SF 603 Biblical Imagery for Spiritual Formation Lori Brown February 14, 2015 Wilderness Time Reflection On January 31st I enjoyed eight hours of wilderness time. After getting up early, and completing a few chores, I retired to my room for the day. Goals for my retreat were to get closer to God and be renewed by His presence, and to hear what He might say to me. I looked forward to being alone and being quiet. Before I began, the one concern I had was that I might get distracted and start daydreaming about other things. To help avoid this and provide some structure to my day, I chose to focus on the suggested retreat detailed in Emilie Griffin's book Wilderness Time. The suggested one day retreated focused on renewing one's call; a topic which was perfect for me. I’m so grateful you had such a positive experience. Well done and well planned. As suggested, I read, meditated upon, and answered questions around First Samuel 1:1-28, 2:1-12, and 3:1-19. But it was the fourth reading, First Samuel 2:35 that spoke to me. "I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind." I read and reread that verse, even imagining God saying it to me. I felt God was speaking just to me, answering my question about His …show more content…
"Father, I know you have called me to serve you with the passion, gifts, talents, and abilities you have given me. You have raised me up Lord as a faithful priest and I will do according to what is in your heart and in your mind. I commit to serve you Lord. I will go where you tell me to go, say what you tell me to say, and do what you tell me to do." Just as I trusted God would speak to me during this retreat, I also trust Him to lead me in how to serve Him. This is just a portion of my experience with God that day, but the rest I will keep to myself. Amen and
Deep river is a spiritual book, which reflects people’s life. It portrays about religion from a religious site, which is then related to the life of people who come from very different religion. Deep river gives a solid example of how a religion can be a lesson to people who are trying to overcome their weakness and help them find a new way of strength. In this book there are five major characters from Japan who are visiting in this religious site in India with a purpose of their life. The names of the five characters are Isobe, Mitsuko, Numada, Kiguchi and Otsu.
This experience was really out of my comfort zone. It was hard to be an outsider and not prepared for what was to come and not speaking one of the languages used to understand the entire service. This service learning project gave me the opportunity to try a new church and gain a deeper respect for a different religion. Everyone at the service was very educated on speaking the sacred texts and participating in the rituals practiced. I hope to have gained a better understanding for those who are new to religions and are nervous to come to a worship service. I will make more of an effort to be welcoming and accommodating to those who are new to our church.
...as nothing to do but swim, sight see, and watch TV. It was all worth it on the morning of the fourth day when I came down it to the lobby and saw our bus, triumphantly pulling into the parking lot with the morning sun gleaming off the shiny metal, driven by none other than, our youth pastor. Completely forgetting about breakfast I ran outside and waved to him as he pulled it around back to park. As soon as he came to a stop I ran up to the door, he opened it, and I climbed up in and with a satisfied sigh I inhaled deeply taking in the smell I had grown to miss over the last three days. It was at this moment that I realized something, instead of complaining to myself the morning we left, I should have been grateful that we had a bus at all. And with that thought I smiled, and turned around and me and my youth pastor walked inside to get some breakfast.
Like many other spiritual practitioners, Merton stresses the fact that one must achieve a balance between community life and personal solitude. However, he presents an extremely unique idea on the purpose of solitude in the following passage, “Go into the desert not to escape other men but in order to find them in God” (pg. 359). The idea of entering solitude in order to become closer to your fellow man is a concept that has never really crossed my mind. I have always treated times of solitude as periods of personal and intimate reflection. However, Merton makes a valid point by arguing that time alone can help one to appreciate others in a way that constant community interaction cannot. While I find this concept intriguing, it will most likely take me a great deal of practice and thought in order to grasp the connection between solitude and gaining increased knowledge about one’s fellow man. Ultimately, I found Merton’s spiritual ideas and practices to be extremely relevant to my own Christian journey. Those modern day Christians who are fervently seeking spiritual experience can find a great wealth of practical and theoretical knowledge in Merton’s
Everyone has a worldview and a way they see life. Christian teachers should be willing to use their own biblical worldview to help the students in class develop a strong set of beliefs by integrating biblical truths into their lessons daily and encouraging their students to apply what they learn in class to not only their biblical worldview, but to their life.
