LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Spiritual Growth Plan 2
Submitted to Professor Mark Adler, Ph.D.
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
Spring 2017 DSMN 520
Spiritual Formation
by
Jedidiah Janisse
Spiritual Discipline Evaluation
For the past three weeks, the Spiritual Discipline of prayer and scripture intake has been
mostly successful. The plan was changed the very first day, but then with adaptation, became
routine and repeatable with little distraction. The biggest failure happened the first day. The
night before starting the plan, lunches were made at night to save time in the morning, but the
alarm was not set to wake up thirty minutes early. However, because the lunches were made,
there happened to be a natural fifteen-minute window to accomplish the first chapter reading of
Genesis and note taking. After dropping off the children at school, the next concession was to
reduce the time at the gym from sixty minutes, to forty-five minutes. This allowed for the
second window of time to complete the reading of the first chapter in Matthew and notes. This
routine has been followed and separates the “daily bread” into multiple snacks instead of one
large meal.
Prayer followed the same original Spiritual Growth plan. Dedicated prayer time was
established and completed. Starting after dinner the children have their own reading homework
to finish that allowed for devoted prayer time in a quiet place. In the upcoming months, I would
like to add a short family prayer time after dinner, and possibly move dedicated prayer closer to
bed time. This is because there were some days were dedicated prayer time happened twice, and
those nights that it took place seemed to lead to more peaceful sleeping and better attitude in the
morning. The potentially biggest failure of waking up late quickly turned into the biggest
success. There were times that I did not want to do it, but that quickly became a topic of prayer
to persevere over laziness and to bring joy and curiosity each day towards God’s word. As
Donald S. Whitney tells us, “If you want to be changed, if you want to become more like Jesus
Christ, discipline yourself to read the bible.”1
Battling Strategy
The initial battle plan was surprisingly successful. The surprise is that starting from the
first day the temptations were reduced, if almost eliminated. The biggest change, was the
commitment to read the word and pray each day. In the past, I would try to just read one
scripture and rehearse it hoping for change when temptation came up. The daily readings would
help me discover new truth or revelations of God’s love and his hatred for sin. In addition to that,
following some of the guidelines mentioned by James McDonald made a difference. The biggest
difference was talking about my wife to others. This set very strict boundaries with those I
interacted with and I found myself looking for ways to bring my wife into the conversations.
This essentially removed the potential pitfalls of the mind. Kenneth Boa wrote, “It is not a
question of whether we are engaged in a spiritual warfare; the question is how effectively we are
fighting.”2 This mental picture brought about a more critical awareness to this battle against lust.
In the daily intake of the word, Matthew 12:43 addresses the concept of the unclean spirits
returning. This was an encouragement to always be aware of my effectiveness in spiritual battle.
I learned that I must seek God’s protection and strength not to let my guard down, and allow lust
to return as it will return with a vengeance. I still here the words of James McDonald, “sexual
temptation is where we are held least accountable and where we can fall fastest.”3
1 Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991), 28.
2 Kenneth Boa, Conformed to his Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation, (Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan, 2001), 329.
3 James McDonald, “5 Moral Fences”,www.Christianitytoday.com
Most of the prayers and attention has been towards lust, that gluttony took a backseat. It
seems the pattern and need for binge eating had its roots closely woven with lust. The guilt of
falling into lustful temptations decreased, therefore there were less episodes of gluttony to be
satisfied by food. As a packaged battle plan, I have found the love for my wife grow stronger for
who she is in the Lord, and grown to appreciate her more for the strengths that God has given
her. This battle plan was tested in the most difficult of situations on business trips and was
successful.
Spiritual Discipline Plan 2.0
Over the next year, the original plan will be updated. The initial plan for daily bible
intake at a frequency of one chapter of Old Testament, and one chapter of New Testament will be
continued. It will be improved by sharing something I have learned from the reading with
someone every day. It does not have to be the same person, but a conversation will be completed.
Fasting has been planned, and the first date was completed. For the next date, and greater
preparation will be completed. The preparation will include more specific focus on what the goal
of the fast is, and focus of prayer and readings to fulfill the fast. The goal is to follow through
with the remainder of the quarterly devoted dates already planned. The discipline of serving will
be added to the upcoming year at our local church. The available Sundays in our calendar have
been submitted (to help with set up, break down, children’s ministry, etc.) and are to be reviewed
and selected at a frequency of once per quarter by the church. This will start Sunday May 14th,
2017 to help set up and breakdown for church service. The most difficult area is evangelism. The
recent journal exercise shed light on how to approach non-believers. By writing it down, the
pressure of knowing what to say was released and I already feel more confident to discuss Jesus
with others. The plan is to pick one person quarterly and complete a journal letter to them, and
then pray that God would open the door for an opportunity to share with them. The first will
begin next week. The overall assessment of the spiritual growth plan 2, will commence the last
Sunday of each month to evaluate progress, struggles, and success. The first assessment will be
May 28th, 2017.
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