Being a Woman of God

For the last few days, I have been writing about my role as a mother (mommy, momma, mama, mom) and I thought that you might be getting a little fed up with reading about what a bad mom I am.

The next facet that I wanted to look at was my role as a Woman of God and the various aspects that make up this role. Now I am not talking about how you dress or wear your hair, or how you speak; I am speaking more about how as women of God we follow the spiritual disciplines.

Some people may not be familiar with what spiritual disciplines are, so I will try and explain them as well as I can.

Spiritual disciplines are practices that we do regularly that can help us change, with the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, our sinful habits into good habits that make us more like Christ and connect us closer with God.

When we practice spiritual disciplines:

1. We recognize that Jesus is the King of our lives.
2. We acknowledge that we belong to Him alone.
3. We also seek to live out the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Spiritual disciplines do not help God to make our lives holy...

1. They help us recognize God's callings and promptings in our lives, and identify whose areas in our lives that still need to be renewed.
2. They make us sensitive and humble to follow God's leading.
3. They help us realize that we depend completely on God's grace at every moment and for everything.
4. They train and equip us to respond in a worthy manner when life throws problems and storms at us.

I think John Ortberg says it beautifully when he describes a disciplined person.

"A disciplined person is someone who can do the right thing at the right time in the right way with the right spirit" - "The Life You've Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People".

During the next week or so, I would like to look at the following Spiritual Disciplines and how they have been used or not used in my life.

1. Prayer
2. Bible Reading/Study
3. Fasting
4. Worship
5. Service
6. Solitude
7. Discernment
8. Evangelism

I am looking forward to looking closely at myself, praying to God for guidance and seeing how to grow deeper in my faith.

"To know the mechanics does not mean that we are practicing the Disciplines. The Spiritual Disciplines are an inward and spiritual reality, and the inner attitude of the heart is far more crucial than the mechanics for coming into the reality of the spiritual life." - Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline