Invitation to a Journey - Session 9: The Nature of Spiritual Disciplines

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Invitation to a Journey

Session 9: The Nature of Spiritual Disciplines

based on the book Invitation to a Journey, by: M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

People whose lives are based on selfishness think about selfish things, but people whose lives are based on the Spirit think about things that are related to the Spirit. The attitude that comes from selfishness leads to death, but the attitude that comes from the Spirit leads to life and peace. So the attitude that comes from selfishness is hostile to God. It doesn’t submit to God’s Law, because it can’t. People who are self-centered aren’t able to please God.

But you aren’t self-centered. Instead, you are in the Spirit, if in fact God’s Spirit lives in you. If anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, they don’t belong to him. 10 If Christ is in you, the Spirit is your life because of God’s righteousness, but the body is dead because of sin. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your human bodies also, through his Spirit that lives in you.

Romans 8:5-11 (CEB)

Welcome to Session 9 of Invitation to a Journey.

Before watching each video session, I encourage you to read the corrosponding chapters in the book which you can order here. I also invite you to have a pen and journal handy as we will begin each week with a contemplative Lectio Divina exercise using a related passage of scripture for each week. You may want to pause the video at various points to journal and reflect on your own spirtual journey as it relates to the themes we are discussing.

Below the video you will find a PDF of the notes, lectio reading, reflection questions, and next steps for each week. Feel free to download them as you follow along with the video.

Be sure to read chapter 10 before watching this session.

May God richly bless you as you enter into this journey toward a deeper relationship with Christ.

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Watch video session on YouTube here.

Resources for Session 9: The Nature of Spiritual Disciplines

• Notes for Session 9

Spiritual Authority

SPIRITUAL - PART 3

Spiritual Authority
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Acts 9:36-43

Peter sent everyone out of the room, then knelt and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. 

Acts 9:40

Have you ever been in the room with someone in a coma? Sometimes the family is there and we may offer a few words of comfort or a prayer, but there are times as a pastor I have visited hospital rooms where nobody is present and the patient is completely unresponsive. In some cases they are completely brain-dead and will never recover. I cannot imagine walking into a room like this, standing over the hospital bed and saying, “Jim, get up!” or “Ann, get up!”.

Could you imagine the response if the nurses overheard you, or worse yet, a family member. Everyone would think you were crazy.

When I read today’s passage, however, I wonder if I, and we, might be underestimating our spiritual authority.

Peter walked into the room of a person not only in a coma, but a woman who had already died, and he simply had the audacity to tell her to get up, as if she were a child struggling to get out of bed for school in the morning. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t offer a prayer. He didn’t whisper words of encouragement to her family. He walked in with the certainty that Tabitha would get up and walk out of that room with him.

When I was doing my CPE (clinical pastoral education) at the hospital, I loved talking to one of the ICU volunteers. She sat with families in the waiting room and offered them whatever comfort and care she could as they waited and worried about their loved ones. She told me about the time she was in a deep coma for several months. Nobody expected her to live. It was a spiritually dark place for her. She has vivid memories from that time of seeing visions and hearing voices. She describes darkness in her visions, like black smoke and even dragons reaching out to claw at her mind. But she also remembers the voices. I know she was not hallucinating because when she miraculously awoke, she recounted specific things certain people said when they were alone in the room with her. No one else could have known what was said.

Much of her darkness, however, came from what she heard the voices saying. Her own family members would stand over her hospital bed talking about funeral arrangements as if she wasn’t in the room. As the weeks passed, they moved from worry and grief to frustration and hopelessness. There was no way she would ever wake up, the doctors said, and so they treated her like she was already dead. She could not see them, but she heard every word. She tried to reach back with her own voice. “I’m right here!” she shouted over and over again through her tears, but on the outside there were no tears and no sound came from her mouth.

Somewhere deep within her, God’s Spirit breathed new life into her darkness, but part of her darkness always remained because she heard so many heartless things people said about her in their grief and anger and she could never see her loved ones the same again. That’s why she volunteers at the hospital. She wants people to know that even at the brink of death, their loved ones can still hear them and respond, even if we never see or hear a physical response on the outside. She doesn’t want patients to feel alienated by their families in these incomprehensible circumstances.

I don’t know if we will ever see a dead person raised before our eyes, but I imagine the Spirit wants us to speak and live with the kind of authority Christ gave to Peter and his disciples to raise the dead. Whether a person is fighting for their final physical breath or lost in a bottomless pit of emotional or mental death and despair, we have the authority to speak life… not death. We have the authority to encourage them to “Get Up”, no matter how long and painful the process might be. But it is indeed a process. They cannot get up on their own. With our spiritual authority comes the responsibility to walk alongside them for the long haul until they can once again stand and walk on their own.

How are you using your Spiritual Authority to speak life into someone right now?

Invitation to a Journey - Session 8: Classical Spiritual Disciplines

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Invitation to a Journey

Session 8: Classical Spiritual Disciplines

based on the book Invitation to a Journey, by: M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:

Though he was in the form of God,
he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
But he emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave
and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.

