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The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives
How to Live as Jesus Lived
Dallas Willard, one of today's most brilliant Christian thinkers and author of The Divine Conspiracy (Christianity Today's 1999 Book of the Year), presents a way of living that enables ordinary men and women to enjoy the fruit of the Christian life. He reveals how the key to self-transformation resides in the practice of the spiritual disciplines, and how their practice affirms human life to the fullest. The Spirit of the Disciplines is for everyone who strives to be a disciple of Jesus in thought and action as well as intention.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
1916 people are currently reading
10748 people want to read
About the author
Dallas Willard
118 books1,127 followersDallas Willard was a widely respected American philosopher and Christian thinker, best known for his work on spiritual formation and his expertise in phenomenology, particularly the philosophy of Edmund Husserl. He taught philosophy at the University of Southern California from 1965 until his death in 2013, where he also served as department chair in the early 1980s. Willard held degrees in psychology, philosophy, and religion, earning his PhD in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a focus on the history of science. He was recognized as a leading translator and interpreter of Husserl's thought, making foundational texts available in English and contributing significantly to the fields of epistemology, philosophy of mind, and logic.
Though a serious academic, Willard became even more widely known for his books on Christian living, including The Divine Conspiracy and Renovation of the Heart, both of which earned major awards and helped shape the modern spiritual formation movement. He believed that discipleship to Jesus was an intentional process involving not only belief but transformation through spiritual disciplines like prayer, study, solitude, and service. For Willard, spiritual growth was not about earning God’s favor but about participating in the divine life through active cooperation with grace.
His teachings emphasized the concept of apprenticeship to Jesus—being with him, learning to be like him—and his influence extended to ministries such as Renovaré, the Apprentice Institute, and the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation. He served on the boards of organizations like the C.S. Lewis Foundation and Biola University, and his intellectual and spiritual legacy continues through Dallas Willard Ministries and academic institutions inspired by his work.
Willard was also a deeply personal writer who shared candidly about the challenges of balancing academic life with family. Despite his own admitted shortcomings, those closest to him regarded him as a man of deep love, humility, and grace. His enduring impact can be seen in the lives and works of many contemporary Christian thinkers and writers, including Richard J. Foster, James Bryan Smith, and John Mark Comer. As both philosopher and pastor to the mind, Dallas Willard remains a towering figure in the dialogue between rigorous thought and transformative Christian practice.
Though a serious academic, Willard became even more widely known for his books on Christian living, including The Divine Conspiracy and Renovation of the Heart, both of which earned major awards and helped shape the modern spiritual formation movement. He believed that discipleship to Jesus was an intentional process involving not only belief but transformation through spiritual disciplines like prayer, study, solitude, and service. For Willard, spiritual growth was not about earning God’s favor but about participating in the divine life through active cooperation with grace.
His teachings emphasized the concept of apprenticeship to Jesus—being with him, learning to be like him—and his influence extended to ministries such as Renovaré, the Apprentice Institute, and the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation. He served on the boards of organizations like the C.S. Lewis Foundation and Biola University, and his intellectual and spiritual legacy continues through Dallas Willard Ministries and academic institutions inspired by his work.
Willard was also a deeply personal writer who shared candidly about the challenges of balancing academic life with family. Despite his own admitted shortcomings, those closest to him regarded him as a man of deep love, humility, and grace. His enduring impact can be seen in the lives and works of many contemporary Christian thinkers and writers, including Richard J. Foster, James Bryan Smith, and John Mark Comer. As both philosopher and pastor to the mind, Dallas Willard remains a towering figure in the dialogue between rigorous thought and transformative Christian practice.
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January 30, 2015
My wife disappeared into the dark. I caught up with her again and we continued down a dark, confusing winding path. It was mid-October and the air had a slight chill in it. We were at a local corn maze and had gotten so lost and disoriented that we forgot what we were supposed to be doing. That’s how I felt reading The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard. I will summarize the main teaching of this book, then detail the reasons for my confusion in reading it and finally explain the one thing this book helped me to see, which makes me glad I read it.
The main purpose of the book is to explain how by seeking after God through the use of disciplines (solitude, fasting, reading, etc) we grow closer to Him and better imitate the life that Jesus lived. It is by neglecting these disciplines that the witness of the church is weak, many Christians have moral failures, and the mission of Christ’s people is not being accomplished.
The first reason for my confusion was that it took him so long to say what he set out to say. He says that this is the one insight that will be developed throughout the book, “Full participation in the life of God’s Kingdom and in the vivid companionship of Christ comes to us only through appropriate exercise in the disciplines for life in the spirit.” (pg. 26 italics original). But, it’s not until page 156 that he starts to explain what those disciplines are. The majority of the book is his complaints about how few Christians can give practical explanation to how to live as followers of Jesus, as he says, “Our most serious failure today is the inability to provide effective practical guidance as to how to live the life of Jesus.” (pg. 110) The irony is that this quote is still around 40 pages from when he will start giving practical guidance.
The second reason for my confusion reading this book were the many untrue statements. He said that the Apostle Paul’s understanding of the term ‘Redemption’ was, “progressive sequence of real human and divine actions and events that resulted in the transformation of the body and the mind.” (pg. 111) Whereas, the Apostle Paul understood redemption as only a divine action. He also overstates the importance of the discipline of solitude as the only way to have a stable, radical relationship with God (pg. 105). Not to mention how he built his understanding of some of the disciplines from speculating on Biblical texts (see pg. 151).
However, even with some of these negative components, here was the thing I took away from it that made me glad I read it. I was challenged for my laziness in pursuing Christ. Mr. Willard gave an analogy of how children try to mimic only how their favorite athlete acts in the game, but not in their private life that is filled with proper diet, exercise, and training. This is often how Christians try to imitate Jesus: only with His public acts not His private training. (pgs 3-5) I have been challenged to break away from my public acts: my family and church, to seek after God in quiet, like Jesus did. This has been a weakness of mine and Mr. Willard helped me to see how frequently Jesus did this. He helped me to read Mark 1 in a better light. When Jesus broke away from everyone to seek after God and then came back prepared to leave all the crowds who wanted Him because He was sent to preach, helped me to see the priority solitude and seeking God in prayer has for me to stay focused on the mission that Christ has given to me.
For this reason I have been challenged and helped to love God more and to seek after Him with more effort.
The main purpose of the book is to explain how by seeking after God through the use of disciplines (solitude, fasting, reading, etc) we grow closer to Him and better imitate the life that Jesus lived. It is by neglecting these disciplines that the witness of the church is weak, many Christians have moral failures, and the mission of Christ’s people is not being accomplished.
The first reason for my confusion was that it took him so long to say what he set out to say. He says that this is the one insight that will be developed throughout the book, “Full participation in the life of God’s Kingdom and in the vivid companionship of Christ comes to us only through appropriate exercise in the disciplines for life in the spirit.” (pg. 26 italics original). But, it’s not until page 156 that he starts to explain what those disciplines are. The majority of the book is his complaints about how few Christians can give practical explanation to how to live as followers of Jesus, as he says, “Our most serious failure today is the inability to provide effective practical guidance as to how to live the life of Jesus.” (pg. 110) The irony is that this quote is still around 40 pages from when he will start giving practical guidance.
The second reason for my confusion reading this book were the many untrue statements. He said that the Apostle Paul’s understanding of the term ‘Redemption’ was, “progressive sequence of real human and divine actions and events that resulted in the transformation of the body and the mind.” (pg. 111) Whereas, the Apostle Paul understood redemption as only a divine action. He also overstates the importance of the discipline of solitude as the only way to have a stable, radical relationship with God (pg. 105). Not to mention how he built his understanding of some of the disciplines from speculating on Biblical texts (see pg. 151).
However, even with some of these negative components, here was the thing I took away from it that made me glad I read it. I was challenged for my laziness in pursuing Christ. Mr. Willard gave an analogy of how children try to mimic only how their favorite athlete acts in the game, but not in their private life that is filled with proper diet, exercise, and training. This is often how Christians try to imitate Jesus: only with His public acts not His private training. (pgs 3-5) I have been challenged to break away from my public acts: my family and church, to seek after God in quiet, like Jesus did. This has been a weakness of mine and Mr. Willard helped me to see how frequently Jesus did this. He helped me to read Mark 1 in a better light. When Jesus broke away from everyone to seek after God and then came back prepared to leave all the crowds who wanted Him because He was sent to preach, helped me to see the priority solitude and seeking God in prayer has for me to stay focused on the mission that Christ has given to me.
For this reason I have been challenged and helped to love God more and to seek after Him with more effort.
July 29, 2015
If Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" is the classic manual for spiritual disciplines, this book is it's companion, explaining the "why" of spiritual practice.
