Introduction to Spiritual Direction
“Spiritual directors are people gifted in discernment, wisdom, and knowledge. Their task is to help people see the footprints of God in their lives and, now and again, to urge them to move in directions that they might not go otherwise.” Richard Foster
Michael Eddins gave a talk on sonship and significance on November 3rd 2012 at the Believer's church Mans Summit. Listen below to these inspiring words.
“Spiritual directors are people gifted in discernment, wisdom, and knowledge. Their task is to help people see the footprints of God in their lives and, now and again, to urge them to move in directions that they might not go otherwise.” Richard Foster
Michael Eddins gave a talk on sonship and significance on November 3rd 2012 at the Believer's church Mans Summit. Listen below to these inspiring words.
The Theology of Spiritual Direction:
The rich history of spiritual direction can be traced from the desert mystics to modern catholic priesthood. Protestants are beginning to resurrect this ancient discipline as well. The excitement of mystical dimension, associated with spiritual direction, is an appealing extension.
Spiritual direction is a form of the Biblical concept of discipleship. The term ‘Spiritual Direction’ was developed in the fourth and sixth centuries to describe the consultation of spiritual matters by the desert monks of the Egyptian and Arabian deserts. St. Anthony was one of the most popular desert monks practicing this form during the early centuries. People would come to him in search of insight into their spiritual situation and he would give God-inspired direction.
Spiritual direction has also been referred to as spiritual fathering and mothering throughout Christian history. The apostle Paul calls himself a father throughout the gospel as evidenced in I Corinthians 4:15. Jesus even refers to his relationship with the disciples as a parent-child relationship early in their interaction. Spiritual direction can be practiced with many different styles and theologies and the narrow position proposed in the following study should not be misunderstood as the foremost mode of spiritual direction. Theological and practical application of spiritual direction is the position espoused by Potter’s Hand Ministries under the leadership of Michael and Ronna Eddins.
Determining a mode of Spiritual direction should begin with the motives, theology and purpose of the director. The next facet of developing a system of spiritual direction will be the development of practical activities as evidenced during the director and directee’s relationship. The paramount theological concept behind Potter’s Hand Ministries mode of spiritual direction comes out of the gospel of John. “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too am working.” (John 5:17) One impression of a first reading of this verse is God’s constant working and developing His creation. God is, more specifically, shaping and molding His children. Spiritual direction is based on the constant work and interest of God in the lives of all people. The Understanding of the historical setting of this passage will further develop this idea. F.F. Bruce details the debate of God working on the Sabbath as the major issue from this passage. It is an important debate of God being subject to His own law of resting on the Sabbath, but authorities did agree that God is working in and on His creation during all days. Spiritual directors can use this truth about God to look for Him at work in their lives.
Another hint for the continual working of God in our lives is the Biblical principle of being transformed into the likeness of Christ. (Rom. 8:29) The Apostle Paul exhorts his readers about the ongoing process of becoming like Christ. This gives the impression of people needing to change and transform. (Col. 3:10) The transformation process comes from the work of God in lives. (Romans 12:2) This implies God is not only at work in sustaining the universe, but He is at work in people to make them into His likeness. God is working in the world and in the lives of all people; the job of the spiritual director is to make a directee aware of the work of God in his or her life.
There are many things people can do right and pleasing to God, but is there one thing God wants to do in a person’s life that is, in a sense, more right? The book of Romans suggests some actions are better than others at different times in a person’s life. Romans 14:22& 23 suggests:
“So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith: and everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
F.F. Bruce writes of the conscience being a guide to judge actions as being righteous or sinful. A view of this commentary could allude to God guiding by His voice of wisdom or conscience to reveal His desired will or working in a person at a specific time. The scripture tells of faith being present to bring freedom, but it could also show the power of God present to produce the work in a person’s life. We are saved by faith. (Ephesians 2:8-9) The power of God is the gospel or the application of grace that is activated by faith. (Romans 1:16) The Gospel is the Power of God or the forgiveness of God, and faith is the realization and application of that power. With the realization of power comes the knowledge of what God wants to do in a life right now and the power to fulfill it. The power of being transformed comes from faith in God working specifically at a given time. The spiritual director has the job of aiding people in understanding the voice of God for this particular time in life.
