Books
4 items
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BookCelebration of Discipline The Path to Spiritual Growth Offers critical insights into how to practice twelve Spiritual Disciplines: meditation, prayer, fasting, study, simplicity, solitude, submission, service,…
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BookThe Spirit of the Disciplines Understanding How God Changes Lives Establishes the theological foundation of the classic Disciplines of the Spirit, discusses how they transform us into Christlikeness, and explains that…
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BookSpiritual Disciplines Handbook Practices That Transform Us In the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook Adele Calhoun gives us directions for our journey toward intimacy with Christ.
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BookEngage A Lenten Guide for Spiritual Growth This Lenten resource is a guide for reflection, repentance, and renewal. Each week explores a classic spiritual discipline and includes a description of the…
Weekly Newsletters
24 items
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Renovaré WeeklyFebruary 20, 2026 Christ’s Calisthenics Is it easy or hard to stay consciously engaged with God as you go through your day? I bet nearly all of us would say it’s hard. Very hard. Out of sight, out of…
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Renovaré WeeklyMarch 1, 2024 Trust Fall To riff on a Lewis quote, aim for life with Jesus and you’ll get transformation thrown in: aim for transformation and you’ll get neither.
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Renovaré WeeklyJuly 29, 2022 Finding God’s Grace When Rhythms Unravel As James Catford says on the podcast, our significance must come from the acceptance of God—acceptance we didn’t earn and therefore cannot lose.
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Renovaré WeeklyApril 1, 2022 The Danger of the Disciplines But there is a way to engage in spiritual practices that is free from performance, free from striving, and yes—from our first day yoked to Jesus—easy and light.
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Renovaré WeeklyDecember 31, 2021 Living in the Tension Even if resolutions aren't your thing, the New Year still offers an opportunity to reorient our lives toward the Kingdom of God. Some folks find it to be a…
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Renovaré WeeklyJanuary 15, 2021 Healing and Habit Healing, because we all have untreated traumas of commission and omission that only God can set to right. And habit, because the mind doesn’t automatically…
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Renovaré WeeklyApril 24, 2020 Stress and Formation Sometimes under stress we return to old habits of thought and action. Jesus always wants better for us—sometimes better than we want for ourselves. He's…
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Renovaré WeeklyJanuary 3, 2020 Paved with Good Intentions Intention is the vital link between vision and means. One can imagine the benefits of playing violin and have the money, time, and resources with which to…
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Renovaré WeeklyAugust 16, 2019 Habit and Grace As a recovering self-fixer, I’m on the guard against what Paul in Colossians 2:23 calls “will-worship”—self-made religion and ascetic practices that have an…
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Renovaré WeeklyAugust 2, 2019 Lighthearted Perseverance When it comes to prayer, exerting that type of effort requires honesty: “Lord, you are here… Even though at this moment I don’t sense you in the least and I’m…
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Renovaré WeeklySeptember 29, 2018 On the Spot This metaphor of the training athlete is often used for spiritual disciplines. Rightly so. But it's worth noting that the metaphor carries an assumption: being…
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Renovaré WeeklySeptember 7, 2018 Resigning at CEO of the Universe This month's focus is the spiritual discipline of solitude, which Dallas Willard defines as "the creation of an open, empty space in our lives by purposefully…
Podcast Episodes
46 items
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Podcast EpisodeReward Sibanda — How to FastFebruary 14, 2025
Reward Sibanda joins Nathan on the Life With God podcast to share his insights on fasting as a God-designed process of total surrender through which our… -
Podcast EpisodeMindy Caliguire — Breathing UnderwaterDecember 6, 2024
Mindy Caliguire says that stepping into life with God is like underwater breathing — we have to learn how to do it and use the practical supports available to… -
Podcast EpisodeJan Johnson — Being Glad with God (Encore Episode)
June 30, 2023
"Each day is God's gift… But we have a choice." Jan Johnson talks with Nate about how to rejoice and be glad with the help of spiritual disciplines. -
Podcast EpisodeMark Buchanan — Walking as a Spiritual Practice
October 3, 2022
Nathan welcomes Mark Buchanan to the podcast to discuss the wonderfully “reliable” spiritual practice of walking, which is the topic of Mark’s newest book,… -
