Discovering the Missing Goal: Spiritual Development


Book Description

How many of us have an open treasure chest of gold (our spiritual growth) waiting to be claimed on a deserted beach? Spiritual growth is the process of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit begins the process of making us more like Him. Spiritual growth is perhaps described in 2 Peter 1:3-8, which tells us that by God’s power we have “everything need” to live lives of godliness, which is the goal of spiritual growth. What we need comes “through our knowledge of Him, “which is the key to obtaining everything we need. Our knowledge of Him coms from the Word, given to us for our edification and growth. There are two lists in Galatians 5:19-23. Verses 19-21 list the “acts of the flesh.” These are the things that identify our lives before we came to Christ for salvation. The “acts of the flesh” are the activities we are to confess, repent of, and, with God’s help, overcome. As we experience spiritual growth, fewer and fewer of the “acts of the flesh” will be evident in our lives. The second list is the “fruit of the Spirit” (verses 22-23). These are things that should characterize our lives now that we have experienced salvation in Jesus Christ. Spiritual growth is identified by the “fruit of the Spirit” becoming increasingly evident in a believer’s life. When the transformation of salvation takes place, spiritual growth begins. The Holy Spirit indwells us (John 14:16-17). We are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old, sinful nature begins to give away to the new, Christ like nature (Romans 6-7). Spiritual growth is a lifelong process that depends on our study and application of God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and our walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). As we seek spiritual growth, we should pray to God and ask for wisdom concerning the areas He desires us to grow. We can ask God to increase our faith and knowledge of Him. God desires us to grow spiritually, and He has given us all we need to experience spiritual growth. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we can overcome sin and steadily become more like our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. How do I get there?




The Road Back to You


Book Description

Join over 1 million other readers worldwide on a journey into self-awareness, compassion for others, and love for God. With wit, wisdom, and storytelling, Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile introduce the ancient personality typing system, the Enneagram, and explore its insights into spirituality, relationships, and self-knowledge.




Discovering the Missing Goal


Book Description

How many of us have an open treasure chest of gold (our spiritual growth) waiting to be claimed on a deserted beach? Spiritual growth is the process of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit begins the process of making us more like Him. Spiritual growth is perhaps described in 2 Peter 1:3-8, which tells us that by God's power we have "everything need" to live lives of godliness, which is the goal of spiritual growth. What we need comes "through our knowledge of Him, "which is the key to obtaining everything we need. Our knowledge of Him coms from the Word, given to us for our edification and growth. There are two lists in Galatians 5:19-23. Verses 19-21 list the "acts of the flesh." These are the things that identify our lives before we came to Christ for salvation. The "acts of the flesh" are the activities we are to confess, repent of, and, with God's help, overcome. As we experience spiritual growth, fewer and fewer of the "acts of the flesh" will be evident in our lives. The second list is the "fruit of the Spirit" (verses 22-23). These are things that should characterize our lives now that we have experienced salvation in Jesus Christ. Spiritual growth is identified by the "fruit of the Spirit" becoming increasingly evident in a believer's life. When the transformation of salvation takes place, spiritual growth begins. The Holy Spirit indwells us (John 14:16-17). We are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old, sinful nature begins to give away to the new, Christ like nature (Romans 6-7). Spiritual growth is a lifelong process that depends on our study and application of God's Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and our walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). As we seek spiritual growth, we should pray to God and ask for wisdom concerning the areas He desires us to grow. We can ask God to increase our faith and knowledge of Him. God desires us to grow spiritually, and He has given us all we need to experience spiritual growth. With the Holy Spirit's help, we can overcome sin and steadily become more like our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. How do I get there?




Pursuing God's Will Together


Book Description

Church boards and other Christian leadership teams have long relied on models adapted from the business world. Ruth Haley Barton, president of the Transforming Center, helps teams transition to a much more fitting model—the spiritual community that practices discernment together.




Exploring the Spiritual


Book Description

Gain solid empirical findings to understand your own spiritual development To significantly impact clients’ spirituality and use the spiritual strengths the client possesses to facilitate their move toward health, a counselor must be willing to explore his or her own spiritual development. Exploring the Spiritual: Paths for Counselors and Psychotherapists provides cognitive information grounded in the empirical findings of social science, as well as experiential material which encourages the counselors’ own spiritual quest. This invaluable source clarifies the interface between the counselor’s spirituality and the client’s, and allows the spiritual dimension to emerge appropriately in the counseling process. Exploring the Spiritual: Paths for Counselors and Psychotherapists provides challenging questions and exercises that lead the counselor or psychotherapist through a personal exploration to attain the maturity of development needed to facilitate the client’s spiritual growth. The text, written in an accessible narrative style, features helpful case studies and personal anecdotes to illustrate the concepts and processes described. Each chapter includes an overview of an issue, develops an argument or position, and presents a focused exploration of some relevant empirical research that is presented in a context that helps the reader see its personal implications. The final section leads the reader through exercises and experiments, helping them to focus on the counselor’s own inner experience or encouraging the counselor to experiment with new behaviors. This insightful resource encourages the counselor to work directly with the client’s spiritual experiences and conceptualizations without imposing on the client the beliefs of the counselor. Topics discussed in Exploring the Spiritual: Paths for Counselors and Psychotherapists include: models of spiritual development steps toward spiritual maturation the contribution of crises in belief and in values the physical-emotional self, and the contribution of passion and sexuality overcoming the divisiveness of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, and culture coping with suffering discovering one’s own paths to the spiritual Exploring the Spiritual: Paths for Counselors and Psychotherapists is a valuable resource for counselors, psychotherapists, counselor educators, and graduate students in psychology, counseling, psychotherapy, social work, and psychiatry.




