What do you think?
Rate this book
Living the Spirit-Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship
New Look for Landmark Teaching on Living the Spirit-Empowered LifeIn our instant-gratification culture, we consume a fleeting, shallow diet of media, relationships, entertainment, and spirituality. Our souls go hungry, longing for a fuller, more satisfying life.Bestselling author and beloved pastor Jack Hayford shows, in what has become a modern-day classic, how we can feed our deepest places with the sustaining Bread of Life. With warmth and wisdom, he reveals how we can link our souls to timeless practices and principles set forth in Scripture. He invites you to rediscover the power and blessing of these spiritual disciplines--of true Spirit-fullness.Even more, he shows how these spiritual disciplines are relevant for today and how we can practice them in our quick-paced, surface-level culture. When we take time to fast and pray, worship daily, feed on God's Word, and more, we fully enter the rich adventure of becoming an effective disciple of Christ--ensuring that our souls will never go hungry.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1992
70 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Jack W. Hayford
315 books51 followersJack Williams Hayford (born June 25, 1934) is an American author, Pentecostal minister, and Chancellor Emeritus of The King's University (formerly The King's College and Seminary). He is a former senior pastor of The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, California and was the fourth President of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. He is widely known for his past involvement in the Promise Keepers movement and for being a prolific author and songwriter, with over 600 hymns and choruses in his catalog. He is the author of the popular 1978 hymn "Majesty", which is rated as one of the top 100 contemporary hymns and performed and sung in churches worldwide.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 22, 2010
Hayford writes with clarity and profundity, wrapped up together. This is almost a "handbook" for those who are new believers or those who are not committed in their Christian walk.
August 28, 2017
[Note: This book was provided free of charge by Chosen Press. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
As someone who views Hellenistic Christianity with a degree of bemused tolerance, books like this are greatly appreciative to me as someone who reads a fair amount on the workings of the Holy Spirit [1]. When people reject the biblical law and view it as "Judahizing" or legalism, there is a very serious problem when one looks at the need for holiness. Those who are consistent with their antinnomian perspectives argue for a ragamuffinish sort of spirit where there is no connection between one's state as a saved believer and any sort of holiness being present in one's life. For those who do, correctly, see a need for godly conduct as a part of one's Christian walk, though, there is the problem of what sort of disciplines are most useful in helping a believer grow in godliness, and this book seeks to help its readers live godly lives where there is little knowledge or regard for the specific contents of the corpus of biblical law. The advice is certainly solid, but the biblically-literate reader will recognize that something is missing.
In terms of its structure and contents, this book has a very straightforward organization. After looking at the principles of being made a pillar that the life of Peter shows, the author discusses some fundamentals of the spirit-filled life. He then provides ten principles that in his estimation help a believer live a godly life full of the Holy Spirit. He begins with a commitment to hear God's voice, especially through the reading of the Bible. Then he encourages readers to live in the power of water baptism. After this the author enjoins the reader to share in the Lord's Supper, which in this book is divorced from the context of the Passover in which it was set biblically. After that the author tells readers to live in a spirit of forgiveness, while the fifth discipline urges readers to feed on the word of God daily. The sixth discipline tells readers to maintain integrity of heart, while the author next moves to talk about abiding in the fullness of the Spirit. The closing three disciplines the author discusses are living a life of submission to God and of service to others, practicing solitude, and living as a worshiper whose life and behavior is praise to God. After the author finishes talking about these principles he gives a short epilogue of encouragement and tells how he thinks that readers can receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. All of this takes, in the e-book I read, about 125 pages including a lot of quotes from various mostly Hellenistic Christians over time.
In reviewing this book, I have a great deal of mixed feelings. Indeed, there are aspects of this book that I would expand upon as a writer. For example, the author's discussion of surrender and living a life of obedience is surely good, but deeply incomplete, in that it ignores what sort of laws and what sort of standard that believers are to obey. In reading books like this, that is the fundamental question that I have over and over again as a reader. There are scriptures to support the disciplines the writer discusses, and they are worthwhile practices to follow, but these disciplines are not really at the heart and core of what it means to love God with all one's heart and all one's being and all one's strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself. It does not fully answer the biblical demands for Sabbath fellowship as well as observance of God's commanded assemblies or the sort of fellowship and love and relationships that we are to have with other believers. This book tries very hard to give individual Christians advice on how to live a godly atomistic life, but it falls short because it lacks the vision of God's family as well as an understanding of God's laws and their present applicability to believers.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
As someone who views Hellenistic Christianity with a degree of bemused tolerance, books like this are greatly appreciative to me as someone who reads a fair amount on the workings of the Holy Spirit [1]. When people reject the biblical law and view it as "Judahizing" or legalism, there is a very serious problem when one looks at the need for holiness. Those who are consistent with their antinnomian perspectives argue for a ragamuffinish sort of spirit where there is no connection between one's state as a saved believer and any sort of holiness being present in one's life. For those who do, correctly, see a need for godly conduct as a part of one's Christian walk, though, there is the problem of what sort of disciplines are most useful in helping a believer grow in godliness, and this book seeks to help its readers live godly lives where there is little knowledge or regard for the specific contents of the corpus of biblical law. The advice is certainly solid, but the biblically-literate reader will recognize that something is missing.
