Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines

Book Description:

Three seemingly unremarkable principles shape and strengthen the Christian life: listening to God's voice, speaking to him in prayer, and joining together with his people as the church.

Though seemingly normal and routine, the everyday "habits of grace" we cultivate give us access to these God-designed channels through which his love and power flow-including the greatest joy of all: knowing and enjoying Jesus.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Grace Gone Wild
Part 1: Hear His Voice (Word) 1. Shape Your Life with the Words of Life 2. Read for Breadth, Study for Depth 3. Warm Yourself at the Fire of Meditation 4. Bring the Bible Home to Your Heart 5. Memorize the Mind of God 6. Resolve to Be a Lifelong Learner
Part 2: Have His Ear (Prayer) 7. Enjoy the Gift of Having God's Ear 8. Pray in Secret 9. Pray with Constancy and Company 10. Sharpen Your Affections with Fasting 11. Journal as a Pathway to Joy 12. Take a Break from the Chaos
Part 3: Belong to His Body (Fellowship) 13. Learn to Fly in the Fellowship 14. Kindle the Fire in Corporate Worship 15. Listen for Grace in the Pulpit 16. Wash in the Waters Again 17. Grow in Grace at the Table 18. Embrace the Blessing of Rebuke Part 4: Coda 19. The Commission 20. The Dollar 21. The Clock
Epilogue: Communing with Christ on a Crazy Day

Author:

David Mathis serves as executive editor at desiringGod.org, pastor at Cities Church, and adjunct professor at Bethlehem College and Seminary. He and his wife, Megan, have three children.

Endorsement:

"This book is about grace-empowered habits, and Spirit-empowered disciplines. These are the means God has given for drinking at the fountain of life. They don't earn the enjoyment. They receive it. They are not payments for pleasure; they are pipelines. All of us leak. We all need inspiration and instruction for how to drink-again and again. Habitually. If you have never read a book on 'habits of grace' or 'spiritual disciplines,' start with this one. If you are a veteran lover of the river of God, but, for some reason, have recently been wandering aimlessly in the desert, this book will be a good way back." John Piper, Founder, desiringGod.org; Chancellor, Bethlehem College and Seminary

"Although this little book says what many others say about Bible reading, prayer, and Christian fellowship (with two or three others tacked on), its great strength and beauty is that it nurtures my resolve to read the Bible and it makes me hungry to pray. If the so-called 'means of grace' are laid out as nothing more than duties, the hinge of sanctification is obligation. But in this case, the means of grace are rightly perceived as gracious gifts and signs that God is at work in us, which increases our joy as we stand on the cusp of Christian freedom under the glories of King Jesus." D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; Cofounder, The Gospel Coalition

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