Summary: In my final discussion of how to be Conformed to Christ, I show you one way you can make sure you are continually growing as a disciple of Jesus into His image by filling out a spiritual formation plan and returning to it again and again to improve you.

Introduction

In my last post, I finished the miniseries on being Formed in the Body of Christ and how to grow in your character and values. This post is the final post wrapping up the Conformed to Christ for discipleship and spiritual formation teaching.

When I was in seminary, I took a spiritual formation class. It was an awesome experience. We used some testing to discover our strengths and weaknesses in our spiritual formation. I do not have those tests today but you don’t necessarily need them to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. Most of us know what we need to work on in our spiritual life.

To continue in your growth as a disciple of Jesus you need to take some to ponder and evaluate your walk with Jesus. This is not an easy task and we can cheat ourselves if we are not honest about this plan. I hope the rest of this teaching helps you to develop a plan that will help you grow in Christ. Let’s get started.

What’s a Spiritual Formation Plan?

Spiritual formation plans Are Diagnostic and assessment toolsof where you are as a disciple in your spiritual formation. They help you realize your strengths and weaknesses as a person and in your walk with God. They also help you develop an approach to improve on your weaknesses.

We all have blind spots in our relationship with God, things we either don’t want to address or don’t know how to improve. Spiritual formation plans give you an objective approach to how to improve your relationship with God.

These are useful for continual growth in spiritual disciplines, personal biases, connection with God, and addressing the weaker parts of your spiritual formation. This objective look into your personal life and spiritual growth gives you places in your life the Holy Spirit wants to work with you on improving.

What to Include in Your Plan

Spiritual formation plans can be different for every person. You want to include your strengths at the beginning. You can write a paper (which most people don’t like) or just take a piece of paper, draw a line down the middle, and on the left side put your strengths, and on the left side put your weaknesses.

The hardest part of a spiritual formation plan is being objective about your strengths and weaknesses. Since we all have blind spots, it’s a good idea to have someone who knows you well and will not bash you over the head in your weaknesses to help you figure those out. Sometimes we think we are stronger in an area than we are. Ask your spouse or close friend who cares about you to help you realize your strengths and weaknesses.

Either on a separate sheet of paper are at the bottom of your strengths/weaknesses paper, draw a line across the paper and list your weaknesses one by one. Choose three strengths and three weaknesses. Write out your weaknesses on one side of the paper and on the other form a plan to improve your weaknesses. You can use my Spiritual Formation Plan Worksheet if you wish.

The most important part of this process is prayer. The Holy Spirit knows what He wants to improve in you. He will tell you how to improve. These are issues you will return to again and again. Slowly but surely the Spirit will help you to not continue in the paths of weakness you see in yourself and He points out.

A Personal Approach

Everyone is different in their entangling sins that they deal with (). Your spiritual formation plan is unique to you. You may find in half a year or so that you have other weaknesses you and the Spirit need to address and improve. Don’t be afraid to redo your list.

Be careful when you are forming this plan and asking those close to you not to become defensive. Those closest to you love you and want you to succeed in growing to be more like Jesus. They don’t point out your weaknesses to hurt you. How you respond to their help will show you some of your immaturity as a Christian.

Spiritual formation is a deeply personal process. It will test your Christian character and show you where you are lacking in Christ. View it as an opportunity to draw closer to Jesus and know the Holy Spirit better. As Jesus said about pruning the branches (John 15:1-6), that is exactly what the spiritual formation plan will do for you.

Continuing Growth in Christ

The goal of your spiritual formation assessment is to continue to grow in Jesus. We have covered a lot of material in these 109 sessions. But this is just the beginning of growing in Jesus. I have covered general principles about growing in Christ. We want to be conformed to Christ in our spiritual formation experience.

If you need more help forming your plan, I submit to you the one I did in my Spiritual Formation class in seminary. I’m not the same person I was in 2006. Hopefully reading through it will help you get ideas of how you can form your own plan.

You will become Jesus with skin on. Respondents the Holy Spirit in the right ways at the right time to the right people. It’s an intense learning experience that doesn’t stop until your last breath when Jesus ushers you into His presence in heaven. It’s a growing process that takes time, so don’t be upset if you’re not growing at the speed you want to grow.

Give the Holy Spirit time to work His wonderful fruit in you. Let Him mold you into the character and image of Christ. Take whatever help you can get. Outside influences by people who care about you can be immensely invaluable to your goal of being like Jesus. They will know better than you if you are moving in the right direction. May the Lord bless you as you grow closer to Him and become more like Him for the praise of His glory.

Thank You!

I know this has been a very large and long teaching on being Conformed to Christ. We’ve covered a lot of ground. It is still only scratching the surface of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. It has been a joy to go through these lessons and I hope you are growing into the person Jesus wants you to be.

Thank you for tuning in and reading these posts. I appreciate you visiting my website and being engaged in the process of becoming more like Jesus. I count it a privilege to speak into your life through my blog. Be blessed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Growth Challenge

Take the examples and make your own spiritual formation plan. Modify it as needed in your journey toward Christ likeness. Ask people who are close to you, know you well, and care about you deeply to help you with any blind spots you have. https://www.Jonathansrock.com

Image by Pexels from Pixabay