Active Spiritual Practices Analysis

This article, developing a Spiritual Assessment Toolbox: A Discussion of the Strengths and Limitations of Five Different Assessment Methods, discusses and reviews a variety of assessment methods developed to examine the spiritual lives of clients. According to Hodge (2005), “…for service provision to be as effective as possible, spiritual beliefs and practices often have to be taken into account (p. 314).” Because a client’s spiritual worldview is often a guiding principle for their lives, it is important to use an assessment method that takes this into account. This article looks at five different methods for this purpose: (1) spiritual histories, (2) spiritual lifemaps, (3) the spiritual

While reading the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, I did not expect to come across a spiritual discipline that would be a perfect combination of my own idea of spiritual formation, and a wonderful way to connect with the Lord. What I mean by this, is that I was wanting to create a gratitude journal, but I wanted it to be deeper than just a list of things that I was thankful for. That is why I fell in love with the idea of writing responses to the questions that were posed in the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, but still taking a few minutes to write a list of things that I am grateful for! A journal like this is also a great way for me to see the strong points in my day or week, and the areas where I need improvement. Since journaling has always

Summary The Jesus Life Coach book by Laurie Beth Jones helped me as a life coach to understand how to help my agents infuse their spiritual values into their personal lives and at the work place. The book displays four key principles of infusing the spiritual life to create a balance, formulate goals, enjoy productivity, as well as attain fulfillment of one’s personal goals and heavenly success. Jones’ (1798) book has a wealth of information and inspiration that will motivate one to excel and enjoy all walks of life. Jones uses spiritual values to get you thinking, working, and achieving all your goals and dreams.

The book is divided into seven parts. The book focuses spiritual growth and it is a manual for building a Spirit-filled life in a world where perfection can only be found in God’s loving vision. Ortberg helps us gauge your spiritual health and measure the gap between where you are now and where God intends you to be. As the author emphasizes on

In (Matthew 6:6 NIV), Jesus explains the merits of praying to the lord God and the reward of inner peace, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret: and your father who sees in secret will reward you.” It is through this conversation with God that Christians pursue peace in their lives. Prayer can either be private or communal, spontaneous prayer is one way that charismatic communities can come closer to God. The act of prayer allows believers to have a personal conversation with God; it alleviates stress attributed to the monotony of everyday life. Besides prayer, meditation is another way of attaining inner peace, it is an ancient practice within the Christian tradition, which has undertaken a recent revival, a global group that reaffirms the concept of praying and meditating for inner peace is Taizé. Not as popular as prayer and meditation, Lectio Divina, generally known as bible studies is a way for Christians to feel connected to God and to finally attain inner peace. The studying of the sacred scriptures on a day to day basis and reflecting on prayers also maintain a continual connection with God. It is vital to maintain equilibrium between prayer and service, whereby an individual fathoms the notion ‘ora et labora’, in order to equally partake in both prayer, and the concept of action whereby ora develops inner peace, which is mirrored through the

Making an effort for private time with Jesus, meaning allowing my mind an opportunity for flowing freely. Listening prayer, as McNeal, (2011) wrote about in "A Work of Heart" is allowing our subconscious the right of passage to our conscious while simultaneously incorporating theology.

While working for about two years in an elementary school, I observed how a teacher implemented the journal ritual. However, his ritual was not daily. For example, after a break, the teacher would ask the students to write about what they did during the break. After writing their stories, the teacher would ask for volunteers to share their stories. However, I noticed that not many students were not encouraged to write and even to share. Perhaps the students needed to see their teacher writing more instead of just writing a few sentences. As Calkins explains, teachers need the models of the ritual. In this

Through Tish Harrison Warren’s Liturgy of the Ordinary, I have gained a greater understanding of what being called to love means, and I have learned multiple practical means by which I can live out my call to love. Harrison Warren illustrates the idea that our call to love is not one that is to be separated from the mundane tasks of our daily lives; on the contrary, our call to love is to be embraced in the midst of and through these mundane tasks. Throughout the first few chapters of the book, the main idea has been to love God more deeply by having an attitude of prayerfulness, which one could certainly consider a spiritual discipline. Whether Harrison Warren is speaking of the liturgy of bed-making or teeth-brushing, the

