Spiritual Formation – Page 2 – LOVE | ACCEPT

Radical Strength from the Discipline of Solitude

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” (Mt 4:1-3)

Dallas Willard reminds us that “solitude is the most radical of the disciplines for life in the spirit.” Until we have developed the discipline of seeking out solitude we cannot know the full presence of God unfettered by the myriad distractions of life. We pray and our thoughts wander to the other things on our desk or the sound of the neighbor’s dog barking. We worship but break the communion with the spirit by focusing instead on the bright shirt worn by the man three rows ahead. Submission is weakened by ego and meditation interrupted by scattered thought. The Christian who separates herself into the desert finds herself distanced from these enemies of discipline and completely open to the descending presence of the Lord.

The benefits of solitude extend to our other spiritual disciplines. The account of Christ entering the desert to be tempted is often read quickly to get to the temptations but this does a disservice to the text. We take note of the fact that Jesus seeks out the solitude for forty days before being tempted. He immerses Himself in the full presence of his Father and the Spirit to build the strength necessary to face the tempter. He fasts, removing all external influence so that he is single-mindedly prepared to face whatever will come. We can learn from this to build our own spiritual muscle. In solitude we know nothing and no one other than God. He becomes our sole center without any opportunity for distraction.

Our desire for solitude will be misinterpreted by others. Our friends and loved ones will want to know why we seek to be apart from them but we must be diligent in pursuing our life of discipline. Ultimately, the Father deals with each of us individually and corporately but we are not free to substitute one for the other. We must be willing to walk away into the desert leaving companionship and distraction engendered by those who surround us even though they have our best interests at heart.

Grace and peace to you..

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Seeking Solitude

“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community….Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. . . .Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together

Christians tend to think of solitude in spatial terms, as a place where one can be alone. The spiritual discipline of solitude approaches it as an attitude, as a state of mind. As we apprehend inward solitude we dispense with the normal fear of being alone because we know that we are not alone. We are in the presence of our Savior and as we are quieted our hearing is enhanced. We seek solitude as our Lord did to hear the quiet voice of the Father in the breezes that swirl around us.

Modern culture is especially hostile to solitude. Not only are we bombarded everywhere at every moment with dozens of noise and distractions, our constant connectivity has made us ever more reliant upon our ability to communicate with words. We struggle with silence, Foster reminds us, because it strips us of the power of our words. Without our words we feel out of control and as though we are unable to justify ourselves.

One of the primary fruits of seeking solitude is that we will become free to let God be our justifier. Stripped of our feeble language we must trust in the God who is our rock, our defender and redeemer. We start with small steps seeking out little moments of peace in which we deliberately commune with God. We learn to trust the silence and let go of our need for words. A place of solitude can be sought out to not only be quiet, but to place ourselves far from others as our lifeline recedes in the distance. Alone in the silence, we have no way to hide among the rocks and can truly be confronted by God.

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In the School of Prayer Day 31 – Pray Without Ceasing

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Th 5:16–18)

And with this, our schooling is over. The Teacher has led us from infancy to adulthood in our practice of prayer and now sends us, diploma in heart, out into the world to minister in His name. We recognize that prayer is more than just petitioning for our needs and wants, it is our connection to the source of life that guides our move each day. Our communion with our Lord directs our prayer (and therefore our life) into alignment with His will. We the saints submit our plans to His.

Prayer for us is more than a quickly mumbled thanks at supper time nor is it a minute or two on Sunday morning. It is practiced with every breath. We train ourselves to be in constant communion, knowing His immediate presence and being in conversation with that presence from moment to moment as we make our way through the day. We are His servants and rely upon His guidance to interact with those who surround us. We seek the way, convey personal needs, and intercede. We pray without ceasing.

Grace and peace to you.

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Psalm 71 – Be My Rock of Refuge

Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God,

till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.

(Psalm 70:17-18)

This prayer issues from a psalmist who finds himself on the back side of his journey and who is looking over his shoulder at those who are just taking their first footsteps on the path of the God follower. The elder knows that his enemies will mistakenly see him as vulnerable and weak because of his advanced age but he is also aware that they do not see God’s hand on his life. The psalmist pleas for Yahweh’s continued shield over him to serve as both protection and a revelation of the divine presence that surrounds him.

Balancing the petition for rebuff of the enemy is the psalmist’s continued praise and attribution of glory to the Lord. The praise emanates from deeper than the surface; despite the struggles that God has allowed in his life, the psalmists insists that God is fully and wholly good.

Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God,

you who have done great things.

Who, O God, is like you?

Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again;

from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. (vv 19-20)

Oh, that we would continue to praise God despite our circumstance! Though we might might be long in years or just placing our foot onto the path, to know, really know, that despite the roadblocks, snares, and setbacks that God is with us and to praise him is our greatest calling. We cannot be fooled by our eyes or other senses, God is good and worthy of our praise in every moment. Will my lips close for the final time with this prayer on them?