Willard explains why the classical spiritual practices work as God's instruments of human transformation. Willard is philosophic and practical, but, as a philosophy professor, tilts to the former. Readers who don't want the in depth philosophic exploration may want to skip some middle chapters.
Willard's final chapters on wealth, chastity and Christian influence in the civil/social/cultural sphere are fascinating. His perspective is both traditional and boldly novel.
Anyone seeking to better understand and practice the spiritual disciplines will want to carefully read this. Pastors especially should give it a careful reading.
Willard explains why the classical spiritual practices work as God's instruments of human transformation. Willard is philosophic and practical, but, as a philosophy professor, tilts to the former. Readers who don't want the in depth philosophic exploration may want to skip some middle chapters.
Willard's final chapters on wealth, chastity and Christian influence in the civil/social/cultural sphere are fascinating. His perspective is both traditional and boldly novel.
Anyone seeking to better understand and practice the spiritual disciplines will want to carefully read this. Pastors especially should give it a careful reading.
December 15, 2020
I am genuinely floored and excited about the implications of this book. I need to make sure that it produces in me action and not just theological excitement.
“A baseball player who expects to excel in the game without adequate exercise of his body is no more ridiculous than the Christian who hopes to be able to act in the manner of Christ when put to the test without the appropriate exercise in godly living.”
Many in the church have bought into a lie that being a faithful disciple of Christ does not involve adopting a lifestyle that purposefully reorients our bodies and minds towards obedience. I am one of them. There is much to consider and much to do. Thank God that he can leverage our physical body to work grace in our life through discipline!
“A baseball player who expects to excel in the game without adequate exercise of his body is no more ridiculous than the Christian who hopes to be able to act in the manner of Christ when put to the test without the appropriate exercise in godly living.”
Many in the church have bought into a lie that being a faithful disciple of Christ does not involve adopting a lifestyle that purposefully reorients our bodies and minds towards obedience. I am one of them. There is much to consider and much to do. Thank God that he can leverage our physical body to work grace in our life through discipline!
April 28, 2020
Whoa, it took me 9 months to finish this book. I think this is more a reflection of the fact that I read three Dallas Willard books in a row, than any sort of a critique. I do think I struggled to get motivated with it, because Willard is so rock solid on his 3-4 main theses about the Christian life. And all of his trilogy (Hearing God, The Divine Conspiracy, and The Spirit of the Disciplines) are coming at these theses from different angles. So by book #3, I'm afraid I was over-familiar and no longer awed.
That being said, the last three chapters plus the epilogue are pure Willard-genius and renewed my appreciation for him. In particular, I am so grateful for everything he has taught me about the role of mature Christian disciples in the present and coming Kingdom.
That being said, the last three chapters plus the epilogue are pure Willard-genius and renewed my appreciation for him. In particular, I am so grateful for everything he has taught me about the role of mature Christian disciples in the present and coming Kingdom.
July 1, 2014
Dallas Willard is a Southern Baptist-ordained theologian who has a refreshing way of overturning my assumptions. In The Spirit of the Disciplines, he hammers on the tendencies of people like me to slough off disciplines such as solitude, silence, fasting, and frugality in favor of more saccharine interpretations that are more mental than physical. Yet, Willard makes the case that authentic Christianity is physical and that, if Jesus became flesh and used these disciplines to enhance His relationship with the Father, how much more do believers need to express their faith in literal physical ways.
I found myself in profound agreement with him from the following two lines in the preface, forward. “Holiness and devotion must now come forth from the closet and the chapel to possess the street and the factory, the schoolroom and boardroom, the scientific laboratory and the governmental office.” (p. xii) “The Spirit of the Disciplines I snothing but the love of Jesus, with its resolute will to be like him whom we love.” (p. xii)
I stood convicted from that page forward. In that sense, there were parts of the first eight chapters in which I wanted to say, “I’m convinced; let’s move forward.” Of course, even as I type that, I realize that I gained something from every chapter. To illustrate this, I’ll try to share one choice morsel out of each chapter.
“The Secret of the Easy Yoke” posits the idea that anything less than walking with the Lord Jesus Christ is doomed to: “…a life of crushing burdens, failures, and disappointments, a life caught in the toils of endless problems never resolved….The ‘cost of discipleship,’ though it may take all we have, is small when compared to the lot of those who don’t accept Christ’s invitation to be a part of his company in The Way of life.” (p. 2)
“Making Theology Practical” demonstrated that the reason Protestants have discounted the disciplines is because, “Centuries ago, disciplines such as fasting, service, and giving were confused with meritorious works, as well as with a useless and destructive ‘penance.’” (p. 25) Naturally, denominations which focus on “grace alone” would reject this “works-oriented” approach but ironically, this has probably led to “cheap grace” on their end (p. 25).
“Salvation as a Life” cites Soren Kierkegaard as noting, “…how there is always a certain worldliness that desires to seem Christian, but as cheaply as possible.” (p. 39)
In “Little Less Than a God,” Willard contends, “The sober truth is that we are made of dust, even if we aspire to the heavens.” (p. 46)
While explaining the “Nature of Life,” we read: “Very simply, spirit is unembodied personal power. Ultimately, it is God who is Spirit (John 4:24). Electricity, magnetism, and gravity, by contrast, are embodied non-personal power.” (p. 64)
“Spiritual Life: The Body’s Fulfilment” teaches, “Our experience of others is also inescapably an experience of their embodied existence.” (p. 83) “The disciplines for the spiritual life, rightly understood, are time-tested activities consciously undertaken by us as new men and women to allow our spirit ever-increasing sway over our embodied selves.” (p. 86)
The chapter on “St. Paul’s Psychology of Redemption” offered the interesting insight that, not only did Paul emphasize the idea of self-control throughout his writings but, the idea of self-control appears five times in the first two chapters of the Letter to Titus (p. 102).
“History and the Meaning of the Disciplines” is an interesting chapter because Willard clearly demonstrates where past practices have encouraged the belief that certain extremes are useful to gaining God’s favor or forgiveness. There are some horrifying descriptions of instruments of torture used to “earn” forgiveness. Portions of the chapter are nauseating, but necessary.
Finally, in Chapter 9, “Some Main Disciplines for Spiritual Life,” Willard offers a short taxonomy of spiritual disciplines, bisected into Disciplines of Abstinence (solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, sacrifice) and Disciplines of Engagement (study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession, submission) (p. 158). This is really the meat of the book as he discusses the advantage/necessity of each discipline for bringing one closer to God.
Chapter 10 attempted to help believers see that there is nothing virtuous in poverty for its own sake (p. 194) and Chapter 11 served as a sermon to pound home the insight that what believers do actually matters in terms of God’s long-term plans for the redemption of this world and the people within it. This is a much needed corrective to much preaching, as is the entire book.
I find The Spirit of the Disciplines to be valuable primarily for Chapter 9. However, those who are not already open to the idea of spiritual disciplines will certainly want to experience the solid foundation that Willard brings before he actually considers the disciplines themselves. For me, this book is useful, but it is not as stimulating as The Divine Conspiracy--even though it touches on some of the same themes in places.
I found myself in profound agreement with him from the following two lines in the preface, forward. “Holiness and devotion must now come forth from the closet and the chapel to possess the street and the factory, the schoolroom and boardroom, the scientific laboratory and the governmental office.” (p. xii) “The Spirit of the Disciplines I snothing but the love of Jesus, with its resolute will to be like him whom we love.” (p. xii)
I stood convicted from that page forward. In that sense, there were parts of the first eight chapters in which I wanted to say, “I’m convinced; let’s move forward.” Of course, even as I type that, I realize that I gained something from every chapter. To illustrate this, I’ll try to share one choice morsel out of each chapter.
“The Secret of the Easy Yoke” posits the idea that anything less than walking with the Lord Jesus Christ is doomed to: “…a life of crushing burdens, failures, and disappointments, a life caught in the toils of endless problems never resolved….The ‘cost of discipleship,’ though it may take all we have, is small when compared to the lot of those who don’t accept Christ’s invitation to be a part of his company in The Way of life.” (p. 2)
“Making Theology Practical” demonstrated that the reason Protestants have discounted the disciplines is because, “Centuries ago, disciplines such as fasting, service, and giving were confused with meritorious works, as well as with a useless and destructive ‘penance.’” (p. 25) Naturally, denominations which focus on “grace alone” would reject this “works-oriented” approach but ironically, this has probably led to “cheap grace” on their end (p. 25).
