The capacity of ‘’Spiritual practices’’ to beneficially engage a person with particular pastoral and/ or prevailing social issues that impact upon faith, work, and life. Introduction. Creating a space for a Christian Spiritual practice to help someone or ourselves, I believe is an important act that we cannot be able to deny in the sense that at some point we do need some exchanges within ourselves. Some people go for a walk or just get up in the morning have a cup of coffee and watch the sun come up. But for Christians, Spiritual practice is an act that we choose to do in a sense to concentrate on the divine person of the perichoresis, a deeper connection that we may find peace, refreshment, and renew within our inner self as a work of our heavenly father within us.
Therefore, these are 5 tips I believe can help us or someone to consider creating spaces for Spiritual Practices, first, Relationship, Listening, forgiveness, Discerning, and prayer. Relationship; - The retired president of the Tonga Methodist Church of Tonga, had an opportunity to speak in our combined service on the first Sunday of January this year 2019, urging the spiritual leaders and Ministers to keep on encouraging the people of God to read the word, and memorizing the word if they want a close relationship with God. The only way to grow spiritually is to learn the word and try to memorize them and try to follow it. John Stott once said, it is that the living church is a learning Church, they devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles, (Act 2; 42, NIV). This is essentially what I mean, relationship with God through Spiritual practices is a time that we set ourselves apart from all the prevailing social issues that impact our faith, work, and life just to concentrate on the word of God, wait upon him, and discerning what does God speak to us through his word.
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The author of (Psalm 119; 105, NIV), certainly understands the values of the word of God as he says, your word is the lamb to my feed and the light for my path. Therefore, walking in the darkness and confusion of this life may lead to more misunderstanding. Those words of Isaiah are helpful, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, and they will walk and not be faint, (Isaiah 40; 31, NIV). Hoping in the Lord is expecting that his promise of strength will help us to rise above life distractions and difficulties. Isaiah describes God’s power to create his provision, to sustain, and his presence to help. God is almighty and all-powerful; but even so, he cares for each of us personally. Isaiah is right, he understands being a Christian is a forever journey. We need to have a good relationship with this powerful guy. We cannot keep running on our own because the journey is too long, and we have no power to complete the journey. We can renew our strength only if we have a close relationship with God. Listening; - I believe there is some time we need to agree to keep quiet for a while and listen to what God wants to tell us. Listening may prevent us from acting wrong, (1 Samuel 25; 24, NIV). We live in a world that is noisy everywhere, I mean different kinds of noises, wherever we go, the noise surrounding us. At Church we hear people praising God on Sundays, we also hear the same people fighting on the Church issues during the week. Some people do not agree with how the worship runs as they say it should run like the Old traditional ways and the noise never ends, we never give way to God as he is the superior and the head of the Church to say something.
Listening to God requires a thoughtful choice to shut out the confusion surrounding us and our little understanding and give space to God to speak to us. It is not that easy, but I am sure it cannot hurt us. In (Psalm 143, NIV), King David’s life was during hopelessness and depression. The first thing he did when he woke up in the morning was to hear God’s voice. His situation was terrifying, and having no hope, fear, and despair had isolated him. At times, we are caught in deepening depression and unable to free ourselves from it. At those times, we can come to the Lord and like David, express our true feelings. Then He will help us as we remember his work, (143; 5, NIV), reach out to him in prayer, (143; 6, NIV), trust him (143; 8, NIV), and decide to do his will, (143; 10, NIV). Listening to God’s voice is a matter of opening our hearts and minds so that God’s life and power can flow through us into others. In prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts and desire God’s desire. In our Spiritual practices, God reveals to us that we are his own and he is the boss, therefore, listening is one of the many practices Christians need to act on, in a sense that we may not lose hope in God. He is here with us; therefore, we must create spaces for him to talk to us and direct us because we are his own.
Forgiveness; - The practice of forgiveness sometimes becomes a safeguard to look good after a conflict, but inside there is no real forgiving. I do not know how many times I said, I have forgiven my brother, but I never forgot. In (Jeremiah 31; 34, NIV), Brain Mulhern translated it as he said, to understand God's forgiveness, God does not forget our sins; He chooses not to remember them anymore, because forgetting is passive; remember is no more, is something we choose to do. Forgiveness must come from the heart and not from the lips. To forgive and to ask for forgiveness are both costly exercises, all authentic Christians exhibit love and justice and so the pain of the cross, (John Stott, p 343). In that case, forgiveness starts from God's love, and not from our feelings. The practice of forgiveness is a not one-time action. Forgiveness is a lifetime activity. That is only shaped by a deep relationship with God and with others. The central goal of this practice is reconciling, rescue, healing, redemption, ransom, and freedom. Forgiveness is the biblical image of salvation, (Brenda Colijn, quoted by Jones, p 143.).
