Transcript document

Bread of Life
Spiritual Formation Conference
©2013 Joanne Joe Jung
What’s involved?
What is the relationship between
Spiritual Formation and the
Means of Grace?
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Definitions of Spiritual Disciplines
 Through a spiritual discipline we prevent the world from filling
our lives to such an extent that there is no place left to listen.
A spiritual discipline sets us free.
Henri Nouwen
 God-appointed Christian practice to help believers become
more Christlike
Henry Holloman
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More Definitions
• A repeated bodily activity within our power to do which forms
a habit enabling us to do what we should do but cannot do
without direct effort.
J. P. Moreland
• Any activity that can help me gain power to live life as Jesus
taught and modeled it
John Ortberg,
The Life You’ve Always Wanted
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Means of Grace
– A definition
A God-given, Christ-modeled, Spirit-driven practice we
embrace, both individually and corporately, for the
purpose of experiencing and expressing growth in
godliness.
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Silence and Solitude
• But silence is frightening because it strips us as nothing else
does, throwing us upon the stark realities of our life. It
reminds us of death, which will cut us off from this world and
leave us only with God. And in the quiet, what if there ends
up being very little to “just us and God”?
Dallas Willard,
Spirit of the Disciplines, 163.
Silence and Solitude
• It is an invitation to enter more deeply into the intimacy of
relationship with the One who waits just outside the noise
and busyness of our lives. It is an invitation to communication
and communion with the One who is always present even if
our awareness has been dulled by distraction. It is an
invitation to the adventure of spiritual transformation in the
deepest places of our being, an adventure that will result in
greater freedom and authenticity and surrender to God than
we have yet experienced.
Ruth Haley Barton,
Invitation to Solitude and Silence
Silence and Solitude
• We are usually surrounded by so much inner and outer noise
that it is hard to truly hear our God when he is speaking to us
… Thus our lives have become absurd. In the word absurd we
find the Latin word surdus which means deaf. A spiritual life
requires discipline because we need to learn to listen to God,
who constantly speaks but we seldom hear….,The word
obedient comes from the Latin word audier, which means
listening.
Henri Nouwen
Making All Things New, 1981, 67
Silence and Solitude
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The stillness of time and place where you are alert to the
rumblings of the soul and the impressions of God and where
you find a deep willingness to stay and return.
• Fasting is a response to God’s prompting to intentionally deny
the insatiable self for a period of time from something 1) I
know I need, 2) I have been convinced I need, or 3) I have
been convinced I am entitled to have. One fasts for a period
long enough to come to the fork in the journey of recognizing
the adhesive grasp something has over me and hearing God’s
question and my response to, “Am I enough for you?” Fasting
is the mirror by which I quickly see the worldly attachments
that have consciously or unconsciously become part of me.
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• Prayer is as the pulse showing the state of the heart.
Ezekiel Culverwell, 1635,
Time well spent, 253
• Many are barren in grace because they be barren in prayer.
Ezekiel Culverwell, 1635,
Time well spent, 181
• Praier, that respiration of the soul
Richard Allestree, 1619-1681,
The Ladies calling, 138
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Personally and deeply communicating and communing
with God in words, thoughts, cries, or sighs. As we listen,
we open ourselves to the impressions He places on the
soul.
Confession
Confession is that point when my mouth gives voice to
what my heart knows to be true about my sin, no matter
what the reason or cause, and without excuse. Genuine
confession and repentance allows the soul to be most
receptive to abundant, divine forgiveness.
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The grateful response to God’s extension of saving grace in
indiscriminant acts of generosity and friendship toward
strangers while expecting nothing in return. Society’s
“unwelcomed” and “unlovable” become the object of
those who are His hands, feet, voice, and presence
because they are fellow image bearers of God. This is the
distinctively visible evidence of the internal
transformation of a Christ follower whose heart has been
impacted by the heart of God for the last, least, and the
lost.
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Hospitality
Parker Palmer describes hospitality as,
inviting the stranger into our private space, whether that
be the space of our home or the space of our personal
awareness and concern. And when we do so, some
important transformations occur. Our private space is
suddenly enlarged; no longer tight and cramped and
restricted, but open and expansive and free. And our
space may also be illumined. . . . Hospitality to the
stranger gives us a chance to see our own lives afresh,
through different eyes.
A humble and responsive posture of the heart that
expresses gratitude regardless of circumstances because it
simply focuses on Who God is and what He does. It starts
with the internal recognition of our core needs and
acknowledgement of an all-knowing God and His hesed.
This is followed by an external expression of dependence
on and adoration of God. One extends this thankfulness to
those among us who are conscious or unconscious
conduits of God’s hesed. It is not found in a moment, a
holiday, or a meal but in a way of thinking and living
wisely.
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Borne out of response to God’s extension of goodness
and kindness it is the lifestyle expression that tangibly
reflects this goodness and kindness to others and to God.
The depth, extent, motivation, and diminished need for
recognition for service rendered are features that serve as
evidence that God is the object of our service; His Son, the
model, and His Spirit, the enabler.
Celebration
The delight-filled response toward God and the world
around us prompted by Who He is, what He has done and
what He promises to do.
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The intentional conversation among a limited number of
people in which they integrate their growing knowledge of
the Bible with their concern for one another’s soul.
Emphasis is placed more on issues of the heart than on
external behavior, for from the heart all expressions of life
emerge.
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The Purpose of the Means of Grace:
To know, experience, and enjoy God’s grace more
Your spiritual transformation blesses the Father,
impacts the world for Christ, testifies to the power of
the Holy Spirit, and fulfills your calling.
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