Spiritual directors use their God given gifts to aid people in discovering what God is attempting to do at a specific time in their lives. This goal must come with a sensitive and discerning heart. The directee must have a certain level of trust in the director before he/she will receive the revelation or encouragement from the director. The director may have all the understanding and wisdom concerning the directee, but he or she must communicate the truth in love. The revelation of God’s workings can be very difficult for people to accept. God can be guilty of wanting to work on things in people’s lives that they would rather stay away from and ignore. This being the case, the subject must believe the director has his or her best interests in mind.
Encouragement and challenging the directee becomes a large task for the director. He/she must deliver the truth with hope and urgency so the directee will embrace the work of God. People can be fascinated with revelation from God, but this may not lead them to follow through with what God wants for them. They could have an issue God wants to work out in their lives, but they do not put a high priority on it. The issue could be fear, lust, or pride. Pinpointing the issue is not always the goal. An important task for the spiritual director may be to get the directee to accept the challenge of allowing God the work. It is paramount for maturity, hope, and joy for living that the directee knows and communicates the work of God at the present time for them.
The goals and theology of spiritual direction are foundational and must not be left out, but the practical application of the theology brings the fruit of spiritual direction. The facets of spiritual direction can be applied in many different ways and the positions to follow should not be taken as mandatory. These positions are the exclusive style and approach of Potter’s Hand Ministry as led by Michael and Ronna Eddins. A directee is encouraged to meet with his or her spiritual director once a month or as often as the directee feels the need. Three aspects of spiritual direction can be divided into several activities, pre-meeting work, meeting activities, and the spiritual formation plan.
The pre-meeting work consists of practicing spiritual disciplines, spiritual activities, and preparation for actual meeting times. The spiritual disciplines are foundational for a person to gain knowledge of God’s purposes and to empower them for the fulfillment of God’s plan. The spiritual activities are also crucial to the furthering of God’s maturation process for any person. Spiritual activities can be defined as the things people do that are not spiritual disciplines but have spiritual significances.
The preparation for actual meeting time consists of the directee deciding upon the topic of discussion. The directee should always be open to personal concerns or God working in them as potential topics for discussion. The pre-meeting work is necessary to reach the maximum spiritual growth and formation. Any disciple of Jesus who has been touched by God will have some desire to grow. The pre-meeting activities are essential for that growth.
Being a disciple brings with it the concept of discipline. This is a correct assumption. Richard Foster gives the best description of the disciplines a disciple of Jesus Christ should practice. One of the dangers of practicing the disciplines is that some people become prideful in their spiritual acts. Spiritual growth is not just the action, but it is also the heart behind the action.
Richard Foster divides the disciplines into three areas, inward, outward, and corporate. These principles truly build spiritual growth, but there is no prescribed order for the development of a person in the Christian Life.
The inward disciplines are performed to allow the person to focus on the Lord and His holy word. These are the activities that involve the most self-motivation with the help of the Spirit. They are meditation, prayer, fasting and study. The outward disciplines are attitudes that develop into actions. They are simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. These actions are manifested inside the heart of a Christian and observed by others. The corporate disciplines are pending the cooperation of other believers. These disciplines can be performed alone, but the corporate disciplines were intended to happen within a group of believers. The corporate disciplines are confession, worship, guidance, and celebration. This set of disciplines will lead a person to derive the importance of interacting with other believers to grow and mature spiritually. These classical disciplines allow men and women to discover the spirit realm first hand and not just read about them. Learning what to do in the discipleship process is important in the journey to a deeper relationship with God.