Exploring the Labyrinth


Book Description

"Whoever you are, walking the labyrinth has something to offer. If a project is challenging you, walking can get your creative juices flowing. When struggling with grief or anger, or a physical challenge or illness, walking the labyrinth can point the way to healing and wholeness. If you're looking for a way to meditate or pray that engages your body as well as your soul, the labyrinth provides such a path. When you just want reflective time away from a busy life, the labyrinth can offer you time out. The labyrinth holds up a mirror, reflecting back to us not only the light of our finest selves, but also whatever restrains us from shining forth." --From the Introduction Join Melissa Gayle West and thousands of others who are turning to labyrinth walking for quiet meditation and spiritual healing. Exploring the Labyrinth blends the timeless wisdom and meaning derived from labyrinths along with practical advice, divided among three sections: What is a labyrinth and why does it have such astonishing contemporary appeal? You'll be introduced to walking and working with this ancient archetype. Learn to construct a temporary or permanent, indoor or outdoor labyrinth from rocks, rope, canvas, and a wide variety of other materials. Discover specific ways to use the labyrinth for rituals, meaningful celebrations, spiritual growth, healing work, creativity enhancement, and goal setting. With practical advice, spiritual wisdom, and helpful resources, Exploring the Labyrinth is the complete guide to this ancient, transformative tool.




The Altar Within


Book Description

In her third and most important work, Juliet Diaz, the bestselling author of Witchery, offers an approach to Magic, spirituality, and healing like no other and takes readers through the deep work of decolonizing their spirituality. The Altar Within: A Radical Devotional to Liberate the Divine Self is a work of spiritual revolution for all peoples, offering them practices and rituals in the arts of self-worship, self-discovery, and self-activism. The Altar Within is like no other approach to Spirituality, breaking through the vicious cycles of harmful and toxic spiritual practices and beliefs. Diaz speaks for those victimized and enslaved by colonization and offers a new take on personal development based in the resounding plea of our ancestors to live our Divined lives, the ones they could not have for themselves. In the book, Diaz leads the reader through an exploration of: Self-Worship: Here, the reader comes to ritualize the experiences of self-compassion, mindfulness, self-acceptance, and radical self-honesty, creating practices that help them to see their Divinity and Altar within. Through these rites, readers will have a better understanding of what it means to decolonize their Spirituality, giving birth to new spiritual practices while honoring the experiences of our ancestors. Dismantling the idea that Divinity must only exist from without, Diaz takes readers on a journey of powerful Self-Worship, connecting them into the Divinity that resides within all of us. Self-Discovery: In this section, Diaz helps the reader to discover their Divined lives, but in a way that most teachers haven't offered. As Diaz shares, it isn't through our achievements that we find our purpose but through understanding the Divine self. Here, Diaz leads readers through practices in self-love, self-patience, and self-forgiveness, helping them to experience the stillness and wholeness needed to hear the messages shared by the Divine. Self-Activism: Unlike traditional manifestation teachers, Diaz recognizes that manifestations are not brought forth by #goodvibesonly but by a real and committed process of activism, standing in our deep worth and sharing our humanity. In this section, Diaz offers a series of Devotionals to guide readers in the practice of Community Care, connecting the work not only with the Magic of manifestation but with our communities, our ancestors, and the Divine Self within. Pushing back on #lightandlove and #goodvibesonly, Diaz dismantles the wellness industry, releasing readers from the practice of spiritual bypassing into a far more powerful experience of self, healing, hope, and Spirit. This book is for anyone, including those who can't afford to buy all the tools, pay for the expensive memberships, people who have real-life issues, illnesses, and hardships. Through The Altar Within, Diaz brings the Magic to real life, acknowledging our humanness by connecting with our Spirit. The Altar Within will help readers create success in every area of their lives—from wealth, health, relationships, and personal development, to the nourishment of their relationship with the Divine self. As Diaz explains, when we can finally decolonize our spiritual beliefs, Divinity can be a super force in our lives, making us whole, stronger, wiser, and setting us on a path of transcendent activism. #magicalaf Bonus Gifts: Your copy of The Altar Within comes with a very special gift for readers. Look inside for a QR-Code that leads you to a magical space full of bonus content created just for the book. You can expect mini-courses, video tutorials, downloadable worksheets, journaling prompts, meditations, workbooks, and more!




The Green Letters


Book Description

This is the first book in the author's series on Christian maturity.




Exploring Lost Dimensions in Christian Mysticism


Book Description

’Mystical theology’ has developed through a range of meanings, from the hidden dimensions of divine significance in the community’s interpretation of its scriptures to the much later ’science’ of the soul’s ascent into communion with God. The thinkers and questions addressed in this book draws us into the heart of a complicated, beautiful, and often tantalisingly unfinished conversation, continuing over centuries and often brushing allusively into parallel concerns in other religions. Raising fundamental matters of epistemology, representation, metaphysics, and divine reality, contributors approach the mystical from postmodern, feminist, sociological and historical perspectives through thinkers such as Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, Ignatius of Loyola, William James, Evelyn Underhill, Ernst Troeltsch, Rudolf Otto, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Marion and Jean-Louis Chrétien. Medieval and early modern radical prophetic approaches are also explored. This book includes new essays by Sarah Apetrei, Tina Beattie, Raphel Cadenhead, Oliver Davies, Philip Endean, Brian FitzGerald, Ann Loades, George Pattison, Simon D. Podmore, Joel D.S. Rasmussen, and Johannes Zachhuber.




The Artist's Way


Book Description

"With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times "Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—Vogue Over four million copies sold! Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.