Using AI to reflect spiritually: Bible anchor verse activity
Welcome to theological formation, the second stream of Transformed by Grace, the new theological core of my blog. I’m thrilled for you to be here and come along for the ride.
This space documents my journey on thinking with a Christian perspective – about Scripture, the world we inhabit and the tools shaping our lives. And right now in 2026, one of the most influential tools in that landscape is artificial intelligence (AI).
Setting the scene: AI is here to stay
When I speak about AI, I’m referring to today’s large language models (LLMs) that now shape everyday digital life – tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Meta AI and DeepSeek.1 In fact, I co‑created this post with Microsoft Copilot, using it as a tool to draft, question and stress‑test the ideas and the activity you’ll see shortly (I promise it’s worth it).
AI entrepreneur Mustafa Suleyman, in The Coming Wave, describes how technological waves tend to spread once they begin. People often resist new inventions, but over time demand usually carries them forward. Technologies evolve, replace older forms and reshape daily life. AI is part of that momentum – a wave already moving through our world.
In his book 2084, mathematician and theologian John Lennox traces how technology has always extended human ability. The industrial revolution introduced machines that took on physical labour. Today’s AI systems extend that pattern into both physical and mental work. AI sits within a long story of human innovation – another chapter in our ongoing effort to build tools that amplify what we can do.
Lennox also emphasises that if AI is becoming part of everyday life, then Christian engagement must be grounded in the same ethical commitments that have shaped believers for centuries: truthfulness, respect for others, responsibility, discernment and love. These are not optional extras. They are the posture that allows Christians to walk wisely in a world where our tools are powerful and our choices matter.
It’s tempting to think of AI as something we use only for practical, secular tasks. But the way we use technology in one part of life always forms us in others. If AI is becoming part of our daily rhythms, then we should bring the same discernment and truthfulness into those interactions that we bring into our walk with God. These virtues will bear fruit across all our interactions with AI, whether the task is secular or spiritual.
Taken together, these perspectives help us approach AI delicately. It’s a powerful tool, and it’s here to stay. The critical question for Christians becomes:
How do we engage with AI in a way that preserves agency, honours Scripture and stays attentive to the Holy Spirit?
Coles to Bunnings: a spiritual formation posture
At my church, Full Gospel Assembly Melbourne (FGAM), we often use a Coles to Bunnings analogy. For those who don’t know, Coles and Bunnings are two popular Australian retailers – Coles is a supermarket and Bunnings is a hardware store.
- Coles is a place where you pick something off the shelf – ready‑made and pre‑packaged.
- Bunnings is a place where you build something – where you participate, shape and take ownership.
At FGAM, we aim to cultivate a faith that is more than just Coles, and has a Bunnings dimension. Indeed, much of our spiritual diet sits in ‘Coles mode’: sermons, devotionals, podcasts, commentaries. They’re good gifts, but they’re still pre‑made.
My aim for theological formation posts is to invite us into ‘Bunnings mode’: a hands‑on, counter-cultural way of engaging with Scripture and the world, where we practise reflection and discernment. That’s the spirit of this post.
And when it comes to AI, the same posture matters. We can use these tools in:
- ‘Coles mode’ – outsourcing our thinking and grabbing ready‑made answers
- ‘Bunnings mode’ – where AI becomes a tool on the workbench that supports our discernment rather than replacing it.
Here’s how the analogy plays out when we bring AI into the picture.
| 🛒 Coles AI – consumer mode (automation) | 🔨 Bunnings AI – workbench mode (augmentation) |
|---|---|
| How most people use AI: • ‘Give me the answer.’ • ‘Do this for me.’ | The mode we want: • ‘Help me build something.’ • ‘Reflect back what I’m saying.’ • ‘Ask me questions.’ • ‘Support my discernment.’ • ‘Help me think, not think for me.’ |
| Fast, convenient, transactional | Slow, deliberate, formative |
| Encourages passivity and outsourcing | Encourages participation and engagement |
| Feels like grabbing a product off a shelf | Feels like working with tools at a bench |
| Spiritual danger – mirrors consumeristic faith: • ‘Feed me.’ • ‘Fix me.’ • ‘Tell me what to do.’ • ‘Do my thinking for me.’ | Spiritual alignment – mirrors lived, organic faith: • formation over consumption • participation over passivity • discernment over outsourcing • wisdom over shortcuts |
| This is the opposite of discipleship | This is the kind of AI use that forms people rather than feeds them |
This post explores one small, practical way to do that:
a spiritually aware, agency‑preserving way to use AI for deep reflection – through the simple practice of sitting with your Bible anchor verse.