My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you – I who you have redeemed.

My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long,

for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion. (vv 23-24)

Grace and Peace to you.

image by Luke Scowen

Disciplined Steps to Worship

One who apprehends worship as a spiritual discipline is going to stand forever separated from the mass of believers who treat worship as a singular event that occurs once per week. She is going to be intentional about the assimilation, preparation for, and spirit of worship. When worship is an event, minimal preparation is necessary; you need only appear at the appointed time and ‘worship’ when the music begins. It becomes a check list item.

For those who correctly see worship as contributing to their spiritual formation, there are number of exercises and attitudes that can be integrated into your practices in order to build up the strength necessary to properly worship the God of the universe. Is anything less rigorous true worship?

A disciplined worshipper will practice the presence of God as a regular part of their lives. Paul wrote of developing the proper spirit needed to worship: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; (1 Thess 5:16-19) A mindset fixed in this way will heighten the expectancy of a meeting with God in worship, an encounter that change you.

A disciplined worshipper will seek out different worship experiences. She will worship alone and worship in community. He will find private moments to worship in solitude and will express the magnificence of God in public.

A disciplined worshipper will be intentional about preparing for the community worship experience. He will be physically prepared (rested, nourished, hydrated) and spiritually prepared (prayed through the services, confessed his sin privately).

A disciplined worshipper cultivates an attitude of Holy Dependency so that in the midst of the act of worship, she is completely dependent on God for anything at all. Any hint of manipulation is found to be abhorrent. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only god, who makes things grow. (1 Cor 3:7)

A disciplined worshipper is not distracted by events around him. Instead, he allows God to speak to him through the crying baby, the stifling heat, or the dancer in the aisle. Bless them, pray for them, see if there is a message embedded in what has grabbed your attention. Be in community.

A disciplined worshippers offers sacrificial praise and devotion even when he doesn’t feel like it.

A disciplined worshipper recognizes that true worship ends in obedience. To stand before God is to change.

Grace and peace to you.

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Day 29 in the School of Prayer : What You Will

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him. (1 John 5:13-15)

But, you say, how can we know the will of God?

It is at this juncture that many who take to their knees find themselves at a loss. They desire to ask of the Father but are disheartened because they cannot find within themselves to say that they know the will of God. This confusion derives from the difference between the hidden and revealed will of God. Yes, the Father has a plan and outcomes that are hidden to us but prayer is not driven by this. God does not play guess a number games with His beloved.

If you know the revealed will of God as it is unfolded in the Scriptures, you know the parameters of prayer. He has revealed what is good and has expressed His will that we stay within the good. This revelation however is not apprehended simply by turning the pages of the Bible. In order to understand the full expression of good, the path of revelation must be lighted by the Holy Spirit. Words on a page become embedded truth under His guidance.

We are commanded to pray and to petition within His will. Unanswered prayer should not sway us from our task, it should drive us back to revelation to gain a firmer grasp on the purposes of God. Return to your knees with greater vigor and a deeper devotion and know that an answer will come.

Grace and peace to you.

image by Dia

Deepening Your Spiritual Intelligence Quotient

Spiritual immaturity is one of those problems within the modern Christian church that is known, discussed, and programmed with little fruit to show for all of the myriad efforts. Cultural forces have allowed the intentional pursuit of discipleship to fall from favor in the Church, only to be replaced by a more casual approach, maturity by osmosis. Spiritual muscles have gone soft with a commensurate lack of influence in the world.

Alan Nelson’s contribution to the library of spiritual development is his newest book, Spiritual Intelligence. Borrowing loosely from Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence, SI is measured by the ability to translate the Christ-likeness that we hear about in sermons, talk about in small groups, and even occasionally encounter when opening our bibles into transformative application in our day to day lives. Just as many social problems are attributable to a low EI, lack of spiritual maturity reflects deficit SI.

Nelson doesn’t offer a quick three-step solution to this problem. True spiritual maturity with meaningful depth is not gained by watching a DVD series with your cell group followed by some obligatory conversation and snacks. It requires an intentional workout, one that takes time, effort, and dedication with none of the social status that comes with being seen at 24 Hour Fitness. The path to growth that he advocates mirrors the rigorous investment that Jesus made in His original disciples. The ‘travel team’ is the modern equivalent of Jesus’ band of brothers ( now brothers and sisters ), and intentional assembly that are in covenant agreement with one another to travel the challenging terrain of discipleship together. They will love you and hold you accountable as you will them for consistent gains in spiritual fruit, humility, and the demonstration of a lifestyle that is consistent with the faith your profess.

