Discussion Thread
God Who Draws Near
Ed Price
DSMN 815 Personal Spiritual Formation
November 2022
1
Discussion Thread: Humility
The percentage of the book read?
In preparation for this assignment, I read 100% of the book and digested roughly 90-ish%
of this book. Digital reading or reading on a computer screen without the ability to highlight and
easily reference make comprehension somewhat challenging for me personally. My corrected
vision and age make reading digitally exhausting and time consuming.
Haykin’s working definition of “true spirituality
Haykin implies that, ‘True spirituality is intimately bound up with the Holy Spirit and His
work’.1 In defense of his statement the author goes to work pointing to scripture where the
Apostle Paul tells us, “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy
Spirit, who has been given to us.2 Haykin points to the Holy Spirit as the gatekeeper of sorts to
entry into the Christian life. The author states that only He, the Holy Spirit, can empower men to
accept and grasp Christ as Lord and Savior. Haykin proposes that without the Holy Spirit
worship and exaltation of Jesus cannot take place. The author refers to the Spirit of God as the
true guarantor of Christian doctrine.3 This guarantor is the living Spirit of God in us that guides
us to wisdom that can make God’s love real for us. The writer of Galatians extols us, “Since we
live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”4
I tend to agree with Haykin regarding his posture that the Holy Spirit is closely entwined
to human spirituality. In my personal walk with Christ, my discovery or conversion was clearly
from the Holy Spirit. I had ‘walked’ in the world for more than 40 years and was a practicing
Catholic. When I heard the message of grace, mercy and truth and understood that Jesus was the
1 Michael A G Haykin, The God Who Draws near: An Introduction to Biblical Spirituality (Darlington, England ;
Webster, Ny: Evangelical Press, 2007), xix.
2 Ibid, xix.
3 Stephen Arterburn, Dean Merrill, and Tyndale House Publishers, Every Man’s Bible : NIV ; New International
Version. (Carol Stream, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 2014), 2 Timothy 1:14.
4 Ibid, Galatians 5:25.
2
author and finisher, it was clear to me that it did not come from my own intellect. My whole life
I had heard the message of salvation and understood the bible stories. The recognition and
realization of salvation came from the inspired download from the Holy Spirit. Only when His
Spirit came on me and over me did I feel His presence and sense His plan for my life. Only
when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit did I know there was unquestionably a God in heaven and
in all the Universe, I truly mattered.
Haykin’s argument
I agree with Haykin when he speaks of the Holy Spirit having a singular purpose, that it
is Christ-centered. I appreciated the analogy of the floodlight being akin to the Holy Spirit in
that Spirit, like the floodlight, concentrates attention on the Jesus and not Himself. The apostle
John tells us, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God’.5 I know and have great faith that the Holy
Spirit did not come to exalt himself. Rather, He has been sent by God the Father to focus our
attention to Christ.6 In Johns gospel he tells us, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in
my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you”.7 In his
letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul reminds the reader, “For through him we both have access to
the Father by one Spirit’.8 What Christ instilled and installed in His followers before His death
and resurrection is the role of the Holy Spirit in His absence. What our Father in heaven
intended for us, Jesus executed in flesh and the Holy Spirit continues to move and allow
continued connection with the Father.
My Definitive Statement
5 Ibid, 1 John 4:2.
6 Ibid, 22.
7 Ibid, John 14:26.
8 Ibid, Ephesians 2:18.
3
Find one other definitive statement in the book with which you strongly agree or disagree.
Explain and defend from Scripture your strong response considering that statement.
The
Bibliography
Arterburn, Stephen, Dean Merrill, and Tyndale House Publishers. Every Man’s Bible: NIV; New
International Version. Carol Stream, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 2014.
Haykin, Michael A G. The God Who Draws near: An Introduction to Biblical Spirituality.
Darlington, England; Webster, Ny: Evangelical Press, 2007.
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