Spiritual Formation Conference

This past weekend, Linda and I went to a spiritual formation conference at Union Avenue Baptist Church in Memphis. Dr. Don Whitney from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville was the speaker. The seminar focused on personal spiritual disciplines for Christian growth. The central disciplines were Bible study and prayer. Also mentioned were meditation, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning.

The conference was quite thought-provoking. The main statement was probably, get going and do it! Most of us stay so busy that we do not think that have time to pursue spiritual disciplines.

Dr. Whitney presented an approach to prayer called praying through the Scripture. The idea is to take a passage of Scripture, such as a Psalm or a teaching passage, and look at each phrase individually, letting it suggest thoughts to your mind, and praying about them. For example, Psalm 79, beginning "O God, the nations have come into your inheritance," forcefully reminded me to pray for the peace and security of Israel.

The challenge to me will be to organize my life to find time to do these disciplines and to pray, meditate, and journal each day. A blog can be a form of journal, so we shall see how successful the attempt will be.