One of the fine attributes of this book that will also turn off many readers is that Nelson states that there is no single path or experience that will culminate in maturity. He rightly recognizes that, like the original disciples, we are all vastly different people who will each follow a slightly different road to growth. The book offers a wide variety of mapping strategies, suggestions for the inclusion of a Pathfinder, and strategies for avoiding the inevitable plateaus and days of back tracking. Unlike a 40 day schedule that excites the church for a month and a week, SI emphasizes that the methods of Jesus apply to the whole of our lives, from “pampers to depends.”

When you turn the first few pages you will be tempted to put it aside as I did. You have encountered everything you will read in SI in little bits here and there and the temptation will be to dismiss this as derivative of everything that came before it. Pick it up though and read it again. There is a rigorous demand that supports the ideas, a program of growth that will drain all that you can offer just as the Disciples were drained by their three year internship with Jesus. He took his band on a road trip of epic proportions experiencing joy, disappointment, frustration and love along the way. When it was time for them to display their SI, the individual disciples made an imprint on the world that is still being felt today. Isn’t that what you want to do with your life?

I’m grateful to Baker Books who supplied this copy for review.

Day 28 in the School of Prayer : I Want but I Will

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Mark 14:36

As in any course of study, the lessons come to finer and more distinct points as the class turns to its final days. The Lord has taught the discipline of prayer to us in this fashion, starting with a very broad brush but now switching to a fine point tool dipped in blood red to emphasize the finest points of petition. In this Gethsemane moment, the (we) disciples are schooled through an especially intimate communication between Son and Father as Jesus implores ‘ not my will but yours!’

Our initial prayer will always be self-serving. We know little of God’s will as beginning pray-ers and the scope of our world is limited to our own selfish wants. As our prayer bond grows through maturity and diligent practice, the Lord leads us to understand that all ultimately leads to His will. Our prayers are still honest expressions of our desire but we learn to fashion them in the context of the Father’s will. We say, Lord please for this or that but follow with, if it is your will. We find our place.

Grace and peace to you.

image Daniel Y. Go

Day 27 in the School of Prayer : Circles

“Father, I want those you have give me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” John 17:24

The structure of the Lord’s high priestly prayer is familiar to most who have encountered it in the fourth Gospel. In chapter 17, Jesus prays first for Himself, then His disciples, and finally for the church at large that will follow in the ages. His glorification is for the glory of the Father, he prays that the work of the disciples in the years that follow will be for the glory of God, and, in the outermost circle, Jesus prays that the Church of His gathered believers will be a monument to the greatest glory of the Father.

The concentric circles all come to meet on the same objective. Our lesson today is to also not become scattered. The glory of the Father is the ultimate objective of all of our intercession. As He has taught us to pray without ceasing, Jesus gives us a target. We are tempted to be broad and all inclusive in our petitions, trying to cover the entire spectrum of human need. The Lord teaches us instead to call down the blessings of heaven upon each of the circles of our lives. Trust in this blessing to address these needs. Focus on the glory of God.

Strength Training for Worship

What were you thinking about on the way to church last Sunday? Was it the songs you were going to sing? The topic of the sermon for that day? Were you even thinking about the service or were you busy listening to the radio, talking to the family or embroiled in an argument that started back at home? Don’t feel bad, you’re no different from the majority of modern day churchgoers. Going to worship on Sunday morning is a habit that practice as Christians but for most, we have lost the anticipation factor of the event. If God actually condescended to descend into the midst of our casual worship, most present would run in horror to the exits.

Worship is a part of our lives but it is not a priority in our lives.

“If the Lord is to be Lord, worship must have priority in our lives. The first commandment of Jesus is, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:30) “ Foster. If worship becomes a priority, that is, our first love, we will be in a state of anticipation believing with all of our strength that God will make His presence known, felt, and real when we worship alone or with our community. Appearing before the altar unprepared will no more cross our mind than we would take the starting line of a marathon after sitting in our offices all winter.

To prepare ourselves for worship is to worship individually. We need to know the Shekinah in the our hearts. Start now. Stop reading and open your heart to God’s presence. Praise Him for this moment and the next breath and seek His presence. Don’t give up until it is real. God does not want half-hearted seekers. He wants His people to desire to know Him above all else. Make this a habit so that you know when the Lord is present. Build up the ability to wait for the Glory to descend on your waiting heart, whatever it takes.

If each member of the community worships on their own, the expectancy of God’s presence on the corporate gathering will grow in our hearts. We will seek to be with others who are prepared to know the Glory together, to have it multiplied by all of the hearts open and ready to receive it. The Glory will be manifest in the Church and Jesus can use it to draw others to himself. People will come from far and wide to see what the fuss is about.

Going to church is not the same going to worship. We can continue to go for social purposes, to hear a nice talk, and to go through the motions of watching as someone else sings some songs. Or we can move worship into a priority position in our lives and commit ourselves to a program of intentional worship, always wanting to know a greater and greater presence of His unmatchable Glory.

Grace and peace to you.

image Stephen Burch