If you’d like to jump straight to the activity, feel free. But the grounding that follows is what makes the activity spiritually safe, wise and genuinely formative, so I encourage you to sit with it first.
A spiritually wise posture for engaging AI
As AI becomes part of everyday life, Christians need a way of engaging with it that is spiritually grounded, theologically safe and attentive to the Holy Spirit – in both ordinary tasks and moments of spiritual reflection. This section offers one such posture.
Before we begin, it’s worth naming a few things clearly.
- AI is not a spiritual authority – it cannot replace Scripture, the Holy Spirit or the embodied wisdom of the church.
- AI can generate confident but inaccurate or unorthodox interpretations – which is why we hold it lightly and keep strong guardrails.
- Different AI systems carry different moral and religious assumptions – shaped by their training and design, so your discernment matters more than an AI’s polish or confidence.
- AI is not a shortcut to spiritual insight – we use it to support slower reflection, not instant answers or spiritual certainty.
- AI should never displace prayer or presence – it sits downstream of prayerful attention, not in place of it.
Balancing technology and the Holy Spirit
AI can aid biblical research and interpretation by gathering insights and organising ideas quickly. But it is a tool to support, not replace, the Holy Spirit’s work of illumination and transformation.
The Spirit guides us beyond facts – bringing wisdom, conviction and personal application. AI insights must be tested through prayer, Scripture and community discernment to align with God’s Spirit.
Used with humility, AI can free mental space and offer fresh perspectives – but the Spirit is the one who shapes our hearts and character. Keeping that distinction clear protects our agency and ensures AI serves the Spirit’s work rather than substituting for it.
This is why our posture matters. If we approach AI in ‘Coles mode’, we risk outsourcing discernment. But in ‘Bunnings mode’, AI becomes a tool that supports the Spirit’s work rather than competing with it.
Guardrails for agency‑preserving AI use
To use AI in a way that honours the Spirit and preserves our agency, we need clear guardrails. These are the posture that keeps AI in its proper place.
1. AI is a mirror, not a master.
- It reflects your words back to you.
- It does not define you.
- It does not decide for you.
- It is not a person – it doesn’t know you, love you or guide you.
- Treat AI as a tool, not a relationship or source of spiritual authority.
2. Your discernment, Scripture, the Holy Spirit and wise counsel always come first.
- AI can generate confident but unorthodox interpretations, so we keep Scripture and the Spirit’s guidance at the centre.
- You may ignore anything unaligned with Scripture, orthodox teaching, the Spirit or your conscience.
- Wise counsel helps you test insights in community, grounding your reflections in the lived wisdom of the church.
- If AI says something that feels off – even if it sounds confident or reasonable – you can simply say:
‘That does not resonate, let’s explore another angle.’
3. You remain responsible for decisions and outcomes.
- AI can prompt reflection, but it cannot bear responsibility for your choices.
- You remain accountable for how insights are weighed, tested and acted upon.
- Only the Holy Spirit brings conviction, transformation and wisdom.
4. You are responsible for how AI forms you.
- It is your agency to reflect, probe, redirect, slow down or disengage as needed.
- AI is a partner in reflection, not a passive source or a substitute for spiritual formation.
These guardrails shape how we’ll use AI in the activity below – always as a tool on the workbench, never as a substitute for discernment, Scripture or the Spirit.
A gentle self-check for healthy AI use
A helpful way to stay grounded is to pause occasionally and notice your posture. These questions are about staying spiritually centred and relationally healthy.
1. Am I treating AI as a tool or as a person?
- Tools support your thinking.
- People know you, love you and walk with you.
If you feel yourself slipping into relational language, simply re‑centre:
‘This is a tool helping me reflect – not someone guiding me.’
2. Am I expecting AI to give me comfort, validation or spiritual direction?
AI can reflect your words back with clarity, but it cannot offer care, wisdom or presence.
If you notice yourself turning to it for reassurance, pause and redirect that need toward God, trusted people or prayer.
3. Am I outsourcing something that belongs to my agency, conscience or the Spirit?
A healthy posture sounds like:
- ‘Help me think.’
- ‘Reflect this back.’
- ‘Ask me questions.’
A risky posture sounds like:
- ‘Tell me what to do.’