A solid relationship with God should be the goal of any directee and director, with the first step indicating knowledge of what God’s grace is present to do at the very moment. The spiritual director will, at times, prescribe an activity in obedience to God or an every day activity with spiritual significances behind it. Some examples of spiritual activities could be Lectio Divina retreats, practicing the presence of God, and walking the labyrinth. These examples are only four of many different activities that would not be considered a classical spiritual discipline, but are valuable practices for spiritual growth and maturity. The practice of spiritual direction would be included as another example of a spiritual activity as opposed to a classical spiritual discipline.
The preparation for the actual meeting of a director and directee is not only for the directee. The director must be in prayer. The director has entered a discipleship relationship with another person that is ordained by God. This special relationship opens up special privileges from God into the directee’s life and spiritual development. The director not only learns about the directee through listening to his or her story, but the director will use words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and prophesy to bring insight into the time of direction.
Words of knowledge are considered a gift of the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 12:8) that can be utilized in an effective spiritual direction meeting. This gift is commonly defined as the ability of a person to receive supernatural revelation from God that will bring a sense of wonder and amazement from the ones listening. This wisdom would not be something the person would normally know and it can be manifested in conjunction with the Holy Spirit power of psychological and physical healing. It can also bring wonder and amazement for the further proclamation of the gospel.
One Biblical example of this comes in the story of the woman at the well. Jesus finds a Samaritan woman drawing water from Jacob’s well and He led the discussion to teach her about God’s gift of the living water found in Him. The discussion was nice and challenging for that day’s political situation, but the power of the message was displayed after the word of knowledge. Jesus told her about her life and she knew there was no way possible for Him to have known these details about her life. Jesus knew she was living with a man without being married to him. He also knew this was a pattern in her life. This supernatural knowledge caused her to realize the presence of God. She knew Jesus was giving her more than just good advice, but the wisdom surpassed human knowledge. This caused her to go tell all the people in town about Jesus and encourage them to come and see Him. The word of knowledge can break down walls in a directee so the director can show them God’s perspective.
Words of wisdom suggest the ability to give wise counsel in a variety of situations. The person giving a word of wisdom is using wisdom from God but it would be understanding accrued from ordinary life. A director could use it effectively in many situations. Biblical examples of this comes in Acts 6: 1-6 (the appointment of the first “deacons” or assistants to the apostles); Acts 6:10 (Stephen’s wisdom in proclaiming the gospel); and King Solomon’s statement, “divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other” (1Kings 3:25).
Prophecy could come to a director in pre-meeting times as well. Prophecy in this context is used as defined by Dr. Wayne Grudem in his book “ The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today.” Dr. Grudem shows prophecy as speaking merely human words to report something God brings to mind. A Biblical understanding of this for a director comes from 1 Corinthians 14:3, “He who prophesies speaks to men for their up building and encouragement and consolation.” Prophecy for today in spiritual direction is revelation from God for the guidance of the directee. It is not prophecy that is equal to the scripture and it does not have to be a prediction of the future.
All of the activities explained above for the preparation of a meeting can also occur during the meeting. God will sometimes bring revelation to the director before the meeting or he might choose to work in one of the gifts during a meeting. The director must be open to any variety of modes God may choose to work out His will.
The actual meeting should leave room for the directee to discuss any thoughts, re-evaluations, or issues that may have come up prior to the meeting, and they must feel free to express inner struggles and personal emotions. The director must not use the meeting time solely for his/her agenda. It can be the director’s fault to use the meeting time for a regurgitation of all that God revealed to them during pre-meeting work. God may want the director to wait for special timing in the communication of a word of wisdom, word of knowledge, or prophesy. The director must remember it is not his or her agenda, but God’s, for the maturation of the directee. Part of recognizing this is to remember, it is not about the director but about the directee.
