Being With God...While Letting Him Be God (Part 4)

God's transcendence was even more pervasive in the mindset of ancient church leaders, than those writers and thinkers driving the spiritual formation movement.

Since Jesus' day, those who encouraged a deepening devotional life, a rich prayer life, a life centered on being with God, have 

leaned on and worshiped God as transcendent and immanent. 

(see Being With God...While Letting Him Be God: Part 2)

Their understanding of God's transcendence shaped their prayer life, and so their beliefs of His closeness.  

Being With God...While Letting Him Be God (Part 3)

We can actually 

relate to God 

and 

be with God 

because of 

His beyond-us-ness. 

(see Being With God...While Letting Him Be God: Part 2)

It is the characteristics of God which are inaccessible and un-relatable that actually enable and fuel His desire to relate to us. 

Being With God...While Letting Him Be God (Part 2)

The Spiritual Formation movement, has emphasized the immanence of God:

a.k.a. being with God. 

Immanence is God's closeness, the truth and experience that He is always with us 


(see "Being with God...While Letting Him Be God: Part 1).
The practice of being with God is drawn from the major figures in Church history who communed with God in practical, everyday ways. These ancient sources of spiritual reform have been tapped into by the modern spiritual formation movement. 

The movement's goal is to see and experience God in the everyday, for Him to be relevant in daily activities.