The Best Question Ever, and Other Spiritual Wisdom with Howard Baker - Deeper Experiences with God - Episode 16

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Jan 7, 2026

Howard Baker, a Professor Emeritus of Christian Spiritual Formation and seasoned spiritual director, shares profound insights on spiritual growth. He challenges listeners with the pivotal question: Is Jesus enough? The conversation explores the stages of spiritual growth, emphasizing that confusion and dryness are signs of deeper formation. Baker contrasts companionship with God and union in God, while using compelling metaphors, like the canal versus reservoir, to illustrate inner fullness. Guided reflections encourage embracing God’s love for true spiritual transformation.

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ANECDOTE

A Preview Day That Changed A Life

Dave Ripper describes meeting Howard at a Denver Seminary preview day which drew him to enroll.
That hospitable encounter shaped Dave's seminary decision and long ministry relationship.

INSIGHT

Belovedness Transforms Performance

Experiencing belovedness is pivotal to spiritual life, not merely performance.
Howard Baker says Jesus called him friend and rebuilt him from a workaholic posture.

INSIGHT

Is Jesus Enough?

If Jesus is not enough, we will quickly find idols or substitute satisfactions.
Howard Baker warns that service can compete with devotion when it provides our sense of enoughness.

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Is Jesus enough? This week’s guest challenges us to ask this simple but powerful question. In this special live episode of 'Deeper Experiences with God,' recorded at Denver Seminary's Spiritual Formation in the Local Church event, host Dave Ripper interviews Dr. Howard Baker– renowned spiritual director and Professor Emeritas of Christian Spiritual Formation. They discuss Dr. Baker’s invaluable influence, the profound stages of spiritual growth, and the journey from a “without God” life to a “with God' life. Through rich storytelling, practical wisdom, and guided spiritual exercises, this dialogue offers deep insights into living a more fully integrated life with God.

Takeaways:

Stages of Growth Are Normal—and Necessary: Dr. Baker reminds us that spiritual growth unfolds in stages, each with its own gifts and challenges. Confusion, dryness, or disorientation are not failures; they are often signs of deeper formation at work.
- Action: Ask yourself: “What season of growth might I be in right now?” and resist the urge to rush past it.
The Core Question of Spiritual Formation: Is Jesus Enough? Dr. Baker continually returns to the foundational question beneath all spiritual growth: Is Jesus enough for us? Many of our struggles arise when we seek fulfillment, security, or identity apart from Him.
- Action: Spend time this week asking God honestly where you may be looking for “enough” outside of Christ.
Growth Is a Journey from “Without God” to “With God”: Spiritual formation is not about becoming more religious, but about learning to live all of life with God. Dr. Baker describes this as a gradual process from the “without God” life, to the “about God” life, to the “for God” life, to the “with God” life.
- Action: Which of these stages do you feel most accurately describes where you are at with God right now?
Move Formation from Ideas to Practices: Transformation happens when truth is practiced consistently, not merely understood. Small, repeated actions shape us over time.
- Action: Commit to one simple practice (silence, examen, breath prayer) for five minutes a day over the next week to start your new year

Quote of the Show:

“ The journey hardly begins until we are experiencing our own belovedness ” - Howard Baker

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