by Importance of Spiritual Formation and How it relates to Discipleship.
When a person surrenders to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, that person is to follow Jesus and obey him. This requires that person to become more like Jesus and that is only possible through spiritual formation and discipleship. Dempsey states, “Spiritual formation is primarily about becoming more and more like God.”[1] Scripture states that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, NIV) which aligns with God’s greatest commandments to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matt. 22:37-40).
Spiritual formation is the process of increasing a person’s relationship with God through different activities like prayer, reading the Bible, worship, fellowship, and being active in ministry. Discipleship is the process of following and imitating Jesus Christ with our thoughts and behavior. They are both equally important as the Holy Spirit helps lead us to fulfill our purpose of bringing God glory. Dempsey states, “As disciples, bringing glory to God should be present in every facet of our lives.”[2] The Disciple’s Hierarchy below, illustrates the process of sanctification and how we start with salvation (having a relationship with Jesus Christ) and ends with our purpose of bringing glory and honor to God.
Three Areas of Spiritual Growth
Spiritual growth affects a whole person, originates from love, and goes in three different directions. The first direction is upward with love for God, the second is inward with love for one another, and the third is outward with love for our neighbors. Green states, “If there is real love for God, there will inevitably be real love for neighbour; God’s overflowing love is infectious. The criterion of whether love for God is real is whether or not it is reflected in our relationships with others.”[3] To accomplish this, there is a partnership that is needed with the follower of Christ and the Holy Spirit that lives within the believer. The disciple must do their part and make every effort to love upward, inward, and outward through spiritual formation and discipleship. This is where a person loves with all their heart. In this week’s reading assignment, there are four quadrants for loving God that include body (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste), soul (affections, emotions), Spirit (salvation, daily walk with, fruit of), and mind (thinking, memorization, meditation).[4] As we mature, being leads to doing.
Upward: Love for God
Loving God with all a person’s heart is the greatest commandment. There are many different actions that can be taken. The recommendation is one hour per day where a person will study, read, listen, memorize and meditate on God’s Word. Prayer is another activity to be included as it is one of the primary methods of communication with God. Having a relationship with God is rewarding and eliminates worry, fear, and anxiety from a person’s life. A person will still have challenges, but God will be there to assist the person through it all.
Inward: Love for One Another
Another command from Jesus Christ is that disciples should love one another. Some examples include teaching, encouraging, praying, worshipping, fellowshipping, and evangelizing with each other. Being an active member within the Body of Christ is essential to spiritual growth and loving one another. Even the music of Sunday encounter from the praise team is important. King explains, “The major roles of music in the life of the church have been worship, witness and spiritual formation.”[5] The Bible also explains the importance of loving one another, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Prov. 27:17). There is also a responsibility to make more disciples. Dempsey states, “As new believers mature spiritually, they should grow to the point where they reproduce new spiritual babies. . . This is the natural pattern and should be the spiritual pattern as well. Children are the glory of their parents, and grandchildren are the ‘crown of the elderly’ (Prov 17:6).”[6]
Outward: Love for Neighbors
The second greatest command is to love a person’s neighbors. The authors state, “A mature disciple is a witness for Christ in every way. He knows how to win someone to Jesus and participates in sharing his or her faith as individuals and as a part of the local church.”[7] Evangelism is not a choice but a requirement and needs to be a priority. BLESS is an acronym to help remember how we should love our neighbors. The acronym stands for: Begin with prayer, Listen to their struggles, Eat with them to build a relationship, Serve them in a way you understand, and share the Story of Jesus Christ when the time is right.[8]
How walking with the Holy Spirit impacts Spiritual Development
When a person surrenders to Jesus Christ, and God decides to respond, the Holy Spirit will make the body His temple. Early states, “The Holy Spirit is the most important person in your spiritual life.”[9] The Holy Spirit gives a person the understanding of His Word, provides discernment on the truth, helps write prayers, and distributes spiritual gifts for the betterment of the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of the One Being, God. The more the Holy Spirit increases, the more that person decreases, which brings that person closer to imitating Jesus Christ. There is supernatural power in the Holy Spirit as He is omniscient and can convert the lost and provide wisdom that would never have been known otherwise.[10]
Personal Growth Assessment Overview
The personal growth assessment (Appendix A), is a humbling reminder for me to do better at expressing my love for God. My love is higher for one another and neighbors, but lower for God. When it comes to showing my love for God, there are three activities that I score significantly low on. Keeping a journal and recording how the Lord is working in my life and around me, is something I have never started. I see the value and the need, especially if I am going to be using my life experiences in my teachings to relate to my congregation. Fasting is something I did earlier this year for the first time, but it needs to be a regular part of my life as I need to grow in my self-control for worldly wants. Another low score for me is writing out key passages and meditating on God’s Word for application. There is value in this activity, but I have not prioritized it correctly.
My strengths within my love for one another is a combination of my active involvement within the Body of Christ, my continuous forgiveness of everyone’s sins against me, and striving to remain humble. With love for my neighbors, I am active in my evangelism efforts where I have my alarm set for 3:16pm (John 3:16) daily to pray for specific people in my life that are unsaved. I have a poster made (Appendix C) with an evangelism Bible along with tracts to accompany me. I am also a prayer team volunteer for the upcoming Franklin Graham’s God Loves You tour at four of the six locations.