“Salvation as a Life” cites Soren Kierkegaard as noting, “…how there is always a certain worldliness that desires to seem Christian, but as cheaply as possible.” (p. 39)
In “Little Less Than a God,” Willard contends, “The sober truth is that we are made of dust, even if we aspire to the heavens.” (p. 46)
While explaining the “Nature of Life,” we read: “Very simply, spirit is unembodied personal power. Ultimately, it is God who is Spirit (John 4:24). Electricity, magnetism, and gravity, by contrast, are embodied non-personal power.” (p. 64)
“Spiritual Life: The Body’s Fulfilment” teaches, “Our experience of others is also inescapably an experience of their embodied existence.” (p. 83) “The disciplines for the spiritual life, rightly understood, are time-tested activities consciously undertaken by us as new men and women to allow our spirit ever-increasing sway over our embodied selves.” (p. 86)
The chapter on “St. Paul’s Psychology of Redemption” offered the interesting insight that, not only did Paul emphasize the idea of self-control throughout his writings but, the idea of self-control appears five times in the first two chapters of the Letter to Titus (p. 102).
“History and the Meaning of the Disciplines” is an interesting chapter because Willard clearly demonstrates where past practices have encouraged the belief that certain extremes are useful to gaining God’s favor or forgiveness. There are some horrifying descriptions of instruments of torture used to “earn” forgiveness. Portions of the chapter are nauseating, but necessary.
Finally, in Chapter 9, “Some Main Disciplines for Spiritual Life,” Willard offers a short taxonomy of spiritual disciplines, bisected into Disciplines of Abstinence (solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, sacrifice) and Disciplines of Engagement (study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession, submission) (p. 158). This is really the meat of the book as he discusses the advantage/necessity of each discipline for bringing one closer to God.
Chapter 10 attempted to help believers see that there is nothing virtuous in poverty for its own sake (p. 194) and Chapter 11 served as a sermon to pound home the insight that what believers do actually matters in terms of God’s long-term plans for the redemption of this world and the people within it. This is a much needed corrective to much preaching, as is the entire book.
I find The Spirit of the Disciplines to be valuable primarily for Chapter 9. However, those who are not already open to the idea of spiritual disciplines will certainly want to experience the solid foundation that Willard brings before he actually considers the disciplines themselves. For me, this book is useful, but it is not as stimulating as The Divine Conspiracy--even though it touches on some of the same themes in places.
February 25, 2025
The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives, by Dallas Willard. 5 stars.
Dallas Willard has helped me see a more human side of Jesus. He is King, Lord, Savior, and more - all the spiritual and spiritual-sounding terms we ascribe to him - but he is also the smartest, wisest and best human who ever lived, a man we should admire and pattern our life after. This makes it an actual possibility for us to "[follow] him in the overall style of life he chose for himself."
Here are some comments and quotes from the book. Some of them are arguable but in my opinion at least worth thinking about.
My favorite: "To undertake the disciplines was to take our activities–-our lives–-seriously and to suppose that the following of Christ was at least as big a challenge as playing the violin or jogging." (p.24)
"Our local assemblies must become academies of life as it was meant to be. From such places there can go forth a people equipped in character and power to judge or guide the earth." The intent of the church is to proclaim the gospel to make disciples, and develop disciples to have the character of Christ. Eph 4:12 gives the end goal: "mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (p.xii)
"[A]ll thought of using [spirituality] violates its nature" (p.67)
"People who think that they are spiritually superior *because* they make a practice of a discipline ... are entirely missing the point." (p.138)
"*Nothing* is in itself unspiritual ... for all things finally rest upon the spiritual realm." (p.80)
Not a direct quote, but: We want to get to the point that righteousness comes as automatically as sin used to.
"the activities constituting the disciplines have no value in themselves" - doing all the ascetic practices is not the point, the point is "the effective and full enjoyment of active love of God and humankind" everywhere all the time (p.138)
"The need for extensive practice of a given discipline is an indication of our *weakness*, not our strength. We can even lay it down as a rule of thumb that if it is *easy* for us to engage in a certain discipline, we probably don't need to practice it." (p.138)
"As a pastor, teacher, and counselor I have repeatedly seen the transformation of inner and outer life that comes simply from memorization and meditation upon Scripture. Personally, I would never undertake to pastor a church or guide a program of Christian education that did not involve a continuous program of memorization of the choicest passages of Scripture for people of all ages." (p.150)
When we practice secrecy "we learn to love to be unknown and even to accept misunderstanding without the loss of our peace, joy, or purpose." (p.172)
"If you want to experience the flow of love as never before, the next time you are in a competitive situation, pray that the others around you will be more outstanding, more praised, and more used of God than yourself." (p.174)
Dallas Willard has helped me see a more human side of Jesus. He is King, Lord, Savior, and more - all the spiritual and spiritual-sounding terms we ascribe to him - but he is also the smartest, wisest and best human who ever lived, a man we should admire and pattern our life after. This makes it an actual possibility for us to "[follow] him in the overall style of life he chose for himself."
Here are some comments and quotes from the book. Some of them are arguable but in my opinion at least worth thinking about.
My favorite: "To undertake the disciplines was to take our activities–-our lives–-seriously and to suppose that the following of Christ was at least as big a challenge as playing the violin or jogging." (p.24)
"Our local assemblies must become academies of life as it was meant to be. From such places there can go forth a people equipped in character and power to judge or guide the earth." The intent of the church is to proclaim the gospel to make disciples, and develop disciples to have the character of Christ. Eph 4:12 gives the end goal: "mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (p.xii)
"[A]ll thought of using [spirituality] violates its nature" (p.67)
"People who think that they are spiritually superior *because* they make a practice of a discipline ... are entirely missing the point." (p.138)
"*Nothing* is in itself unspiritual ... for all things finally rest upon the spiritual realm." (p.80)
Not a direct quote, but: We want to get to the point that righteousness comes as automatically as sin used to.
"the activities constituting the disciplines have no value in themselves" - doing all the ascetic practices is not the point, the point is "the effective and full enjoyment of active love of God and humankind" everywhere all the time (p.138)
"The need for extensive practice of a given discipline is an indication of our *weakness*, not our strength. We can even lay it down as a rule of thumb that if it is *easy* for us to engage in a certain discipline, we probably don't need to practice it." (p.138)
"As a pastor, teacher, and counselor I have repeatedly seen the transformation of inner and outer life that comes simply from memorization and meditation upon Scripture. Personally, I would never undertake to pastor a church or guide a program of Christian education that did not involve a continuous program of memorization of the choicest passages of Scripture for people of all ages." (p.150)
When we practice secrecy "we learn to love to be unknown and even to accept misunderstanding without the loss of our peace, joy, or purpose." (p.172)
"If you want to experience the flow of love as never before, the next time you are in a competitive situation, pray that the others around you will be more outstanding, more praised, and more used of God than yourself." (p.174)
April 23, 2009
Challenging. Heady. Willard is a philosopher, so you will find all the reason and logic/arguments behind 'why' questions. 'Why' should we do the spiritual disciplines. He offers a 'theology of the disciplines', etc. Willard also offers a lot of great thoughts on other topics such as poverty & holiness, and how to create true & lasting change in culture, society, political & global structures, etc. But, if you want a practical, 'how-to' book on spiritual disciplines, this is not the book. Willard even says so himself, he puts in a plug for Richard Foster's 'Celebration of Discipline' for a practical 'how-to' guide. That's definitely high on my reading list right now. I'm almost salivating. But, Willard does offer a great understanding as to the reasons 'why' for the spiritual disciplines, and a call to their diligent practice. If I was a philosopher, I would probably have rated it a 4 star instead of 3. Just a little heady for my taste at times.
October 9, 2025
Phenomenal book. The way Willard frames the disciplines as both historically and presently relevant was needed. Convicting and refreshing. The chapter summarizing a few of the disciplines themselves is a gold mine.
January 15, 2016
Only one chapter is given to the listing and explaining of the various disciplines. The bulk of the book is a persuasive argument for the practice of the disciplines with appropriate disclaimers and caveats (though those take very little space).
Basically the author argues that the transformation of the Christian life comes through living life the way Jesus did, following his example. (And of course we understand this doesn't mean tunics and sandals and no phones.) But it does mean things we build into our routine, physical activities, that enable us to align ourselves with the spiritual power of God's Kingdom. When people first come to Christ, their spirit is willing but their flesh is weak. Their spirit has been touched by the power of God, but their flesh has the old habits of the sin nature layered within it. Those habits are gradually rehabilitated through the practice of various disciplines (fasting, solitude, Scriptures study, prayer, worship, silence, etc.) so that eventually the flesh becomes strong in service of the willing spirit.