..., your family and your shoulder to cry on. I wanted to tell you that there are hundreds on hundreds of people praying for you’re right now as you’re on this retreat! I will always be here for you no matter what. Make sure you enjoy this retreat; it is such an amazing time that will only happen once. I hope you get everything out of this that you would have wanted to happen! Breathe. There is still more to come so don’t just think that it’s going to be over after this. Live this retreat out to its fullest. The little things in life mean the most; they are the most cherishable. Living the fourth has taught me to live with purpose, to say the courageous thing, to celebrate the simple gift and to always keep my head up high and follow my dreams. Let go and let God. Remember LIVE THE FOURTH!
As a Christian graphic designer, these choices are grounded in a Biblical worldview. The type of worldview that you have is important because it is what the basis of how we define and apply our value systems. The most simplistic definition of a Biblical worldview is to have the mind of Christ. That would mean that one needs to think like Christ; love like Christ; act like Christ and follow the teachings of Christ which includes Jesus summing up the Ten Commandments in Luke 10:27. ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself. ‘“Incorporating a Biblical worldview into my career means that my work would reflect my beliefs, the preciousness
Plantinga’s (2002) book Engaging God’s World consists of five parts: “Longing and Hope,” “Creation,” “The Fall,” “Redemption,” and “Vocation in the Kingdom of God.” Throughout the work, Plantinga references public speakers and activists, lyricists, philosophers, saints, and authors to help his audience connect to his perspective.
I will practice being patient, and taking time to understand them and not have any kind of frustration. I will learn to pay close attention to them and communicate as best as I can. I will try my hardest and make it a priority to go every week, to be able to build relationships with the people and in doing so, share Gods love and joy with them. When I find out my position and what exactly I will be doing, I will do some research and ask questions, in order to be able to do my best work and understand,
John Milton, in his epic poem “Paradise Lost,” expresses that “the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven” (Milton). This idea not only counteracts the basic ideals of Christianity but simultaneously disrupts the widely accepted idea of a separated heaven and hell and the expectations needed to be met to achieve entry. Religion and the bible, two of the most widely disputed topics in history, serve as a muse for authors to explain humanity’s fatal flaws. Throughout East of Eden and The Winter of Our Discontent, Steinbeck uses biblical stories and their basic principles to display the hypocrisy of modern Christianity.
Samuel, a prophet anointed to speak of God’s word to the nation, represents one way of governing. God works through the prophet’s words to remind the people of Israel to be faithful to the terms of the Covenant. A second ...
In addition, it is made evident that God is being addressed when personal pronouns are capitalized, such as Him, He, Me, etc. So to answer the question further, Samuel, or the unknown author in question, is someone who not only has a direct connect
The passage I selected, 1 Samuel 1:28, tells the story of the birth of Samuel and begins with a story about Samuel’s mother, Hannah, who prays for a child during the family’s annual pilgrimage to worship at Shiloh. Eli, the priest at Shiloh, hears her prayer and tells Hannah that her prayer will be answered. Hannah promises the Lord that if she is granted a child, she will return him to the Lord and his life will be dedicated to the Lord’s work. The birth of Samuel was the first step in Gods plan to give Israel deliverance from their Philistine enemies. Samuel evolves as an important figure in telling the story of the Israelites’ move from the judges’ leadership to the establishment of a kingship.
Spiritual formation is one subject that I like to discuss in that it really helps one reflect on their own spiritual journey and where they are in that journey. The devil wants to steal, kill, and destroy any step forward towards God. He is not after anything tangible that we possess, rather, he is only after our faith in God and belief in Jesus. Knowing this is part of our spiritual journey as fighting against the enemy requires spiritual warfare in which the only one that can help is Jesus. A transformation in our character to be like Jesus is essential to our spiritual growth. This cannot be done without being intentional with our time, finances, and disciplines.
...rd was trying to tell me this. It was during this time I heard the word ‘seek first the kingdom’. As I heard this word, I cried out to God for the first time in my life to remember me. It was here I made a vow to the Lord in the faith that I would find remembrance. As I made this vow and fulfilled it, the Lord opened doors that I can truly say would not have been opened if I didn’t respond to the word to ‘seek first the kingdom’. Out of this time, the Lord blessed me financially, led me to buy a home and healed my anxious heart. It was here that I began to find testimony before God through offering. This is something I am still finding to this day.