This is a short 3 part series on spiritual direction.
Life is and isn’t wonderful. As Christian’s we hit disorienting times which can feel mildly irritating all the way to feeling like death. These experiences can bamboozle, even capsize us our Christian world and our understanding of God. What is the Spirit of God doing right now in your life? Spiritual direction addresses our relationship with God in the middle of the noise and complexities of life. Spiritual direction is our lives glimpsed in the action of God’s life.
A wise friend or pastor can help discern the Spirit’s move in our lives, a spiritual director too. We all need help with our lives as there are no experts of the soul, there is only the Spirit of God.
In this part 1. of What is spiritual direction? Christian spiritual direction is concerned with knowing what the Spirit of God is up to in a person’s life. What the Spirit does in a person’s life is called spiritual formation - the Spirit supernaturally forming people to know Christ and to become Christ-like.
In part 2. There is a flesh-Spirit battle in every Christian until we get to heaven. Spiritual direction enters that flesh-Spirit battle in the human heart. Within that battle - the battle that’s already been won by Jesus - the Spirit draws and forms us to be more like Christ.
In part 3. There are no experts of the soul, there is only the Spirit. How does spiritual formation, becoming Christ-like as Christians, actually happen? What does becoming Christ-like look like?
The practice of spiritual direction, part 1/3.
I was recently asked “what is your spiritual direction practice?” That’s a good question as there are a number of different practices and their aims are varied too.
I’m Andy Maitland, a spiritual director in the Christian faith. Christian spiritual direction is concerned with knowing what the Spirit of God is up to in a person’s life. Hence the phrase spiritual direction, meaning the Spirit’s direction and not human direction.
What the Spirit does in a person’s life is called spiritual formation, the Spirit supernaturally forming people to know Christ and to become Christ like. Spiritual formation is not God fixing our concerns or problems (even religious ones) for what we decide is a better life, that’s using God. Nor is it about a deeper experience of God, spiritually forming people may or may not regularly experience God with them. I believe that spiritual formation is not primarily about individual introspection or psychological techniques (although both can be involved), but rather about developing healthy relationships. When the Spirit is forming us He changes the way we relate to God and others, not just the way we think. God Himself is uniquely Trinity, relationship, community, therefore He says He is love because He loves. And remember Jesus told us to love God and others too. So the whole point is to reproduce the Trinity in human community.
Continues. Part 2. At the centre of the universe is a community.