Post-meeting work could be a spiritual activity assigned due to a specific need or struggle discussed during the current meeting. The post-meeting work could be similar to pre-meeting work, but it is specifically a reaction to meeting discussions and activity. Pre-meeting work would be more of openness to revelation from God to begin new topics of discussion or prayer.
One aspect of spiritual direction that should not be left out is the long-range spiritual growth plan. It is very good to focus on the needs and questions of the directee’s current life situations, but it is also important to help him/her see their place in the big picture of spiritual growth. The director should incorporate current direction with fulfillment of a spiritual growth progression. A progression that could be used for this comes from research into many different psychological and faith developmental theories. These stages come from “Spiritual Structure” by Michael Eddins. The five levels or stages of spiritual growth are:
1. Realization of God: Describes a person’s spiritual process of coming to an understandable faith and experience with God.
2. Dealing with God: Answers the question. “What do I do now that I know that God is out there?”
3. Search for knowledge: When the person is learning all he/she can about God and his/her conversion experience.
4. Intimacy with God: Deals with the wholeness and oneness in Jesus Christ.
5. Coming of Age: Occurs only when a person has achieved intimacy with God and has lived in that state for a long period of time.
The spiritual growth plan is not a specific path for all directees to follow, but it is only a tool to give some overarching plan to God’s work.
God’s work in the lives of people is the goal of a spiritual director. The goals and theology of the director must be present to under gird the direction process for the directee to truly grow spiritually. A director must develop a trusting relationship with the directee and help him or her discover the one thing God wants to do in his or her life.
Establishing this will give way to God’s grace and power to see real transformation into Christlikeness for the directee. The process of this transformation could come from any combination of spiritual gifts or spiritual activities. The director must be aware of God’s workings in the directee’s life and direct them properly for maximum growth. The meetings will be filled with intimate sharing, gifts of the Holy Spirit, and an understanding of an individual growth plan. A spiritual director has the unique task of working with people and the works of God to aid in the discipleship process.
Bibliography
Bible, the Holy. New International Version, Grand Rapids:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.
Bruce, F.F. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1983.
Eddins, Michael F. Spiritual Structure. Tulsa, Oklahoma: Potter’s hand ministries, 2000.
Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline. 2nd rev. ed. San
Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988.
Grudem, Wayne. The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament
and Today. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1988.
_____________. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Zondervan, 1994.
Thompson, Marjorie J. Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life.
Louisville, Kentucky: Westminister John Knox Press, 1995.
The rich history of spiritual direction can be traced from the desert mystics to modern catholic priesthood. Protestants are beginning to resurrect this ancient discipline as well. The excitement of mystical dimension, associated with spiritual direction, is an appealing extension.
Spiritual direction is a form of the Biblical concept of discipleship. The term ‘Spiritual Direction’ was developed in the fourth and sixth centuries to describe the consultation of spiritual matters by the desert monks of the Egyptian and Arabian deserts. St. Anthony was one of the most popular desert monks practicing this form during the early centuries. People would come to him in search of insight into their spiritual situation and he would give God-inspired direction.
Spiritual direction has also been referred to as spiritual fathering and mothering throughout Christian history. The apostle Paul calls himself a father throughout the gospel as evidenced in I Corinthians 4:15. Jesus even refers to his relationship with the disciples as a parent-child relationship early in their interaction. Spiritual direction can be practiced with many different styles and theologies and the narrow position proposed in the following study should not be misunderstood as the foremost mode of spiritual direction. Theological and practical application of spiritual direction is the position espoused by Potter’s Hand Ministries under the leadership of Michael and Ronna Eddins.
Determining a mode of Spiritual direction should begin with the motives, theology and purpose of the director. The next facet of developing a system of spiritual direction will be the development of practical activities as evidenced during the director and directee’s relationship. The paramount theological concept behind Potter’s Hand Ministries mode of spiritual direction comes out of the gospel of John. “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too am working.” (John 5:17) One impression of a first reading of this verse is God’s constant working and developing His creation. God is, more specifically, shaping and molding His children. Spiritual direction is based on the constant work and interest of God in the lives of all people. The Understanding of the historical setting of this passage will further develop this idea. F.F. Bruce details the debate of God working on the Sabbath as the major issue from this passage. It is an important debate of God being subject to His own law of resting on the Sabbath, but authorities did agree that God is working in and on His creation during all days. Spiritual directors can use this truth about God to look for Him at work in their lives.