In terms of its structure and contents, this book has a very straightforward organization. After looking at the principles of being made a pillar that the life of Peter shows, the author discusses some fundamentals of the spirit-filled life. He then provides ten principles that in his estimation help a believer live a godly life full of the Holy Spirit. He begins with a commitment to hear God's voice, especially through the reading of the Bible. Then he encourages readers to live in the power of water baptism. After this the author enjoins the reader to share in the Lord's Supper, which in this book is divorced from the context of the Passover in which it was set biblically. After that the author tells readers to live in a spirit of forgiveness, while the fifth discipline urges readers to feed on the word of God daily. The sixth discipline tells readers to maintain integrity of heart, while the author next moves to talk about abiding in the fullness of the Spirit. The closing three disciplines the author discusses are living a life of submission to God and of service to others, practicing solitude, and living as a worshiper whose life and behavior is praise to God. After the author finishes talking about these principles he gives a short epilogue of encouragement and tells how he thinks that readers can receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. All of this takes, in the e-book I read, about 125 pages including a lot of quotes from various mostly Hellenistic Christians over time.
In reviewing this book, I have a great deal of mixed feelings. Indeed, there are aspects of this book that I would expand upon as a writer. For example, the author's discussion of surrender and living a life of obedience is surely good, but deeply incomplete, in that it ignores what sort of laws and what sort of standard that believers are to obey. In reading books like this, that is the fundamental question that I have over and over again as a reader. There are scriptures to support the disciplines the writer discusses, and they are worthwhile practices to follow, but these disciplines are not really at the heart and core of what it means to love God with all one's heart and all one's being and all one's strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself. It does not fully answer the biblical demands for Sabbath fellowship as well as observance of God's commanded assemblies or the sort of fellowship and love and relationships that we are to have with other believers. This book tries very hard to give individual Christians advice on how to live a godly atomistic life, but it falls short because it lacks the vision of God's family as well as an understanding of God's laws and their present applicability to believers.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
February 26, 2020
4/10
This isn’t even a spirit formed book. The spirit is conspicuously absent from it; therefore, by the criteria the author himself sets up, this book is unfortunately a failure.
All feeling no thought, that sums up this book in my opinion.
I often find myself asking why a particular book was written, and in this case I suppose it was for the encouragement of Christians, but I doubt even that would be satisfied unless you had legitimately never heard any of the trite wisdom Hayford dispenses. I'm sorry if that's harsh, but I can't imagine his heart was in this book, and if it is his heart is to light.
The content is light on theology, and replaces it with a heavy leaning on experience and feeling.
“No discipline will ever substitute for his presence.” I may agree with that, but the issue is never that discipline is bad thing, it's that we can be dependent on discipline alone. It's impossible to come into the presence of God without some degree of discipline, this is something I believe Hayford and I would not see eye to eye on.
I appreciate what I think Hayford is trying, but he doesn't get close.
This isn’t even a spirit formed book. The spirit is conspicuously absent from it; therefore, by the criteria the author himself sets up, this book is unfortunately a failure.
All feeling no thought, that sums up this book in my opinion.
I often find myself asking why a particular book was written, and in this case I suppose it was for the encouragement of Christians, but I doubt even that would be satisfied unless you had legitimately never heard any of the trite wisdom Hayford dispenses. I'm sorry if that's harsh, but I can't imagine his heart was in this book, and if it is his heart is to light.
The content is light on theology, and replaces it with a heavy leaning on experience and feeling.
“No discipline will ever substitute for his presence.” I may agree with that, but the issue is never that discipline is bad thing, it's that we can be dependent on discipline alone. It's impossible to come into the presence of God without some degree of discipline, this is something I believe Hayford and I would not see eye to eye on.
I appreciate what I think Hayford is trying, but he doesn't get close.
February 18, 2023
Reading this book gave me the sense of being at a Wednesday night teaching series with a pastor who is explaining the practicalities of living a Spirit-led life. Hayford is very nurturing and transparent. He freely shares his own struggles and victories in his spiritual formation that spanned over of a lengthy life of distinguished service to the Lord. It was a refreshing read that spurred me beyond the mechanics of abiding to a passionate pursuit of the place of intimacy with Jesus.
August 25, 2017
Living the Spirit Formed Life is an amazing book to learn about communion, prayer and baptism. A book that will challenge and encourage you to live a God filled life. This book is full of scripture and reflection. I enjoyed reading this stories and found this an easy to read self help book. ** I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. **
July 5, 2019
Please read
Besides the Bible itself this is probably the most important book I have ever read. I took 46 pages of notes. From the start to the literal last line in the book, I was fed. Jack Hayford has a way of explaining biblical truths like no other. I absolutely loved this book. It is one that will stay in the library and be read multiple times.
