What Are Spiritual Disciplines, and Why Do They Matter?

(Editorial note: This post was adapted from the sermon manuscript written by Pastor Chris on Sunday, October 18, 2026 with the assistance of AI.)

No one can make a seed grow. Farmers know this better than anyone. Yet every harvest is the result of months of careful work.

Recently, I asked a farmer to list everything that went into getting a field ready for harvest. The soil was tested the fall before, so they would know which nutrients the next crop needed, and fertilizer went down based on the results. In the spring, the ground was tilled for seed. Corn was planted with a starter fertilizer. Weeds were treated for the season. A few weeks later, nitrogen was applied. Then came the harvest.

None of those steps made a single stalk grow. God did caused the growth. But each step helped create the circumstances in which God could bless the ground.

That raises a question for anyone who wants to grow spiritually. Are there practices that can prepare the soil of a human life for growth? The Christian tradition has answered yes for a very long time.

What Are Spiritual Disciplines?

Spiritual disciplines are practices that open a person’s life to God’s work. They have traditionally carried that name, I prefers to call them practices of the Way, because they are activities followers of Jesus practice to open their lives to life in the Spirit on the Way of Jesus.

Like that farmer’s list, these practices do not produce growth on their own. God does the work, but people have a part to play. Practices of the Way are field prep for our lives.

Why Spiritual Growth Needs Preparation

To understand why these practices matter, it helps to go back to the beginning. When God finished creating the world, he looked at everything he had made and called it very good (see Genesis 1:31). In Scripture, good means God gave the world order and purpose, and that good world produced shalom, a deep harmony.

Humanity had a different idea. In Genesis 3, the first people looked at what God had forbidden and decided for themselves that it was good (see Genesis 3:6). People have been defining good on their own terms ever since, and that rebellion has created a tangled, broken world.

Imagine two network server rooms. In one, cables hang everywhere in total chaos, and it is almost impossible to work in. In the other, every cable is ordered and purposeful. The Hebrew Scriptures have words for the difference: tov, the goodness and order God intended, and ra, the evil and chaos humanity introduced. Jesus came to save people from the ra in the world and in their own hearts, and to renew the tov everywhere.

Jesus also gave his followers a clear picture of what that renewed life looks like. When asked which commandment mattered most, he answered:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31, NIV)

This Jesus Creed calls for a life that is vertically focused on God and horizontally focused on people. Like the drummer who once set the pace for a marching army, it paces life to the beat of God’s goodness. Spiritual disciplines are how people practically fall into step with that beat.

Four Practices That Shape the Inner Life

The first four practices work on what happens inside a person.

Listening

Traditionally called meditation, this practice carries cultural baggage, since many associate meditation with Eastern religions and emptying the mind. Christian meditation is about listening to the voice of Jesus. Israel’s central prayer began with the word “hear,” and Jesus affirmed it (see Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29). Just as the farmer tested the soil to learn what it needed, listening to Jesus reveals where a person must move and grow.

Prayer

Prayer is the foundation of field prep. It is how we return to our source of life, growth, and transformation. Jesus’ disciples noticed how he prayed and asked him to teach them, and he gave them the Lord’s Prayer (see Luke 11:1-4). Prayer brings hearts and minds into rhythm with God’s goodness.

Fasting

Fasting is less familiar today, but in Jesus’ world it was central to Jewish faith. Jesus indicated his followers would fast once he was gone (see Matthew 9:14-15). Fasting refocuses attention on the true source of life, confronts mortality, and creates a posture for repentance.

Reading Scripture

Reading Scripture, and studying both Scripture and the broader world, opens the mind to the beauty and knowledge of God. This lays the groundwork for transformation:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2, NIV)

That renewal makes room for God’s promise through Jeremiah: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” (Jeremiah 31:33, NIV)

Four Practices That Shape How We Live

Four other practices work outward, in the shape of everyday life.

Simplicity

Simplicity is about how priorities are lived out. The psalmist found rest in God alone (see Psalm 62:1-2, 8), and Jesus warned that no one can serve both God and money (see Luke 16:13). Simplicity means making the main thing, God, the main thing.

Solitude

Jesus regularly withdrew to be alone: in the wilderness, at daybreak, and on a mountainside through the night (see Matthew 4:1-2; Luke 4:42; Luke 6:12). Solitude puts a person in a space where God can act and speak.

Submission

Jesus began his ministry calling people to repent (see Matthew 4:17), echoing the call to love God with everything (see Deuteronomy 6:5). Submission means offering life back to God and making his way one’s own way. It sets priorities straight.

Service

After washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus told them to do the same for one another (see John 13:14-15). Service puts faith into action and gives people a place to practice the love of Jesus.

How to Begin Practicing Spiritual Disciplines

Knowing these practices does not make them easy to implement. Building a life around them takes time and intention. The place to start is simply getting familiar with them and giving a couple a try. Listen for the voice of Jesus. Pray. Open the Scriptures. Make space to be alone before God. Look for someone to serve.

The farmer’s soil test happened a full year before the harvest. Practices of the Way are field prep for our lives, and the sooner they begin, the better.