Another hint for the continual working of God in our lives is the Biblical principle of being transformed into the likeness of Christ. (Rom. 8:29) The Apostle Paul exhorts his readers about the ongoing process of becoming like Christ. This gives the impression of people needing to change and transform. (Col. 3:10) The transformation process comes from the work of God in lives. (Romans 12:2) This implies God is not only at work in sustaining the universe, but He is at work in people to make them into His likeness. God is working in the world and in the lives of all people; the job of the spiritual director is to make a directee aware of the work of God in his or her life.
There are many things people can do right and pleasing to God, but is there one thing God wants to do in a person’s life that is, in a sense, more right? The book of Romans suggests some actions are better than others at different times in a person’s life. Romans 14:22& 23 suggests:
“So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith: and everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
F.F. Bruce writes of the conscience being a guide to judge actions as being righteous or sinful. A view of this commentary could allude to God guiding by His voice of wisdom or conscience to reveal His desired will or working in a person at a specific time. The scripture tells of faith being present to bring freedom, but it could also show the power of God present to produce the work in a person’s life. We are saved by faith. (Ephesians 2:8-9) The power of God is the gospel or the application of grace that is activated by faith. (Romans 1:16) The Gospel is the Power of God or the forgiveness of God, and faith is the realization and application of that power. With the realization of power comes the knowledge of what God wants to do in a life right now and the power to fulfill it. The power of being transformed comes from faith in God working specifically at a given time. The spiritual director has the job of aiding people in understanding the voice of God for this particular time in life.
Spiritual directors use their God given gifts to aid people in discovering what God is attempting to do at a specific time in their lives. This goal must come with a sensitive and discerning heart. The directee must have a certain level of trust in the director before he/she will receive the revelation or encouragement from the director. The director may have all the understanding and wisdom concerning the directee, but he or she must communicate the truth in love. The revelation of God’s workings can be very difficult for people to accept. God can be guilty of wanting to work on things in people’s lives that they would rather stay away from and ignore. This being the case, the subject must believe the director has his or her best interests in mind.
Encouragement and challenging the directee becomes a large task for the director. He/she must deliver the truth with hope and urgency so the directee will embrace the work of God. People can be fascinated with revelation from God, but this may not lead them to follow through with what God wants for them. They could have an issue God wants to work out in their lives, but they do not put a high priority on it. The issue could be fear, lust, or pride. Pinpointing the issue is not always the goal. An important task for the spiritual director may be to get the directee to accept the challenge of allowing God the work. It is paramount for maturity, hope, and joy for living that the directee knows and communicates the work of God at the present time for them.
The goals and theology of spiritual direction are foundational and must not be left out, but the practical application of the theology brings the fruit of spiritual direction. The facets of spiritual direction can be applied in many different ways and the positions to follow should not be taken as mandatory. These positions are the exclusive style and approach of Potter’s Hand Ministry as led by Michael and Ronna Eddins. A directee is encouraged to meet with his or her spiritual director once a month or as often as the directee feels the need. Three aspects of spiritual direction can be divided into several activities, pre-meeting work, meeting activities, and the spiritual formation plan.
The pre-meeting work consists of practicing spiritual disciplines, spiritual activities, and preparation for actual meeting times. The spiritual disciplines are foundational for a person to gain knowledge of God’s purposes and to empower them for the fulfillment of God’s plan. The spiritual activities are also crucial to the furthering of God’s maturation process for any person. Spiritual activities can be defined as the things people do that are not spiritual disciplines but have spiritual significances.
