In This Episode: The purpose of the disciplines are centered around liberation and freedom from the stifling slavery to self and fear. The Christian maturation process is spiritual growth, and disciplines are a means to that end. We don’t do them to get God to love us. We engage in them because God already loves us. Our faith is more about who we are than what we do.
Disciplines give greater meaning to our lives. The more we engage in them, the more we are aware of the Kingdom of God.
“The Pilgrim’s Regress” (by C. S. Lewis) and “Free to Live: The Utter Relief of Holiness” (by John Eldredge)
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Celebration and joy comes when we let God redeem our ordinary life. Quote from C. S. Lewis: “Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire; if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just had out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality.”
Scriptures: Proverbs 3:5-6; 1 Kings 19; Luke 2:10; Nehemiah 8:10; 1 Peter 5:7; Revelation 3:20; Romans 12:1-2; John 10:10; Lamentations 3:22-23; Exodus 14:13-14
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In This Episode: God’s guidance is not just recognizing the voice of God. It is obeying it, too. Be encouraged to move from hearing God to obeying God. We are spiritual beings created for a relationship with our Creator. Embrace what would be different in your relationship with God if you leaned into this today. See “Hearing God” by Dallas Willard.
In This Episode: Do you have a little God or a big God? If your view of God is little, then worship to you will always fall to the margins of your life. Scripture does not give us the option for worship to be anything but the center. What would be different this week if you practiced the presence of God in your life each moment of each day?
IN THIS EPISODE: At some point in our lives, the cycle of retaliation has to end. The Discipline of Confession is the first step to stopping this vicious cycle. Confession not only makes room for others in our lives, but it also makes room for God. John Wesley said, “Give me a hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God … such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth.”
From Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together,” practice these three acts of service: Listen to others, practice active helpfulness, and bear each other’s burdens.