Therefore, my loved ones, just as you always obey me, not just when I am present but now even more while I am away, carry out your own salvation with fear and trembling. God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes.

Pbilippians 2:1-8, 12-13 (CEB)

Welcome to Session 8 of Invitation to a Journey.

Before watching each video session, I encourage you to read the corrosponding chapters in the book which you can order here. I also invite you to have a pen and journal handy as we will begin each week with a contemplative Lectio Divina exercise using a related passage of scripture for each week. You may want to pause the video at various points to journal and reflect on your own spirtual journey as it relates to the themes we are discussing.

Below the video you will find a PDF of the notes, lectio reading, reflection questions, and next steps for each week. Feel free to download them as you follow along with the video.

Be sure to read chapter 9 before watching this session.

May God richly bless you as you enter into this journey toward a deeper relationship with Christ.

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Watch video session on YouTube here.

Resources for Session 8: Classical Spiritual Disciplines

• A brief introduction of Lectio Divina

• Notes for Session 8

• A Beginners Guide to the Lectio Process - https://bustedhalo.com/ministry-resources/lectio-divina-beginners-guide

• Lectio 365 - an app for daily lectio practice - https://www.24-7prayer.com/resource/lectio-365/

Spiritual Strength

SPIRITUAL - PART 2

Spiritual Strength
Sunday, April 23, 2023
Acts 9:1-31

Ananias countered, “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man. People say he has done horrible things to your holy people in Jerusalem. He’s here with authority from the chief priests to arrest everyone who calls on your name.”

The Lord replied, “Go! This man is the agent I have chosen to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.

Acts 9:13-15

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

Our culture greatly values strength. We put a lot of stock in power, control, and victory. The weak often find themselves on the margins and if someone finds themselves in a low place, the most common advice people will give is to toughen up or grow a thicker skin.

Spirituality, for many people, is a source of strength. There is something empowering when we tap into sources of power and strength beyond our own understanding. The first few steps of any 12 Step recovery program involve admitting that we are powerless and that we need rely on a higher power for the strength to overcome whatever addiction we may be trying to break through.

Yet in our text today, we find two very strong individuals brought to their knees by an encounter with the Holy Spirit. A genuine “spiritual experience” with God may indeed give us strength, but that spiritual strength comes first through vulnerability and humility.

Saul is a great religious leader feared by anyone who would challenge his authority or teach against his understanding of God. He stood over Stephen with approval as the people stoned him for blasphemy because of his faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. He was on his way to Damascus to destroy the Jesus movement in that community. He was indeed a strong and powerful man.

Ananias was also a strong man. In spite of such great persecution from people like Saul, he continued faithfully proclaiming the Gospel and following the way of Christ. His understanding of the Spirit’s voice indicates a strong prayer life and a strong faith.

Two strong men with completely opposite beliefs about God and about the nature of Jesus and neither are willing to back down. An unlikely pairing to say the least. The thought of a friendly meeting between Saul and Ananias so soon after the stoning of Stephen might be comparable to Osama Bin Laden and George W. Bush sitting down for tea the week after 9/11.

Yet when each encountered the Holy Spirit, they were humbled. Saul was blinded before the Lord and became physically weak and dependent on his servants and even on his Jesus-following enemies. Ananias was challenged in his desire for self-preservation and in his understanding of who could truly be saved by God’s grace. Could there be mercy and forgiveness for one as evil and opposed to Christ as Saul, who even now was on his way to Damascus to kill Ananias and all of the believers?

Both had to admit that they were wrong about Jesus and about God’s will. Both had to admit that they had something to learn from each other and that God’s love was far greater than the hatred and fear that stood as an unbreakable barrier between religious leaders like Saul and the followers of “the Way” of Jesus.

The spiritual strength granted to both Saul and Ananias to humble themselves, set aside their fear and animosity, and sit down at the table together resulted in unprecedented church growth among the Gentiles across the known world along with the writing of nearly half of our New Testament Scriptures. This simple act of spiritual strength, of listening to God and listening to one another’s stories, quite literally changed the history of the world.

Spiritual strength is always about the strength to love… especially the unimaginable strength of loving our enemies. This kind of love demands the strength of humility, vulnerability and risk. At the bottom of this post, you will find a link to one of my favorite books, “Tea with Hezbollah.” While none of the stories in this tale involve the kind of radical conversion that Saul experienced, they do teach us a lot about what it means to sit at the table with our enemies, to humble ourselves and to risk everything just to listen to each other. And out of these humble and vulnerable conversations, the strength of the Holy Spirit shines through.

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A modern day reflection on sitting at the table with our enemies…

Click to purchase from Amazon.com

Invitation to a Journey - Session 7: The Classical Christian Pilgrimage

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Invitation to a Journey

Session 7: The Classical Christian Pilgrimage

based on the book Invitation to a Journey, by: M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

“I’m not praying only for them but also for those who believe in me because of their word.  I pray they will be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. I pray that they also will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.  I’ve given them the glory that you gave me so that they can be one just as we are one.  I’m in them and you are in me so that they will be made perfectly one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you have loved them just as you loved me.