The preparation for actual meeting time consists of the directee deciding upon the topic of discussion. The directee should always be open to personal concerns or God working in them as potential topics for discussion. The pre-meeting work is necessary to reach the maximum spiritual growth and formation. Any disciple of Jesus who has been touched by God will have some desire to grow. The pre-meeting activities are essential for that growth.
Being a disciple brings with it the concept of discipline. This is a correct assumption. Richard Foster gives the best description of the disciplines a disciple of Jesus Christ should practice. One of the dangers of practicing the disciplines is that some people become prideful in their spiritual acts. Spiritual growth is not just the action, but it is also the heart behind the action.
Richard Foster divides the disciplines into three areas, inward, outward, and corporate. These principles truly build spiritual growth, but there is no prescribed order for the development of a person in the Christian Life.
The inward disciplines are performed to allow the person to focus on the Lord and His holy word. These are the activities that involve the most self-motivation with the help of the Spirit. They are meditation, prayer, fasting and study. The outward disciplines are attitudes that develop into actions. They are simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. These actions are manifested inside the heart of a Christian and observed by others. The corporate disciplines are pending the cooperation of other believers. These disciplines can be performed alone, but the corporate disciplines were intended to happen within a group of believers. The corporate disciplines are confession, worship, guidance, and celebration. This set of disciplines will lead a person to derive the importance of interacting with other believers to grow and mature spiritually. These classical disciplines allow men and women to discover the spirit realm first hand and not just read about them. Learning what to do in the discipleship process is important in the journey to a deeper relationship with God.
A solid relationship with God should be the goal of any directee and director, with the first step indicating knowledge of what God’s grace is present to do at the very moment. The spiritual director will, at times, prescribe an activity in obedience to God or an every day activity with spiritual significances behind it. Some examples of spiritual activities could be Lectio Divina retreats, practicing the presence of God, and walking the labyrinth. These examples are only four of many different activities that would not be considered a classical spiritual discipline, but are valuable practices for spiritual growth and maturity. The practice of spiritual direction would be included as another example of a spiritual activity as opposed to a classical spiritual discipline.
The preparation for the actual meeting of a director and directee is not only for the directee. The director must be in prayer. The director has entered a discipleship relationship with another person that is ordained by God. This special relationship opens up special privileges from God into the directee’s life and spiritual development. The director not only learns about the directee through listening to his or her story, but the director will use words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and prophesy to bring insight into the time of direction.
Words of knowledge are considered a gift of the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 12:8) that can be utilized in an effective spiritual direction meeting. This gift is commonly defined as the ability of a person to receive supernatural revelation from God that will bring a sense of wonder and amazement from the ones listening. This wisdom would not be something the person would normally know and it can be manifested in conjunction with the Holy Spirit power of psychological and physical healing. It can also bring wonder and amazement for the further proclamation of the gospel.
One Biblical example of this comes in the story of the woman at the well. Jesus finds a Samaritan woman drawing water from Jacob’s well and He led the discussion to teach her about God’s gift of the living water found in Him. The discussion was nice and challenging for that day’s political situation, but the power of the message was displayed after the word of knowledge. Jesus told her about her life and she knew there was no way possible for Him to have known these details about her life. Jesus knew she was living with a man without being married to him. He also knew this was a pattern in her life. This supernatural knowledge caused her to realize the presence of God. She knew Jesus was giving her more than just good advice, but the wisdom surpassed human knowledge. This caused her to go tell all the people in town about Jesus and encourage them to come and see Him. The word of knowledge can break down walls in a directee so the director can show them God’s perspective.
Words of wisdom suggest the ability to give wise counsel in a variety of situations. The person giving a word of wisdom is using wisdom from God but it would be understanding accrued from ordinary life. A director could use it effectively in many situations. Biblical examples of this comes in Acts 6: 1-6 (the appointment of the first “deacons” or assistants to the apostles); Acts 6:10 (Stephen’s wisdom in proclaiming the gospel); and King Solomon’s statement, “divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other” (1Kings 3:25).