Besides the Bible itself this is probably the most important book I have ever read. I took 46 pages of notes. From the start to the literal last line in the book, I was fed. Jack Hayford has a way of explaining biblical truths like no other. I absolutely loved this book. It is one that will stay in the library and be read multiple times.
January 3, 2022
I feel like I copied down half of this book. The Lord's Prayer section was amazing. Also, the chapters on fasting and baptism. This is NOT a book that highlights your inadequacies as a Great Christian, instead you want nothing more than to jump head first into a deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus, Holy Spirit and Father God. So so good. I think this may be a book I read each year.
February 5, 2023
Great Book
Jack Hayford is such an influential voice when it comes to pneumatology. This book is an amazing combination of theology and practice, storytelling and application. If you want a deeper life in the Spirit it’s worth a read! .
Jack Hayford is such an influential voice when it comes to pneumatology. This book is an amazing combination of theology and practice, storytelling and application. If you want a deeper life in the Spirit it’s worth a read! .
October 3, 2023
Overall good book to know how to feed your thirst for spiritual food..
It was a good book that fed the spirit. It has some really good chapters and feel there are things that could have been left out. Otherwise it's worth the read.
It was a good book that fed the spirit. It has some really good chapters and feel there are things that could have been left out. Otherwise it's worth the read.
August 8, 2019
Very good book explains the basics of Christian life. 👌
November 2, 2019
This is a well-rounded approach to growing in Jesus. I love the bent toward Pentecostal themes throughout the book.
April 10, 2021
This book has grown on me as I stuck with it. Practical Spirit infused wisdom for daily living, and deep enough for the wizened Christian soul who has ears to hear it! Highly recommended.
May 8, 2021
powerful exhortation with how to use spiritual disciplines in the context of Holy Spirit formation
I used the baptism chapter immediately after for a baptism!
make sure you read the epilogue!
I used the baptism chapter immediately after for a baptism!
make sure you read the epilogue!
August 5, 2023
Incredible resource! I’ve been a believer for a long time, and this book opened my eyes to deeper ‘what, why, and how’ concepts in foundational principles and disciplines that I had never heard taught or read before.
This book by one of my heroes in the faith certainly lives up to its word in the beginning paragraph:
“This is an invitation to adventure. You hold in your hands a handbook designed to help serious Christians find fulfillment in life and maturity under Christ’s lordship by linking their souls to timeless practices and principles set forth in Scripture and proven valid.”
I was so impressed and impacted that I purchased the ebook version and several copies of the physical book for myself and others. I am sure to keep this book on hand as a frequently referenced handbook. And, that is exactly what type of book this is. It’s not a just read and store away type of book. It begs to be on the Favorites list, downloaded offline, or readily accessible on the bookshelf to occasionally look up key practices, themes, or disciplines. For now, I will be keeping it in my Lochby canvas Notebook / Journal carried everyday.
It’s also a great resource for Bible study or small groups. Additionally, I could easily see a regularly cycled Disciples or Foundations class for any church to help members deepen their walk as followers of Christ.
I was blessed immensely by this book and highly recommend it to all believers who desire go deeper in their walk with the Lord.
This book by one of my heroes in the faith certainly lives up to its word in the beginning paragraph:
“This is an invitation to adventure. You hold in your hands a handbook designed to help serious Christians find fulfillment in life and maturity under Christ’s lordship by linking their souls to timeless practices and principles set forth in Scripture and proven valid.”
I was so impressed and impacted that I purchased the ebook version and several copies of the physical book for myself and others. I am sure to keep this book on hand as a frequently referenced handbook. And, that is exactly what type of book this is. It’s not a just read and store away type of book. It begs to be on the Favorites list, downloaded offline, or readily accessible on the bookshelf to occasionally look up key practices, themes, or disciplines. For now, I will be keeping it in my Lochby canvas Notebook / Journal carried everyday.
It’s also a great resource for Bible study or small groups. Additionally, I could easily see a regularly cycled Disciples or Foundations class for any church to help members deepen their walk as followers of Christ.
I was blessed immensely by this book and highly recommend it to all believers who desire go deeper in their walk with the Lord.
August 1, 2014
A fabulous book to learn about the different parts (disciplines) of a Christian life, such as communion, baptism, and prayer. An excellent book which both challenged and encouraged me. Highly recommended.
September 22, 2010
In this book the author talks about various spiritual disciplines and how important these are to our spiritual lives as Christians. Insights into how these impact our lives was also given.
April 28, 2012
Great book for your church top read in the summer months keep them in tune while all the vacations are going on. Good book on spiritual discipleship
August 10, 2015
Helpful and encouraging. I just didn't like his style.
December 12, 2011
Read this as a group study and have referred back to it often. It is practical and encouraging.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews