God?
Does this text reveal something I should praise or thank or trust God for?
Does this text reveal something I should pray about for myself or others?
Does this text reveal something I should have a new attitude about?
Does this text reveal something I should make a decision about?
Does this text reveal something I should believe about God?
Does this text reveal something I should do for the sake of Christ, others or myself? (p. 60)
Respond Specifically, he writes:
"An encounter with God through His Word should result in at least one specific response. In other words, after you have concluded your time of Bible intake, you should be able to name at least one definite response you have made or will make to what you have encountered." (p. 60)
He concludes this section on application by writing:
"If we will begin to discipline ourselves to determine at least one specific response to the text before walking away from it, we will much more rapidly grow in grace. Without this kind of application we aren't doers of God's Word." (p. 61)
He then ends his chapter by asking us three questions:
"Will you begin a plan of memorizing God's Word?"
"Will you cultivate the Discipline of meditating on God's Word?"
"Will you prove yourself an "applier" of the Word?"
He quotes J.I. Packer:
"If I were the devil, one of my first aims would be to stop folk from digging into the Bible. Knowing that it is the Word of God, teaching men to know and love and serve the God of the Word, I should do all I could to surround it with the spiritual equivalent of pits, thorn hedges, and man traps, to frighten people off...At all costs I should want to keep them from using their minds in a disciplined way to get the measure of its message." (p. 63)
Whitney closes by saying: "Despite the difficulty and spiritual opposition, are you willing, at all costs, to begin using your mind "in a discipline way" to feed on the Word of God "for the purpose of godliness"?" (p. 63)
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