What's your Spiritual Temperament?
To experience a fulfilling life of prayer and faith, it’s essential to understand how we connect most deeply with God. In a recent Limitless Leaders podcast, Sarah Whittleston and Tim Alford delved into the fascinating concept of ‘spiritual temperaments’ to help uncover this.
Be honest – have you ever found prayer difficult? Has it ever felt like it just won’t flow or that you’re struggling to pray in the setting you’re in? Do you ever fight to concentrate while you’re reading or studying the Bible?
Could this be because you’re trying to pray or engage with God in a way that doesn’t fit the personality he has given you?
These are questions Sarah Whittleston and Tim Alford asked in a recent Limitless leaders podcast which focused on the role different spiritual temperaments play in our prayer lives.
“I was given a book called Sacred Temperaments by Gary Thomas,” says Sarah. “In it, he started to unpack this idea of spiritual temperaments. The idea is that we’re created differently, so why are we trying to squeeze ourselves into one way of connecting with God?
“His invitation was to discover how we’re made. Once we figure that out it’s up to us to take ownership and be responsible for how we connect with God.”
Understanding our spiritual temperaments can help with those times when we feel our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling or when we’re trying to copy others who seem close to God and we end up feeling guilty or ashamed when our efforts don’t have the same result.
So here we bring you the nine temperaments Sarah and Tim discussed and explain how each personality type best connects with God. You’re likely to be a mix of a few. Read on to discover which best describe you.
1. THE ACTIVIST
You love to connect with God… through justice and action
What helps you?
A person with an activist temperament feels close to God when they’re standing up for justice, confronting social evils like human trafficking or fighting spiritual battles.
They’re often the person who can’t handle seeing an issue and not doing something about it. They raise questions, provoke, demand a response and galvanise others into action.
Your prayer life is connected to this too – an issue of social justice you notice might become the catalyst for how you pray and connect with Jesus. The idea of social justice and personal holiness are often linked for you too.
Sarah says: “Activists can come from a place of saying, ‘I want to be with Jesus in the battle, I want to be someone who can speak with authority and integrity around justice issues.’ In terms of the Bible, Isaiah and Micah are really great books that can be catalysts as you pray.”
2. THE AESTHETIC
You love to connect with God… in solitude and simplicity
What helps you?
Aesthetics love to meet God on their own and feel closest to him in solitude and uncluttered spaces. You like living a simple life. Possessions aren’t necessarily high on your agenda.
Aestheticism is often connected to monastic communities; giving up ownership of things and separating yourself to meet with God.
In our busy, active lives the idea of a retreat or shutting out the world to pray, fast, read the Bible or meet quietly with God in an uncluttered space can be very attractive!
Sarah says: “I would encourage you to find time to be on your own and to be in spaces that are really simple. We are often with people, and community is important, but if we’re not finding ways to feed our own souls we won’t have as much to give out from.”
3. THE CAREGIVER
You love to connect with God… by loving others
What helps you?
You feel energised and close to God when you’re ministering to people in need – emotionally, physically, if they are sick, suffering or grieving. You do this because of your love for Jesus and it’s natural for you to think outwards towards others. Caregivers need to be protective of themselves, however, and avoid giving out to others to the detriment of their own souls.
Sarah says: “For caregivers who are often thinking of others, use that same lens and turn it back on yourself. Ask – how am I caring for my own relationship with Jesus? How am I receiving his compassion?”
4. THE CONTEMPLATIVE
You love to connect with God… through adoration and contemplation
What helps you?
Contemplatives love adoration, meditation, solitary prayer time and spending time in God’s presence. It’s all about intimacy and reflecting on his love.
You are thoughtful and reflective in your time with God, so you might find creative activities like journaling or art helpful.
Your ideal is uninterrupted time with Jesus where distractions are put away and you spend time writing, journaling or simply allowing your heart, body and mind to catch up with each other. Sarah says: “For contemplatives it’s about loving God through adoration and meditation. Often tools like Lectio Divina or Visio Devina will appeal, or using art to connect with God because you’re gazing on something beautiful and inviting the Spirit to speak to you. It’s about this uninterrupted time to just dwell, be and wait.”
5. THE ENTHUSIAST
You love to connect with God… with celebration and creativity
What helps you?
As an enthusiast you love praising God and connecting with him. Celebrating him is your love language. You love to praise, to bubble over with joy, and this can involve using your whole body to revel in the supernatural power of God.
It can also involve creative forms of worship. Whether you’re loud or quiet, you find ways to unleash mystery, celebration and deep worship in your prayer life.
Sarah says: “You can incorporate creativity in your life of prayer. I do that all the time, whether that’s writing something, creating something, making something. I often use my body in worship and prayer too – when I’m cooking I’ll maybe have a praise song on and be dancing around the kitchen!”
6. THE INTELLECTUAL
You love to connect with God… with your mind and understanding
What helps you?
You love to read the Bible and work out details because you meet with God in your mind. Maybe theology feels exciting to you, or learning about God as you read, study, listen to a podcast or have conversations.
You love concepts and ideas and to come out of your time with Jesus feeling like your mind has been engaged. You might talk about ‘grappling with’, ‘digging deep’ or ‘understanding’. Ideas and concepts inspire you and become your catalyst for engaging with God.
Sarah says: “If you’re an intellectual, maybe find some descriptions of Jesus or God’s character and attributes and let that be a catalyst for you to discover more of who God is and who you are through prayer. Or get yourself into a book club or a shared YouVersion plan.”
7. THE NATURALIST
You love to connect with God… in nature and the outdoors
What helps you?
You might struggle to sit still and read the Bible, but an outdoor walk listening to an audio version might be the perfect way for you to connect with God.
Being outdoors – in nature, looking at buildings and architecture, in a city centre or a local park – inspires you. It also helps create moments throughout your day that show God is with you at all times.
Sarah says: “We had a colleague at church years ago. When we’d been in the office for a few hours you could see him bouncing off the walls. When this happened, we’d suggest he go to the park and have a walk with Jesus. He’d come back having really met with God.”
8. THE SENSATE
You love to connect with God… through your five senses
What helps you?
As a sensate, you will love learning about and connecting with God through more experiential aspects of faith because they make him feel more real. You might prefer creative activities and prayer spaces.
Imaginative practices can also bring the Bible alive to you: as you’re reading or listening to a story, imagine where you’re sitting, what you can smell, where you are in the crowd and who you can see.
Sarah says: “I’m a sensate – just give me a creative prayer space, fairy lights, good coffee, a playlist of praise and worship songs or even just beautiful instrumental music! Being able to journal or touch something too – I love all that stuff. It really helps me connect with God and come alive to the wonder and majesty of him.”
9. THE TRADITIONALIST
You love to connect with God… through ritual and symbol
What helps you?
Ceremonies, written and responsive prayers like the Lord’s Prayer, liturgy – all these help you connect with God. The symbolism of a stained glass window in a beautiful building or the daily, weekly or annual markers of the Christian calendar help you create a rhythm of prayer.
Sarah says: “There’s this idea of participating in spiritual practices that often involve symbols or written words. You love, for example, the idea of praying a prayer someone wrote thousands of years ago and that you are now adding your voice and your prayer to that flow.”
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.