Introduction

A Christian’s spiritual formation is a journey. Although this journey may be frequently punctuated with failings and darkness, it is nevertheless evidence of the Spirit’s work in a sinner’s life when one repents of sin and accepts Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Seen in its entirety, and when one is fully in Christ, this journey can only ever be upward-tending.

Robert Solomon states that spiritual formation is ultimately “the process whereby the Holy Spirit transforms us into Christlikeness to the glory of God our Father… so that we can pursue truth and practise love.”¹ This working definition forms the foundation upon which the framework of this article is built.

Ultimately, spiritual formation – caused and sustained by God’s love – leads to an outpouring of love for Him and for others. This is because God, in His Tri-unity (his Triune nature), is love. ² Knowledge of God thus enables Christians to better grasp their own spiritual journey, particularly as a journey grounded in love.

God’s Sovereignty and the Double Knowledge

Christians must also understand that our Triune God is sovereign. The Spirit’s prompting and guiding shape a believer’s spirit and the posture of the heart before God. Spiritual formation is therefore both initiated and sustained by God, for He is the founder and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Yet human will remains undeniable.

It may be said that God grants the desire for Himself, since such desire cannot originate from sinful, spiritually dead humanity. This is one aspect of God’s authorship of faith. At the same time, when Christians exercise this God-given desire – choosing to be transformed rather than conformed to the patterns of the world (Romans 12:2) in response to the Spirit’s inner work – their faith is strengthened.

From this tension emerges the concept of the Double Knowledge: the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self. As articulated in John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, “without the knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God” and likewise, “without knowledge of God there is no knowledge of self.”³

Spiritual formation requires this dual focus. We must first know ourselves – the depth of our fallenness and the weight of our sin – for such self-knowledge “not only arouses us to seek God, but also, as it were, leads us by the hand to find him.”⁴ When we acquire knowledge of God, we are then empowered to deny ourselves and take up our cross (Matthew 16:24), grounded in our baptismal identity in Christ.

Our identity is found in Christ: as children of God (John 1:12), siblings of Christ (Mark 3:35), and temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). This identity “enhances our loyalty to God and our commitment to His will.”⁵ Without the Double Knowledge, spiritual formation becomes static; with it, the journey moves dynamically toward Christlikeness.

Initiation: Conversion and Regeneration

As we consider an individual’s personal journey, the reason such a journey is possible must take priority. Two modes of initiation take place in spiritual formation: conversion and regeneration.⁶ Both God and self are involved. In conversion, the individual actively calls upon the name of the Lord; in regeneration, God acts, awakening the believer from spiritual death through Christ’s death and resurrection.

While affirming God’s sovereignty – including His predestining work (Romans 8:30) – this does not render human will meaningless. Human will is real, and individuals must call upon the name of the Lord to be saved (Romans 10:13). God’s sovereignty establishes Him as the sole initiator of the journey, demonstrated through the Father’s love in sending the Son (John 3:16), the Son’s sacrificial love (John 15:12–13; Romans 5:8), and the Spirit’s power that raised Christ from the dead and now convicts and prompts us (Romans 8:11). Therefore the very first step of the Christian journey ought to be an act of response to this great love God has given to us.

Yet humanity, dead in transgressions (Ephesians 2:1), cannot perceive grace apart from regeneration. Before one can even take the first step, the Spirit must regenerate the spiritually dead, enabling faith and response to grace. This underscores the deeply personal nature of God’s authorship of faith through His unique self-revelation by the Spirit, mediated through Christ.

Discipleship I: Discipline and Devotion

Spiritual formation may be understood as a process of discipleship. Edmund Chan identifies four essential keys to true discipleship: desire, discipline, delight, and devotion.⁷ These form a cyclical pattern within the Christian life. Discipline, exercised in response to grace, leads to devotion; devotion begets delight; delight fuels desire; and desire renews discipline.

Discipline and devotion are actions Christians must intentionally practise, preparing the heart for the Spirit’s work. While God perfects faith, believers are called to exercise discipline willingly. Spiritual disciplines do not change us in themselves; rather, they position us to be changed by God. They are habits that orient the heart toward attentiveness to Him.

Spiritual disciplines must never be practised as drudgery. As Richard Foster observes, “joy is the keynote of all the disciplines”,⁸ and “law-bound disciplines breathe death”.⁹ Disciplines extend beyond private devotion into daily life, for their transforming effect “must be found in the ordinary junctures of human life.”¹⁰ They ultimately become not mere activities, but a way of being.

Four objectives guide the practice of spiritual disciplines:

1.            Awareness of God’s presence

2.            Reflection on self

3.            Feeding on truth

4.            Response toward God

All point toward the ultimate goal of godliness. Drawing on Donald Whitney’s work, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, disciplines such as prayer, silence, meditation, Scripture intake, worship, service, and stewardship each serve one or more of these objectives.¹¹

Among these, lectio divina has been particularly formative in my own journey. Comprising listening (lectio), reflection (meditatio), prayer (oratio), and obedience (contemplatio), it integrates all four objectives. As Foster notes, when these elements intermingle, they lead “the human spirit into a dynamic interaction with the Holy Spirit.”¹²

Devotion emerges from a sustained practice of disciplines. It is a willing surrender, evidenced in continual prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17–18). While devotion does not save, it postures the heart so that God may work in our surrendered life freely, producing delight and desire in response.

Discipleship II: Delight and Desire

When the heart is rightly postured, believers may anticipate the Spirit’s illumination and the warmth and joy of God’s presence. Delight is the fruit of disciplined devotion – a joyful response to God’s work. This celebration (of the disciplines) becomes “central to all the spiritual disciplines”. Without delight, disciplines become lifeless.¹³

Delight is not merely an outcome but a duty. John Piper illustrates this through the image of affection expressed in love: delight is intrinsic to obedience, not incidental to it. Joy, then, is obedience itself.¹⁴ God is most glorified when we are most delighted in Him, for delight fulfils humanity’s created purpose to praise Him (Ephesians 1:5–6).

From delight arises desire – a holy, insatiable thirst for God. A. W. Tozer captures this paradoxical longing: a soul both satisfied and yearning for more.¹⁵ This desire is evidence of a renewed nature, a work of grace within the soul.¹⁶ Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

Desire renews discipline, forming a self-sustaining cycle of love; a cycle that only grows more intense, leading towards deeper love for Him, spurring us onward and upward in our spiritual formation. The extent of one’s desire for God often reflects the Spirit’s work within, producing delight and deepening devotion. Spiritual formation, therefore, must ultimately bear fruit in Christlike love – actions and deeds that reflect the nature of the God we seek to imitate.

Conclusion

Spiritual formation is an exploration of God’s love and our loving response to Him. It is a journey marked by discipline, devotion, delight, and desire – a perpetual pursuit of true discipleship that culminates in worship of the Triune God.

The journey is rarely smooth. Human sinfulness brings failure, dryness, and seasons of felt absence. Yet through repentance, worship, sanctification, and God’s sovereign guidance, spiritual formation can only ever move upward – toward glorification and union with Christ.

In this lifelong journey, love remains both the starting point and the destination.

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing;

I thirst to be made thirsty still.¹⁵