The author's premise in his own words:
Instead, we will establish, strengthen, and elaborate on this one insight: Full participation in the life of God’s Kingdom and in the vivid companionship of Christ comes to us only through appropriate exercise in the disciplines for life in the spirit. (Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines 26)
A couple explanations of the disciplines in the author's own words:
The disciplines are activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken, to bring out personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order. They enable us more and more to live in a power that is, strictly speaking, beyond us, deriving from the spiritual realm itself, as we “yield ourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God,” as Romans 6:13 puts it. (Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines 68)
The disciplines for the spiritual life, rightly understood, are time-tested activities consciously undertaken by us as new men or women to allow our spirit ever-increasing sway over our embodied selves. They help by assisting the ways of God’s Kingdom to take the place of the habits of sin embedded in our bodies. (Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines 86)
Here the author favorably quotes and comments on Oswald Chambers:
“The question of forming habits on the basis of the grace of God is a very vital one. To ignore it is to fall into the snare of the Pharisee—the grace of God is praised, Jesus Christ is praised, the Redemption is praised, but the practical everyday life evades working it out. If we refuse to practice, it is not God’s grace that fails when a crisis comes, but our own nature. When the crisis comes, we ask God to help us, but He cannot if we have not made out nature our ally. The practicing is ours, not God’s. God regenerates us and puts us in contact with all His divine resources, but He cannot make us walk according to His will.”
He goes on to stress that when we obey the Spirit and practice through our physical life all that God has put in our hearts, then when crisis comes we will find we have not only God’s grace to stand by us, “but our own nature also.” (Oswald Chambers; qtd. in Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines 118)
Basically the author argues that the transformation of the Christian life comes through living life the way Jesus did, following his example. (And of course we understand this doesn't mean tunics and sandals and no phones.) But it does mean things we build into our routine, physical activities, that enable us to align ourselves with the spiritual power of God's Kingdom. When people first come to Christ, their spirit is willing but their flesh is weak. Their spirit has been touched by the power of God, but their flesh has the old habits of the sin nature layered within it. Those habits are gradually rehabilitated through the practice of various disciplines (fasting, solitude, Scriptures study, prayer, worship, silence, etc.) so that eventually the flesh becomes strong in service of the willing spirit.
The author's premise in his own words:
Instead, we will establish, strengthen, and elaborate on this one insight: Full participation in the life of God’s Kingdom and in the vivid companionship of Christ comes to us only through appropriate exercise in the disciplines for life in the spirit. (Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines 26)
A couple explanations of the disciplines in the author's own words:
The disciplines are activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken, to bring out personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order. They enable us more and more to live in a power that is, strictly speaking, beyond us, deriving from the spiritual realm itself, as we “yield ourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God,” as Romans 6:13 puts it. (Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines 68)
The disciplines for the spiritual life, rightly understood, are time-tested activities consciously undertaken by us as new men or women to allow our spirit ever-increasing sway over our embodied selves. They help by assisting the ways of God’s Kingdom to take the place of the habits of sin embedded in our bodies. (Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines 86)
Here the author favorably quotes and comments on Oswald Chambers:
“The question of forming habits on the basis of the grace of God is a very vital one. To ignore it is to fall into the snare of the Pharisee—the grace of God is praised, Jesus Christ is praised, the Redemption is praised, but the practical everyday life evades working it out. If we refuse to practice, it is not God’s grace that fails when a crisis comes, but our own nature. When the crisis comes, we ask God to help us, but He cannot if we have not made out nature our ally. The practicing is ours, not God’s. God regenerates us and puts us in contact with all His divine resources, but He cannot make us walk according to His will.”
He goes on to stress that when we obey the Spirit and practice through our physical life all that God has put in our hearts, then when crisis comes we will find we have not only God’s grace to stand by us, “but our own nature also.” (Oswald Chambers; qtd. in Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines 118)
March 11, 2025
leveled by this
What impacted me the most about this book (plus Scot McKnight’s King Jesus Gospel) was its historical perspective on how the protestant church has drifted from the New Testament vision of discipleship to Jesus. I could look at scriptures with eyes to appreciate how the way of Jesus is mentioned, but Willard’s explanation of what church norms are, or were in the 80’s, ruins me with gratitude for the beauty of life in the kingdom of God --both in my body and on earth-- and how so many don't know it.
I can still remember a time in my life when I wrestled with the question: Do you have to be a disciple to be a Christian?
Looking back now I see Jesus’ tender, scarred hand reaching out to me through the lives of men and women over the past decade who imperfectly yet contagiously lived the incarnated life of Christ. My parents. Melissa T. Joel W. Joseph C. Zakk R. Rusty F. Jared B. Jackie E. Dave W. Ted T. Phillip K. Jenny B. Christian P. Paul N. Kim C. Michael F. So many more unnamed, even forgotten people who left their mark on me and lived out a vision of discipleship to Jesus.
This book was largely theoretical, but the practical parts about spiritual disciplines was equally rich.
I think it heated up as it went along.
What impacted me the most about this book (plus Scot McKnight’s King Jesus Gospel) was its historical perspective on how the protestant church has drifted from the New Testament vision of discipleship to Jesus. I could look at scriptures with eyes to appreciate how the way of Jesus is mentioned, but Willard’s explanation of what church norms are, or were in the 80’s, ruins me with gratitude for the beauty of life in the kingdom of God --both in my body and on earth-- and how so many don't know it.
I can still remember a time in my life when I wrestled with the question: Do you have to be a disciple to be a Christian?
Looking back now I see Jesus’ tender, scarred hand reaching out to me through the lives of men and women over the past decade who imperfectly yet contagiously lived the incarnated life of Christ. My parents. Melissa T. Joel W. Joseph C. Zakk R. Rusty F. Jared B. Jackie E. Dave W. Ted T. Phillip K. Jenny B. Christian P. Paul N. Kim C. Michael F. So many more unnamed, even forgotten people who left their mark on me and lived out a vision of discipleship to Jesus.
This book was largely theoretical, but the practical parts about spiritual disciplines was equally rich.
I think it heated up as it went along.
June 28, 2021
Practically confrontational, yet grounded in historical perspective and allowance for individual differences.
March 31, 2023
Superb book on the “entire” processes of spirituality.
Exceptional references and well cited throughout.
A good one!
Exceptional references and well cited throughout.
A good one!
March 10, 2025
In this book, Willard proposes that the spiritual life is one of embodied practice, living with Jesus by engaging in the different practices and postures that He Himself did. Willard’s perspective is one that dignifies and emphasizes the role of the body, refuting the still-permeating Gnostic ideas that divorce the spiritual from the physical, and suggests that it is through the properly ascetic, disciplined life that we can submit our whole selves before Christ as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. After giving an overview of the history of asceticism, the harm of its distortions, and the role of spiritual disciplines in the church across time, Willard expounds on various disciplines of abstinence and engagement, laying a framework for what proper implementation of and relation to the disciplines could look like as committed disciples of Jesus.
I appreciated Willard’s emphasis on the physical and the ordinary in our relationship to Jesus, offering a helpful corrective to the often-toxic commissions to a kind of transcendent “super-spirituality” that exists within many evangelical church communities. Willard’s refusal to let church history’s distortions and poor embodiments of the practices he outlines helpfully keeps the reader from a jettison of ideas that are beneficial to the faith when properly employed. In the first part of the book, Willard does a good job of placing any work of the disciplines under the ownership of grace, but I do wish that grace-centered language would have been more present in the lattermost application-oriented chapters. In considering the disciplines, grace needs to be just as forward in our orthopraxy as our orthodoxy.
As I work in campus ministry, I am continually seeking to support students in their relationship to Christ and walk with them as they grow in their faith. This book is a helpful companion in the work of inviting students to see Christ’s presence and call over every aspect of their lives, and of leading them to see their faith as an embodied practice that shapes how they engage with the various means of grace. Particularly, amongst a community of students currently overwhelmed and burnt out, engagement-disciplines such as fellowship, worship, and celebration could be a comfort/blessing.
A crowning quote: “A discipline for the spiritual life is, when the dust of history is blown away, nothing but an activity undertaken to bring us into more effective cooperation with Christ and his Kingdom. When we understand that grace (charis) is gift (charisma), we then see that to grow in grace is to grow in what is given to us of God and by God. The disciplines are then, in the clearest sense, a means to that grace and also to those gifts” (156).
I appreciated Willard’s emphasis on the physical and the ordinary in our relationship to Jesus, offering a helpful corrective to the often-toxic commissions to a kind of transcendent “super-spirituality” that exists within many evangelical church communities. Willard’s refusal to let church history’s distortions and poor embodiments of the practices he outlines helpfully keeps the reader from a jettison of ideas that are beneficial to the faith when properly employed. In the first part of the book, Willard does a good job of placing any work of the disciplines under the ownership of grace, but I do wish that grace-centered language would have been more present in the lattermost application-oriented chapters. In considering the disciplines, grace needs to be just as forward in our orthopraxy as our orthodoxy.
