Chapter 22 - Temptations

Chapter 22 used 7 Bible passages to illuminate the subject of “Temptations”, as follows:


1 Corinthians 10:11-21
Matthew 4:1-11
James 1:2-4
Mark 14:66-72
Matthew 16:21-24
Hebrews 2:10-18
1 Peter 2:19-25

Prayer:

“To share his victory we must share in his suffering. And this includes sharing in his temptations. Temptations can serve to strengthen us as they strengthened Jesus. Inquire of him how you might benefit in such circumstances.”

Hymn:


The hymn for Chapter 22 was “Yield Not to Temptation” by Horatio R. Palmer. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)


Meditation Selections:


The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel, Ernest Boyer, Jr., George Fox, M. Basil Pennington, Elizabeth O’Connor, James Stewart, Thomas Merton, Hannah Whitall Smith and Thomas à Kempis. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)



Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:


· “We do not refuse to pray; we abstain from it. We ring the hollow bell of selfishness rather than absorb the stillness that surrounds the world… the secret stillness that precedes our birth and succeeds our death. …Why do we not set apart an hour of living for devotion to God by surrendering to stillness?”

· “…the soul is matured only in battles. And when temptations started up again he did not pray that the struggle be taken from him, but only said: Lord, give me strength to get through the fight.”

· “We are programmed to see temptations as something evil: Lead us not into temptation. It comes as a bit of a surprise then when we read in St. Matthew’s Gospel: ‘Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.’ This is not quite what we would expect the Holy Spirit to do.”

· “These are moments God uses to put in the heart and the mouth the question, ‘Is there another way?’ …from learning there are two ways – one that leads to death and one to life – it does not follow that we enter by the narrow gate. The facts about the gate are starkly simple. One, it leads to life…Two, it is a hard way, and Three, few find it. …We do not ask for courage, because we do not know we have need of it. …This is where the religious lose out on the Kingdom. They assume that because they are aware of the two ways, and because they have chosen the second, they are on it. This is to fall comfortably into the sleep of the crowd again. It may well be a ‘religious’ crowd, but it is nonetheless a crowd.”

· “How did the story come to be in the Gospels at all? The Master’s fight with Satan happened out in a desert, far from the beaten track and the eyes of men. …Jesus was utterly alone… Clearly there is only one explanation: the story came direct from the lips of Christ himself. Why did Jesus tell it? …First, Jesus shared this experience with his disciples in order to help them through their own tempted hours. …second, …the titanic struggle of the desert days and nights had marked his soul forever… He could see and feel it … as if it happened only yesterday … the grace of God and the angels that had brought him through.”

· “Christian life is to be throughout a warfare. …temptations generally increase in strength tenfold after we have entered into the interior life, rather than decrease. …Strong temptations are generally a sign of great grace, rather than of little grace.”

· “…Let us, therefore, humble our souls under the hand of God in all temptations and tribulations, for the humble in spirit He will save and exalt.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 22 not quoted) mean to you?



Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.

John

Chapter 21 - Doubts

Chapter 21 referred to 7 Bible passages to address the subject of “Doubts”, as follows:

Luke 7:1-10
Hebrews 10:19-25
Matthew 14:22-36
Genesis 18:1-15
John 6:60-69
Romans 4:1-25
John 20:24-31

Prayer:

“Sometimes we all are in need of praying as the father of the demon-possessed boy (Mark 9) who said to Jesus, ‘I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.’ Do not be afraid to pray in this way if it reflects your needs.”