John 17:20-23 (CEB)

Welcome to Session 7 of Invitation to a Journey.

Before watching each video session, I encourage you to read the corrosponding chapters in the book which you can order here. I also invite you to have a pen and journal handy as we will begin each week with a contemplative Lectio Divina exercise using a related passage of scripture for each week. You may want to pause the video at various points to journal and reflect on your own spirtual journey as it relates to the themes we are discussing.

Below the video you will find a PDF of the notes, lectio reading, reflection questions, and next steps for each week. Feel free to download them as you follow along with the video.

Be sure to read chapter 8 before watching this session.

May God richly bless you as you enter into this journey toward a deeper relationship with Christ.

_____

Watch video session on YouTube here.

Resources for Session 7: The Classical Christian Pilgrimage

• A brief introduction of Lectio Divina

• Notes for Session 7

• Four Stages of Faith - A Contemporary Re-framing

Invitation to a Journey - Session 6: One Sided & Holistic Spirituality

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Invitation to a Journey

Session 6: One Sided & Holistic Spirituality

based on the book Invitation to a Journey, by: M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

We urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:14-24 (CEB)

Welcome to Session 6 of Invitation to a Journey.

Before watching each video session, I encourage you to read the corrosponding chapters in the book which you can order here. I also invite you to have a pen and journal handy as we will begin each week with a contemplative Lectio Divina exercise using a related passage of scripture for each week. You may want to pause the video at various points to journal and reflect on your own spirtual journey as it relates to the themes we are discussing.

Below the video you will find a PDF of the notes, lectio reading, reflection questions, and next steps for each week. Feel free to download them as you follow along with the video.

Be sure to read chapters 6 & 7 before watching this session.

May God richly bless you as you enter into this journey toward a deeper relationship with Christ.

_____

Watch video session on YouTube here.

Resources for Session 6: One Sided & Holistic Spirituality

• A brief introduction of Lectio Divina

• Notes for Session 6

• Discover your Personality Type at https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

• Your Spiritual Path - a few charts for helping you connect your personality to your spiritual life.

Spiritual Direction

SPIRITUAL - PART 1

Spiritual Direction
Sunday, April 16, 2023
Acts 5:27-41, Luke 12:11-12

God has exalted Jesus to his right side as leader and savior so that he could enable Israel to change its heart and life and to find forgiveness for sins. We are witnesses of such things, as is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Acts 5:31-32

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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“Spiritual but not religious.”

While many Christians balk at such a label, accusing this ever increasing group of abandoning the church and their faith, it is nevertheless a label that speaks volumes about the religious landscape of our nation and much of the Western world. For those who fear the decline of the institutional church as we know it, it is easy to blame such “religious vagabonds” for our plight, but perhaps it would be more prudent to examine their motives, the nature of their faith, and their critiques of what we call “Christianity” in an effort to better understand where we have gone wrong.

On one hand, we might say that “Spiritual but not religious” is an easy way out because it requires no commitment or loyalty to any particular organization, religious practices or even beliefs. On the other hand, the fact that there exists such a deep longing for spirituality in the human heart, even among those outside of organized religion, should tell us a great deal about the power and work of the Holy Spirit in our world.

“Spiritual” simply means “of or relating to the spirit” or “sacred matters”, which could of course refer only to the human spirit or soul. From a Biblical worldview, however, the human spirit is given life through the breath or Spirit of God. Few will question that at some level, we are spiritual beings, yet an entirely natural source cannot give birth to a spiritual being anymore than a freshwater spring can produce a saltwater stream. If there is indeed something supernatural or “spiritual” within us, we must explore what it means to connect with this “Divine Spirit” whom the scriptures say hovered over the waters when everything began.

Spiritual Direction as a discipline involves two or more people listening for the promptings of this Divine or “Holy Spirit” in the context of conversation, meditation, memories, and other reflective practices in an effort to seek wisdom or direction from the Spirit of God. In this way, it is not the spiritual director who actually does the directing, but rather the Holy Spirit’s own whisper. Thus, one of the primary roles of the Holy Spirit is to guide and direct our path.

Throughout the book of Acts, we see this kind of Holy Spirit Direction in almost every chapter. It is the Spirit who directs Peter, John and the other apostles how to preach to the crowds, how to respond to various needs through miraculous interventions, and ultimately directs them in how to respond when they are questioned by the authorities. In Acts 5:27-41 as Peter stands before the religious leaders, the Spirit does exactly what Jesus says the Spirit will do.

“When they bring you before the synagogues, rulers, and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what you should say. The Holy Spirit will tell you at that very moment what you must say.”

— Luke 12:11-12

Rather than resisting the move in our culture toward spirituality and digging our heals deeper into man-made religious rules and traditions, perhaps it is time we religious people seek to live into our own spiritual natures by connecting with the Spirit of God and learning to become more attentive to Holy Spirit’s Direction in every part of our lives.

Extended clips from Francis Chan on the Holy Spirit