Do you want more from your relationship with God? Is reading your bible difficult? Is your quiet time a struggle, few and far between? Do you feel guilty about the lack of time you spend in prayer? Do you think of the word “Sabbath” and laugh at the thought of a weekly day of rest?

If so, then you’re in good company. Most of us want to live in deeper relationship with God, with greater trust and intimacy, and yet we get stuck on how to make that happen. We want our relationship with God to flourish, and yet for most of us, if we’re honest, it’s dry, lonely, and last on our list of things we need to “get done”.

So how does this change? How can we grow our love for the LORD without trying harder, doing more, and feeling guilt and shame when we fall short or don’t meet expectations?

The Gospel.

God’s love for us is the motivator in cultivating our love for Him.

Through Jesus; His life, death, and resurrection, we are promised right relationship with our Heavenly Father. In resting in His finished work on the cross, the privilege of discipleship is no longer duty, but delight.

Over these next 8 weeks, we’ll journey together through different spiritual disciplines and hear from a panel of women in different seasons of life share how they practice bible study, prayer, worship, serving, rest, etc.

My hope in this study is that we find freedom and creativity for how we practice spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are ways we as Christians can connect to God and help nourish our relationship with Him. Spiritual disciplines such as bible study, prayer, worship, fasting, serving, and Sabbath are ways we grow closer to the LORD. For years, many have taken spiritual disciplines and turned them into a legalistic means of earning God’s approval or favor. Our practice of spiritual disciplines does not atone, save, redeem, or earn God’s love for us. The Gospel tells us we cannot be loved any more or any less in Christ. Spiritual disciplines don’t earn us more of God’s favor or approval, again we are made right through Jesus. Spiritual disciplines are simply a means for deepening our relationship with God, an expression of love and relationship between Father and daughter.

My prayer for this study is that we practice all of these spiritual disciplines out of an overflow of the Gospel, that we would understand God’s great love for us and His redeeming grace and let all that we do be in response to that.

Each week, we will look at scripture to learn why and how we can practice each discipline, and then we will apply it. We will hear from a panel of women, who are in different seasons of life, share how they practice the disciplines. My hope is that after these 8 weeks, we will all be equipped with new ways to connect to God and delight in Him.

Where to begin?
If you haven’t already, sign up here to receive the 8 week study via email. *If you’ve already signed up to receive emails from my blog, no need to sign up again. The study will be delivered to your inbox on Thursday 4/23.

How will this work?
After you’ve received the study, follow this timeline. The study is designed for you to first go through the homework on your own, then watch the panel. Videos will be posted on Mondays, all you have to do is make sure you complete that week’s homework prior to watching the video!

4/25: Intro
5/4: Bible Study
5/11: Prayer
5/18: Worship
5/25: Fasting
6/1: Thanksgiving
6/8: Serving/Giving
6/15: Sabbath/Rest

It’s pretty simple: sign up, do the week of homework, then watch the video. You can do this on your own, or invite some friends to journey along. Check your inboxes later this week for the study, looking forward to doing this with you!