The Spiritual Life Process
The Spiritual Life Process is all about engaging in living life the way Jesus intended. The Bible mentions time and time again that there is a more and better life available to anyone who chooses to fully follow Christ. The Spiritual Life Process is a spiritual map to help us experience all that God has for us in this life.
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Some Thoughts About Our Spiritual Journey
Spiritually speaking, cultivating is the process where we till the soil of our hearts getting it ready to be open to whatever God wants to show us or do in our lives. That tilling or cultivating happens best when we engage in some of the same spiritual practices or activities that Jesus did: silence and solitude, worshipping God, deeply reflecting on the Bible, fasting and more. Spiritual practices help us move from just knowing the Bible to actually living out Christ in us – so we can experience more of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. (Galatians 5 [22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, [23] gentleness, self-control).
Over my years of following Jesus, I’ve seen too many believers think that growing in Christ simply means getting more – or even some new – biblical “information.” Yes, we do need sound biblical teaching or doctrine. But, we learn from Scripture that information alone never equals transformation. That’s why you have the proverbial Sunday School Teacher who has knows the Bible frontwards and backwards — yet still has a severe anger issue or is emotionally out of control. For genuine, inner transformation to occur, we need to start with knowing (i.e., learning biblical truth) but we need to continue with what I mentioned above. When we do, we will discover a new vitality and a new awareness of God changing our whole being to be more like Jesus.
My heart for us as a church community is to truly engage in life with Jesus and pass on that life to others. I’m excited to hear the stories from many of you about how God is changing you more and more – from the inside out – as a result of entering into a more vibrant life with Him.
Journey Toward Healthy Spirituality – Pt.6
SOMETIMES WE NEED TO DOWNSHIFT OUR LIVES AS WE CONTINUE ON THE JOURNEY – Pt.6
God wants us to downshift our lives at times – as we move forward on our journey toward healthy spirituality. Too many people suffer from something that now has a name: hurry sickness. Hurry sickness is a constant feeling that time is running out and my life is winding down so I have to move from thing to thing. My daily schedule is now controlling me. The perceptions of passing time that we observe on our external clocks cause our internal clocks to run faster.
God has given us a special spiritual activity that He wants us to engage in to help us cure hurry sickness by intentionally creating space for Him. It’s called Sabbath. Sabbath is intentionally creating space in my schedule to rest and experience the presence of Christ in me as a believer and His follower (Heb. 4:9). We looked at a number of passages in the Gospels about how Jesus practiced Sabbath. Engaging in a time to rest and reflect on God and His Word makes all the difference in our own spiritual healthiness. Sabbath goes beyond just learning some new information from the Bible to actually let His Word and His Spirit touch our souls.
Not only do we learn to practice the presence of Christ in our lives more, we also begin to live life more from Christ (John 7:37-38). When we’re controlled by the presence of Christ in us, there‘s a natural outflow of His love, patience and compassion toward others. Practice Sabbath this week for just a few minutes each day with prayer and meditating on Scripture. Break the habit of hurry sickness. Also, take some time to read Hebrews ch. 3 and ch. 4 – and notice what God says about “rest” and the Israelites, and the promise of rest for the follower of Christ today.
Journey Toward Healthy Spirituality – Pt.5
MOVING FORWARD AT A STEADY PACE – Pt.5
There’s a simple spiritual reflective practice that will help you continue to move forward at a steady pace on your journey with Christ toward healthy spirituality. It’s the reflective practice of Confession. Confession is perhaps the most important spiritual reflective thing that you can engage in. Confession helps us deny ourselves and paves the way for the Spirit of God to move freely in our lives and have His way with us. That’s the place where spiritual growth can begin to take off. Confession is simply agreeing with God about any sin or unhealthy behavior that may be impeding Him from having His way with us (Matt 16:24).
As we engage in Confession – at least a few times a week – we discover that our thinking begins to match God’s thinking on life. As followers of Christ, God wants us to live in reality. Reality is seeing life the same way God sees it. Reality is living life with the presence of God clearly in our hearts and minds. The best way to get back to reality is engaging in Confession. We suggested that begin Confession by making Psalm 139:23-24 your prayer. Let God surface some hurtful things or sinful behavior.
Once He does, confess whatever it is that He surfaces and begin to experience inner freedom and contentment because of the promise of 1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Journey Toward Healthy Spirituality – Pt.4
CROSSING THE GREAT DIVIDE – Pt.4
Some people think that if they just try harder, they can close the great divide between the me that God made them to be and the me they currently are experiencing. They think they’re not being good enough in their efforts to try to please God. But since no one can live out the Christian life by their own will power, fatigue sets in and they eventually give up on God, church and others. Guilt takes over for a little while but that soon passes. A sense of numbness or “I-really-don’t-care” attitude soon sets in – or even boredom with the “things of God” takes over. It’s a tough place to be. Unfortunately, it’s a place where a lot of followers of Christ find themselves. How do we cross over this great divide of the more and better life that the Bible says is there waiting for us and the numb, bored-out and stagnate life we’re experiencing now?
Some people asked me for the Power Point slides that we went over this past week. I’m glad that many of you found our discussion this past Sunday very helpful in how to cross over that gap – that great divide – of what life is now for us and what we sense life can be as followers of Christ. In a nutshell, Jesus gives us hope in Matthew 16:13-25. To cross the great divide and experience God’s best version of you, cultivate your life with Jesus by denying yourself. Denying yourself is more about believing some things – rather than doing some things. As you allow God to change your thinking, the path toward spiritual health becomes easier than you think.
