Five Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith 4 – Private Disciplines

Welcome to CROLCC, we are so glad you are here worshiping with us. We are in the middle of our series Five Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith and we said that God is in the business of blowing up your faith. Because the key in any relationship is trust, therefore the more faith you have in that person, the better the relationship. This principle applies to our relationship with God as well. If we learn to grow our faith in God, our relationship with God ultimately grows.

We have talked about two of the things we observed that God uses to grow our faith – Practical Teaching and Providential Relationships. Today we are going to talk about the third one – Private Disciplines, specifically private spiritual disciplines. In fact, we are going to look at Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, and explain how God leverages systematic prayer and generosity to grow our confidence in Him.

Moving Forward

The notion of a discipline being essential to an authentic relationship may seem strange. After all, discipline is about routine. A relationship is fluid. But every healthy relationship is held together partly by disciplined actions and routines. The easiest way to understand the importance of discipline in a relationship is to imagine a relationship without boundaries. All self-imposed boundaries are a form of discipline. Imagine a marriage in which neither partner practices self-control. The marriage would eventually deteriorate.

Our relationship with God shares a similar dynamic. Abandoning these practices leaves God outside of our lives. Regularly practicing these disciplines, however, draw us into a closer, more intimate, more dependent relationship with our heavenly Father. What will you do this week to establish both giving and prayer as a regular discipline?

Discussion Questions

1. When it comes to discipline, where do you struggle most?

2. Is there something you currently enjoy doing that began as a discipline? If so, what made the discipline become enjoyable?

3. Read Matthew 6:1-4. Were you raised in a home where generosity was practiced and talked about? Were you raised to give?

4. How easy is it for you to be generous when confronted with a specific need? Why?

5. Jesus promises that those who give according to his instruction will be rewarded. Do you feel you’ve been rewarded for your generosity in the past? If so, how?

6. Read Matthew 6:5-6. Why do you think Jesus instructs us to pray privately on a regular basis?

7. We all pray in times of crisis. Do you think our crisis prayers would be different if we practiced the discipline of private daily prayer? If so, how?

8. Once again Jesus promises a reward, this time to those who pray privately. In your opinion, how are those who pray in private rewarded?