general principles of Christian Spirituality

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Running head: GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY

The general principles of Christian Spirituality
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GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY

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Introduction
Christian Spirituality is a spiritual transformation process that a Christ disciple follows to
achieve an authentic and complete Christian life while in the world. The process involves bringing
together the required and essential tenets of Christian truth, experience in God’s presence and
grace, experience in the power of the living God and love in our daily life. Christian Spirituality
can be defined in the contemporary society as a general set of values, beliefs, and way of living as
recommended by the teachings of the Christian Holy Book, the Bible. It can, therefore, be argued
that Christian Spirituality is the practice of beliefs required and embraced by the Christian faith
including both the knowledge of the beliefs and the actions on them. According to the earliest
writings of the New Testament, the essentials of Christian Spirituality are the principles of
authentic and integrated faith and action. From James 1:25, one blesses his/her doing by looking
into the perfect law of liberty, persevering and acting according to the defined Christian principles.
For one to live according to the will of God, Christian Spirituality should be based on the
power of the Holy Spirit. This is because Christians believe that the role of the Holy Spirit is to
lead in truth, provide joy, and also to convict when one does sin. This is according to John 16:3
and Ephesians 5:18, 4:30. Moreover, according to 1 John 1:5 a true Christian spirituality depends
on God’s supernatural power given by the Holy Spirit rather than on the human strength. 1 John
1:5 teaches that what it brings is the message from Jesus Christ meant for the people and the
message proclaimed on the people teaches that God is light and no darkness when in him. Hence,
it is impossible for one to walk in darkness while fellowshipping with Jesus Christ and anyone
who does this lies and has not practiced truth (Mueller, 2004). But because Jesus Christ is light,
we walk in the light and our fellowship together because Jesus Christ's blood cleanses us from all
sin. Christian Spirituality targets the entire life of a person and does not separate the spiritual life

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY

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from the social, financial and other components of a person’s life. It is concerned with how all the
aspects of the life of a person connects us to and create a relationship with God. For instance, the
way a person uses his/her finances reflects his/her attitude of heart and how one treats his/her body
describes the spiritual life in various ways. This is according to Mathew 6: 21 and 1 Corinthians
6:20.

Perspectives of Christian Spirituality
According to the director and founder of the Spirituality Shoppe, Evan Howard, the most
significant and important element in evangelical spirituality is the conversion of the heart and
turning towards God. Conversion is, therefore, the mechanism through which people establish and
maintain a union with God. In Evan Howard’s point of view, spiritual disciples that support
conversion include studying, reading and meditating on scripture, intercessory prayer, family song
and worship, and hearing, preaching and reading spiritual sermons (Stanford, 1981). Christian
spirituality has had a vital role in shaping American religion, culture, and history and this has been
noted by historians such as George Marsden and Mark Noll. However, I his view, Howard attests
that Christian Spirituality overemphasis on the individual conversion rather than other corporate
dimensions required in a spiritual person.
According to the professor of theology and popular Catholic author at Franciscan
University in Ohio, Scott Hahn, Christian Spirituality can be viewed and expressed from the
standpoint of early church leaders. From Ignatius of Antioch’s perspective, “Come to the Father,”
there is a reflection of Hahn’s view of the divine filiation. This divine filiation describes the
relationship between God and the Holy Spirit and how the people relates and come to God through

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY

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His Son Jesus Christ. This is the “fact of salvation and which forms the basis of Christian
Spirituality (Stanford, 1981). According to the Eastern Orthodoxy, Christian Spirituality is above
all spiritualities because it is centered on Jesus Christ. Christian Spirituality is expressed through
the church’s Eucharistic beauty as well as the use of icons monastic life and its sacraments and
dogmas. It is important to realize that the Eastern Orthodoxy suggests that these are just mere
views and does not always capture the traditions represented in the lived experiences of individual
adherents.
When a person is born again, he/she receives the Holy Spirit which protects them until the
day of redemption, and from John 16:13, Jesus promised that the role of the Holy Spirit would be
to lead the people into all the truth. It is, however, important to understand that the Holy Spirit
guides Christian Spirituality and any promises made by Jesus Christ to the holy people can only
be achieved through Christian Spirituality. The truth that Jesus Crist promised includes the
application of the things of God into our lives. By making such application of the things of God
into our lives, one allows the Holy Spirit to control him/her. Hence, true Christian Spirituality is
based on the extent to which a person who is born again (a believer) allows the Holy Spirit to
control him/her and lead his/her life.
In his letter to Ephesians, Paul urged all believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that
they can enjoy the fruits of Christian Spirituality. He told the not to get drunk with wine because
it leads them to debauchery, but instead, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This message was meant
to continue to the next generations, include the present-day generation which is now urged to keep
on getting filled with the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit means allowing the Holy
Spirit to control us, lead us and to guide our lives and prevent us from yielding the desires of the
flesh. Paul makes a comparison in this message between one who is controlled by wine and a

