LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Spiritual Formation and Discipleship
Submitted to Dr.
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500
Discipleship Ministries
by
xxxxxx
April 11, 2021
Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................................................1
Overview of the Three Directional Love....................................................................................1
Walking in the Spirit....................................................................................................................4
My Personal Growth Assessment...............................................................................................6
Personal Growth Plan..................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography.................................................................................................................................9
1
Introduction
Spiritual formation is the process where a believer submits to the Holy Spirit for a life-
long personal transformation, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ for God’s glory and
for the sake of others. This is crucial because without experiencing this metamorphosis, the
believer will not grow in the knowledge and wisdom of God and cannot become a disciplined
learner. It is through spiritual formation that believers become mature disciples, growing into the
full stature of Christ, and developed into the healthy body of Christ ready for disciple-making. It
is the intention of this paper to give an overview of the three-directional love, explain the impact
of the Holy Spirit in spiritual formation and present a personal growth plan that addresses areas
of opportunities on selected spiritual disciplines.
Overview of the Three Directional Love
To understand the concept of three-directional love, first, one must understand that as
spiritual formation is the process of transformation in which the believer is changed to be more
like Jesus,1 spiritual disciplines are the “holy habits” the believer should practice on a daily basis
to achieve spiritual growth. These spiritual disciplines fall under the three primary commands
Jesus gave to His disciples. They are called the three directional love: love God (upward
disciplines), love your neighbor (outward disciplines) and love one another (inward disciplines).2
Therefore, the roots of spiritual formation are established in having a relationship with God and
one another.3
1 Dallas Willard, Keith Meyer, Bruce McNicol, Keith Matthews, Bill Hull, Peggy Reynoso, Paula Fuller,
Bruce Demarest, Michael Glerup, and Richard Averbeck, The Kingdom Life: A Practical Theology of Discipleship
and Spiritual Formation, Colorado Springs (NavPress Publishing Group, 2010), 167.
2 Dave Earley, and Rod Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is… Nashville (B&H Publishing Group, 2018), 83.
3 Willard, Meyer, McNicol, Matthews, Hull, Reynoso, Demarest, and Averbeck, The Kingdom Life, 15.
2
Loving God should be a no brainer for a Christian. After all, not only believers are
commanded to love God throughout the Bible, but every believer should feel love for the God
who created them and loves them so much, that He gave His only begotten son to rescue them
from sin and eternal death. All believers have felt God’s love at some time or another and should
be thankful for the grace that God has given them. But the Bible is very specific as to how to
love God. Jesus was very clear with His answer, when the Pharisee expert in the law asked Him
which was the greatest commandment. Jesus responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt 22:37, ESV).4 Jesus is saying
that we are to love God with every part of our being, with every action we take and without
reserve. However, this love does not come automatically, but it is formed by intentionally,
actively and relationally, loving God in return.
The first directional love must aim towards God where the upward spiritual disciplines
come into place.5 Responding to God’s love by spending time in a quiet place and reading and
“chewing” the Word of Christ, praying, fasting, meditating in the Word of God, and utilizing a
journal to record what the Spirit says, is the best way to build a loving relationship with the
Father.6 Spending time in God’s Word and in His presence allows for the opportunity to get to
know Him.7 Studying the Word and increasing in the knowledge of His teachings creates access
to life and godliness.8 The apostle Paul explained it this way, “All Scripture is breathed out by
God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that
4 Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the English Standard Version (Crossway
Bibles, 2007)
5 Earley, and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is…, 101.
6 Ibid., 83.
7 Ibid., 102.
8 Ibid.
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the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17). Reading the
Scripture also empowers the communication with God. It is the way to know who He really is,
what He expects from believers and how He expect them to live. As the relationship between
God and the believer grows, so their love for God grows in their hearts as well.