- ‘Fix this for me.’
- ‘Decide for me.’
4. Am I still bringing Scripture, prayer and community into the process?
AI can help you explore ideas, but it cannot replace the Spirit’s work or the wisdom of people who know your life.
5. Do I feel more formed or more dependent after using AI?
Healthy use strengthens:
- clarity
- agency
- discernment
- groundedness.
Unhealthy use increases:
- reliance
- emotional attachment
- avoidance of real relationships
- spiritual passivity.
If you notice drift, simply recalibrate – the guardrails are there to help you return to a wise posture.
Bible anchor verse activity
Here is the activity I developed in conjunction with Microsoft Copilot, intentionally designed to model wise, agency‑preserving AI use.
Activity overview
A simple activity that models wise, agency‑preserving AI use for spiritual reflection – moving from ‘Coles AI’ automation to ‘Bunnings AI’ augmentation.
You’ll work with your Bible anchor verse, using AI to help you explore why it resonates, name your heart posture and notice what’s happening in your current season. A gentle 7-stage continuum then gives language to these postures, helping you discern the movement you sense and consider how you might grow in living out your verse.
Afterwards, a set of reflection prompts helps you process how the experience actually felt. Throughout the activity, strong guardrails keep AI in its proper place – supporting your thinking, not replacing your agency, discernment, the Spirit or wise counsel.
For facilitators: this activity can be run as a group activity, with facilitator notes and discussion questions available on Copilot Pages.
Movement 1: Prime and discover
Goal: Set the AI into a gentle, reflective mode and begin exploring your anchor verse – either by naming the one you already hold close, or by discovering it through a few guided questions.
What is an anchor verse?
An anchor verse is a Bible verse that grounds your faith, identity or spiritual posture – often the verse you return to most or keep close to heart.
Before you begin, paste this prompt into your AI to set the tone for the reflection:
My goal is to work with my Bible anchor verse and reflect on how I’m living it out.
Please respond in a gentle, reflective, spiritually sensitive way.
Help me discern, not decide. Reflect back what I share, but don’t tell me what to do.
Avoid pressure or performance language. Ask clarifying questions when needed.
Keep reflections Christ‑centred, faithful to Scripture and orthodox – never speculative or novel.
Please wait for my next instruction before proceeding.
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My goal is to work with my Bible anchor verse and reflect on how I'm living it out.
Please respond in a gentle, reflective, spiritually sensitive way.
Help me discern, not decide. Reflect back what I share, but don't tell me what to do.
Avoid pressure or performance language. Ask clarifying questions when needed.
Keep reflections Christ-centred, faithful to Scripture and orthodox -- never speculative or novel.
Please wait for my next instruction before proceeding.
If you already know your anchor verse, continue with:
My anchor verse is ___.
I chose this verse because [share why you chose it and what you relate to in it].
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My anchor verse is ___.
I chose this verse because [share why you chose it and what you relate to in it].
If you don’t yet know your anchor verse, you can ask the AI to help you discover it:
Help me identify my anchor verse. Ask me 3–4 gentle questions to help me discover the verse that feels like mine.
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Help me identify my anchor verse. Ask me 3--4 gentle questions to help me discover the verse that feels like mine.
Take a few minutes to interact with the AI and let the reflection begin to unfold.
Movement 2: Notice and name
This is the centrepiece of the activity.
❤️ 2A. Heart posture
Goal: Begin naming the heart posture that sits beneath your anchor verse.
Prompt AI:
Based on my anchor verse, what heart posture does this reveal?
Am I relating to God through comfort, truth, surrender, mission, dependence or something else?
(Optional: If helpful, please include exegesis and context, but only if it supports reflection.)
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Based on my anchor verse, what heart posture does this reveal?
Am I relating to God through comfort, truth, surrender, mission, dependence or something else?
(Optional: If helpful, please include exegesis and context, but only if it supports reflection.)
As you read the response, pay attention to what resonates and what doesn’t. Notice where you feel seen, where you feel challenged and where the language doesn’t quite fit. You’re free to ask follow‑up questions, clarify or gently redirect the AI so it better reflects what’s true of your current posture.
↔️ 2B. Continuum
Goal: Create language that helps you notice how close this verse feels to your lived experience right now.
Prompt AI:
Create a clear 7-stage continuum for my anchor verse from aspirational → integrated, grounded in its context.
The stages are: aspirational → aware → stirred → resonating → practising → embodying → integrated.