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person who is in control of the Holy Spirit. He asserts that when wine controls someone, he
becomes drunk and hence exhibit certain characteristics including unsteady walk, slurred speech,
and impaired decision making. According to Galatians 5:22, these are the “fruit of the Spirit,” and
one can tell that a person is drunk by determining the displayed characteristics. A true Christian
Spirituality is displayed through a believer's actions, and self-effort does not produce the character
of a true Christian Spirituality. Hence, a true born-again believer working by the Holy Spirit has
the consistent spiritual walk, sound speech and his/her decision-making are based on the word of
God.
Christian Spirituality, therefore, involves a choice that a person makes to “know and grow”
in the relationship with Jesus Christ through a total submission to the ministry of the Holy Spirit
that exists in our lives. This is an indication that born-again believers choose to keep a clear
communication with the Holy Spirit through confession. This way, we allow the Christian
Spirituality to work in us, guide our lives and control our ways. This is according to 1 John 1:9.
By sinning, we grieve the Holy Spirit and hence we erect a barrier between God and ourselves and
therefore, the Holy Spirit cannot work in us and hence our Christian Spirituality is impaired such
that it bears no fruits. However, by submitting to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, our relationship
with God is not interrupted. As a result, the Holy Spirit gets to work in us, guide us and control
our actions and hence we bear the fruits of Christian Spirituality. In this view, Christian Spirituality
represents a conscious relationship and fellowship between the Christ’s Holy Spirit and a bornagain believer and this relationship and fellowship will remain uninterrupted as long as the believer
does not engage in any carnality and sin (Mueller, 2004). When a born-again believer consistently
makes an ongoing choice to submit to the Holy Spirit and its ministry, he/she develops a Christian
Spirituality.

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Christian Spiritual Journey
A Christian Spiritual journey is used in Christian religion to refer to a natural progression
of a person’s growth in understanding the ways of God, the world and himself/herself. In other
words, it is an intentional choice to grow deeper in the knowledge and wisdom of God and His
Kingdom. There should, however, be a clear line of difference between the New Age version and
a Christian spiritual journey because many people tend to confuse the two (Mwiya, 2016).
According to the Bible, a Christian spiritual journey is simply a daily conversation with God
through prayer and in the guidance of the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:17). According to the
New Agers, people may choose different paths in Christian Spirituality and still reach the same
destination. However, according to John 14:6, there is only one path that leads to Spiritual
Christianity and the Kingdom of God. That one path is through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit
which guides our lives (Mwiya, 2016). According to Ephesians 6:12, the Bible teaches that the
journey to Christian Spirituality is at war because a born-again believer encounters several
challenges which tend to prevent him/her from achieving the kingdom of God. Also, the journey
involves fighting for other soul and winning them to Christ while making our walk in Christian
Spirituality.
The Bible describes the Christian Spiritual journey and what steps a born-again believer
should follow through it. In 1 Corinthians 13:11, a Christian begins the Christian Spiritual journey
as a child, seeing the world naively and still under the influence of flesh, worldly things and thus
need basic teachings concerning the will of God and his/her position with God. As young
Christians walking in the journey of faith, new Christians are given duties, responsibilities and
work appropriate to them. Young Christians growing their faith and understanding in God learn
more on how to relate and act in the ways of God and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY

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center of a Christian Spiritual journey is a believer’s understanding that choosing to walk with God
is a journey and that the achievement of spiritual maturity is not instant because as believers, are
not perfect. According to 2 Corinthians 7:1 and Philippians 1:6, the Bible teaches that Christian
Spiritual journey is a process which involves both the work of God in us and our attention to the
ways of the Holy Spirit. According to John Bunyan's book, The Pilgrim’s Progress, the spiritual
journey is a road with several dangers, trials, and blessings which begin with the Celestial City
cross ending. From 1 Timothy 4:12, the spiritual journey involves considering a person’s
opportunities and intentionality, rather than considering a person’s age (Bucknell, 2003).
The principles of Christian Spirituality requires Christians to fully walk in the Holy Spirit
because a spiritual journey leads to an empty heart if it is full of empty chanting with no time to
study the Bible and walk in the Holy Spirit. A spiritual journey filled with obedience to the Holy
Spirit and studying the Bible and trusting in God brings an understanding of the world and the
creator’s deep love. Hence it is a lifelong adventure of Christian Spirituality.

Foundations of Christian Spiritual Growth
For a born-again believer to build a strong and sound biblical foundation in Christian
Spirituality, some important principles of spiritual growth are recommended. These principles
ensure that one always walks in the ways of the Holy Spirit and according to Christ's will.
Faith and trust in God allow believers to please God. According to 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul
wrote was urging the Corinthians to examine themselves whether they had enough faith in God
and His son Jesus Christ. Christians who desire to walk under the guidance of Christian Spirituality
should, therefore, remind themselves that it is impossible for them to please God without having

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faith in him (Caster, 2003). True faith must, however, be based on scriptural facts because faith
comes by hearing and heeding to the word of God, and unless our faith in God is established on
scriptural facts, it is more of a speculation, superstition or conjecture. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith
is the sub...


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