LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Written Assignment 1
Submitted to Dr. Jonathan Geukgeuzian
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500 – B03
Discipleship Ministries
by
Michael Frazier
January 25, 2020
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
3 Areas of Spiritual Growth..........................................................................................................2
Holy Spirit and its Impact.............................................................................................................4
Personal Growth Assessment........................................................................................................4
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
Once we accept Christ as our savior, we are beginning to train for our race. 1 Corinthians
9:24-27 compares reaching heaven to a race. “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all,
but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the
mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an
incorruptible.26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air”,
Paul also writes “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”, in
T2 Timothy 4:7. [1] Living a life sold out to God being a disciple is not something you wake up
and do. Like any marathon you must train for the grueling 26.2 miles. If you start on day 1
running the full marathon, unless you are a freak or gifted you will not make the full run. You
begin training slowly, working your way up top the full marathon and once you achieve you
work on how fast you can do it.
Discipleship is the marathon; the prize is a crown and eternity in Heaven with God. Spiritual
formation is our training. We must grow in Christ to have that foundation we will need to be able
to push through the hard times when Satan is attacking us, telling us we can not finish, we will
not make it to the end.
What is Spiritual Formation? Spiritual Formation is the spiritual growth we go through as we are
being transformed into the image of Christ. As Paul states in 2 Corinthians, “But we all, with
unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same
image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Discipleship is the focus and
following of Jesus and his teachings. Jesus states in Matthew, “Go therefore and make disciples
1 Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the King James Version (Nashville:
Holman Bible Pub., 2013.)
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of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Being saved is the first step in the race to heaven. As we train ourselves, we must grow in these
three areas of Spiritual Growth; Love for God, love for one another and love for our neighbor.
This paper will show how Spiritual Formation relates to discipleship and in the end, we will
review my personal spiritual growth assessment and develop ways to improve.
Three Areas of Spiritual Growth
How does one achieve Spiritual Growth? Godliness is achieved by loving God. Following his
guide, striving to live a life Christ. Earley tells us that Romans 8:28 tells us “that God’s ultimate
goal for everything that happens to us is the we might “be conformed to the image of his Son. In
other words, God wants to use every circumstance, event, and experience in our lives as part of
our spiritual formation. ”[2] We have all heard the phrase “all things work together for the good”,
that is Gods direction for our lives. From the beginning when God walked in the cool of the day
and communed with Adam and Eve, he wanted a relationship with us. When sin entered the
picture, a barrier was brought up and that prevented the relationship. But his goal to work good
through all of this was to send his son to die for us and renew that communication with us. We
now can talk directly to God, know his directions for our life, hear him speak to us. In having
this relationship with God, we are able to overcome the challenges in our lives and lean on Gods
love and show God our love by praising him in the hard times as well as the good times. God’s
love for us, his desire to save us from sin so we can spend eternity with him, caused him to sin
his son, Christ to earth and show us the way to live. A living example, not just words or rules.
And then, to remove all difficulties Christ was the final sacrifice so through him we can receive
forgiveness of our sins and be saved.
2 Dempsey, Rod, and Dave Earley. Spiritual Formation Is. p.31
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How do we love God? We love God by reading his word daily, digesting it memorizing it and
living it. We spend time daily praying, thanking him for his love and blessings, for others and
requests. Christians must disconnect from social media and spend time with just God and listen
for his voice. These times God will give us directions for our life and answers to prayers. Here is
how we communicate with God. Communication is more than send and receive. It is continually
seeking God, praying and seeking and knocking until he answers. Luke tells us in 11:9, “And I
say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you.” God is not fast food; he is a friend who we go to when we are in need. A
friend will help us, a friend does not owe us anything, so we must wait upon him.
Jesus tells us in John 13:34-35, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have
loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another.” The Phrase love one another occurs more than 50 times in the
New Testament.[3] “The more we love God, the more we will express his transcendent love in
others-centered deeds of kindness and goodness. The more we love God, the more we will show
love to our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is through this area that we follow Paul’s example in
Romans 15:14 and instruct others on growing closer to Christ and becoming disciples. We must
encourage each other, watch out for each other, have fellowship, greet, serve, accept and love
one another.
