Episode #241 Beyond Willpower: How to Experience Real Transformation – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Hey friends, it's Jen. Welcome to a new episode of Good God Talks. We're in a new series and I'm actually trying something I've never done before here on the podcast.

I am rereading through a book that I read, gosh, over 20 years ago. And in the midst of reading it, I found myself highlighting almost everything on every page. And so I had this fun idea to actually talk with you through some of what I'm reading. So you don't need to go get the book, you don't need to pick up a new homework assignment here, but I'm going to be sharing excerpts from this book as I read and sharing some of my own thoughts about it, as well as scripture that relates to the topic, and then bringing this topic into conversation with God—all still relating to this idea of experiencing life with Him through unforced rhythms of grace.

So if that sounds good to you, make sure you subscribe to catch all future episodes and feel free to share this series with a friend. I think it's going to be a really fun experience that we get to share together.

To start us off, I'm actually going to be reading from the 40th anniversary edition of this book. And even the 40th edition came out seven years ago. So you know it's been around for a while. I am drawing out the name here, I'll reveal it at the end of the episode.

But I love how timeless this invitation is for us as followers of Jesus. Listen to this.

The author says, “if you are anything like me, you genuinely long for abilities that are beyond yourself in order to face the demands of everyday life patiently and wisely. You, I, we, would love to have the inner resources to replace deep, destructive habits of thought with even deeper, life-giving habits of mind and heart and spirit.”
Yes, yes please. That's definitely me. And if you've been around Good God Talks for a little bit, you already know, talking about habits here is right up my alley and part of why I'm so excited to explore this together.

The author goes on to talk about why we care so much about this type of life with God.

“In our best moments, we seek the ability to overcome guile and manipulation. We genuinely want to be free of all anger and bitterness and strife. We desire to possess the unadulterated goodness that will enable us to defeat evil whenever and wherever it appears…We hunger for an ongoing, life giving, interactive relationship with Jesus. We want to be characterized through and through by the joy of the Lord. And we seek after all these things, not as some outward show, but as the deep transformation of the inner person…Throughout all the ages, Christians of all races and ethnicities from all geographic locations and economic backgrounds have witnessed that the classical disciplines of the spiritual life can produce deep within us exactly this kind of life.”

The spiritual disciplines are used by God to do wonders in our lives.

If you're thinking, gag me, don't leave! Keep this episode playing.

Spiritual disciplines are a means of God's grace.

And I don't always love them, but I'm returning back to the good fruit and the good practices that I've learned in past seasons.

This excerpt and the ones that are coming throughout this series are from the book Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. Disciplines are the means of God's grace for bringing about genuine personality formation characterized through and through by the fruit of the Spirit.

And the fruit of the spirit is not something we can obtain on our own. You may have heard me talk about this in past episodes. I treated the list of the fruit of the spirit from Galatians 5 like something I needed to achieve. And I would fake it trying to duct tape the fruit of God's Holy Spirit onto myself, trying to act my way into achieving them.

When in reality, they're the outpouring of the Spirit's work in our lives. Listed for us in Galatians 5:22-23. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.” Those are good things that God produces by his spirit in us.

And part of how we participate in receiving that good work is through spiritual disciplines.

Now maybe you're like me and you haven't always known them to be life giving. Maybe you've also seen spiritual disciplines as dry or rigid or restrictive. As time consuming activities for the super spiritual that led to performance-based faith, that was me.

Or simply induced guilt as another thing that you're not doing enough of, which was also me.

But I'm also guessing that you're still here because you and me, like Richard Foster, want that first list.

The ongoing, life giving, interactive relationship with Jesus, characterized by the joy of the Lord.

Not an outward show, but a deep transformation that God does in each of us on the inside.

We each hunger to be equipped by God with abilities and fruit in our daily lives beyond what we can achieve on our own. And he offers that to us. We're going to be exploring more about how to receive that from him. And so here's a question you can take to him today:

God, what abilities beyond my own would you like to equip me with in my daily life? Will you talk with me about that?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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