Spiritual Formation, on and Off the Rails.

With the flood of information and with endless teachings on the internet and such blessings and curses as “you tube” and with the flood of books there is an incredible need for discernment and a solid Biblical and Theological foundation. Too often without the earnest practise of discernment life comes down to cliche and an easy throwing out of the baby with the bathwater. Oversimplification is easy but not helpful. Too often it is a matter of sloth, misconceptions and distortions. These distortions may have come from respected teachers that likewise have huge misconceptions and misrepresent spiritual formation. To often it is all about the head and with the avoidance of matters of the heart.

Thinking is not easy and that is why people would rather rely on cliché or pat answers, that someone in the past has suggested to them. This is especially true when it comes to the finer details. To often we look at things from just one angle rather than consider it in relation to the whole. This relates to our Biblical understanding of Theology and Spiritual Theology as well.

Spiritual Formation is at its essence is focused on becoming progressively more Christlike. This is big part of discipleship. Who can be against it? However, spiritual formation has by in large been neglected by the evangelical church. There is the cognitive part or knowledge part of discipleship that is very important and the interior part or heart part of the transformation of our character that is also very important, even though knowledge and application of God’s word also changes us. Our will also has as much importance. Grace is the working of God within and at the very core of our personhood. Grace is God’s working, His strength, His presence within us and through us.

If we would learn to pray it would be wise to learn from those who devoted their life to the study of God’s word and prayer. Some of the so- called mystics of the past have been people greatly devoted people of prayer. Mysticism for them had to do with experiencing God in prayer. They learned much sitting like Mary (not the mother of Jesus) who sat at the feet of Jesus. (Luke 10:38-42) However, we must glean with solid Biblical Theology from some of these Catholic or Eastern Orthodox writers. We have to glean the wheat from the chaff. The danger is to throw the wheat out with the chaff. Because this is so valuable, Satan has tried all kinds of ways to discredit spiritual formation. I especially appreciate many of the former Catholic Carmelite mystics especially St. Tersa of Avila and St. John of the Cross as well as Francis of Assisi. There are also many more of the classics that are of great benefit. Of course that is appreciation with discernment.

There are however solid Evangelicals that write on spiritual formation and have done some of the gleaning. Some people like Bruce Demarest, James Houston, Gary Thomas, Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Larry Crabb and others. I have tried to do the same in the book I wrote called, Enjoying God: Prayer and Spiritual Formation.

There are however some authors and teachers that go off the rails and come close to the New Thought Movement and New Age approach and Pantheism and overemphasized Panentheism. This should not be surprising for there are many who also distort Biblical doctrine or theology. The people who distort spiritual formation are people like Richard Rohr and the upcoming John Mark Comer on spiritual formation. John Mark may find his way but right now he seems somewhat off the rails. It is possible to glean some things from these authors but you better have a very, very strong Theological base. Also, great discernment is needed, with people like Thomas Keating although he says some good things about centering prayer, as a preliminary to experiencing contemplative prayer. It would also be good to very careful with such teachers as Matthew Fox and Meister Erhardt. There are also many others that are also good to avoid.

Spiritual Formation is about dealing with our heart. This means confessing our sin and turning away from it, including the very subtle fleshly patterns. These fleshly patterns can even be good things that have an inordinate place in our heart. For instance, we need to provide for ourselves and our family but if money and comfort come before God it is an inordinate desire and of the flesh and sinful approaches or patterns are the result of these inordinate practises. They may work but they are fleshly. Likewise, the occult may work but its end is very destruction and enslaving.

You might think you have no sin to deal with, however, what about what some have called the seven deadly sins. They are deadly because they infect our lives as a whole. These sins are: anger, sloth, envy, jealousy, greed, gluttony, lust and pride. Add to this ingratitude.

It is one thing as Jesus said to clean up the outside of our lives it is another matter to get down to the root. Jesus said to the outwardly religious people of His time, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25). Evil for Jesus was primarily a matter of the heart. (Matthew 15:9, etc.) However, as Norman Geisler stated, “God never by-passes the mind to get to the heart.” God speaks and works in the heart with the heart by the commitments or responses to God we make with out mind. (Romans 12:1-2) If we invite Him, He reveals Himself to us.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Your heart is clean in Jesus in new birth, but is it pure? Purity of heat has to do with our commitments to God we make in our life. Purification is part of the sanctification process. Sanctification is a Christian being who you are called to be in Christ. It is our inheritance lived out, but we must co-operate with God in this process. It is not for the slothful or the unteachable.

Moses’ greatest privilege was to get to see God in His glory. God’s glory is so great God could only show Moses His back, lest Moses would be consumed. (Exodus 32:18-23) After God showed Moses His glory in this way, the face of Moses shone so brightly, he had to cover his face to speak to the people. (Exodus 34) Likewise the greatest privilege we can have in this life is to see God, to be very close to Him. (James 4:7) We will then be progressively transformed more fully thus into Christlikeness and walk in the fulness of life God calls us to, not just on the outside by the strength of our will but on the inside by the transformation by God. (Ephesians 3:19)

God wants to form us in Christ. We must co-operate with Him. He does not take away our free will. Submit yourself to the Lord to grow by making room in your life for God, much room. Read and study and meditate on the Word of God, spend quality time in prayer, serve the Lord in love and adoration in the church and to those who need to know Him. Seek to minister rather than just have people minister to you. Bring the good news to others. Don’t be a spiritual glutton.

Are you on the path of discernment. It takes hard work—thinking and having a teachable Spirit before God and learning with those that are solid in the Lord and have advanced in their spiritual development. Are you an earnest student of the Bible and of God in prayer? Let us be one of those people. Afterall it not all about us. It is about Christ in us and enjoying Him and doing His will. Otherwise, we are in rebellion like the devil setting up ourselves as our own God and bowing down to worship self. God is the one who transforms us and we are the ones who co-operate with Him. This is spiritual formation.

Resources:

Bruce Demarest: -- Satisfy Your Soul; The Cross and Salvation; etc.

James Houston: -- Transforming Friendship; Transforming Power of Prayer; A Life of Prayer: Faith and Passion for God Alone: From the Works of St. Teresa of Avila; etc.

Gary Thomas: --Authentic Faith, Sacred Pathways; Sacred Marriage; etc.

Eugene Peterson: --The Contemplative Pastor; A Long Obedience in the Same Direction; etc.

Dallas Willard: --Divine Conspiracy; Spiritual Formation: As if the Church Mattered; etc.

Richard Foster: --Celebration of Discipline; Prayer; Freedom of Simplicity; Life with God; etc.

Larry Crabb: -- Inside Out; Soul Talk; Connecting; etc.

Alan J. Niebergal:- Enjoying God: Prayer and Spiritual Formation; Right With God: The Basics.