Spiritual Disciplines

Followers of Jesus struggle not only with their work but also with their prayers, with their meditations, with attempting to open spaces at the depths where the Spirit of God may descend and dwell.  The spiritual disciplines (prayer, study, meditation, confession) look as if they would be a pain; and they are.  But they are also a joy.  They look as if they would bind us.  They do, but they bind our own internal constraints - the desires that lead us around if we do not bind them.  So the disciplines actually open a door to freedom.  The discipline of study can feel like a burden. It is a burden, but the Christian person yokes up with Jesus Chris to haul the burden, and the joy and freedom of fellowship with Christ make the burden light.  In short, the disciplines help make us prime citizens of the kingdom because they help to make us strong and deep

-Cornelius Plantinga Jr., Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living