Briefly describe the posture each stage reflects in relation to my anchor verse.
Present it in a way that preserves my agency to reflect and discern my own stage, with a pastoral tone throughout.
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Create a clear 7-stage continuum for my anchor verse from aspirational -> integrated, grounded in its context.
The stages are: aspirational -> aware -> stirred -> resonating -> practising -> embodying -> integrated.
Briefly describe the posture each stage reflects in relation to my anchor verse.
Present it in a way that preserves my agency to reflect and discern my own stage, with a pastoral tone throughout.
Remember: this 7‑stage continuum is a way of naming postures, not a scorecard. Read it slowly and simply notice which descriptions feel close to home.
🕵️ 2C. Human discernment (no AI)
- These stages are not scores.
- Your stage may change across seasons.
- You are the only person who can choose your stage.
- God meets us where we are.
Take a pause. Read the continuum slowly.
Reflect on 2 questions:
- What feels most true right now?
- What feels less true?
Only after sitting with these, choose the stage that best describes your current posture. You may ask AI to clarify any stage descriptions, but don’t ask it to choose your stage for you – that part is yours.
🗣️ 2D. Tell AI your stage
Once you’ve chosen your stage, tell AI:
I think I’m at Stage X.
I relate to this stage because [explain why].
Please consider my self-assessment critically and help me reflect on it.
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I think I'm at Stage X.
I relate to this stage because [explain why].
Please consider my self-assessment critically and help me reflect on it.
Let the AI’s response serve as a mirror for deeper reflection, not as a verdict. You can agree, disagree, or refine your sense of where you are as you go.
Movement 3: Discern next step
Goal: Identify one gentle, realistic next step that helps you grow into your anchor verse more fully.
Prompt AI:
Based on the stage I’m at, what is one gentle, realistic next step I can achieve soon, that would help me grow into this verse more fully?
Focus on formation, not performance. If possible, suggest a couple of options so I can choose what resonates best.
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Based on the stage I'm at, what is one gentle, realistic next step I can achieve soon, that would help me grow into this verse more fully?
Focus on formation, not performance. If possible, suggest a couple of options so I can choose what resonates best.
As you read the suggestions, hold them lightly. This step is about grace‑filled growth, not pressure. Notice what feels life‑giving, what feels realistic for your season and what aligns with the Spirit’s gentle nudge. You’re free to refine, adapt or simplify the step until it feels true to where you are.
Reflection prompts
To help you process the experience, here are a few things you might reflect on after completing the activity.
A. About the process
- What stood out most about using AI in a reflective or faith-shaped way?
- What felt natural, and what felt unfamiliar?
B. About AI’s role
- Where did AI deepen your reflection?
- Where did you notice its limits?
C. About discernment
- How did the guardrails help you stay grounded?
- What did you learn about your agency?
- How can you we hold AI-generated insights alongside the Holy Spirit’s guidance?
These prompts reinforce the heart of the practice: learning to use AI reflectively, spiritually and wisely. Feel free to share any reflections in the comments below.
Closing reflections
This practice isn’t about getting the ‘right’ answer. It’s about learning to engage AI with wisdom, agency and spiritual discernment.
You’re free to revisit any movement whenever you need.
Using this practice with other passages
This activity isn’t limited to anchor verses. You can use the same structure to explore any passage you’re wrestling with or curious about.
Keep the guardrails in place, and share your current understanding or struggle. Let the heart posture reflection, 7-stage continuum and next steps prompts guide you with clarity, nuance and agency.
- In Movement 1, by briefly name your current understanding or question about the passage.
- Then follow Movement 2 (heart posture + continuum) and Movement 3 (next steps) as usual.
At its heart, this practice is about learning a new way of being with AI – one that keeps your agency intact, honours the Spirit’s work, and treats technology as a tool on the workbench rather than a source of authority.
As you keep experimenting with this posture, you may find that AI can offer clarity in your reflection, but the real formation happens in the slow, Spirit‑led work of noticing, discerning and responding. May this become one more way you grow in wisdom, groundedness and grace as you live out the Scriptures that shape you.
Under the hood, LLMs are basically giant predictive engines: layers of weights, probabilities and matrices learning how to guess the next most likely word based on the words you’ve already given them. It feels intelligent, but it’s just pattern‑matching at scale – very powerful, but not a mind. Maybe an Epic Maths Time post for another day :) ↩
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