In part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:1-18), Jesus mentioned three activities that could be considered spiritual disciplines — giving, praying, and fasting.
Jesus Assumed His Followers Will Engage in Spiritual Disciplines
To Jesus it wasn’t a matter of “if” you should engage in these activities but when. Notice how each section begins:
Giving: “So when you give to the needy …” (Matt. 6:2-4)
Praying: “And when you pray …” (Matt.6:5-15)
Fasting: “When you fast …” (Matt. 6:16-18)
The Right Way to Engage in Spiritual Disciplines
Before getting into these three practices, Jesus first provided an overriding principle that could apply to these and probably any other spiritual discipline:
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. (Matt. 6:1)
Then within the sections for each of these activities, He re-emphasized the right way to engage in these disciplines as opposed to the wrong way.
The Getting Spiritually Fit Discipleship Tool briefly looks at what Jesus said about the right approach as opposed to the wrong way. It also gives other examples of spiritual disciplines in addition to addressing our motivation for engaging in the disciplines and how to be more consistent in them.