In his book The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People, John Ortberg invites us to rethink what it means to grow spiritually. He challenges the common misconception that spiritual transformation is about trying harder and instead encourages us to train wisely. By cultivating spiritual disciplines—intentional practices that shape our hearts and minds—we gain the power to live as Jesus taught and modeled.
By incorporating a few rhythms into daily life, Ortberg paints a vivid picture of how life can be richer, fuller, and more aligned with God’s design: embracing joy, slowing down and practicing intentional habits of faith.
Let’s explore these disciplines further:
Embracing Joy in the Everyday
Ortberg reminds us that joy lies at the heart of God’s plan for us. As creatures made in His image, we’re designed to reflect His joy in our lives. Jesus said (John 15:11), “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Joy gives us strength, and its absence creates weakness. Recognizing life as a gift—from every breath to each second on the clock—helps us cultivate a heart of gratitude and joy.
True joy isn’t fleeting like the temporary pleasure of hedonism. Instead, it deepens as we celebrate God’s goodness in the simple gifts of life. Where hedonism diminishes our capacity for joy over time, celebration increases it. Each new day becomes an opportunity to notice what we might have missed before: the laughter of a child, the beauty of creation, or the comfort of a kind word.
To paraphrase what the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:14, If we don’t rejoice today, we will not rejoice at all. Waiting for perfect conditions robs us of the joy available in this moment, the moment that God has made.
An Unhurried Life
Have you ever found yourself rushing from one task to the next, missing the beauty of life unfolding around you? In his book John Ortberg shares a moment when his hurried pace left him blind to a joyful invitation to simply be present. This all-too-common struggle highlights a deeper issue: we often substitute busyness for true spiritual vitality.
Hurry is the enemy of spiritual growth. It keeps us preoccupied with the cares, riches and pleasures of life; and severs our connection to God. In the world today, we have traded wisdom for information and depth for breadth. Keeping things at surface level rather than appreciating that depth comes slowly. Love and hurry do not complement each other. Love always takes time, and time is the one thing hurried people do not have.
Though often busy, Jesus never allowed the pressures of life to interfere with His time with the Father or His ability to love others fully. Following Jesus cannot be done at a sprint but requires us to match His pace.
Solitude is one way to slow down and find freedom from the relentless demands of life; the remedy for the busyness of life. It’s in these quiet moments that we reconnect with God and regain perspective.
There are several ways you can build solitude into your life:
- Take a John Stott Day – You can read more about that here.
- Review your day with God. Early in the morning, well before your days’ activities begin:
- Be still for a moment and quiet your mind
- Acknowledge Jesus is present. Invite Him to speak to you
- Retrace in your mind the previous days’ morning. Watch the scenes as the day progresses. This reflection may lead you to pray for patience, mercy, love, courage, forgiveness etc.
- Continue through the previous day from scene to scene. Speak directly to God about the things that stand out within that day. You may be led to pray for some of those you interacted with.
- End your time with a prayer of thanksgiving and commit this new day to God’s able Hands.
Prayer isn’t about fancy words. It’s about talking with God about what you’re doing together. It is a concrete expression that we are invited into a relationship with Him. Think of those wandering thoughts as stepping stones to meaningful conversations with God rather than barriers.
Practical Habits of Faith
Ortberg offers other practical tools to cultivate spiritual growth and deepen our connection with God:
- Learning to Bear with One Another: This is more than merely tolerating people; it’s about loving them and learning to hear God speak through them. Don’t allow pride to get in the way of your view of others. At its deepest level, pride is the choice to exclude God and others from their rightful place in our hearts.
- Live Beyond Regret: Practice confession regularly. This can be done by following these simple steps:
- Preparation – start by placing yourself under the protection of God
- Self-Examination – take time to reflect on your thoughts, words and deeds; and acknowledge that you have sinned
- Perception – One of the worst lies about sin is it distorts our ability to detect its presence. Ask yourself: what you did, why you did it and what happened as a result of that sin
- Take Time to Feel – true confession is not just about an information exchange, but involves empathizing, entering the pain of the person we hurt and acknowledging God’s plan over sin
- A New Promise – Enter into God’s healing grace and His promise for the future.
- Do Good: Every so often do something good for someone and make sure no one else finds out you did it. Sometimes service involves doing routine tasks even if they could have been done by someone else.
- Read Scripture Slowly: Approach God’s Word with an open heart:
- Ask God to meet you there
- Read with a vulnerable, repentant heart and with a readiness to surrender everything
- Take your time. Meditate on a word, verse or brief passage. Allow it to sink into your heart. The goal is not to get through the scriptures, but to get the scriptures through us.
- Carry that word/thought with you throughout the day
- Memorize verses that resonate with you. Memorizing Scripture is one of the most powerful ways of transforming our minds.
- A Heart Aligned with God
Proverbs 4:23 ‘Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it.’ The goal of a well-ordered heart is to love the right things, to the right degree, in the right way, with the right kind of love. When our hearts are aligned with God’s, we are not only freed from sin but also freed from the desire to sin.
Spiritual disciplines are the tools that shape us into the people God calls us to be. They are not about perfection, but practice. By training in these disciplines, we become better equipped to live as Jesus taught—doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons.
ACTIONS STEPS
Start today. Slow down, breathe, and find joy in the moment. Pick one discipline— celebration, solitude, prayer, or Scripture—and begin to train your heart. God’s invitation to the life you’ve always wanted is here, waiting for you to accept.
