Introduction

In this article, I'd like to introduce Pastor Gordon McDonald's book, "Ordering your private world". It is a very famous book like a classic in spirituality training.

This book teaches that how well-ordered a person's inner world (mind, heart, spirit) determines his or her spiritual level and quality of religious life.

Why you have to care about your spirit

We interact with the outside world, are busy communicating with the outside world every day, including work, family, and church life. If you live busily communicating with the outside world, you tend to neglect to pay attention to the spiritual state deep within your heart without even realizing it. Rather, it's easy to pay attention to the state of what I look like from the outside.

However, no one can ultimately avoid the spiritual needs that lie deep inside. We have to build enough energy and solid structures deep inside our souls during our peaceful times. That way, when an unwanted external storms occur in our life, we can protect our mind and our life without being confused in it.

The author tells you that, no matter how busy and hectic your role in the public world is, you need to have private times to be alone with God and look into your soul periodically, preferably often. Through that time, you can meet God, check what your soul lacks, and store your soul's energy through the Word. As we meditate on the adversities of the many ancestors of faith in the Bible, and ponder the work of God who has been with them, we are determined to maintain inner stability and serenity, both in times of calm and in times of outward storms.

Parable of the cockpit of a battleship

Even though it's been a while since I read the book, there are still some things I remember. No matter how massive a battleship is, the controls that move it are in the tiny cockpit. It's not like you have to go all over the place to make sure everything is working. It was a metaphor that what happened inside the cockpit determined the fate of the battleship.

the author emphasizes that, In our lives, how solid and ordered our inner world is (like the cockpit in a battleship) determines not only the spiritual state of the person but also the direction of his life.

Conclusions
 
This is a very good book. If you are a Christian who is interested in growing and pampering your soul ruggedly, I recommend you to buy it and keep it by your side and read it whenever you have time. I'm sure it will give you a new realization every time you read it again and again. Compared to many spiritual classics, it is a relatively modern book, but I think it contains valuable teachings that can be considered classics of spiritual training. Many churches and missionary organizations recommend it as a must-read, and I agree 100% with the reason.