Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Meditation

So, reading today in Celebration of Discipline is about meditation - comtemplative prayer. The goal is to put your mind and heart in a place where you can receive instruction from God - you are able to hear God's voice, and obey his word. "To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all seeing, within you."

"Inward fellowship of this kind transforms the inner personality".

"The inner reality of the spiritual world is available to all who are willing to search for it."

"Human beings seem to have a perpetual tendency to have somebody else talk to God for them."

How do we receive the desire to hear his voice? "This desire to turn is a gift of grace. Anyone who imagines that he can simply begin meditating without praying for the desire and the grace to do so will soon give up."

Monday, January 3, 2011

Reading to start the year

Here's another unquantifiable resolution; more reading, less tv (facebook,surfing...). More reading in general, and at least one newspaper article each day (not on internet "news", but actually from the paper, either real or via kindle.... :-) )

Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster so far, is a great book to start the new year with. It was recommended by Mutating Missionary (Robin), as a book that she tries to get back to re-read each year.

The description is that this book "... has helped over a million seekers discover a richer spiritual life infused with joy, peace, and a deeper understanding of God." (nothing unique there...) It focuses on the inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting and study.

Outline notes : Introduction

I. Introduction

A. Spiritual Disciplines: Door to Liberation

B. The Slavery of Ingrained Habits

1. "Sin is part of the internal structure of our lives. No special effort is needed to produce it." Sin is not only "individual acts of disobedience to God", but it is ingrained in us. "The Ingrained Habits of Sin"...

2. "The moment we feel we can succeed and attain victory over sin by the strength of our will alone is the moment we are worshiping the will". Paul refers to this as will worship (col. 2:20 - 23). This also echos of Dr. John Hannah's teaching that essentially, our motives are never good.

3. "The will has the same deficiency as the law - it can deal only with externals. It is incapable of bringing about the necessary transformation of the inner spirit".

Lately, I have been focusing on my lack of self discipline in dealing with my weaknesses - fruit of the spirit number 9... self control. Here is a reminder that simple will alone has never been and will never be enough for me to change my ways. And - my motivation for changing whatever sin I am dealing with, usually is rooted in pride - a desire to look or behave like someone else in order to gain acceptance by other people. My motivation or desire is rarely to please God or to move away from the sin because it is, in fact, sin.

Next... The Spirtual Disciplines Open the Door

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Half Century

This the half century year for those of us born in 1961. The older I get, the more aware I am of two things:

(1) Time moves much faster at 50 than at 20. When you are 20, people who are 50 warn you of this phenomenon. 20 year olds don't get it. George Bernard Shaw was probably 50 when he wrote "Youth is wasted on the young".

(2) I waste so much time every day doing things and worrying about things that just don't matter, instead of focusing on the people around me. We are here to build relationships - with God, with our families, friends, neighbors.

So in 2011, I will spend more time with those around me, and be a better listener - focus. I will give more of my time to my family and my church. I will take some chances and try to experience more: jump out of the rut every now and then.

Here's to the Half Century Year!