Posts by GEM Spiritual Life
Handling God’s Word
The Spiritual Life Team, and Christian Spiritual Formation in general, treats the Word of God as foundational and as the invitation to experience life with God today. The Bible describes reality as it truly is, with the Triune God omnipresent throughout the universe, immanent in it and transcendent beyond it (Is. 66:1-2). The Scripture bears…
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Transformation
Transformation refers to the process of becoming like Christ from the inside-out (Matt. 23:25-26). The Bible recognizes the catastrophic impact of man’s separation from God due to sin. Transformation entails God returning us to Himself and full participation in His Kingdom. God continues to pursue His creational intent of restoring in Jesus Christ His glory…
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Spiritual Formation
Spiritual formation is the process of being transformed by the love of God into the image of Christ in intention, thinking and behavior, becoming a tangible representation of God’s love in the world. A good simple definition from Robert Mulholland is, “Spiritual formation is a process of being conformed to the image of Christ for…
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Spiritual Direction
Spiritual direction is when one person, the director, comes alongside another, the directee, to help them notice and pay attention to the presence, conversation and work of God in their lives. As the directee is sharing, the spiritual director practices double listening in which they listen to the directee but also to the Holy Spirit.…
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Solitude
When we practice solitude, we temporarily pull away from life with others in order to give our full attention to God. Alone with God, we put aside human expectations and our desire to please others, and we experience what it means in Acts 17:28 when it says, “in him we live and move and have…
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Silence
Silence is the spiritual discipline of withdrawing or abstaining from noise, words, and activity for a time to become more attuned to the voice of God. In silence we allow the noise of our own thoughts, human strivings, and inner compulsions to settle down so we can hear and respond to the presence of God…
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Rule of Life
A personal Rule of Life is a Spirit-led written description of how we want to order our life as a follower of Christ. To create a rule of life, we first envision the Christian life we want to live. How is God calling us to live?  What kind of character qualities is the Holy Spirit…
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Retreat vs. Day with God
“A day away with God” or “spiritual renewal day” are the terms that we use most often in GEM (Greater Europe Mission) to denote a personal retreat day. This is a day in which we pull away from our everyday routines and responsibilities to be undividedly present with God. We might find a place in…
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Resistance
Resistance is an underlying and often unconscious response in which we avoid or push back on an issue, experience, or insight. It is a normal part of all growth and is caused by the struggle or tension we feel toward change in others or ourselves.[1]  God’s holiness, his unpredictability, even his tenderness can feel threatening,…
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Prayer
Prayer is fundamentally talking to God about what He and I are doing together. – paraphrased from Dallas Willard Prayer then includes conversation, talking, silence, listening and interaction around God’s desires (hence, what He and I are doing together). Prayer can be request, worship, meditation, listening, talking, etc. Generally, prayer is paying attention and responding…
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