A spiritual discipline, therefore, is a concentrated effort to create some inner and outer space in our lives, where this obedience can be practiced. Through a spiritual discipline we prevent the world from filling our lives to such an extent that there is no place left to listen. A spiritual discipline sets us free to […]

From all that I said about our worries, overfilled lives, it is clear that we are usually surrounded by so much outer noise that it is hard to truly hear our God when he is speaking to us. We have often become deaf, unable to know when God calls us and unable to understand in […]

Here we touch the question of discipline in the spiritual life. A spiritual life without discipline is impossible. Discipline is the other side of discipleship. The practice of a spiritual disciple makes us more sensitive to the small, gentle voice of God. The prophet Elijah did not encounter God in the mighty wind or in […]

Excerpts from Making All things New by Henri Nouwen  (from Devotional Classics, edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith) The spiritual life is a gift. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who lifts us up into the kingdom of God’s love. But to say that being lifted up into the kingdom of […]

I was sitting listening to Peter Misselbrook preaching at the 6.30 service in November. It was the end of the series on Paul’s letter to the Colossians, and one verse hit me so hard that I have not been able to get it out of my mind since. “Devote yourselves to prayer, with all thankfulness […]