We are all made with a deep desire to be in God's presence and to become our true selves in light of God's grace. Books from IVP Formatio follow the rich tradition of the church in the journey of spiritual formation. For spiritual directors, retreat leaders, and contemplative Christians alike, IVP Formatio titles facilitate deep and formative spiritual growth through spiritual disciplines and tools like the Enneagram.
Read more about Formatio's history and how books can form you spiritually in the article "Spiritual Formation and Books" by IVP vice president and associate publisher Cindy Bunch.
Search related topics: ▶︎ Christian Living ▶︎ Devotional ▶︎ Discipleship ▶︎ Enneagram ▶︎ Inspirational ▶︎ Prayer ▶︎ Spiritual Direction
How do we become both willing and able to do what God asks of us? In this expanded edition of a spiritual formation classic, psychologist and spiritual director David G. Benner explores the transformation of the will in Christian spirituality, examining why our desires are disordered and how we can align our hearts with God's.
James Wilhoit and Evan Howard suggest that the special nature of the Bible invites us to develop special habits of reading. In this step-by-step introduction to lectio divina, you will learn what it means to read your way to intimacy with God.
Each chapter in this workbook by Trevor Hudson is peppered with "holy experiments," simple practices that bring you into God's presence and help you experience life as his beloved. At the end of each chapter is a set of questions which are ideal for discussion with one or two spiritual friends or a small group. A Renovaré Resource.
What is God trying to do through your skin and bones? Spiritual director Tara Owens invites you to listen to your thoughts about your body in a way that draws you closer to God, calling you to explore how your spirituality is intimately tied to your physicality. Your body is not an inconvenience—it is a place where you can meet the Holy in a new way.
In a season of loss and change, Wren Crawford and Katherine Rhodes share the journey as companions in sorrow and hope. In this sequel to Shades of Light and Remember Me, fans of the Sensible Shoes series will not only be able to attend Katherine's final retreat sessions at New Hope but also encounter old and new friends along the way.
In a season of loss and change, Wren Crawford and Katherine Rhodes share the journey as companions in sorrow and hope. This eight-week study guide for Feathers of Hope offers Scripture readings, reflection questions, and visio divina to help you reflect on how the experiences of the characters in the novel resonate with your own experience.
Number of Studies: 8
What is it like to be an Enneagram Five? These forty daily readings from Instagram poet and artist Morgan Harper Nichols reflect on this question with a desire for personal and spiritual growth, using illustrations from both Scripture and life. Each reading concludes with an opportunity for further engagement such as a prayer, a spiritual practice, or a reflection question.
Number of Studies: 40
What is it like to be an Enneagram Four? These forty daily readings from Christine Yi Suh reflect on the emotional lives of Fours with a desire for personal and spiritual growth. Each reading concludes with an opportunity for further engagement such as a journaling prompt, reflection questions, a written prayer, or a spiritual practice.
Number of Studies: 40
What is it like to be an Enneagram Nine? These forty daily readings from Marlena Graves draw wisdom from the deep wells of both counseling and spirituality using illustrations from Scripture and life. Each reading concludes with an opportunity for further engagement such as a journaling prompt, a written prayer, or a spiritual practice.
Number of Studies: 40
Guided by her own life, including experiences with exhaustion and depression, Juanita Rasmus draws from the deep wells of counseling and spirituality to illuminate the journey of a One. She shares the resources that have guided her to greater spiritual and emotional health. Each of these forty daily reading concludes with a journaling prompt, self-affirmation, or spiritual practice.
Number of Studies: 40
What is it like to be an Enneagram Seven? Gideon Tsang shares how his Enneagram journey has led to personal and spiritual transformation in a series of readings that will enlighten readers who want to understand the world of the Seven more fully. Each reading concludes with an opportunity for further engagement such as a journaling prompt, a written prayer, or a spiritual practice.
Number of Studies: 40
What is it like to be an Enneagram Six? Pastor Tara Beth Leach reflects on how she resonates with the experience of fear and anxiety and what it means for her to be a redeemed Six who is allowing Jesus to transform her. Each of these forty daily readings concludes with an opportunity for further engagement such as a prayer, a spiritual practice, or a reflection question.