Hymn:
The hymn for Chapter 21 was “Oh, for a Faith That Will Not Shrink” by William H. Bathurst. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Meditation Selections:
The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Hans Kung, Georgia Harkness, Andrew Murray, Rainer Maria Rilke, James Stewart, John Powell, Madeleine L’Engle and Ernest Boyer, Junior. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:
· “Questions of faith are not like riddles or crossword puzzles: with things of this sort it may take some time to find the solution, but once it’s found, everything is clear and simple. …With faith…we have, not human truth which men can state and understand, but God’s truth, which goes far beyond any statement or understanding of man’s. The faith never becomes clear. The faith remains obscure. Not until we enter glory will it be otherwise. …Doubt is the shadow cast by faith.”
· “To deny that God acts to give us moral and spiritual help is an implicit atheism.”
· “…I began to understand that I must lay aside all my efforts, and simply trust the Lord Jesus to bestow on me His life and peace, and He did it.”
· “…be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart…. Do not now seek the answers…. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
· “Jesus never argued for the validity of prayer anymore than he argued for the existence of God. …God was simply there…. Just so, prayer was not something to be proved by argument; prayer was there…. Did any disciple – Thomas, for example – have doubts about prayer, genuine, honest doubts? Nothing was more likely to vanquish his doubts than the sight of Jesus upon his knees…. The praying Christ is the supreme argument for prayer.”
· “In the process of faith, doubts and crises must occur. …We lose sight of the fact that faith can mature only because of these crises. …One thing is certain, that passage through the darkness of doubts and crises, however painful they may be, is essential to growth in the process of faith.”
· “…the Lord…knows our heart…and how easily we are inclined to rest in prayer as a religious work without an answer.”
· “For many people faith means nothing more than a set of beliefs to which they may either agree or disagree. …God is not a belief to which you give your assent. God becomes a reality that you know intimately, meet every day, one whose strength becomes your strength, whose love, your love.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 21 not quoted) mean to you?

Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John

Chapter 20 - The Will

Chapter 20 used 7 passages to enlighten the Biblical view of “The Will”, as follows:

John 3:10-21
Luke 11:14-28
Matthew 26:36-46
Luke 9:57-62
Mark 8:34-9:1
Luke 5:1-11
Luke 13:22-30

Prayer:

“If Jesus believed that his life was to be spent doing ‘the will of the Father,’ then our task is to be no less. Pray for his will to be accomplished in your life; that you may bring glory to him as Jesus did.”

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 20 was “My Jesus, As Thou Wilt” by Benjamin Schmolck. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Mother Teresa, Emilie Griffin, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Evelyn Underhill, Georgia Harkness, George Fox, Thomas R. Kelly, Richard J. Foster, and Andrew Murray. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

· “Our progress in holiness depends on God and ourselves – on God’s grace and on our will to be holy. We must have a real living determination to reach holiness. …and make myself a willing slave to the will of God.”
· “There is a moment between intending to pray and actually praying that is as dark and silent as any moment in our lives. …It seems, then, that the greatest obstacle to prayer is the simple matter of beginning, the simple exertion of will, the starting, the acting, the doing. …we can approach the abyss that lies between us and prayer and retreat from it under cover of being-too-busy or having-family-obligations or even serving-God-in-other-ways. This seemingly justified retreat makes the approach more difficult the next time… .”
· “Man is constantly producing words and deeds, giving them over either to God or to the forces of evil.”
· “Real power is the result of inner harmony… .”
· “…motives, desires, and the spirit’s use of bodily powers will be in harmony with the will of God. If prayer did only this, it would do for us the most important thing that could be done.”
· “…there remained in me an unsubjected will…”
· “…we cannot take Him by storm. The strong man must become the little child, not understanding but trusting the Father.”
· “What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. …almost all church fights and splits occur because people do not have the freedom to give in to each other. …Only in submission are we enabled to bring that spirit to a place where it no longer controls us. Only submission can free us sufficiently to enable us to distinguish between genuine issues and stubborn self-will.”
· “…Jesus called us to self-denial without self-hatred. Self-denial is not the same thing as self-contempt. …Jesus made the ability to love ourselves the prerequisite for our reaching out to others.”
· “Jesus in His prayers on earth, …makes this His first objective – the glory of His Father. Is it so with us too?”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 20 not quoted) mean to you?

Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John

Chapter 19 - Faith In The Process

Chapter 19 cited 7 scripture passages to spotlight the faith demonstrated in a number of situations in the Bible, as follows:

Hebrews 11:1-12:3
Genesis 22:1-19
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Nehemiah 6:1-9
Philippians 3:17-4:1
1 Peter 5:1-11
Romans 8:28-39

Prayer:

“Ask God to reveal himself to you this week in his form or way. Promise him that you will not ask him to speak to you in any certain images; but that you want to be open to all of his entreaties to you. Ask him to show you that these experiences of today are part of his processes for your life.”

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 19 was “Day by Day” by Lina Sandell and Oscar Ahnfelt. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Lloyd Ogilvie, John Claypool, Al Bryant, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Ernest Boyer, Jr., Bob Benson and Frederick Buechner. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

· “What can you do when you’ve failed and denied what you believe? …the basic message of the story is this: the Lord’s love does not fail however much we fail him.”
· “…I had come to the conclusion that it was the nature of God to speak to us in the language of events, and that it was the nature of the Church for men to share with each other what they thought they heard God say in the things that had happened to them. …I have found the challenge to go on living even though I have no answer or any complete explanation.”
· “How different is the case, how vast the preeminence, of those who ‘walk by faith!’ … Those who live by faith, walk by faith. But what is implied in this?”
· “Many of us are willing to embark upon any adventure, except to go into stillness and to wait… Faith is the fruit of a seed planted in the depth of a lifetime.”
· “It is the bland and repetitious part of life at the center that seems its greatest defect; the reality of a life of care often seems as far from spirituality as possible. …Spirituality is anything that reveals how close God is to us – as close as our hands, as close as our heart.”
· “By examining as closely and candidly as I could the life that had come to seem to me in many ways a kind of trap or dead-end street, I discovered that it really wasn’t that at all. …Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is.”
· “To do for yourself the best that you have it in you to do – to grit your teeth and clench your fists in order to survive the world at its harshest and worst – is, by that very act, to be unable to let something be done for you and in you that is more wonderful still.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 19 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John

Chapter 18 - Fasting

Chapter 18 used 7 scripture passages to highlight the Biblical foundation of fasting as a useful tool in our spiritual life, as follows:

John 4:31-38
Matthew 9:14-17
Matthew 6:16-18
Luke 4:1-13
Exodus 34:27-28
Matthew 4:1-4
Luke 5:33-39

Prayer:

“I heard a godly man remark when asked if he got hungry while fasting. ‘Of course! But then I remember that I’m fasting for God and not for me, and the hunger goes away.’”

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 18 was “Fill Me Now” by Elwood Stokes. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Richard J. Foster, Tilden H. Edwards, Ponder Gilliland, Rainer Maria Rilke, “An Anthology of George MacDonald” edited by C. S. Lewis, Andrew Murray and “the Message of the Wesleys” compiled by Philip S. Watson. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

· “One issue that understandably concerns many people is whether or not Scripture makes fasting obligatory upon all Christians. …Jesus was giving instruction on the proper exercise of a common practice of His day.”
· “My own and others’ experience leads me to recommend not a full fast, but a ‘juice fast’: vegetable juice (preferably freshly made) and especially fruit juice (which will provide more energy sugar) three times a day. …If you want to undertake a fast, it is easiest to do so with others.”
· “On the matter of prayer and fasting, all you need to do is to follow the inner promptings of the Lord. …There is no set pattern in all this. …It may be that God would only direct you to fast one meal. Or one day. …The important thing is not just the fasting, by why you are fasting.”
· “Prayer needs fasting for its full growth… . Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the invisible; fasting, the other, with which we let loose and cast away the visible.”
· “Not that we are to imagine that performing the bare outward act will receive any blessing from God. If it be a mere external service, it is all but lost labour.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 18 not quoted) mean to you?
Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John

Chapter 17 - Spiritual Partners

Chapter 17 referenced 7 scripture passages to highlight “accountability partners” as an aid in your personal spiritual growth, as follows:

John 13:1-35
1 Timothy 3:1-7
Philemon 1-25
Philippians 2:19-30
1 Samuel 20:16-42
Acts 9:10-19
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Prayer:

“Begin to pray that God will lead you to someone with whom you can be open and prayerful about both the efforts and progress in the spiritual life. For someone with whom you can begin to be mutually accountable for each other’s journey in faith.”

