The Leader’s Pathway – A Vital Walk with God

A leader’s greatest gift: A fully yielded heart

Sometimes we find it difficult to maintain a close, consistent, vital walk with Jesus Christ. We feel ashamed of ourselves when we hear of others practicing solitude, fasting, prayer, journaling, and other spiritual disciplines… things we have not been doing for a while. We feel inadequate and wonder why we can’t establish and sustain vital walk with Christ.

Maybe all this is because we’ve never discovered our spiritual pathway – our unique means of moving toward vital union with Christ. We’re all different, special, unique. We grow in our walk with God in different ways. Just as different people have different personalities and gifts, so they have different spiritual pathways.
Here are some examples:

1. The Relational Pathway

Have you ever noticed how difficult it is for some people to flourish in their walk with Christ when they do it alone?
For these people, it feels like solitary confinement. It feels suffocating. It’s frustrating. Doing Bible study alone produces little growth. Sitting alone at a worship service is intimidating, and serving alone is a fate worse than death. People who connect best with God on the relational pathway feel a sense of spiritual dullness when they try to walk with God alone.

But bring relationships into their life, and see what happens! They begin to thrive spiritually. When they pray with others, they feel the presence of God physically. When they study the Bible with other followers, they learn so much and come away on fire for God. When they work together with others in church, they find great joy. When they praise God with other believers, worship is extremely meaningful.

For these people, the relational pathway is their primary pathway to God. Most people fit into this profile, because we’re all made to be part of a community, to build each other up and support one another through all situations.

2. The Intellectual Pathway

For people who fall under this category, they find that their minds must be fully engaged before they can make significant spiritual progress. They can’t have their devotions without commentaries and study guides. They are drawn to bible classes, seminars and events that will challenge their thinking.

Why? Because they realize that their hearts will never fully engage until their minds are filled with the truth!

For them, once their minds are fully convinced, their hearts follow, and their convictions become rock solid. And when they don’t keep their minds challenged, they will probably dry up spiritually. They feel the need to read theology, philosophy, history…all kinds of books to keep their soul satisfied.

If you have an intellectual orientation, start developing a spiritual formation plan that focuses on the development of your mind. Love God with all your mind and watch what happens in your walk with Him.

3. The Serving Pathway

Some of us can’t seem to grow in our walk with God or feel consistently close to Him unless we’re quietly and constantly doing His kingdom work. These people are the doers.

Of course, they read their Bibles, pray and attend church services like the rest of us. But ask them when they feel most alive in Christ, and they’ll say, ‘when I’m serving, when I’m volunteering in ministry, when I’m helping to accomplish the work of God.’

If you’re someone who feels closest to God when you’re doing something for Him, then work toward the serving pathway. Put together a spiritual formation plan that focuses on serving, and your awareness of God’s presence will increase.

4. The Contemplative Pathway

Some people don’t like to be busy. They are easily drained by relationships and activities, but they can spend almost unlimited time in solitude, basking in God’s presence. Offer them a Bible, a literary work, a poem and a journal, and they can disappear for days.

For them, simply being alone with God is enough. They love spending hours reflecting on the goodness of God, praying and worshipping privately. They are spiritually sensitive, and can discern the activity of God wherever they are.

These people take things seriously. They see beauty in nature, and often serve as the conscience of the faith community, calling the rest of us to ministries of compassion and inclusiveness. Often idealistic, they reflect on the many people suffering in the world, and wonder why so few care. They help us focus on what kingdom life is supposed to be like.

Contemplatives tend to have rich inner worlds; they’re the ones who compose the songs of write the books that stir our hearts and provoke our thoughts about God.

5. The Activist Pathway

Activists are the opposite of contemplatives. They are at their best when they’re speeding ahead, reveling in a highly challenging environment that pushes them to the absolute edge of their potential. It’s at the edge that they feel closest to God.

Many activists have received a calling from God, burst out of their comfort zones, and ran full speed from the day God spoke to them until the day they died. Along the way, they ignited all sorts of kingdom activity.

These people normally feel closest to God when they have given Him every last drop of their emotional, physical, mental and spiritual potential for a worthy kingdom cause.

If you’re an activist, accept it. Lean into your pathway. Accept that this is the way God has made you, and devote your energy to His work.

6. The Creation Pathway

These people grow best and relate to God most closely when they’re surrounded by nature. It’s just something about mountains, deserts, woods, oceans or beaches that show them a glimpse of God’s beautiful creation, and His mighty hand at work in the world.

Being in a natural environment increases their awareness of God, and they often draw direct spiritual meaning from nature. This isn’t surprising, considering that God created human beings and put them in a garden. These people are heading back to their roots.

7. The Worship Pathway

These people feel closest to God when they’re worshipping Him. Whole-heartedly and completely. It doesn’t matter if they’re worshipping in a church service, or in a small group, or singing along to CDs in their car… they feel most fully alive when they worship God.

Now that you have some ideas about spiritual pathways…

Firstly, identify your pathway. (It is possible to have more than one pathway, and this list isn’t exhaustive. Also, resist the temptation to compare your pathway with others’. Everyone is made different, and there is uniqueness in that difference.)

Secondly, lean into your pathway. Experiment with it. Try it on and see how your walk grows.

Third, appreciate all pathways. Experiment once in a while with various pathways, even though certain ones may be a stretch for you. Because they ALL offer an opportunity for growth.

Finally, help others identify their pathways.

DEtribe Blog Team