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, chastity, confession, fasting, fellowship, guidance, meditation, prayer, sacrifice, secrecy, service, silence, simplicity/frugality, solitude, submission, study, and worship (listed below).
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
WORSHIP: Expressing in words, music, rituals, and silent adoration the greatness, beauty, and goodness of God, by means of which we enter the supranatural reality of the shekinah, or glory, of God.
*Genesis 22:5
We will worship, and then we will come back to you.
Genesis 24:48
Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord.
Exodus 8:1; 9:13
Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.
*Exodus 23:25
You shall worship the Lord your God, and I will bless your bread and your water; and I will take sickness away from among you.
*Deuteronomy 12:4
You shall not worship the Lord your God in such ways.
*Joshua 5:14
Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped.
*Judges 7:15
When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped.
*1 Kings 1:47
The king bowed in worship on the bed.
*1 Kings 6:1
He began to build the house of the Lord.
*1 Kings 12:32
He offered sacrifices on the altar … sacrificing to the calves that he had made.
*2 Kings 5:18 – 19
When I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count.
*2 Kings 17:24 – 41
So these nations worshiped the Lord, but also served their carved images.
*1 Chronicles 6:31 – 32
They ministered with song.
2 Chronicles 7:3
All the people of Israel… bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord.
*Ezra 3:10 – 13
The priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets.
*Nehemiah 8:6
All the people … bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
Nehemiah 9:6
You are the Lord, you alone, … and the host of heaven worships you.
*Job 1:20
Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped.
*Job 19:25
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.
*Psalm 96:9
Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.
Psalm 99:5
Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
*Isaiah 19:23
On that day … the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
*Isaiah 29:13
These people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote.
*Isaiah 66:23
All flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.
*Ezekiel 1:28
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell on my face.
*Daniel 3:12
Certain Jews… pay no heed to you, O King. They do not serve your gods and they do not worship the golden statue that you have set up.
*2 Esdras 1:37
I call to witness the gratitude of the people that is to come, whose children rejoice with gladness.
Sirach 35:10
Be generous when you worship the Lord, and do not stint the first fruits of your hands.
Sirach 50:17
Then all the people together quickly fell to the ground on their faces to worship their Lord, the Almighty, God Most High.
Sirach 50:21
They bowed down in worship a second time, to receive the blessing from the Most High.
*Bel and Dragon 4
The king revered it and went every day to worship it. But Daniel worshiped his own God.
*Matthew 4:10
Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.
Matthew 14:33
Those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Matthew 28:17
When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
*Mark 7:6 – 7
In vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.
Luke 1:46 – 55
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
Luke 2:37
She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.
Luke 24:52
And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
John 4:20 – 24
The hour is coming … when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
John 9:31
God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will.
*Acts 13:1 – 3
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul.”
Acts 16:14
A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us. Acts 17:23 I found … an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
Acts 27:23
Last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship.
Romans 12:1
Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Philippians 3:3
It is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
*Hebrews 1:6
Let all God’s angels worship him.
Hebrews 9:14
How much more will the blood of Christ… purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!
Hebrews 12:28
Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe.
Revelation 4:10
The twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever.
Revelation 7:11
All the angels … fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God.
Revelation 7:15
For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple.
Revelation 22:9
I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!
Excerpted from the Life with God Bible (New Revised Standard Version), with special thanks to HarperOne and to the late Dallas Willard who compiled the Index.