Prophecy could come to a director in pre-meeting times as well. Prophecy in this context is used as defined by Dr. Wayne Grudem in his book “ The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today.” Dr. Grudem shows prophecy as speaking merely human words to report something God brings to mind. A Biblical understanding of this for a director comes from 1 Corinthians 14:3, “He who prophesies speaks to men for their up building and encouragement and consolation.” Prophecy for today in spiritual direction is revelation from God for the guidance of the directee. It is not prophecy that is equal to the scripture and it does not have to be a prediction of the future.
All of the activities explained above for the preparation of a meeting can also occur during the meeting. God will sometimes bring revelation to the director before the meeting or he might choose to work in one of the gifts during a meeting. The director must be open to any variety of modes God may choose to work out His will.
The actual meeting should leave room for the directee to discuss any thoughts, re-evaluations, or issues that may have come up prior to the meeting, and they must feel free to express inner struggles and personal emotions. The director must not use the meeting time solely for his/her agenda. It can be the director’s fault to use the meeting time for a regurgitation of all that God revealed to them during pre-meeting work. God may want the director to wait for special timing in the communication of a word of wisdom, word of knowledge, or prophesy. The director must remember it is not his or her agenda, but God’s, for the maturation of the directee. Part of recognizing this is to remember, it is not about the director but about the directee.
Post-meeting work could be a spiritual activity assigned due to a specific need or struggle discussed during the current meeting. The post-meeting work could be similar to pre-meeting work, but it is specifically a reaction to meeting discussions and activity. Pre-meeting work would be more of openness to revelation from God to begin new topics of discussion or prayer.
One aspect of spiritual direction that should not be left out is the long-range spiritual growth plan. It is very good to focus on the needs and questions of the directee’s current life situations, but it is also important to help him/her see their place in the big picture of spiritual growth. The director should incorporate current direction with fulfillment of a spiritual growth progression. A progression that could be used for this comes from research into many different psychological and faith developmental theories. These stages come from “Spiritual Structure” by Michael Eddins. The five levels or stages of spiritual growth are:
1. Realization of God: Describes a person’s spiritual process of coming to an understandable faith and experience with God.
2. Dealing with God: Answers the question. “What do I do now that I know that God is out there?”
3. Search for knowledge: When the person is learning all he/she can about God and his/her conversion experience.
4. Intimacy with God: Deals with the wholeness and oneness in Jesus Christ.
5. Coming of Age: Occurs only when a person has achieved intimacy with God and has lived in that state for a long period of time.
The spiritual growth plan is not a specific path for all directees to follow, but it is only a tool to give some overarching plan to God’s work.
God’s work in the lives of people is the goal of a spiritual director. The goals and theology of the director must be present to under gird the direction process for the directee to truly grow spiritually. A director must develop a trusting relationship with the directee and help him or her discover the one thing God wants to do in his or her life.
Establishing this will give way to God’s grace and power to see real transformation into Christlikeness for the directee. The process of this transformation could come from any combination of spiritual gifts or spiritual activities. The director must be aware of God’s workings in the directee’s life and direct them properly for maximum growth. The meetings will be filled with intimate sharing, gifts of the Holy Spirit, and an understanding of an individual growth plan. A spiritual director has the unique task of working with people and the works of God to aid in the discipleship process.
Bibliography
Bible, the Holy. New International Version, Grand Rapids:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.
Bruce, F.F. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1983.
Eddins, Michael F. Spiritual Structure. Tulsa, Oklahoma: Potter’s hand ministries, 2000.
Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline. 2nd rev. ed. San
Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988.
Grudem, Wayne. The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament
and Today. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1988.
_____________. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Zondervan, 1994.
Thompson, Marjorie J. Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life.
Louisville, Kentucky: Westminister John Knox Press, 1995.