Each night, there is a point where the day falls to silence, a silence that encloses you in your own thoughts and reflections. For as long as I can remember, my dad always told me "that is when you pray." His words matched the ones of every Sunday school teacher, but their voices faded as my worries grew. It seemed there were some stresses a man on a cross could not eliminate. Bible stories where Jesus cures people from their pain and problems appeared no different from the storybooks I stopped reading years ago, unrealistic and improbable. I vacillated between the faith instilled in me and the plausibility of things occurring by chance, not by Christ. As each day came to a close, I struggled to thank a voiceless God for a day I wasn’t grateful

A spiritual journal is an honest record of my spiritual journey. This is my place to record my prayers and hopes, struggles and hurts, thoughts and questions about my personal and spiritual life. This is where I document how God is speaking in my life. A journal is a tool that can help me go back and recall the times I wandered, the things I've learned and places where I grew up as a Christian.

This truth escapes many spiritual leaders. Caught up in helping other people maintain their hearts, they frequently ignore or neglect their own.” This is one of many famous quotes from the book, by Reggie McNeal, that was published by Joessey-Bass A Wiley Imprint in 2011. Within the 203 pages and 10 chapters of this book, McNeal writes a succinct, and compassionate collection of essays of sorts, offering a spiritual approach that influences individuals recognize the need for spiritual leaders to develop their hearts. Reggie McNeal is seen as an authority on this topic because of his many published books as well as his twenty years of leadership roles in local congregations, his work over the last decade with thousands of church leaders, and his counsels of local churches, denominational groups, seminaries and colleges, and parachurch organizations in their leadership-development needs. In addition to that, he is also the director of leadership development for Baptist Convention; the South Carolina branch, where he lives, with his wife and two

Spiritual disciplines are learned through periods of time that impose certain boundaries or directions on a believer’s life in order to further their relationship with Christ. In our daily lives it can be difficult to set aside special time to think about divine matters, but it is ever important that we do so; especially in today’s age of never ending materialism. As Blaise Pascal said, “Human things must be known to be loved; but divine things must be loved to be known”. If we don’t specifically set aside time to love the divine things, we will never know them.

I am taking your advice and picking up the book Spiritual Formation: A Wesleyan Paradigm to use in my daily devotions. Our conversation about the importance of focusing on spiritual formation, due to the demands of officership, provided valuable insight into my need of intentionality in this area of my life. Thank you for making me aware of the need to maintain

Spirituality is very important in a person’s life and career with enhanced self-improvement and career skills. Spirituality through the power of the Holy Spirit gives guidance and path in helping a leader to improve his convergence of well-being and ability to gain success based on ambitions, desires, and needs. “A spirituality that enables a person to develop good moral habits is appropriate for the workplace’’ (Cavanagh & Bandsuch, 2002, pg.109). AMC leaders need the Holy Spirit’s guidance to provide a strategic plan for success that will assist them in identifying and improving well-being and ability through skills and goals in response to future events and opportunities. Leaders can then help their colleagues spiritually by seeking

The ministry research project consisted of a six-week training session on servant leadership, based in part on the study material by C. Gene Wilkes, “Jesus On Leadership: Becoming A Servant Leader.” The project entailed a pre-test and post-test questionnaire, an inventory of spiritual/emotional maturity, a group 12 to 15 leaders, a two day seminar on spiritual leadership, the Joseph Hall method of meditation and Philippians 4:8 questions was explained and each participant was encouraged to utilize both methods to assist in deepening their comprehension of God’s word. In addition, the fundamentals of the project centers on four goals: (1) to assess the current leadership and their passion for the spiritual disciplines; (2) to develop a six week