Best Practices

These are experiences shared by some of us that helped transform the learnings from our Spiritual Formation Class into tangible results in their lives:

• Take one sentence home! Repeat during the week. Share with family and colleagues. Just one sentence

Sunday class

July 8, 2007

During the next weeks look through the "Spiritual Practices Toolbox" section and prayerfully consider the most important excercise(s) that you need to address.

You may want to start with worship: Write a hymn or a story, paint a picture, begin a ritual, place a symbol on your desktop … do something creative to express the greatness of God to you.

Thoughts from class:

...


July 1st, 2007

This week plan times of solitude: Sit still for 1-5min and pray that you might come to "know" God better. Also, investigate what growth needs you have and make plans to fill the gap with study.

Thoughts from class:

Definition of Spiritual Disciplines:

A discipline is any activity within our power that we engage in to enable us to do what we cannot do by direct effort

Spiritual disciplines involve bodily behaviors: wrong habits must be set aside and the Kingdom habits are to be instituted

Goal:

Make our body a reliably ally and resource for the spiritual life. Moving from “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” to “the flesh supports the spirit”


June 24, 2007

(Re)read James 1:2-4 and Romans 5:1-5 (see Golden Triangle below). This week try to figure out one of your typical trials and tribulations that you were so far discarding as an opportunity for the kingdom of God to come into your life. What can you do to "regard it as most joyous occasion" instead?

Thoughts from class:

• The "Ordinary events of life" this is our life as it is today. This is where we ask that "Thy kingdom come". God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are... Are we inviting each situation that we are getting in or are we faithlessly discarding situation after situation, hoping that life will turn better? Those situations and moments are our life, that's the place for us to receive his kingdom. Being centered in the mind of Christ means: we accept the "trials" of ordinary existence as the place where we are to experience and find the reign of God-with-us as actual reality. Then we will thrive on everything that life throws at us! (Paraphrased from the book "Divine Conspiracy", by Dallas Willard)
• Are we sanitizing or life of "ordinary events" that God sends to us?
• What are your trial and tribulations: Getting up in the morning, caring for ourselves, commuting, other people, your children,...?

June 17, 2007

This week consider your stewardship of the Keys of the Kingdom. Holding the keys, binding and loosing, in the common language of the Jews, signified to forbid and to allow, or to teach what is lawful or unlawful.

What does it mean for you to faithfully

1. ... introduce the Kingdom to others? (Hello Other, may I introduce the King?)
2. ... introduce others to the Kingdom? (Hello King, may I introduce Other?)

How is my attitude and expectation different for these two approaches?

Thoughts from class:

Read Matt 16:19; 18:18; Isiah 22:20-22

1. Who has got the keys: Peter, the apostles, all ministers, all disciples?
2. What is the point of "holding keys"? A metaphor taken from stewards who carry the keys: what examples can you share for someone "holding the keys"?
3. What does it mean to hold the keys of the kingdom of heaven? Authority, access, responsibility...

Example car keys: who holds the keys has the authority to drive, but the power is in the engine

Jesus' victory saves us so that we can be someone to be trusted. The more we anchored in Jesus and Jesus is in us, the Father can entrust us with the tasks He had in mind for us originally. We are saved to become trusted people for the Father to bring His Kingdom about here on earth. Two main areas of trust are shown at the bottom of the "Golden Triangle" (see below)

1. How are we holding up in the "ordinary events of life" (temptations)?
2. How well are we prepared / trained to face challenging situations in which the Father sends us?

June 10, 2007

Assignment for the week: Rediscovering your ability to trust in God.

1. Where are you called to trust God this week?
2. How does Jesus' victory save you so that you can be someone to be trusted this week?

Thoughts from class:

Look at faith/trust not so much something we have to do, but as an ability that comes with us being created in the image of God. Deep inside we are able to trust. This is reflected in many trusting human relationships and is present in songs and poems.

A relationship without trust is not worth living.

We can trust God completely.

Likewise God wants to put His trust in us completely. By experience we know however that we cannot be trusted very much. But there was and still is one man who was completely faithful: Jesus. In Him God regained trust into Humanity. Christ in us is our only hope for a life lived in a trusting relationship with God.

In this world we are under constant attack and we may even be in bondage of the evil one who wants to keep us from living out our birthright as children of God. That's where salvation comes in: Jesus breaks the power of the evil one. We are born from above.

A trusting relationship is the fundamental way of how God interacts, even with us.

Two songs

Here is the text of the two Taize songs we will sing every now and then:

1.

O Lord hear my prayer, O Lord, hear my prayer:
When I call, answer me
O Lord hear my prayer, O Lord, hear my prayer:
Come and listen to me

2.