Number of Studies: 40
What is it like to be an Enneagram Three? These forty daily readings from Sean Palmer draw wisdom from the deep wells of both counseling and spirituality using illustrations from Scripture and life. Each reading concludes with an opportunity for further engagement such as a journaling prompt, a written prayer, or a spiritual practice.
Number of Studies: 40
What is it like to be an Enneagram Two? These forty daily readings from Hunter Mobley are an opportunity to explore both the shadow and the light that radiates from our personality and deeper into the soul that lays within. Each reading concludes with an opportunity for further engagement such as a journaling prompt, reflection questions, a written prayer, or a spiritual practice.
Number of Studies: 40
"Fósforito! The explosion happened so quickly there was no stopping it. My mother called me 'tiny match' when she would see this fire exploding from me." This is how Latina pastor, activist, and worship leader, Sandra Maria Van Opstal, describes her experience as an Enneagram Eight. In these forty daily readings, Sandra offers insight from her ethnic journey alongside Enneagram wisdom.
Number of Studies: 40
God's kingdom is not far away, a remote and future promise. It is here, now. In this deeply joyful book, Anglican priest and retreat director Chris Webb invites us to live in the reality of God's presence in our everyday lives and experience its freedom. Enter into community, fearless honesty, the daily experience of God, and a new life of love and service in the broken world.
How do we hear God's voice? How can we be sure that what we hear is not our own subconscious? What if what God says to us is not clear? In this Signature Collection edition of a beloved classic, bestselling author Dallas Willard offers rich spiritual insight into how we can hear God's voice clearly and develop an intimate partnership with him in the work of his kingdom.
Being close to God means telling him what is on our hearts and understanding what he is saying to us. But how do we hear God? In these daily devotionals Dallas Willard helps us understand how we can know the voice of God and act on it, with daily Scripture readings and suggestions for prayer, journaling and reflection to draw you into God's presence.
James Bryan Smith has found Colossians 3:1-17 to be a rich resource for understanding what it means to have our lives hidden in Christ. Each of the thirty short chapters of this devotional brings out the main truth of just one word or phrase in this rich passage. You'll also find a simple daily practice to take up, reflection questions, and a guide for five weeks of group discussion.
Drawing from his own experience leading worship in a large congregation and feeling the pull of performance, Manuel Luz guides us on a journey through worship that takes us far beyond style and deep into our own souls. With spiritual practices throughout, he calls us back to an honest worship that moves past facades and pulls us inward toward the true self that God is forming within each of us.
How do we help our kids connect with God and experience his presence? Jared Patrick Boyd has discovered that children's spiritual formation is rooted in the imagination. This unique resource helps us guide our children through weekly sessions of imaginative prayer, providing a yearlong experience of spiritual formation.
M. Robert Mulholland Jr. fleshes out a carefully worded definition of spiritual formation that encompasses the dynamics of a vital Christian life and counters our culture's tendency to trivialize, methodize and privatize spirituality. Now revised and expanded by Ruth Haley Barton with a new foreword, practices and study guide.
When we choose retreat we make a generous investment in our friendship with Christ. Seasoned spiritual director Ruth Haley Barton gently and eloquently leads us into an exploration of retreat as a key practice that opens us to God, guiding us through seven invitations to retreat. You will discover how to say yes to God's winsome invitation to greater freedom and surrender.
Much of our faith and practice is about words—preaching, teaching, talking with others. Yet all of these words are not enough to take us into the real presence of God. This book is an invitation to meet God deeply and fully through solitude and silence. This expanded edition includes a guide for groups to use for both discussion and practice.
God's invitations to rest, follow, remember or repent may seem less compelling than your to-do list. But Adele Calhoun believes invitations like these can heal, restore and shape where we go, what we do and who we become. Here she includes reflection questions, exercises and disciplines to help you attend to the quiet voice of the Great Inviter.