Spiritual Growth Plan Assignment
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Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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Spiritual Growth Plan Assignment
DSMN520: Spiritual Formation (B02)
February 26, 2023
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Contents
Spiritual Growth Plan
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Battling Temptations
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Guarding Again Blind Spots
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Spiritual Growth Plan
My life’s goal is to be more Christlike, become a spiritual parent, and grow closer to God daily. My spiritual walk has developed exponentially in the past few years, wanting to do God’s will, being patient with His understanding of certain situations, and seeing Him move in my life with all that he has done that has strengthened my faith and the wonders He has shown me that all things are possible with Him guiding me. With all that I have gone through throughout my life, I did not know that I was deceiving myself, thinking I was a Christian, especially with the baggage I carried around. And although I attend church regularly, I used to believe, as Whitney states, “thinking that they’ll make sufficient spiritual progress if they are deeply involved in the life of their church, considering that somehow their participation in meaningful church activities will compensate for the lack of a personal devotional life.”
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And to go through what I was tricked into thinking this was the way to go, pretty much following others, but something still did not set well with me in my spiritual life. I always want to get closer to God but fall short of sin. I know that I struggle, and many things do not please God. I know that God is not pleased with the things that I do. It took something significant to understand that I needed God because I could not do anything alone. Once I realized this, my Spirituality became just crucial as anything else that was going on in my life. First, I must work on my Spiritual Discipline and the best way to obtain such a practice, 1
Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for Christian Life (Revised and Updated) (NavPress, 2014), 5–6.
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but also look at what may be easy for the difficult ones I may be prone to avoid. Fasting and Isolation for Pray will be something I would like to do more often; I also find that the more we fast, the more I can control myself. At least once a year, we would fast, but at times I find myself cheating, thinking if I could control who I am, that would speak on different levels of my being, such as anger, lust, and pride. To avoid gratification and including fasting will be a way to sharpen my spirituality; Whitney also states, “There’s something about fasting that sharpens the edge of our intercessions and deepens the passion of our supplications.”
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Fasting would be a significant part of my spiritual walk and connection with God. To start this process, I will pick out one day a week when I can have the time to pray during my fasting. Friday morning to Saturday morning would be ideal for me, only because I would not have work,
school, and family issues during this period, and it would allow me to concertation I need to complete; I will take on this task every other month, every week until it becomes a part of who I am, I have to create a new habit of practicing spending time with God and being in his word daily because these are critical times because it will allow the father to speak to me to help guide me to reflect on my daily walk with him.
Battling Temptations
For many years, I have struggled with the same sins and temptations, such as lust and pride. The lust for sex started as a teen, and this sin has been with me well into adulthood. I do believe this was an issue in my first marriage years ago. I did not know the difference between love and 2
Ibid, 200–201.
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sex. And maybe because growing up, my family did not attend church offend only on holidays, so I did not have the training from anyone that understood the difference; I pretty much ran the streets with my friends chasing after girls, thinking this is what a man does, of course, all this was brainwashing; the expectation of the need was only superficial to the flesh. Although I have overcome most of those expectations, it is still a real problem, especially in society today. Whitney states, “Sometimes when we struggle with temptation or anticipate grappling with it, we know that we need extra spiritual strength to overcome it.”
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The best way to combat these temptations is through prayer and spending time in His word to better equip me to keep those temptations from manifesting. When they try to manifest themselves because I know Satan has many ways of attacking. I must be watchful and prayerful because the flesh will try to take over if my spirit is weak. I cannot but keep thinking about the power of prayer, especially in John’s book, as he states, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13, NKJV).
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Guarding Again Blind Spots
The most significant blind spots I have come across that are within me are the sins of lust and pride. Many people have fallen short when they need help understanding their weaknesses and think they know how to handle them. To guard against desire, I would also have to ponder the consequences of actions. I have taken the same precautions. Everything is readily available at your fingertips; if you stride through the internet, it is there, on social media platforms, and now coming across cable TV. I found ways to combat these temptations, such as blocking websites 3
Ibid, 213.
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Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the New King James Version
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with applications that support unwanted advertisements. Also, I have decided to choose what programs to watch, such as programs on Christian base channels and paid subscriptions like PureFlex. I have noticed that I sometimes get offended or argue without listening; I must pay close attention to this because I rise so fast that I do not recognize it until it’s too late. Especially
when someone tries to give me another perspective or I am trying to give someone else the same. This is when my pride kicks in, but one scripture has always stayed in my mind: "let every
man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” (James 1:19)
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. I need to be ready to use this verse on myself when it comes to any discussion that I may object to assist me to be Christlike will help in this battle.
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Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the New King James Version
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