Nada te turbe, nada te espante:
Quien a Dios tiene nada le falta
Nada te turbe, nada te espante:
Solo Dios basta
(Santa Teresa da Jesus)

Golden Triangle of Spiritual Growth

Key People

Matthew 16:19
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."

Matthew 18:18
"Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.


Centered in the Mind of Christ

Philippians 2:12-15
12 So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work.14 Do everything without grumbling or questioning,15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world,

Romans 13:14
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.


The Action of the Holy Spirit

John 3:5
Jesus answered, "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

Romans 8:10-13
10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness.11 If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.12 Consequently, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Galatians 5:22-26
22 In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.24 Now those who belong to Christ (Jesus) have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.26 Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another.


Ordinary Events of Life

James 1:2-4
2 Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, 2 3 for you know that the testing 3 of your faith produces perseverance.4 And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace 2 with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,2 through whom we have gained access (by faith) to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.3 Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,4 and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope,5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.


Planned Discipline to Put on a New Heart

Colossians 3:12-17
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.14 And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.15 And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

2 Peter 1:5-10
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge,6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion,7 devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.8 If these are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.9 Anyone who lacks them is blind and shortsighted, forgetful of the cleansing of his past sins.10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more eager to make your call and election firm, for, in doing so, you will never stumble.

Class feedback: What do I want to get from this track?

1. Faith:

• Why? Why faith? When God created this world, He could have set it up anyway He wanted. So, why did He set it up requiring faith? Faith is crucial. Without it, we cannot please Him. Why? Of all the attributes and characteristics of this life . . . Why set it up so faith is fundamental? Why the mystery? Why faith?
• What do I need most for living out my faith (What do I need from this class)? What can be addressed in this class?
• I would like to live out my faith more; with a stronger burning desire to save others, and I want to be able to see those opportunities that God brings into my life.
  How do I live out my faith? What do I need most to live out my faith? What does this class need to address to help me do this? “How-to’s” – ways to prioritize God in my life.
• One concern I have is our changing culture – lack of faith especially among the youth – even those who grow up in the church. We can/cannot understand this new thinking. How do we encourage our children in faith?

2. Spiritual Discipline

• To be challenged to go deeper in my walk through the disciples – class setting focused on the Word.
• Spiritual disciplines: What are they? Where are they found in the Bible? What is the purpose of them? What are some real life examples of them?
  

3. Trusting in God

• Complete trust! Totally surrendered! Boldness! These are areas of focus needed.
• Trusting God to provide my (and my family’s) daily bread, instead of taking matters solely into my own hands.
• My greatest challenge in the Christian life is to deal with sin and failure (and their consequences) in my Christian life. Trusting that God is Sovereign, even over [serious] mistakes and having the faith to press forward and be a witness, and have “hope for this life” while living with the consequences of the past.

4. Prayer and Praying for Others

• What should we pray for, what should we ask for?
• What ways are there, and maybe places to retreat and become silent before the Lord?

5. Finding Time to Serve God

• Managing time schedule: i. e. There are things that need to be done just to maintain life (work, cook, laundry, etc.) -things that are important (exercise, relationships, ministry). I’ve tried the often “course-led:” There will be plenty of time to rest in heaven,” which caused physical, emotional and spiritual debility. So how do I manage to do what needs to be done without either exhausting myself or protecting re-charging overzealously – time?
• There is a daily struggle in my life with the overwhelming number of things I need to accomplish and internal and external stress and emphasis on perfection that sometimes I lose sight of God and His purpose in my life ( I forget I don’t need to do it all myself, but with God and He gives me these challenges).

6. Dealing with Fear and Uncertainty

• The biggest challenge in my life is letting my light shine before men.
• How to tell people about Jesus; being led by His Spirit to do that; to lean on Him; not be self-conscious – afraid.
• How to not fear what others may think. How to live through the Spirit, to death the sinful nature.
• Self-control
• How can we be “in the world” but not of the world? “All things are permitted but not all things are beneficial.” So often Christians and non-Christians are indistinguishable.
• When is it right to be controversial? What truth do you share at the beginning and which do you keep for later?
• What should I change in my life to follow God and not blindly follow our culture – or the way of this world?
• What are some practical ways to live out forgiveness?
  

7. Tithing

• One aspect of living our faith that I’d like us to cover is tithing and financial stewardship. Are we suppose to give 10% to the church, or can we give part of that to either Godly work such as homeless shelter, or food for the poor? Some people say we must first give 10% to the church, then give beyond that. What if we don’t agree with that high amount our church puts into supporting missions in other places . . . ?

8. General Questions/Comments About Living Out Our Faith:

• I want to know more about God at work because I have a hard time with my workers.
• I like what we did today. One simple, practical life transforming Spirit led thing to focus on each week. Thanks!!