In a Christian’s everyday spiritual walk, it is important to have an intentional living plan. It is important to have an intentional living plan because it helps Christian’s grow spiritually with God as well as growing as fellow believers in the body of Christ. My intentional living plan for the spring semester ahead is to work on having a plan for reading scripture daily, making space and time to prayerfully listen to God, and worshiping with fellow believers on a weekly basis. These three disciplines are what I believe to be important to practice in my life as of now. The first discipline that I want to work on for next semester is to have a plan to read scripture every day. This discipline is a part of hearing God’s word category. …show more content…
Basically, scripture wasn’t something I read daily and I didn’t necessarily have a plan for what order or reason for reading it. This needs to change because scripture is God’s word and as a Christian, it’s important for me to know God’s word in order to serve and to help people and the world. The second discipline that I want to work on for next semester is to make space and time to prayerfully listen to God. This discipline is a part of the open myself up to God category. Before interim, I didn’t have a set time and space to just pray to God and to listen to his voice. Regularly, I would only pray to God before eating a meal and at night before bed. This is a discipline I want to get into a habit of is because I want to have a close relationship with God and as a Christian, it should be my desire to seek a relationship …show more content…
Martin Luther is someone who taught and believed that scripture should be read daily. One of Luther’s famous quotes regarding this discipline was, “preach the gospel to yourself every day" (The Gospel and the Discipline of Bible). There are no pitfalls in regards to reading scripture every day, its only beneficial to the Christian spiritually and intellectually. Making space and time to prayerfully listen to God has been a practice sense biblical times. Elijah for example, went to mount Horeb to listen to the voice of God in 1Kings 19:9-21. There are no pitfalls for the 21st century when it comes to making space and time to listen to God and his voice. This is because it is a part of the Christian experience to seek after God and to hear from him on what he wants the Christian to do. Worshiping with fellow believers on a weekly basis has also been a practice that’s been around since biblical days. The ancient Hebrews would often practice a Sabbath day every Saturday to come together and worship God. In the Christian tradition, believers would get together on a weekly basis in order to worship God together in unity. There are well over 90 verses in the Bible that discuss about worshiping God together as believers (97). In the 21st century, the only true pitfall that this discipline has is that there are churches with false teachers and prophets out there in
Kay teaches study methods throughout the book that reveal how to begin dissecting the Bible little by little. After finishing “Lord, Teach Me to Study the Bible in 28 Days” by Kay Arthur, you will see how to observe a chapter of Scripture. You will know how to exhaust it. You will know where and how to start digging as you progress through a story.
We have been counseled heretofore by prophets of old, "to seek learning, even by study, and by faith". We have an obligation to search the scriptures and to learn what the Lord is teaching us and warning us of. We must go forward with faith, and not backward. We must come unto the Lord, and not expect the Lord to come unto us.
Recognizing God is a part of our vocation within community can be confusing for us, how can we serve God in the different venues of our life when the world teaches such differing views? We are encouraged to share our witness, testimony, and service within our families, workplace, and our social settings. Family includes the household within our life touching upon each role parent, child, and spouse. It becomes acceptable to compartmentalize the areas of our life and serve in comfortable areas. Consumerism and societal pressures challenge us to withdraw from the Spirit when we feel intimidated, out of place, or even unworthy of God’s involvement in our life. We are called to be “the salt of the earth”, accepting the challenge to unite God’s calling upon our whole-life. According to Migliore, “United in Christ by the power of the Spirit we are one community; we are members of one body and mutually dependent on one another. Recognizing God works with all areas of community unites families, workplace, and social settings together.
Christianity is one of the largest religions in world with believers spreading across barriers of language and culture. Christianity can come in many forms with beliefs on different subjects varying wildly, but there is one practice that remains relatively the same: church attendance. The ritual of getting up every Sunday morning and attending a church service including a sermon by a pastor and sometimes a smaller, more focused lesson given during what is called “Sunday School”, is something that is practiced by many faithful Christians across the world and the United States, in particular. Attending church is a practice that is integral to the Christian faith as it is shown in the Bible. It informs and impacts the lives of many believers of
Prior to reading this book I have to be honest and say that I had some false conceptions about worship. That sounds kind of scary to say but, through this booked I learned again and at a deeper level the importance of living in communion with God.
In an age when culture continues to lower standards of intellect, Marva Dawn makes compelling observations and suggestions for the Church to rethink its strategy on impacting society. How do we evangelize without weakening the message of what we are communicating? The majority of her text focuses on the worship environment generally, but later she focuses on music, preaching, and liturgy specifically. According to Dawn, a gathering of believers should emphasize God as the subject and object of worship, challenge each individual to grow in godly character, and accentuate the community of believers (not only in the room, but throughout history as well). Through this grid, she encourages leaders and participants to evaluate each worship element.