Showing our love for our neighbors, the ones who are not followers of Christ completed the hat-
trick of Spiritual Formation. Christ died not just for us, but for everyone. We should show our
love for God and others to the world by are words and actions. People should be able to see
3 Ibid., p103
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Christ through us. By praying for others and asking God how you can help serve them and show
Gods love through you is one of the many ways you can love your neighbor. Listening to them
and spending time with them building a relationship will allow them to open up more and let you
in their life. This not only will allow you in their life but allow Christ through you into their life.
Once you are in their life you will know by listening to them how you can serve them and that
will allow you to be able to share Christ with them. Doing this daily will allow you to develop a
habit of loving your neighbor.
The Impact of the Holy Spirit
When Christ left the disciples, he told them he was sending his spirit. The Holy Spirit to
guide teaches them. Jesus tells us in Luke 14:26 “However, the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I
have ever told you.” It is through the holy spirit that we are transformed, and our Spiritual
Formation grows. Having Holy Spirit in us, God speaks to us, reminding us of what the word
tells us, bring to memory the words of Jesus and speaking to us. When we spend our time with
God (loving God), the holy spirit begins his work on us from the inside. [4]
Loving God, Following Jesus example and the Holy Spirit working on us from the inside grows
our spiritual Formation daily. In doing this our faith grows and by the spirit we are able to share
the gospel to the world.
Personal Growth Assessment
After taking the Personal Spiritual Growth Assessment test, I am really surprised and
embarrassed by my results. I sat and gave a honest no holds barred answers to each of the
4 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift : Five Steps That Help Your
Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples p.56
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questions. Being in marketing I have learned to take myself out of marketing to people. So I took
myself out of this assessment and answered the questions no matter how much it made me look
bad. My overall assessment is a 5.5 Horrible, but not the worst. Let us start with my worst
category. Love for God, 2. Yes a 2. Outside of doing my homework and reading and study for
this class, I do not have a daily time reading Gods word. I am “too busy” with life. I work full
time and have a family. I have a game night with the guys one night a week to get out of the
house and I get my son every other Thursday and every other weekend. Now, nothing in that says
I am constantly covered up and have not one free second. I choose to not take time. How selfish
of me, to not take time to spend with a God who sent his son to die on the cross for me. I am in
school to become a preacher. I pray everyday but I do not have a plan or a set time. Mostly its on
my drive to work listening to my gospel station. I need to plan to improve this, I need to set
down a time to stop everything and read Gods word daily. While I am reading, I need to write
key passages and seek Gods meaning and desire for us in these passages. Memorizing them so I
can always have Gods word in my heart. I need to daily seek the filling of the Holy Spirit. Being
an Assembly of God kid, I grew up hear those filled with the spirit praise and worship God in
services. As a Kid I was filled and spoke in tongues. As I grew and allowed life to distract me, I
fell away from God. Here I am now getting back on that path and my prayers will be focused on
being filled daily. I must be more God focused and not Michael focused.
Now my best area is love for one another. I am a people person and I care about people. When
ever anyone has a need or going through a rough time, I am the one who prays for them. People
know I am someone they can come to who will pray for them and with them. This week, I have
put off writing this paper until Sunday. A friend of mine lost his wife this week. She turned 39
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Jan. 10th. Doctors ruled her death as a bad multi-drug (3 blood pressure drugs) reaction. While
she laid in a coma, they called and laid the phone on her chest and held hands while I prayed.
They know I am the one who will be there in these times and support them with Gods love and
hope. I pray God uses this tragedy to allow me to have my friend get back in church and start
following the Christ and become a disciple. My plan to increase my love for others is to pray that
God sends me to those who need to hear about his love and desires for them in the times of need.
One the last thing I would like to start doing is to begin regularly fasting. Our church just had a
21-day fasting to start the new year. Fasting is more than just fasting from food, is fasting from
social media, video games, and other distractions in life take your eyes off Christ and what he is
calling me to. It is sacrificing self for Christ and allowing him to fully use you for his kingdom.
Bibliography
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Boa, Kenneth. Conformed to his image: Biblical and practical approaches to spiritual
formation. Zondervan, 2014.
Dempsey, Rod, and Dave Earley. Spiritual Formation Is. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018
Dempsey, Rod, and Dave Earley. Disciple Making Is. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018
Putman, Jim, Harrington, Bobby, and Coleman, Robert E. DiscipleShift : Five Steps That Help
Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.
Waggoner, Brad J. The shape of faith to come: Spiritual formation and the future of discipleship.
B&H Publishing Group, 2018.
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