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 17 was “I’ve Found a Friend, O Such a Friend” by James G. Small. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of M. Basil Pennington, Tilden H. Edwards, Frederick Buechner, Glenn Clark, Thomas R. Kelly and Philip S. Watson’s compilation from “The Message of the Wesleys”. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:
· “Anyone who has been graced with true friendship knows the cost and knows the worth.”
· “When someone else knows and cares, then we pay that much more attention to what we’re doing.”
· “Whom you should see or respond to will depend on many things, including your age, sex, experience, personality, spiritual path, …faith tradition.”
· “Do you love the spirit of your friend, or do you just love the outside of him? Each person has a slightly different quality of personality, a different soul through which he expresses the great God Spirit. If you penetrate to that inner soul and love it …then he is really and truly your friend.”
· “It is as if the boundaries of our self were enlarged, as if we were within them and as if they were within us. Their strength, given to them by God, becomes our strength, and our joy, given to us by God, becomes their joy.”
· “The (Wesley’s) Class Meetings … were Christ-centered fellowships. …they could go on to share their Christian experience with one another – their troubles and triumphs on the Christian way, or on their quest for that way. …always with the aim of helping one another grow in grace, in faith and hope and love.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 17 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site (http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John

Chapter 16 - Journaling

Chapter 16 used 7 scripture passages to encourage the use of journaling as a tool for personal spiritual growth, as follows:

Ephesians 6:10-18
Jeremiah 17:5-10
2 Corinthians 4:7-5:5
2 Corinthians 10:11
1 Chronicles 16:8-16
Luke 2:8-19
Luke 1:1-4

The hymn for Chapter 16 was "I Must Tell Jesus” by Elisha A. Hoffman. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Edward J. Farrell, Madeleine L’Engle, Susan Annette Muto, Elizabeth O’Connor, Morton T. Kelsey and Ira Progoff. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:
· “One of the ways I have learned to pray is by writing.”
· “A help to me in working things out has been to keep an honest – as honest as the human being can be – unpublishable journal.”
· “The journal is not so much an integral part of the building as a scaffolding which is needed to construct the building and then needed later to repair the structure. But the size of the building one can construct without scaffolding is limited indeed.”
· “A journal is not only a record of events that touch and transform us; it is a private space in which we can meet ourselves in relation to others and God.”
· “Writing stops the flow of experience so that we can look at it again and gain insight into what was really occurring…”
· “…there is not a right way or wrong way to keep a journal.”
· “The keeping of a pilgrim journal requires a conscious, unswerving commitment to honesty with one’s self… This takes a lot of courage, a lot of endurance, a commitment to press on when we want to shrink back. The goal is to make Jesus Christ the Lord of our life.”
· “Among our primary tools for growth are reflection, self-observation and self-questioning. The journal is one of the most helpful vehicles we have for cultivating these great powers in ourselves. …Journal writing is enforced reflection.”
· “The journal not only gives us a way of dealing with the feelings that are often ready to burst out of us, but offers us objectivity about them as well. How different ideas seem as they lie naked on the page before us than in the moment of ‘inspiration’. Sometimes they appear less and sometimes even more inspired.”
· “The keeping of private journals has played a particularly important role in the history of religion… The individual uses the journal as a means of measuring his progress… Journals are used especially in those situations where a person is having difficulty in attaining his goal. A private journal is … for recording and then for evaluating how far he has attained his goals and to what degree he has failed. It is helpful up to a point in providing a means of reflection for the contents of the life.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 16 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site.
John