I understand the struggle Martin Luther faced, the challenges he encountered translating the Bible so that common people can read. He wants to convey the message of hope to people who had no hope.
People these days are so worried about the shape of the ice (the structure of the church) than they are of what kind of soda (faith) they are putting in the cup with it. In this case, push people away from “church”. It is great for fellow Christians to fellowship together, but it does not say in the Bible that that fellowship has to be within the four walls of a known church. In the Bible, it actually states in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” The same Jesus is among two Christians sitting in a diner talking about His word and testifying about how good He is and the church that is filled with a hundred people each Sunday.
... that just learning about the Bible is not enough, but having a deepening understanding and personal relationship with it, so then there will be a transformation with the individual.
As I reflect on spiritual disciplines it is easy for me to look at them and weed out the ones that I do not think apply to me and the ones that I am drawn towards. But as I press into God and ask him what he sees fit and what I need more of, the picture begins to looks different than what I thought I saw before. Since I am so obviously human, I would rather see my life through a different more accurate lens than one that is tainted and imperfect like those of my human eyes. When I look at my life spiritually it is easy for me to see the spiritual disciplines that just come naturally to me such as worship and service. Since I know that those are areas of my faith that I thrive in, I tend to gravitate towards those to try and satisfy my spiritual life but I leave other parts to suffer. I want to gain better understanding of my faith and ultimately cultivate a deeper relationship with the Father.
“Human beings are made for worship. Everyone worships someone or something” (Calhoun 2005). The above statement is so true. Some people worship money, themselves, other people or pagan Gods. As for me I worship God the Almighty Father of Heaven and Earth. “True worship of God happens when we put God first in our lives” (Calhoun 2005). Worship isn’t just singing at the beginning of a church service on Sunday. Worship is a daily surrender where we put God first in everything such as our marriage, work life, friendships, family, money, and lifestyle. Worship is where we totally surrender and trust God with everything in our lives.
In Ronelle Sonnenberg’s article (Being together in youth worship: An empirical study in Protestant Dutch contexts) she address the community aspect of “youth worship”. The main question asked in her article is “What aspects can be distinguished in the quality of ‘being together’ in youth worship and how can they be understood sociologically and theologically?” while trying to answer this question Sonnenberg and her fellow researchers focused on the social interactions, community experiences and relations within different youth worship gatherings (Sonnenberg, Nel, Kock, & Barnard, 2015). This begs the question “why are community and this sense of being together such an important subject?”; “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”(Romans 12:4-5), here Paul speaks about the importance of this sense of togetherness in Christ, to be as one body. “For there where two or three are gathered together as my followers, I am there among them.” (Matt 18:20), in this verse Jesus highlights the
The desire to study God’s word to obtain a personal connection is a pursuit for many believers. Beginning a course to study and engage with the word at a collegiate level can be overwhelming and intimidating. Even though one may read the word countless times during their lifetime, understanding the reading material academically and historically is a different concept to master. Personally, I was apprehensive about my overall ability to retain the information and comprehend the context of the scientific and historical aspect of God’s word. However, Tarwater wrote in a manner that was engaging and invited me into the historical importance of the words and understanding God. From beginning to end, Tarwater
First and foremost, I will always be focused on the fact that it is my responsibility as a teacher to “cause my students to learn”. I cannot teach my students content unless I have prayed and asked God for illumination and for an “appliers heart”. It is important that I understand the content and application before I teach this to my students which should result in a life change for them. Application is the main reason for God’s revelation and it is my responsibility to share this with my students. My ultimate goal is to illustrate how scripture can be used in daily
When Christians first encounter the idea of creating a spiritual discipline, some almost instantly become overwhelmed with anxiety because they must perform well for God to please Him and get to heaven. I was once one of them and to a point, I still think that way. However, the more focus on the relationship with Jesus and nothing else brings about the desires to want more in terms of spiritual growth. Desires however, do not last if disciplines are not met with a genuine commitment to maintain a fervent relationship with Jesus. For my rule of life, I will pencil in daily life disciplines that fit in the season of life that I am in currently so that God can work in me and I can become Christ like. First, I will commit fifteen minutes to daily prayer with God. Second, I will commit fifteen minutes to daily scripture reading. Third, I will commit to lead, encourage and support my wife by living out the vows that we both agreed to with God. Fourth, I will commit myself to my family in raising my two