The next directional love aims inward, towards one another.9 The words “one another”
are found in the New Testament more than fifty times and has always a connection with an
action.10 Jesus made it very clear when He gave a new commandment to His disciples. He asked
them to “love one another” but then He also said, “just as I have loved you, you also are to love
one another” (Jn 13:34). This commandment refers to believers loving their brothers and sisters
in Christ. However, He is commanding them to follow the example of how He loves them,
because all flows from who God is.11 In John 15 Jesus made the following statement, “This is my
commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this,
that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command
you” (vv.12-14). In other words, the love that God require believers to have for each other is a no
boundaries, unconditional and sacrificial love. To love one another, Christians are to follow all
the “one another” course of actions found in the New Testament, using the gifts of the Spirit to
build each other for the service and glory of God.12
The third and last directional love focus on “loving our neighbor as ourselves” (Matt
22:39). It is the outward discipline and covers practices such as praying for the neighbors,
sharing the gospel and being salt and light to the neighbors. Also loving the unlovable, enemies
9 Earley, and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is…, 103.
10 Ibid.
11 Willard, Meyer, McNicol, Matthews, Hull, Reynoso, Fuller, Demarest, Glerup, and Averbeck, The
Kingdom Life, 18.
12 Earley, and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is…, 103.
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and especially loving those who do wrong to others.13 As the love for God continues to grow in
Christians, the fruit of the Spirit starts to show in their day-to-day life. All the sudden others start
seeing, feeling and experiencing Jesus through the life of the believers.14 Believers should say
something about who God is with their life, just as Jesus’ life spoke about His love for the world.
Walking in the Spirit
The term “waking in the Spirit” means to constantly submit to the Holy Spirit; to follow
His leadership by continually allowing Him, not the flesh, to guide the feelings, thoughts and
actions of the believer. The Holy Spirit has been crucial in God’s work on earth since the day at
Pentecost around two thousand years ago.15 It is the main purpose of the Holy Spirit to help
believers come under the authority of Jesus and with His power, work deeply into all aspects of
the believer’s life. To accomplish this, the Holy Spirit works constantly with the believer to
develop spiritual and emotional maturity and renewing of the mind through theological
understanding of God’s Word.16 And although Christian formation varies from believer to
believer, it is the active role of the Holy Spirit what draws believers closer to Christ.17 But
transformation is not a one-time event. Christians renew their commitment to follow Christ in
every decision they make. And only when this becomes a daily event in their lives, real and
lasting transformation occurs.18 To walk in the Spirit, one must first die to the flesh. God and sin
13 Earley, and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is…, 84.
14 Ibid., 104.
15 Dave Earley, and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…: How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence, Nashville (B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 31.
16 Diane J. Chandler, The Holy Spirit and Christian Formation: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Cham
(Springer International Publishing, 2016), 5.
17 Ibid.
18 W. Jay Moon, Intercultural Discipleship (Encountering Mission): Learning from Global Approaches to
Spiritual Formation, Grand Rapids (Baker Academic, 2017), 58.
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cannot coexist in the same place. The flesh innately will not submit to God’s, Word, way and
will.19 This is why Jesus cleans those who accept Him, before He sends the Holy Spirit to abide
in them.
The Bible says that when believers accept Jesus as LORD and Savior, the Holy Spirit
comes to live inside of them (Acts 2:38).20 The Bible also says that when the Holy Spirit comes,
among other things, He brings gifts (1 Cor 12:7-11) and fruits (Gal 5:22-23). The gifts of the
Spirit are exactly that; gifts that God gives the church to strengthen, encourage, and help each
other grow in Christ.21 But that does not show how much the church loves God. It shows how
much God loves the church. Fruit is a whole other subject. Fruit is the result of intimacy with the
Holy Spirit and the measuring mark of discipleship.22 The fruit of the Spirit are the character
traits that developed after having an intimate loving relationship with the Holy Spirit. And
although operating in gifts does not tell how much the church loves God, it is when the church
walks in love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-
control, that they show their love for God. But believers cannot experience a life of walking in
the Spirit without the spiritual transformation that comes from learning to walk in freedom from
the enemy within.23
The Holy Spirit not only teaches, helps and guides the believer, more importantly knows
what God wants in the believer’s life.24 “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of