As I work in campus ministry, I am continually seeking to support students in their relationship to Christ and walk with them as they grow in their faith. This book is a helpful companion in the work of inviting students to see Christ’s presence and call over every aspect of their lives, and of leading them to see their faith as an embodied practice that shapes how they engage with the various means of grace. Particularly, amongst a community of students currently overwhelmed and burnt out, engagement-disciplines such as fellowship, worship, and celebration could be a comfort/blessing.
A crowning quote: “A discipline for the spiritual life is, when the dust of history is blown away, nothing but an activity undertaken to bring us into more effective cooperation with Christ and his Kingdom. When we understand that grace (charis) is gift (charisma), we then see that to grow in grace is to grow in what is given to us of God and by God. The disciplines are then, in the clearest sense, a means to that grace and also to those gifts” (156).
March 15, 2025
This was one of the most convicting and challenging books I’ve read in a while. In contrast to our modern Christianity which preaches love and grace and nothing more, Willard carefully lays out the beauty of the life engaged in Spiritual disciplines.
December 7, 2023
Truly, I do not recommend this book.
August 27, 2025
A great overview on the necessity of spiritual disciplines. This is less a handbook on the how (although there is practical content), and more an arguement as to why. Some of the latter chapters were my favourites, as Willard dealt with topics like poverty and discipleship. All in all, an excellent book that points to the transforming love of Jesus in real time.
July 30, 2009
I have again read through much of this book that I read a number of years ago. The author does a wonderful job of showing how God has made our bodies and spirits dependent on each other as far as living out our spiritual lives. To ignore the fact that we need to discipline our bodies to help reinforce our relationship with God is to ignore the previous mentioned truth.The author powerfully makes the case for reintroducing the "spiritual disciplines" into our modern lives ... ie. solitude, fasting,frugality, study, worship, celebration, confession ....
June 4, 2015
I love reading Dallas Willard's work. For me, his words hit home and I truly feel moved. He is gentle, intelligent, and writes how to become the disciple Jesus is calling all Christians to be. I have read several of Dallas' book, this one got a bit dry at places, but I still read it all, as I didn't want to miss anything Dallas had to say. I found Renovation of the Heart an easier read, also with that book the way its laid out it has small bit size points (1-2 pages) you could quickly read (and re-read) and then put down through out the day.
April 18, 2023
This book is incredible. Willard makes us stare the shortcomings of modern Western Christianity in the face, and its scary. He goes on to offer us a path through the confusing mire of our present church moment, and offers us steps to what we have always been craving: apprenticeship to Jesus. Truly following our teacher where he leads.
Willard navigates so many subtle practical confusions that threaten to trip us up with ease and peace... I highly recommend this.
Willard navigates so many subtle practical confusions that threaten to trip us up with ease and peace... I highly recommend this.
February 28, 2020
This was a great book that goes into depth with the reasons why spiritual disciplines are one of the most important things for growing in your faith, it explains the failings that we currently have and I’m sure all have experienced where the spiritual disciplines are more burden than useful, and Willard beautifully paints a picture of how the world could look if everyone took the time to plan and put into practise spiritual disciplines that will assist in strengthening your faith.
April 10, 2022
Yes, this book is great- truth is, I had a hard time hanging with many parts of it. There was a lot of philosophical background and historical background that were important, but weighty. This is not a how to book. While I found this book valuable and important, I struggled to understand some parts.
August 14, 2012
"How to live as Jesus lived." Willard reveals how the key to self-transformation resides in the practice of the spiritual disciplines (which are solitude and silence, prayer, simple and sacrificial living, meditation upon God's word and ways, and service to others).
May 2, 2011
This book changed my life!
September 15, 2022
My year of Dallas Willard books continues. Chapter 1 of this one is worth the price of the book.
January 18, 2023
4 1/2 stars. Dallas Willard is a genius. There is no match for his philosophies on following Jesus.
It took me months to get through this one though, so many words. But I’m glad I read it.
It took me months to get through this one though, so many words. But I’m glad I read it.
February 13, 2025
Was really good until the last 50 or so pages
June 5, 2009
Dallas is good as usual. I think his chapter on money and poverty is the most insightful and biblical perspective I have ever read on the idea of money. Good read.
Poignant Quotes:
“It costs a man just as much or even more to go to hell than to come to heaven.” – Soren Kierkegaard
A successful performance at a moment of crisis rests largely and essentially upon the depths of a self wisely and rigorously prepared in the totality of its being – mind and body.
And in this truth lies the secret of the easy yoke: the secret involves living as he lived in the entirety of his life – adopting his overall life-style.
We intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it reality.
These responses, generally and rightly understood to be characteristic of Christlikeness, were set forth by him as illustrative of what might be expected of a new kind of person – one who intelligently and steadfastly seeks, above all else, to live within the rule of God and be possessed by the kind of righteousness that God himself has…
There is no realization that what he (Jesus) did in such cases was, in a large and essential measure, the natural outflow of the life he lived when not on the spot.
Practical theology studies the manner in which our actions interact with God to accomplish his ends in human life.
If the steady, longtime faithful devotes to our ministries are not transformed in the substance of their lives to the full range of Christlikeness, they are being failed by what we are teaching them.
They could not help but see that spiritual growth and vitality stem from what we actually do with our lives, from the habits we form, and from the character that results.
Failure to act in certain definite ways will guarantee that this transformation does not come to pass.
It is precisely obscurity and confusion here that led to the abuses of the disciplines history reveals and ultimately to today’s exclusion of them from the mainstream of Protestant religious life.
…a thoughtless theology guides our lives with just as much force as a thoughtful and informed one.
Full participation in the life of God’s Kingdom and in the vivid companionship of Christ comes to us only through appropriate exercise in the disciplines for life in the spirit.
The faith of the New Testament is a distinctive life force that originates in the impact of God’s word upon the soul, as we see in Romans 10:17, and then exercises a determinating influence upon all aspects of our existence, including the body and its social and political environment.
Governance by a person, whether over other people or animals, is at its best when the outcome is harmony, understanding, and love, and at its best then the governed experience that “rule” as merely doing what they would want to do anyway.
The disciplines are activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken, to bring our personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order.
The spiritual and the bodily are by no means opposed in human life – they are complimentary.
“Spirituality is not a pious pose. It is not a “Thou shalt not”; it is “Thou shalt.”
But talk will not win the race. Zeal without knowledge or without appropriate practice is never enough. Plus, one must train wisely as well as intensely for spiritual attainment.
It is solitude and solitude alone that opens the possibility of a radical relationship to God that can withstand all external events up to and beyond death.
Most to whom I have spoken about this matter are shocked at the suggestion that the “wilderness,” the place of solitude and deprivation, was actually the place of strength and strengthening for our Lord and that the Spirit led him there – as he would lead us there – to ensure that Christ was in the best possible condition for the trial.
Our most serious failure today is the inability to provide effective practical guidance as to how to live the life of Jesus.
The Pauline doctrine of “reckoning” reminds us we have the power to identify and dismiss wrong thoughts, to separate them from our “selves,” and thus by grace to escape them.
And if I do not submit my actions through the disciplines that fit my personality, I will not enter into the powerful, virtuous new life in a psychologically real way.
We must accept it and submit ourselves to it, knowing that the rigors of discipline certainly lead to the easy yoke and the full joy of Christ.
Outward manifestations and inward motivation must both be right.
The activities constituting the disciplines have no value in themselves.
Personally, I would never undertake to pastor a church or guide a program of Christian education that did not involve a continuous program of memorization of the choicest passages of Scripture for people of all ages.
…whether in our natural life or in our spiritual life – the mark of disciplined persons is that they are able to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.
Until we have taken the steps to achieve such unconscious readiness, we cannot honestly intend to carry out the good deed, any more than we can honestly intend to speak Japanese without engaging in learning activities that prepare us to speak that language.
Disciplines of Abstinence: solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, sacrifice
Disciplines of Engagement: study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession, submission
Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in him a source of sustenance beyond food.
Fasting unto our Lord is therefore feasting – feasting on him and on doing his will.
Persons well used to fasting as a systematic practice will have a clear and constant sense of their resources in God.
Fasting teaches temperance or self-control and therefore teaches moderation and restraint with regard to all our fundamental drives.
Healthy abstention in chastity can only be supported by loving, positive involvement with members of the opposite sex.
With secrecy we abstain from causing our good deeds and qualities to known.
But as we practice this discipline, we learn to love to be unknown and even to accept misunderstanding without the loss of our peace, joy, or purpose.
We allow [God:] to decide when our deeds will be known and when our light will be noticed.
Secrecy at its best teaches love and humility before God and others. And that love and humility encourages us to see our associates in the best possible light, even to the point of our hoping they will do better and appear better than us.
If we see needs met because we have ask God alone, our faith in God’s presence and care will be greatly increased. But if we always tell others of the need, we will have little faith in God, and our entire spiritual life will suffer because of it.
Our need to give is greater than God’s need to receive, because he is always well supplied.
