"Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present and the life to come." - 1 Timothy 4:8

     Throughout the month of October, I will be preaching on spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are tools which have helped people through the history of the church experience a deep, rich relationship with God. These tools help place people in a place where we can more readily hear the voice of God. This month I would like to take my column to give you some additional resources on spiritual disciplines which I have found helpful.

• Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. 25th Anniversary Edition. Harper Collins Publishers: Harper San Francisco, 1998.

  My first foray into the realm of spiritual discipline was under the tutelage of Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline. In this general introduction, Foster reclaims for Protestantism the deep heritage of spiritual pilgrims throughout history. He uses a very practical writing style to speak about first steps to begin to make spiritual disciplines a part of a daily relationship with Christ. Foster writes a chapter on 12 different disciplines: the inward (meditation, prayer, fasting and study); the outward (simplicity, solitude, submission and service); and the corporate (Confession, worship, guidance and celebration). Our study this month will focus on the inward disciplines.

• Willard, Dallas. The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. Harper and Row, Publishers: San Francisco, 1988.

  Dallas Willard is a Southern Baptist author, who calls Protestants back to an understanding of how God shapes our lives and how the spiritual disciplines function in that process of change. It is a more theoretical book than Fosters, laying the theology ground work for a life of spiritual discipline. He begins with the famous quote from G.K. Chesterton, Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting , as it has been found difficult and left untried, and then claims the pursuit of spiritual discipline as tolls for all Christians to be able to live a life dedicated to Christ.

     I offer these resources as help for any who would seek to know God in a deeper and richer way through experiencing, and practicing spiritual discipline as you seek to train yourself in godliness.