Digital Logos Edition
In the busyness that engulfs our lives it’s easy to say, “I’ll read the Bible tomorrow” or, “I’ll devote 15 minutes to prayer after watching my favorite television show.” While our intentions are good, we frequently place spiritual disciplines on the back burner.
The Spiritual Discipline Collection presents four volumes that illustrate the simplicity, freedom, and reward found in devoting time to spiritual disciplines. It offers concise, biblical, and practical guidelines for incorporating various disciplines into your daily life.
Just as training for a marathon requires discipline, so does the quest for godliness. As you occupy your time with prayer, worship, Scripture meditation, or other disciplines, you’ll discover how life-transforming a lifestyle of biblical spirituality can be. All Scripture passages in The Spiritual Discipline Collection link to your favorite Bible translation in your library. With the advanced search features of Logos Bible Software, you can perform powerful searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for example, every mention of “prayer” or “meditation.”
Are you overwhelmed by the weight of the world? Let’s face it—we live in complexity. Technology multiplies daily, and with it, our pace increases. Surrounded by driving forces, it’s no wonder our spiritual lives take a hit. But if the weight of the world is hindering your walk with the Lord, maybe now’s the time to step back and evaluate.
Life on earth was less hectic in Jesus’ time. He faced incredible challenges and suffered agonizing trials, but there was a simplicity in his relationship with his Father that we can emulate—and in that simplicity, we can realize our great fulfillment as believers. If your Bible study seems as tedious as filing your tax return, your prayer life as wearisome as trying to understand your phone bill—stop. Take a deep breath. Let author Donald Whitney show you how rewarding the simple Christian life can be.
Clear, concise, biblical, and practical! Just what we have come to expect from Whitney’s pen. Here is help for our increasingly complicated and cluttered lives. With uncanny ability the author draws a straight line from principle to practice and then shows us how to walk the line.
—Alistair Begg, senior pastor, Parkside Church, Cleveland, Ohio
Ever since I began to read Simplify Your Spiritual Life I have been thinking about my own ‘simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.’ Don Whitney has done an excellent job of helping me strengthen my devotion to the Lord in very practical ways. His writing is engaging and his points clear with a sound biblical basis. I highly recommend this book for individual study, group study, or devotional reading.
—Martha Peace, author, The Excellent Wife
Finally—a short, simple book packed with practical guidelines to develop a lifestyle of biblical spirituality without sacrificing substance or resorting to mysticism, legalism, or license. Simplify Your Spiritual Life fills a major void. If you practice even half of what Don Whitney recommends, your spiritual life will improve. Give this book a quick read, then go back and carefully read one chapter each day, pray over it, and implement it.
—Joel R. Beeke, president, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary
Don Whitney has done it again! This book addresses the greatest fears about the spiritual disciplines—how can I practice disciplines without making it too complicated? Simplify Your Spiritual Life is the right message for the right time.
—Tedd Tripp, senior pastor, Grace Fellowship Church, Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Simplify Your Spiritual Life is a marvelous book for repairing the foundations of your life by going back to study the basics of genuine spirituality such as the triune God, Christ, Scripture, biblical meditation, and prayer. Though quickly read, each of the sections in this book can help you to know what you long for in the depths of your being—soul refreshment and the ‘simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.’
—Michael A. G. Haykin, professor of church history and biblical spirituality, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
The writing of Donald Whitney has been a tremendous source of strength and encouragement, both for me personally and for the church I have the privilege of serving. Here is a man who makes scriptural truth clear and accessible to the ordinary Christian. This book will have a similar effect, not only simplifying your spiritual life, but deepening your spiritual life as well.
—C. J. Mahaney, president, Sovereign Grace Ministries
In these fast-paced times, most people feel too overwhelmed and overworked to spend very much time with God. But in this biblical, practical, and best of all, simple book, Don Whitney gives dozens of helpful suggestions for cutting through all the clutter in ways that will help us grow in Christ. Most of us know we need to simplify; this wonderful book shows us how.
—Philip Graham Ryken, senior minister, Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Donald Whitney is a master teacher in the area of spiritual disciplines. And it is obvious that he writes from experience—he practices what he preaches. Simplify Your Spiritual Life will be helpful to both new and mature believers.
—Jerry Bridges, author, The Pursuit of Holiness
This is a much-needed and wisdom-filled book. In our complex and frantic world, there is a crying need to simplify and prioritize, to move from trivial busyness to significant labor, to move from superficial contact to real fellowship. Don Whitney is your sure-footed guide from the ‘second things’ to the ‘first things.’ His timely, biblical, and practical advice and counsel will do many an overtaxed and frazzled soul spiritual good. Take, read, learn, and grow!
