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 up to God and grow spiritually. These are many of the most common practices for spiritual growth used across many cultures and times. If you truly want to grow then begin to incorporate these into your life. The first three are the most important. (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. Or Activational meditation: absorb, feelings reflection, truth commitment, action commitment, contemplation (receptive stillness).
- Have a spiritual director. Celtic proverb: “A [Christian] without a soul-friend is like a body without a head.”
- Centering prayer – beginning with a word if necessary then learning to quiet and still your soul in order to:
- Keep in step with God’s Spirit and focus on Christ
- Know yourself better
- Listen to God if he should communicate
- Self-examination. Examine each dimension of your life for sin, weakness, lack of transformation.
- Fasting. Develop self-control and mastery over your will and senses, allowing your spirit to dominate.
- Detach from worldliness. Eliminate personal exposure to corruption and detach from unholy habits and relationships.
- Spiritual reading. Read books that impact you, especially classics.
- Memorizing scripture. The church fathers and desert fathers would memorize large portions of scripture.
- Pouring out your heart in prayer. The Psalms are the classic model for this type of prayer. Remember to embrace your emotions. Don’t “always” rejoice and repress biblical complaining and mourning. (We can have joy and sadness at the same time.)
- Continuous prayer. Training your mind and heart to constantly pray throughout the day, usually by taking a word or phrase, usually from scripture, and repeating it in your mind and heart until it is continuously on your heart. Or train one’s spirit to be continuously quiet and with God’s Spirit.
- Contemplation. Learn how to “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10) and stay attentive to God or what he is doing for extended times during prayer.
Which of the first three are you weakest in? Are you willing to spend time on that one? Which of the other practices for spiritual growth do you want to explore more? May God bless you in these!