…the disciplines of abstinence counteract tendencies to sins of commission, and the disciplines of engagement counteract tendencies to sins of omission.
…study involves giving much time on a regular basis to meditation upon those parts of the Bible that are most meaningful for our spiritual life, together with constant reading of the Bible as a whole. We should also make every effort to sit regularly under the ministry of gifted teachers who can lead us deeply into the Word and make us increasingly capable of fruitful study on our own. Beyond this, we should read well the lives of disciplines from all ages and cultures of the church, building a small library as we make them our friends and associates in the Way.
When we worship God we fill our minds and hearts with wonder at him.
We engage in celebration when we enjoy ourselves, our life, our world, in conjunction with our faith and confidence in God’s greatness, beauty, and goodness. We concentrate on our life and world as God’s work and as God’s gift to us. Typically this means that we come together with others who know God to eat and drink, to sing and dance, and to relate stories of God’s action for our lives and our people.
Holy delight and joy is the great antidote to despair and is a wellspring of genuine gratitude – the kind that starts at our toes and blasts off from our loins and diaphragm through the top or our head, flinging our arms and our eyes and our voice upward toward our good God.
…a healthy faith before God cannot be built and maintained, without heartfelt celebration of his greatness and goodness to us in the midst of our suffering and terror.
Talking about Mark 10:43-45, Willard says, “we misunderstand this passage if we read it merely as instructions on how to become great. It is, rather, a statement on how those who are great are to behave.
…the effect of conversing with God cannot fail to have a pervasive and spiritually strengthening effect on all aspects of our personality.
Personalities united can contain more of God and sustain the force of his greater presence much better than scattered individuals.
Confession alone makes deep fellowship possible, and the lack of it explains much of the superficial quality so commonly found in our church associations.
The walk with Christ certainly is one that leaves room for and even calls for individual creativity [in the spiritual disciplines:] and an experimental attitude in such matters.
Which disciplines must be central to our lives will be determined by the chief sins of commission and omission that entice or threaten us from day to day.
They call for a comparably hard-nosed, tough response on our part, supported by infinite grace.
The activities mentioned – when we engaged in them conscientiously and creatively and adapt them to our individual needs, time, and place – will be more than adequate to help us receive the full Christ-life and become the kind of person that should emerge in the following of him.
The idealization of poverty is one of the most dangerous illusions of Christians in the contemporary world.
To trust in riches, on the other hand, is to count upon them to obtain or secure what we treasure most.
Those poor people whose faith is in riches they neither own nor can use are among the most unhappy people on earth.
A simple test reveals an individual’s attitude toward the religious and moral significance of wealth. Suppose that by owning a great deal of property and money you are able, in the long run, to give much more away and do much more good for others or the promotion of God’s purposes than if you simply gave your surplus away to the poor as it came to hand or if you followed some other course of service that dissolved your financial base. Plus, as a prosperous industrialist, businessperson, merchant, government official, publisher, farmer, or university administrator, suppose that you have a wide range of influence over your employees or associates and others in the community and you use that influence to set an example in living and to testify to the reality of Christ’s Kingdom.
But would it not have been equally well, or even better, had he been found to have had great possessions carefully managed for the good of others and the glory of God? Especially if it turned out that he did more good in that way than he could have done by giving it all away?
While certain individuals may be given a specific call to poverty, in general, being poor is one of the poorest ways to help the poor.
It may be said with assurance that most rich people do trust and serve mammon.
It is not money or gain, but the love of it, that is said by Paul to be the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), and none love it more desperately and unrealistically than those without it.
Let’s be clear about one thing. Whoever cannot have riches without worshiping them above God should get rid of them, if that will enable him or her to trust and serve God rightly. If it does not enable them to do that, then there well may be no point at all in getting rid of the riches. And whether or not there is a point to it will depend upon the effect on those who receive the given-away money. There is no guarantee the recipients will actually benefit from it. The wealth may actually do harm.
Our possessions vastly extend the range over which God rules through our faith.
But to abandon the goods of this world to the enemies of God is to fail the responsibilities we are given at creation to have dominion, to rule over all life forms above the plants (Gen. 1:26).
The truly poor of the earth know poverty for what it is: it is crushing deprivation and helplessness.
[we must:] understand that possession and right rule over material wealth is spiritual service of the highest order. And our response must be to develop a ministry that prepares people for that service.
Poverty, for example, whether in spirit or in pocketbook, is not the cause or reason for blessedness – entry into the Kingdom of God is the reason…
The essential point can be put into one shocking statement: under the rule of God, the rich and the poor have no necessary advantage over each other with regard to well-being or well-doing in this life or the next.
But much can and must be done in all dimensions of life to eliminate the harmful effects of the rich/poor distinction in a fallen world, such as freeing those with ethnic and cultural differences from socially enforced economic deprivation.
While the biblical teachings do not speak of eliminating poverty; they always insist that the needy are to be cared for, that the poor are not to be taken advantage of but defended and given opportunity, and that they are to be taken into consideration in all aspects of life.
[Living among and near the poor will do more for our understanding of the poor than any charity we may give or be a part of:]
...giving is only a part and by no means the largest part of stewardship before our Lord.
…it is as great and as difficult a spiritual calling to run the factories and the mines, the banks and the department stores, the schools and government agencies for the Kingdom of God as it is to pastor a church or serve as an evangelist.
…[the hard part:] is to live simply, even frugally, though controlling great wealth and power.
We continue to be misled by the world’s view of well-being, which holds riches to be well-being, and that is why we react by thinking of possessions as inherently and essentially evil, instead of as a domain of spiritual work of the purest sort.
Riches are not holy, riches are not evil. They are creations we are to use for God.
Of course giving must have a great place in the life of Christ’s disciple, no matter what else. But it cannot take the place of keeping, using, and controlling possessions as responsible stewards of God’s creation for our individual time in his world.
[Wesley’s:] famous formula, “Get all you can; save all you can; give all you can,” must be supplemented. It should read: get all you can; save all you can; freely use all you can within a properly disciplined spiritual life; and control all you can for the good of humankind and God’s glory. Giving all you can would then naturally be a part of an overall wise stewardship.
…to make [poverty:] the especially holy calling is to destroy all possibility of Christ’s people guiding the world for the best of all people, which requires that the godly substantially own and otherwise control the wealth of the earth.
The church certainly is to lead the way in charitable works…
…we wish to continue living as we now live and continue being the kinds of people we are. We do not want to change. We do not want our world to be really different. We just want to escape the consequences of its being what it truly is and of our being who we truly are.
…we do not want to bother with becoming the sort of people who actually, naturally [practice the fruit of the Spirit.:]
We are drawn to evil, excited by it. Yet, interestingly enough, we seem surprised when it becomes reality.
Human wrath is an explosive, unrestrained impulse to hurt or harm.
Thus, if in our lives we are not protected by a hearty confidence in God’s never failing and effective care for us, these “readinesses” for various wrongdoing will be constantly provoked into action by threatening circumstances.
…the righteous can stop the wave [of evil:] before it starts, if they are stable in their righteousness, empowered by God, and distributed through society appropriately. The impersonal power structures in the world are, though independent of any one person’s will and experience, nevertheless dependent for their force upon the general readiness of normal people to do evil.
Living and dying are the only options and both are transcendentally wonderful, because liberation from fear of death is an inevitable result of living in the faith of Jesus (Matt. 10:28, Heb. 2:15)
I believe…that the coming rule of God is to be a government by grace and truth mediated through personalities mature in Christ.
Thomas a Kempis – “Occasions make not a man fail, but they show what the man is.”
…power makes corruption apparent, and absolute power makes corruption absolutely apparent.
Continued in Doc
Application:
Love God
Know God
Become Like Christ – Live in the biblical knowledge of the disciplines and wealth/poverty
Make Disciples – help others become holy through the practice of the disciplines
Love People - help others see the desirability of becoming like and knowing Christ through a healthy and habitual practice of the disciplines
Poignant Quotes:
“It costs a man just as much or even more to go to hell than to come to heaven.” – Soren Kierkegaard
A successful performance at a moment of crisis rests largely and essentially upon the depths of a self wisely and rigorously prepared in the totality of its being – mind and body.
And in this truth lies the secret of the easy yoke: the secret involves living as he lived in the entirety of his life – adopting his overall life-style.
We intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it reality.
These responses, generally and rightly understood to be characteristic of Christlikeness, were set forth by him as illustrative of what might be expected of a new kind of person – one who intelligently and steadfastly seeks, above all else, to live within the rule of God and be possessed by the kind of righteousness that God himself has…
There is no realization that what he (Jesus) did in such cases was, in a large and essential measure, the natural outflow of the life he lived when not on the spot.
Practical theology studies the manner in which our actions interact with God to accomplish his ends in human life.