Podcast EpisodeStreams · Fasting · Spiritual Conversations with Adult Children
July 25, 2022
In this month’s episode of Friends in Formation, Nate, Richella, and James answer listener questions about which Christian Stream “gives the most bang for the… -
Podcast EpisodeJan Johnson — Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice
March 14, 2022
Author Jan Johnson joins Nathan on this week’s episode to discuss Dallas Willard’s book Renovation of the Heart (an upcoming selection for the Renovaré book… -
Podcast EpisodeLiving in the Tension
December 27, 2021
In this episode, Nate, James, and Richella answer listener questions about reconciling Jesus' “easy yoke” with Paul's “beating his body to make it his slave,”… -
Podcast EpisodeSpiritual Practices for Busy People · Why Go Back to Church · Judging Family Members
November 22, 2021
In this month’s episode of Friends in Formation, Nate, Richella, and James answer listener questions about practices to help keep centered on Christ with a… -
Podcast EpisodeLosing Faith · Contentment · Spiritual Practices 101
October 25, 2021
In this month’s episode of Friends in Formation, Richella, Nate, and James answer listener questions about losing faith, contentment, and where to start with… -
Podcast EpisodeRichard Foster — The Ways and Means of Grace
August 9, 2021
In this talk from the 1999 Renovaré International Conference in Houston, following an entertaining introduction by James Bryan Smith, Richard Foster outlines… -
Podcast EpisodeDavid Taylor — Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life
May 25, 2020
Author and professor David Taylor—known for producing a short film with Eugene Peterson and Bono—talks with Nathan Foster about rediscovering the Psalms, a… -
Podcast EpisodeFil Anderson — The Healing Power of Grief
May 10, 2020
We’re all going through this together. That's unique for a crisis. This also means everyone at various levels is grieving. Fil Anderson chats with Nathan…
Articles
118 items
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ArticleWhat are Spiritual Disciplines? Practices for Growing in Grace Practices such as reading Scripture and praying are important—not because they prove how spiritual we are - but because God can use them to lead us into…
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ArticleFinding Freedom in Solitude and Silence Richard Foster explains how solitude and silence liberate us from fears and compulsions so that we are free to love as Jesus loves.
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ArticleLoving Those We Don’t Like In an excerpt from her autobiography, Thérèse of Lisieux tells about the small acts of kindness that helped her learn to get along with a particularly annoying…
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ArticleFor the Love of God The radical aim of the Desert Fathers and Mothers What were the rules and hardships of desert monasticism all about? The point of spiritual discipline—then and now—is cultivating love for God and others.
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ArticleOne Torch Lights Another The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill Robyn Wrigley-Carr traces the influence of Baron Friedrich von Hügel in the life of 20th century author and retreat guide, Evelyn Underhill.
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ArticleHow to Do Spiritual Reading From the introduction to 25 Books Every Christian Should Read Reading for the benefit of our souls requires a different approach from the way we typically interact with written material. Here are some helpful tips for…
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ArticleBeing More Pedestrian Slowing Down to Catch Up Is there a "lost" spiritual discipline from Christianity's earliest days? Mark Buchanan suggests walking is a fundamental physical activity to support life…
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ArticleThree Converging Influences from the introduction to Celebration of Discipline Richard Foster tells how a range of spiritual mentors from different Christian traditions helped him become a more rooted Christian.
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ArticleA Note from One Pastor to Another Out of concern for pastors who are facing trying times and “prickly” parishioners, Miriam Dixon shares how Jesus reframed her understanding of a pastor’s role…
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ArticleWaiting, Stillness, and Abundant Life "Waiting is right at the heart of Christian spirituality." Richard Foster penned this essay on the confluence of waiting, stillness, and abundance in Christian…
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ArticleHow We Order our Hearts How can we rightly order our hearts to love well what is worthy of love? And can we do this in a way that opens the door to spiritual transformation, rather…
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ArticleThe Cure for Distraction Staying present through intentional slowing In 1978, Richard Foster wrote, "Superficiality is the curse of our age." More than forty years later, it feels as relevant as ever. Yet, the reigning curse…
