Week 12: Chapter 14 — Practising the Way (Spiritual Disciplines as Weapons)

1.Comer argues that Jesus didn't just teach spiritual disciplines — he practiced them: solitude, silence, fasting, prayer, Sabbath, Scripture. What is the significance of Jesus himself needing these practices? What does it tell us about what kind of beings we are?

2.He uses Paul's metaphor of athletic training (1 Timothy 4:7 — 'train yourself to be godly') to make the point that spiritual disciplines are not magic rituals but practices that develop capacity — like physical training develops muscle. Does that analogy help you? What does it clarify, and what (if anything) does it miss?

3.Comer talks about the discipline of silence and solitude as particularly powerful for exposing and dismantling the lies we carry — because in quiet, we often hear what we have been drowning out with noise. What do you find when you get genuinely quiet? What do you tend to fill the silence with, and why?