If the steady, longtime faithful devotes to our ministries are not transformed in the substance of their lives to the full range of Christlikeness, they are being failed by what we are teaching them.
They could not help but see that spiritual growth and vitality stem from what we actually do with our lives, from the habits we form, and from the character that results.
Failure to act in certain definite ways will guarantee that this transformation does not come to pass.
It is precisely obscurity and confusion here that led to the abuses of the disciplines history reveals and ultimately to today’s exclusion of them from the mainstream of Protestant religious life.
…a thoughtless theology guides our lives with just as much force as a thoughtful and informed one.
Full participation in the life of God’s Kingdom and in the vivid companionship of Christ comes to us only through appropriate exercise in the disciplines for life in the spirit.
The faith of the New Testament is a distinctive life force that originates in the impact of God’s word upon the soul, as we see in Romans 10:17, and then exercises a determinating influence upon all aspects of our existence, including the body and its social and political environment.
Governance by a person, whether over other people or animals, is at its best when the outcome is harmony, understanding, and love, and at its best then the governed experience that “rule” as merely doing what they would want to do anyway.
The disciplines are activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken, to bring our personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order.
The spiritual and the bodily are by no means opposed in human life – they are complimentary.
“Spirituality is not a pious pose. It is not a “Thou shalt not”; it is “Thou shalt.”
But talk will not win the race. Zeal without knowledge or without appropriate practice is never enough. Plus, one must train wisely as well as intensely for spiritual attainment.
It is solitude and solitude alone that opens the possibility of a radical relationship to God that can withstand all external events up to and beyond death.
Most to whom I have spoken about this matter are shocked at the suggestion that the “wilderness,” the place of solitude and deprivation, was actually the place of strength and strengthening for our Lord and that the Spirit led him there – as he would lead us there – to ensure that Christ was in the best possible condition for the trial.
Our most serious failure today is the inability to provide effective practical guidance as to how to live the life of Jesus.
The Pauline doctrine of “reckoning” reminds us we have the power to identify and dismiss wrong thoughts, to separate them from our “selves,” and thus by grace to escape them.
And if I do not submit my actions through the disciplines that fit my personality, I will not enter into the powerful, virtuous new life in a psychologically real way.
We must accept it and submit ourselves to it, knowing that the rigors of discipline certainly lead to the easy yoke and the full joy of Christ.
Outward manifestations and inward motivation must both be right.
The activities constituting the disciplines have no value in themselves.
Personally, I would never undertake to pastor a church or guide a program of Christian education that did not involve a continuous program of memorization of the choicest passages of Scripture for people of all ages.
…whether in our natural life or in our spiritual life – the mark of disciplined persons is that they are able to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.
Until we have taken the steps to achieve such unconscious readiness, we cannot honestly intend to carry out the good deed, any more than we can honestly intend to speak Japanese without engaging in learning activities that prepare us to speak that language.
Disciplines of Abstinence: solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, sacrifice
Disciplines of Engagement: study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession, submission
Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in him a source of sustenance beyond food.
Fasting unto our Lord is therefore feasting – feasting on him and on doing his will.
Persons well used to fasting as a systematic practice will have a clear and constant sense of their resources in God.
Fasting teaches temperance or self-control and therefore teaches moderation and restraint with regard to all our fundamental drives.
Healthy abstention in chastity can only be supported by loving, positive involvement with members of the opposite sex.
With secrecy we abstain from causing our good deeds and qualities to known.
But as we practice this discipline, we learn to love to be unknown and even to accept misunderstanding without the loss of our peace, joy, or purpose.
We allow [God:] to decide when our deeds will be known and when our light will be noticed.
Secrecy at its best teaches love and humility before God and others. And that love and humility encourages us to see our associates in the best possible light, even to the point of our hoping they will do better and appear better than us.
If we see needs met because we have ask God alone, our faith in God’s presence and care will be greatly increased. But if we always tell others of the need, we will have little faith in God, and our entire spiritual life will suffer because of it.
Our need to give is greater than God’s need to receive, because he is always well supplied.
…the disciplines of abstinence counteract tendencies to sins of commission, and the disciplines of engagement counteract tendencies to sins of omission.
…study involves giving much time on a regular basis to meditation upon those parts of the Bible that are most meaningful for our spiritual life, together with constant reading of the Bible as a whole. We should also make every effort to sit regularly under the ministry of gifted teachers who can lead us deeply into the Word and make us increasingly capable of fruitful study on our own. Beyond this, we should read well the lives of disciplines from all ages and cultures of the church, building a small library as we make them our friends and associates in the Way.
When we worship God we fill our minds and hearts with wonder at him.
We engage in celebration when we enjoy ourselves, our life, our world, in conjunction with our faith and confidence in God’s greatness, beauty, and goodness. We concentrate on our life and world as God’s work and as God’s gift to us. Typically this means that we come together with others who know God to eat and drink, to sing and dance, and to relate stories of God’s action for our lives and our people.
Holy delight and joy is the great antidote to despair and is a wellspring of genuine gratitude – the kind that starts at our toes and blasts off from our loins and diaphragm through the top or our head, flinging our arms and our eyes and our voice upward toward our good God.
…a healthy faith before God cannot be built and maintained, without heartfelt celebration of his greatness and goodness to us in the midst of our suffering and terror.
Talking about Mark 10:43-45, Willard says, “we misunderstand this passage if we read it merely as instructions on how to become great. It is, rather, a statement on how those who are great are to behave.
…the effect of conversing with God cannot fail to have a pervasive and spiritually strengthening effect on all aspects of our personality.
Personalities united can contain more of God and sustain the force of his greater presence much better than scattered individuals.
Confession alone makes deep fellowship possible, and the lack of it explains much of the superficial quality so commonly found in our church associations.
The walk with Christ certainly is one that leaves room for and even calls for individual creativity [in the spiritual disciplines:] and an experimental attitude in such matters.
Which disciplines must be central to our lives will be determined by the chief sins of commission and omission that entice or threaten us from day to day.
They call for a comparably hard-nosed, tough response on our part, supported by infinite grace.
The activities mentioned – when we engaged in them conscientiously and creatively and adapt them to our individual needs, time, and place – will be more than adequate to help us receive the full Christ-life and become the kind of person that should emerge in the following of him.
The idealization of poverty is one of the most dangerous illusions of Christians in the contemporary world.
To trust in riches, on the other hand, is to count upon them to obtain or secure what we treasure most.
Those poor people whose faith is in riches they neither own nor can use are among the most unhappy people on earth.
A simple test reveals an individual’s attitude toward the religious and moral significance of wealth. Suppose that by owning a great deal of property and money you are able, in the long run, to give much more away and do much more good for others or the promotion of God’s purposes than if you simply gave your surplus away to the poor as it came to hand or if you followed some other course of service that dissolved your financial base. Plus, as a prosperous industrialist, businessperson, merchant, government official, publisher, farmer, or university administrator, suppose that you have a wide range of influence over your employees or associates and others in the community and you use that influence to set an example in living and to testify to the reality of Christ’s Kingdom.
But would it not have been equally well, or even better, had he been found to have had great possessions carefully managed for the good of others and the glory of God? Especially if it turned out that he did more good in that way than he could have done by giving it all away?
While certain individuals may be given a specific call to poverty, in general, being poor is one of the poorest ways to help the poor.
It may be said with assurance that most rich people do trust and serve mammon.
It is not money or gain, but the love of it, that is said by Paul to be the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), and none love it more desperately and unrealistically than those without it.
Let’s be clear about one thing. Whoever cannot have riches without worshiping them above God should get rid of them, if that will enable him or her to trust and serve God rightly. If it does not enable them to do that, then there well may be no point at all in getting rid of the riches. And whether or not there is a point to it will depend upon the effect on those who receive the given-away money. There is no guarantee the recipients will actually benefit from it. The wealth may actually do harm.
Our possessions vastly extend the range over which God rules through our faith.
But to abandon the goods of this world to the enemies of God is to fail the responsibilities we are given at creation to have dominion, to rule over all life forms above the plants (Gen. 1:26).
The truly poor of the earth know poverty for what it is: it is crushing deprivation and helplessness.
[we must:] understand that possession and right rule over material wealth is spiritual service of the highest order. And our response must be to develop a ministry that prepares people for that service.
Poverty, for example, whether in spirit or in pocketbook, is not the cause or reason for blessedness – entry into the Kingdom of God is the reason…
The essential point can be put into one shocking statement: under the rule of God, the rich and the poor have no necessary advantage over each other with regard to well-being or well-doing in this life or the next.
But much can and must be done in all dimensions of life to eliminate the harmful effects of the rich/poor distinction in a fallen world, such as freeing those with ethnic and cultural differences from socially enforced economic deprivation.
