The Role of Christian Disciplines in Deepening Faith but Not in Receiving Grace

"[When preachers] present the Christian disciplines in isolation from the grace that motivates, sanctifies, and secures, such a portrait [of a readily-vexed God] necessarily emerges. If devotion to disciplines procures out position with God, then grace becomes something we manufacture by our works, making grace meaningless. And since no degree of human diligence can compensate the Lord for all we truly owe him, an insistence on more exercise of disciplines to satisfy God only makes those most honest about their merits less sure of their standing. Brownie points count for little in an economy in which absolute holiness remains the only acceptable currency.
   The true efficacy of spiritual disciplines is not their power to bribe God but their usefulness in opening our hearts to the expanse of his love and deepening our faith in his power and presence. Spiritual disciplines are not ways to barter for God's affection but means to feast on the bread of his Word so that we are strengthened and encouraged in our daily walk with him. The practices of prayer, Scripture devotion, and worship enable those made righteous by Christ's work to take in more of the spiritual nutrients that God freely and lovingly provides for the wisdom, joy, and power of Christian living."

~Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching, pg. 280