Personal Growth Assessment Action Plan
Upward: Love for God
Fasting is an effective way to increase my resilience and not be tempted by my fleshly desires. My plan for 2023 is to fast monthly and increase over time to where I am fasting approximately three times per month. I have heard of some people fasting before communion Sunday which is a consideration. When this semester is over, I will have the summer to recreate my daily routine and I will integrate an electronic journaling process to document the positive impact God is blessing upon my life.
Inward: Love for One Another
When I recreate my daily routine, I will be formalizing some of my prayers to ensure I am including other believers every day. One of my spiritual gifts to the Body of Christ is being a teacher. I plan on doing a lot more teaching this summer with the congregation and will also look for other opportunities to build up some of the other members through informal counseling and showing more empathy as I need to flex my relational personality to be more personable with others.
Outward: Love for Neighbors
Being intentional with seeking friendships with people that do not follow Christ and serving the poor and under-resourced in my community are two areas that I need to form better habits. This summer I plan on using my poster (below) and camp chairs to sit outside of different retail establishments and spread the good news to everyone. My plan is to test different ways of engaging my local Jerusalem so they have a heart that is open to receiving Jesus Christ. I will ask if a person needs any prayers, have any questions for a Christian, or would like to know more about living a happier life.
** Note from Professor – Good job detailing the importance of spiritual formation and how it relates to discipleship. The 3 areas related to spiritual growth, loving upward/inward/outward, are holistic in our spiritual formation. Walking in and under the control of the Holy Spirit is so important because it influences our spiritual maturity. – Dr. Jonathan Geukgeuzian
Appendix A: Personal Spiritual Growth Assessment
On the left side of each statement, rate yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 (low to high).
Love for God (Up)
___ 1. I am daily reading God’s Word.
___ 2. I am systematically memorizing God’s Word.
___ 3. I am writing out key passages and meditating on God’s Word for application.
___ 4. I have a daily prayer time and plan.
___ 5. I have a dated prayer request list for people and requests.
___ 6. I pray daily to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
___ 7. I keep a journal and record how the Lord is at work in my life and around me.
___ 8. I regularly practice fasting from food and other areas for my spiritual development.
___ 9. I regularly disconnect from the world (including all media) and in solitude connect to Jesus.
___ 10. I try daily to listen and follow the still small voice of Jesus.
Add up the section ______ and divide by 10 = _____
Love for One Another (In)
___ 1. I meet weekly in a small group with other believers.
___ 2. I have discovered my spiritual gift.
___ 3. I am using my spiritual gift to build up others in the body of Christ.
___ 4. I am daily praying for other believers.
___ 5. I am guarding against the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
___ 6. I am confessing my faults, sins, and shortcomings to other believers.
___ 7. I am not involved in gossip against other believers.
___ 8. I am not holding a grudge or offense toward any person.
___ 9. I regularly clear up/ resolve hurts and offenses toward other believers.
___ 10. I am daily praying with my family or for my family.
Add up the section _____ and divide by 10 = _____
Love for Our Neighbors (Out)
___ 1. I have a prayer list for people who do not know Christ.
___ 2. I am praying specific requests for their salvation.
___ 3. I am seeking friendships and relationships with people who do not know Christ.
___ 4. I am listening first to what they have to say.
___ 5. I am planning for opportunities to eat with people who don’t know Christ.
___ 6. I am seeking to use my spiritual gift to serve others outside the body of Christ.
___ 7. I am praying for opportunities to show and share the good news of the gospel.
___ 8. I have prepared a simple explanation of the gospel to share with others as God opens the door.
___ 9. I am seeking to become a blessing and serve the poor and under- resourced in my community.
___ 10. I am seeking to build bridges with people who have hurt me and to love them like Christ.
Add up the section _____ and divide by 10 = _____
Overall Score Add up the three sections ____ and divide by 3 for an overall score = ___
• Discuss: What is your strongest area?
• Discuss: What is your weakest area?
Dempsey, Rod; Earley, Dave. Spiritual Formation Is…: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence (Kindle Locations 4542-4580). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Bibliography
Dempsey, Rod. “Discovering an Organizing Principle.” In Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013.
———. “Spiritual Formation Affects the Whole Person.” In Spiritual Formation Is…: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018.
———. “Three-Directional Love” In Spiritual Formation Is…: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018.
Earley, Dave. “Cooperating with the Holy Spirit.” In Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013.
Green, Michael. The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001.
King, Roberta R. “Music.” In Global Dictionary of Theology: A Resource for the Worldwide Church. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2008.
Putman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman. DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013.
[1] Rod Dempsey, “Three-Directional Love,” in Spiritual Formation Is…: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018), 99.
[2] Rod Dempsey, “Discovering an Organizing Principle,” in Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013), 14.
[3] Michael Green, The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 237.
[4] Rod Dempsey, “Spiritual Formation Affects the Whole Person,” in Spiritual Formation Is…: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018), 51.
[5] Roberta R. King, “Music,” in Global Dictionary of Theology: A Resource for the Worldwide Church (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2008), 589.
[6] Dempsey, “Discovering,”, 17.
[7] Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 43.
[8] Dempsey, “Three-Directional,”, 105.
[9] Dave Earley, “Cooperating with the Holy Spirit,” in Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013), 33.
[10] Ibid., 34.