God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way
19 Earley, and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is…, 74.
20 Earley, and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…, 32.
21 Brad J. Waggoner, The Shape of Faith to Come, Nashville (B & H Pub Group, 2008), 71.
22 Earley, and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…, 106.
23 Earley, and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is…, 72.
24 Earley, and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…, 31.
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no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor 2:10-11). In other words,
believers receive the Spirit of God, who knows and have insight into the mind of God. The Holy
Spirit gives the church, the strength, ability and desire to obey God and say no to the flesh, as He
knows God’s will and purpose for their lives.25 And the church can remain confident in God’s
promise to complete His transforming work in them (Phil 1:6).26
My Personal Growth Assessment
All I can say is wow! If not for this assessment, I would still be in darkness concerning
my walk with God and where I should be at this point in my Christian life. It confirms what I
already knew but never thought it applied to me. That, knowledge of God, His Word, and His
purpose for your life, does not necessarily means you are doing His will. In other words, faith
without works is dead (Jm 2:17). To start, my strongest area was love for one another and the
strongest point in this area was not holding grudges or offense towards others. Had plenty of
high numbers in this category with nines and eights, however, also gave myself a zero for
“meeting weekly in small groups.” I must admit, this has never been a strong point in my
Christian life.
To my unfortunate surprise, my weakest area was love for God. I feel almost ashamed to
admit it, but it is the truth. With three zeros in this category, specifically in the prayer area and
journal recording, I have plenty of opportunities for my personal growth plan. And although in
the past I have been very active in daily reading God’s Word and trying to memorize and
meditate on it and finding a quiet place to disconnect from the world and connect to Jesus, I have
fell away from that. On love for our neighbor, I had a low total of 47 points due to very low
25 Earley, and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is…, 77.
26 Waggoner, The Shape of Faith to Come, 15.
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scores in many items. My strongest was to pray for opportunities to spread the gospel and my
lowest seeking people to have lunch with who do not know Jesus. In the end a low overall score
of 48.7, gives me plenty to think, to repent, to pray about and to tackle in the next few years,
with God’s help.
Personal Growth Plan
For my personal growth plan, I am going to start small, but for the next thirty days, I will
try to tackle three areas of great opportunity that at the moment have priority. For example, I am
going to add to my monthly schedule, areas to work on spiritual disciplines that have to do with
the love for God. I feel that working on this area is going to be crucial, not only because it is my
most neglected, but because it is foundational for the other two areas to function properly.
Following Dr. Earley “SMART” goals, and with God’s help, the first item I am going to try is to
get back to reading the Word every day. One chapter per day, in the morning over coffee, when I
wake up. So, the first thing I will do is read a chapter in the Bible. The second item I am going to
work on is using a journal to write key words or verses out of the everyday Bible readings, that
stand out or God brings out to me, for meditation, meaning and application. And the third and
last item is to also use the journal and record how the LORD works in my life and around me.
After the first thirty days, I will review how I have followed the SMART goals, correct any areas
that need be, and then add three more areas to the ones I am already working on, to work on for
the next thirty days. Then continue the same process every thirty days until all areas are covered.
Conclusion
In conclusion, spiritual formation is crucial for the believer to become a disciple in
Christ. As Jesus said, when the church has love for one another, the neighbors, the community,
the city and the world, it will be known that these are disciples of Christ. A pastor once said, “as
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Christians we should be preaching the Word of God and Who Jesus is, but should only use our
words, when it is necessary.” This is because actions speak louder than words. And the love for
the LORD should be the loudest sound the church speaks, because the world is listening.
Bibliography
Chandler, Diane J. The Holy Spirit and Christian Formation: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.
Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2016.
Crossway Bibles. ESV: Study Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles,
2007.
Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is…: How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013.
Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Spiritual Formation Is… Nashville: B&H Publishing Group,
2018.
Moon, W. Jay. Intercultural Discipleship (Encountering Mission): Learning from Global
Approaches to Spiritual Formation. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017.
Waggoner, Brad J. The Shape of Faith to Come. Nashville: B & H Pub Group, 2008.
9
Willard, Dallas, Meyer, Keith, McNicol, Bruce, Matthews, Keith, Hull, Bill, Reynoso, Peggy,
Fuller, Paula, Demarest, Bruce, Glerup, Michael, and Averbeck, Richard. The Kingdom
Life: A Practical Theology of Discipleship and Spiritual Formation. Colorado Springs:
NavPress Publishing Group, 2010.