—Ligon Duncan, senior minister, First Presbyterian Church
Donald S. Whitney is the associate professor of biblical spirituality and the senior associate dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the best-selling author of Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health and How Can I Be Sure I’m a Christian? Don holds a Doctor of Ministry from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.
It’s not uncommon for an accomplished musician to be able to sit down in front of a new piece of music and play it through without a hitch—to make it seem easy, as if it required no effort. Yet the “freedom” to play with such skill comes only after years of disciplined practice.
In the same way, the freedom to grow in godliness—to naturally express Christ’s character through your own personality—is in large part dependent on a deliberate cultivation of the spiritual disciplines. Far from being legalistic, restrictive, or binding, as they are often perceived, the spiritual disciplines are actually the means to unparalleled spiritual liberty.
If you’d like to embark on a lifelong quest for godliness, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life will help you on your way. Drawn from a rich heritage left us by the early Church Fathers, the Puritan writers, and Jesus Christ himself, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life will guide you through a carefully selected array of disciplines, including:
By illustrating why the disciplines are important, showing how each one will help you grow in godliness, and offering practical suggestions for cultivating them on a long-term basis, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life will provide you a refreshing opportunity to embrace life’s greatest pursuit—the pursuit of holiness—through a lifelong delight in the disciplines.
Donald S. Whitney is the associate professor of biblical spirituality and the senior associate dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the best-selling author of Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health and How Can I Be Sure I’m a Christian? Don holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.
Life never settles down. Discipline is one of those things that looks great on paper. The idea of making progress—especially in the area of your relationship with God—is highly motivating. The trouble is, discipline is difficult. It involves struggle. And it never seems to fit naturally into our busy schedules.
We often find ourselves thinking, “When life settles down a bit, I’ll . . .” But we should have learned by now that life never settles down. Whatever we want to accomplish, we must do with life unsettled. In the same way, if we’re ever going to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness, we’ve got to do it when life is like it is now.
Ideal for individual or small-group use, this companion guide to Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life will take you through a carefully selected array of disciplines, including:
So if you, your Sunday school class, or your small group is ready to make a firm commitment to spiritual growth, here’s a great place to start.
Donald S. Whitney is the associate professor of biblical spirituality and the senior associate dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the best-selling author of Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health and How Can I Be Sure I’m a Christian? Don holds a Doctor of Ministry from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.
What is happiness? The immediate gratification of our physical and emotional desires? A sense of satisfaction brought about through consumerism or other promises of short-term enjoyment?
Our twenty-first-century views of happiness are not what the writers of the Bible had in mind. Nor are they what the ancient Greeks or the drafters of the Declaration of Independence envisioned. Such false ideas of happiness always leave us empty, chasing the selfish and superficial. Authors J. P. Moreland and Klaus Issler illustrate how we are happy only when we pursue a transcendent purpose—something larger than ourselves. This pursuit involves a deeply meaningful relationship with God through a selfless preoccupation with the spiritual disciplines.
The Last Virtue of Happiness takes a fresh look at the spiritual disciplines, offering concrete examples of ways you can make them practical and life-transforming.
This is a rare book. It manages to be biblical, deep, understandable, engaging, and practical all at the same time. As few books are, this one is worth contemplating, discussing, and putting into practice. I highly recommend it.
—Randy Alcorn, author, Heaven
The Lost Virtue of Happiness is rich in practical wisdom. It encourages us to embrace the way of other-centered self-denial springing from the practice of God’s presence and vital trust in Him.
—Kenneth Boa, president, Reflections Ministries
Myriad empirical studies underscore the fact that happiness is a highly valued virtue in our world today. This handbook to happiness begins with the ultimate biblical truth: to gain your life you need to lose it.
—Luis Bush, international facilitator, Transform World Connections
J. P. Moreland is a distinguished professor of philosophy at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology, and the director of Eidos Christian Center. He has written more than one hundred articles in magazines and journals and authored or coauthored over 20 books, including Love Your God with All Your Mind and Smart Faith.
Klaus Issler is a professor of Christian education and theology at Talbot School of Theology. He has written two textbooks in the field of Christian education and one on spirituality and formation, the latter titled Wasting Time with God. He has served as a board member with an overseas mission agency, and he’s currently the book review editor for The Christian Education Journal.
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