Introductory Note:
This selective, topical index is designed to help readers get a picture of the with-God life presented in the Bible and the role of the Spiritual Disciplines in fostering that kind of life toward its fullness. The passages listed either contain a specific reference to a topic serving as a discipline (e.g., the word “meditation”) or are about that topic without using the specific term. Because this index is selective, it does not list every passage in the Bible on each topic, and the entries are restricted to the topic’s role as a Spiritual Discipline. Some of the entries are negative examples of the practice of a particular discipline.
The list of disciplines chosen for this index also does not include every practice or situation that could actually serve as a discipline in the process of spiritual formation. The disciplines under consideration here include celebration (below), chastity, confession, fasting, fellowship, guidance, meditation, prayer, sacrifice, secrecy, service, silence, simplicity/frugality, solitude, submission, study, and worship.
Those references for which there are spiritual formation exercises are designated by an asterisk.
No doubt some passages may have been omitted that might be very useful for understanding spiritual formation. What is given here is intended to provide only a substantial introduction to the presence and importance of Spiritual Disciplines in the Bible. For further study on disciplines and how they are to be practiced, please see Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, and Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines.
Renovaré Team
Excerpt from Life with God Spiritual Formation Bible
CELEBRATION: Utter delight and joy in ourselves, our life, and our world as a result of our faith and confidence in God’s greatness, beauty, and goodness.
*Exodus 5:1
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.”
*Exodus 12:14
This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord.
*Leviticus 23:4,37
These are the appointed festivals of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall celebrate at the time appointed for them.
*Num 10:10 On your days of rejoicing, at your appointed festivals, and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets.
*Numbers 29:12
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. You shall celebrate a festival to the Lord seven days.
Deuteronomy 14:22 – 29
You shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your household rejoicing together.
Deuteronomy 16:15
Seven days you shall keep the festival to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose; for the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate.
*2 Samuel 6:14
David danced before the Lord with all his might.
*Ezra 6:22
With joy they celebrated the festival of unleavened bread seven days; for the Lord had made them joyful.
Nehemiah 12:27
They sought out the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with rejoicing, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.
*Esther 9:22
The month… had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday.
*Psalm 45:1 – 17
My heart overflows with a goodly theme.
*Psalm 126:2
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.
*Psalm 145:7
They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness, and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
*Song of Solomon 1:4
We will exult and rejoice in you.
*Isaiah 51:11
So the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.
*Nahum 1:15
Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, fulfill your vows.
Luke 15:23 – 32
And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again.
John 2:1 – 10
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
1 Corinthians 5:8
Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Philippians 4:4 – 13
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
*Revelation 19:9
Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Photo by William Montout on Unsplash
