Category: Interior Life

How Do I Deal With Unwanted Thoughts? – Part 1

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You are innocently working on one of your daily tasks and all of a sudden an evil thought comes into your head. It plays for a few seconds, but you don’t embrace it. You mentally fight and reject it. Then you feel a little dazed and confused by its impact. Finally, the thought fades away. Then you start wondering where it came from. Is this from you? Is it some buried corruption you are not aware of? Or is it from Satan? Is it a combination of the two? Is it from neither one, just a quirk of the human mind? Was it triggered by something around you by the power of suggestion? Is it just free association? You can’t really figure it out. This will take more time. Regardless of how it came it is frustrating and sometimes discouraging when unwanted thoughts come in. You want to grow in Continue Reading →

Am I Trying Too Much Or Too Little To Be Christlike?

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PURPOSE: The purpose of this post is to help you get into the right level of cooperation with the Holy Spirit. It is to help you be aware of how you are exercising your willpower to become more Christlike. One question I ask myself fairly regularly is whether I am trying to hard to grow spiritually or whether I am not trying hard enough. In other words, am I doing my part according to scripture? Am I crowding out the Spirit by trying to do too much on my own, or on the other hand, am I not activating my will and thus expecting God to change me without my cooperation? Am I erring on one side or the other: too willful or not willful enough? I have erred on both sides in my life, and I still have to adjust regularly. This is an important question because it can Continue Reading →

Why Do Christians Have Dry Times or Dark Nights?

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The last two posts looked at stages of growth, both repeating and non-repeating. One of the stages we mentioned was dark nights, which is the topic of this post. This may apply to you or it might help you guide someone else through a dark time, so this should equip you to be a better servant for the Body of Christ. Most Christians go through one or more periods in their life when God seems absent. We use different terms for this such as dryness, dark night, desolation, desert time, or wilderness time. Even great Christians in history we admire go through such times. For example, Martin Luther, C.S. Lewis, Mother Teresa, and Oswald Chambers. Bruce Demarest mentions the last three in his book Seasons of the Soul, which I highly recommend, beginning on p. 84. He also discusses desolation in general which is very helpful. (There is a link to Continue Reading →

fivefold way stages of growth

What Stage of Growth Are You In?

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Many have found it very helpful to understand the different stages of growth that Christians go through. Here are some of the reasons we might find it helpful: Understand where we are spiritually and where we need to go. Realize it is ok to be where we are; it is normal and others are there too. Know what experiences, emotions, and thoughts are normal for your situation. Know what attitudes, scripture, and practices are best for your situation. Not resist or escape the stage we are in, but rather let God flow. Not become overly attached to the stage we are in. Realize that we are not in or out of the “good Christian” box. Rather, are we staying on the road to maturity. This helps avoid legalism. Understand how to guide others who want to grow. Be more understanding of what others may have been through, or are going through Continue Reading →

Classic Practices for Spiritual Growth

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One of my hobbies is reading the history of Christian spirituality back to the 2nd century. This led me to collect a list of the most common practices for spiritual growth. Following is a collection of practices based on scripture that believers have used for centuries to open to God and grow spiritually. These are many of the most common practices used across many cultures and times. If you truly want to grow then begin to incorporate these into your life. (Hint: The second one may be the most helpful!) Meditation on scripture. I.e., ruminate, reflect. For example, Divine Reading (Lectio Divina): Read out loud, meditate, pray, be still and receptive. Have a spiritual director. Celtic proverb: “A [Christian] without a soul-friend is like a body without a head.” Self examination. Examine each dimension of your life for sin, weakness, lack of transformation. Fasting. Develop self-control and mastery over your Continue Reading →