While the biblical teachings do not speak of eliminating poverty; they always insist that the needy are to be cared for, that the poor are not to be taken advantage of but defended and given opportunity, and that they are to be taken into consideration in all aspects of life.
[Living among and near the poor will do more for our understanding of the poor than any charity we may give or be a part of:]
...giving is only a part and by no means the largest part of stewardship before our Lord.
…it is as great and as difficult a spiritual calling to run the factories and the mines, the banks and the department stores, the schools and government agencies for the Kingdom of God as it is to pastor a church or serve as an evangelist.
…[the hard part:] is to live simply, even frugally, though controlling great wealth and power.
We continue to be misled by the world’s view of well-being, which holds riches to be well-being, and that is why we react by thinking of possessions as inherently and essentially evil, instead of as a domain of spiritual work of the purest sort.
Riches are not holy, riches are not evil. They are creations we are to use for God.
Of course giving must have a great place in the life of Christ’s disciple, no matter what else. But it cannot take the place of keeping, using, and controlling possessions as responsible stewards of God’s creation for our individual time in his world.
[Wesley’s:] famous formula, “Get all you can; save all you can; give all you can,” must be supplemented. It should read: get all you can; save all you can; freely use all you can within a properly disciplined spiritual life; and control all you can for the good of humankind and God’s glory. Giving all you can would then naturally be a part of an overall wise stewardship.
…to make [poverty:] the especially holy calling is to destroy all possibility of Christ’s people guiding the world for the best of all people, which requires that the godly substantially own and otherwise control the wealth of the earth.
The church certainly is to lead the way in charitable works…
…we wish to continue living as we now live and continue being the kinds of people we are. We do not want to change. We do not want our world to be really different. We just want to escape the consequences of its being what it truly is and of our being who we truly are.
…we do not want to bother with becoming the sort of people who actually, naturally [practice the fruit of the Spirit.:]
We are drawn to evil, excited by it. Yet, interestingly enough, we seem surprised when it becomes reality.
Human wrath is an explosive, unrestrained impulse to hurt or harm.
Thus, if in our lives we are not protected by a hearty confidence in God’s never failing and effective care for us, these “readinesses” for various wrongdoing will be constantly provoked into action by threatening circumstances.
…the righteous can stop the wave [of evil:] before it starts, if they are stable in their righteousness, empowered by God, and distributed through society appropriately. The impersonal power structures in the world are, though independent of any one person’s will and experience, nevertheless dependent for their force upon the general readiness of normal people to do evil.
Living and dying are the only options and both are transcendentally wonderful, because liberation from fear of death is an inevitable result of living in the faith of Jesus (Matt. 10:28, Heb. 2:15)
I believe…that the coming rule of God is to be a government by grace and truth mediated through personalities mature in Christ.
Thomas a Kempis – “Occasions make not a man fail, but they show what the man is.”
…power makes corruption apparent, and absolute power makes corruption absolutely apparent.
Continued in Doc
Application:
Love God
Know God
Become Like Christ – Live in the biblical knowledge of the disciplines and wealth/poverty
Make Disciples – help others become holy through the practice of the disciplines
Love People - help others see the desirability of becoming like and knowing Christ through a healthy and habitual practice of the disciplines
March 28, 2020
Look guys I'm hooked. I don't know if it's just my preferences (I'm sure that is part of it), but the way Dallas Willard writes feels like EXACTLY what I need when I read it. This is just my 2nd book of his to finish (Divine Conspiracy was first), but both books have provoked thoughts and ideas in my like few other books have done.
This book is about the spiritual disciplines, but Willard spends the majority of the book talking about the heart behind the disciplines and why the modern church seems to look so unlike Jesus Christ. The main idea I can't stop thinking about is that your average evangelical Christian in America today hears passages about imitating Christ, commands from Christ, and other urgings to holiness with an air of impossibility. We just assume God couldn't expect us to actually become holy, to actually become more like Christ, or even to become more like Paul as he follows Christ. After all, we're not perfect. I can't count how many times this type of thinking comes into my head. So we push aside commands from Scripture that ask us to change.
This type of thinking will cut us off from the power of the Spirit to actually change us. We'll miss out on the very thing Christ died to make possible for us. And we'll miss out on what it actually means to be a Christian- to experience the power of Christ in our life as we become more and more like him.
Willard pointed out that Jesus responded in holy ways because of the disciplines he practiced in the times when no one was watching him. Jesus knew Scripture and spouted it out naturally in response to challenges from the Pharisees. This was because he had meditated on and memorized these passages long before those moments. Jesus knew the Father's will because he took time to be with the Father regularly. Jesus didn't give in to the fear of man because he gave adequate time in silence to hear from God and care more about what God desired than what men desired.
There are so many other things I could point out. I'll just say this book makes me want to experience more of Christ and to practice the spiritual disciplines to that end. The reason I love Dallas Willard so much is that every book of his that I read I fall more in love with Jesus. Every book I read, my wrong assumptions are challenged and thought-provoking ideas about following Christ are presented. In shot, I'm so thankful for Dallas Willard and I'm excited to keep reading his other works!
This book is about the spiritual disciplines, but Willard spends the majority of the book talking about the heart behind the disciplines and why the modern church seems to look so unlike Jesus Christ. The main idea I can't stop thinking about is that your average evangelical Christian in America today hears passages about imitating Christ, commands from Christ, and other urgings to holiness with an air of impossibility. We just assume God couldn't expect us to actually become holy, to actually become more like Christ, or even to become more like Paul as he follows Christ. After all, we're not perfect. I can't count how many times this type of thinking comes into my head. So we push aside commands from Scripture that ask us to change.
This type of thinking will cut us off from the power of the Spirit to actually change us. We'll miss out on the very thing Christ died to make possible for us. And we'll miss out on what it actually means to be a Christian- to experience the power of Christ in our life as we become more and more like him.
Willard pointed out that Jesus responded in holy ways because of the disciplines he practiced in the times when no one was watching him. Jesus knew Scripture and spouted it out naturally in response to challenges from the Pharisees. This was because he had meditated on and memorized these passages long before those moments. Jesus knew the Father's will because he took time to be with the Father regularly. Jesus didn't give in to the fear of man because he gave adequate time in silence to hear from God and care more about what God desired than what men desired.
There are so many other things I could point out. I'll just say this book makes me want to experience more of Christ and to practice the spiritual disciplines to that end. The reason I love Dallas Willard so much is that every book of his that I read I fall more in love with Jesus. Every book I read, my wrong assumptions are challenged and thought-provoking ideas about following Christ are presented. In shot, I'm so thankful for Dallas Willard and I'm excited to keep reading his other works!
March 20, 2023
Willard, Dallas. Spirit of the Disciplines. Harper Collins.
This is not a book on specific disciplines as such, though Willard does cover a few. Rather, it asks what is necessary to understand about the human person for these disciplines to become effective. It is, in fact, what the title says. It is about the “spirit” of the disciplines.
We have capacities in our body (mind, will, etc) and they interact in a certain way with each other and with other people. Sin broke the natural connection they had with each other. That is why there is a warfare between flesh and spirit.
The human personality is very complex and dynamic. That is why the body is necessary for our spiritual life. To put it in a “sciency” sounding way: bad habits live in your flesh, in your neurons. That is why it is either very hard or very fulfilling to harmonize your body and soul for the Christian life.
Realities of the Christian soul:
Key idea: spiritual growth cannot be divorced from the habits we form and the character that results from them (Willard 20).
Man and Flesh
Definition of life: power to relate and assimilate (57).
Spirit: spirit is unembodied personal power (64).
The Disciplines
Dallas categorizes the disciplines as those of engagement and those of abstinence.
Conclusion
This was Dallas’s second major work and is much “heavier” than his later works.
This is not a book on specific disciplines as such, though Willard does cover a few. Rather, it asks what is necessary to understand about the human person for these disciplines to become effective. It is, in fact, what the title says. It is about the “spirit” of the disciplines.
We have capacities in our body (mind, will, etc) and they interact in a certain way with each other and with other people. Sin broke the natural connection they had with each other. That is why there is a warfare between flesh and spirit.
The human personality is very complex and dynamic. That is why the body is necessary for our spiritual life. To put it in a “sciency” sounding way: bad habits live in your flesh, in your neurons. That is why it is either very hard or very fulfilling to harmonize your body and soul for the Christian life.
Realities of the Christian soul:
Key idea: spiritual growth cannot be divorced from the habits we form and the character that results from them (Willard 20).
Man and Flesh
Definition of life: power to relate and assimilate (57).
Spirit: spirit is unembodied personal power (64).
The Disciplines
Dallas categorizes the disciplines as those of engagement and those of abstinence.
Conclusion
This was Dallas’s second major work and is much “heavier” than his later works.
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