In our worship, we confess, baptism, sharing of peace, washing of feet, and the assurance of forgiveness, all added on to create a pure relationship with God and others. In the Uniting Church Order of Service, we always do our prayer of confession and ask God for his forgiveness, and this is before we hear the word of God, why do we do this? It is because the word of God cannot dwell in a place that is already stained by sins, therefore we ask God for his forgiveness, as we pray, we believe that God forgives us as we declare that we have been forgiven, and from there, we start afresh with him and continue to hear his word. Jesus teaches his disciples, this then how you pray, forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us, (Matthew 6; 12, NIV). It works both ways, we ask God for his forgiveness as we know he does, (1 John; 1; 9, NIV), and at the same time, we must forgive and forget the wrongs of others against us. Discernment; - It took me almost a year and a half to go through this process, (POD). As far as I understand this space is for me to discern what is the call of God in my life. It is a time to seek God for his direction and with my mentor’s help, I can discern the area that I may fit in, in God’s work. John Macarthur says discernment is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about the truth, in other words, the ability to think with discernment is synonymous with the ability to think biblically. Therefore, creating a capacity for Spiritual practice is not something that we think about whether we do it or not, it is the Christian requirement.
Believers need to discern what distracted them from the truth about faith, work, and life, and why, because believers should understand that faith work, and life come from God and not anyone else. Those issues that we face every day in life are not going to destroy us. Paul made this clear as he said to the Corinthians, no temptation will be seized you except what is common to man and God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, (1 Corinthians 10; 13, NIV). Therefore, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. I believe these are the three main categories wherein any temptation may fall, and God already tells us in (Matthews 28; 20b), that he will never leave us or forsake us, he will be with us to the end of the age. Meaning that he is going to help us discern the right direction to go. Paul also teaches believers at Thessalonica that this is their responsibility to be discerning, test everything carefully hold on to the good, and avoid every kind of evil, (1 Thessalonians 5; 21 – 22, NIV). Moreover, apostle John issues a parallel warning when he says, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world….(1 John 4; 1 – 4, NIV). To discern the right spirit as the apostle says in this context, is what they believe about Christ, do they teach that Jesus is fully God and fully man? And if they don’t acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, then they are not from God but evil. Pray; - Biblical prayer is crying to God out of the depths; it is the pouring out of the soul before God, (1 Sam 1; 15), (Ps 88;1 – 2), (Ps 130; 1-2). Why does God want us to pray? Wayne Grudem once said God wants us to pray because prayer expresses our trust in God and is a means whereby our trust in him can increase.
Christians are familiar with this practice, sometimes we pray very long, short, and loud, but does it mean we always trust in him when we pray that way? Jesus teaches us how to pray, (Matthew 6; 6 – 13, NIV). Jesus himself is a prayer Master. For the disciples, as they followed Jesus, it was a very familiar sight to see Him pray to his heavenly father. It seems that his customary practice was to pray with his eyes open. He was looking towards home. Nothing would distract Him from communion with God. He had taught his disciples that men always ought to pray and not lose heart or become discouraged, (Luke 18; 1), and he acted on what he was talking about, thus indicating that all leaders should be praying leaders. Jesus always prayed, early in the morning, (Mark 1; 35, NIV), late at night, (Matthew 14; 23, NIV), and even all night, (Luke 6; 12, NIV). He shows us that the capacity for him to pray was not a fixed time. He prayed before special occasions, like at his baptism, (Luke 3; 21, NIV), before choosing the twelve disciples, (Luke 6; 12 – 13, NIV), How is our prayer life? Do adjustments need to be made? And when is the best time to make them? How wonderful it is to learn from Jesus. Prayer is the channel that connects us with God, we tell him all our desires and all our problems because they are all of value to God. Dr. Phil Pringle before he became the Senior Minister of the Christian City Church in Sydney, was desperately hungry to have a Church of his own, he was learning a lot and this is how he prays, he said, one major lesson I learned was not to attempt to make it easy for God, I say to him, look I am so desperate to have a Church, I do not care what kind of Church you give me, one with problems, difficulties or anything…. The point that I want to raise here is, genuine prayer, God responded because honest prayers are vital to Him. (Faith, Dr. Phil Pringle).
In conclusion, the above practices, l believe, creating a space to make these practices happen is not simply a matter of pointing to a certain time, but I believe it is a lifetime activity that is happening to bubbling up within the believer's hearts and I mean they are not a part-time kind of action but we have to live it. Therefore, to have a pure relationship with God, listening to God through his word, asking God for his forgiveness between you and others, discerning what God is doing for you, and praying, are the fundamental aspects of our Spiritual practices. Moreover, these practices, simply help Christians to stand fast with their faith, work, and the life they live. Christians face different social issues every day, that surely disturb their faith, work, and life, but then we must trust God, in our suffering, he is there to help us.
References
- Dr. Pringle Phil. Faith, Pax Ministries Pty Ltd, Locked Bag, No 8, Dee Why, NSW 2099, Australia, p 38.
- Elwell Walter. A. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Barker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49506, p 867.
- Grudem Wayne. SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, AN INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL DOCTRINE, INTER VARSITY PRESS, Norton Street, Nottingham NG7, 3HR, England, p 376.
- Jones Brenda Felker. Practicing Christian Doctrine, An Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically, Barker Academic, a division of Barker Publishing Group Grand Rapids, Michigan, p143.
- Mulhern Brain. JESUS AUTHOR & FINISHER, TIMELESS PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIANITY, SYNERGY PUBLISHERS, Gainesville, Florida 32614, USA, A DIVISION OF BRIDGE – LOGO INTERNATIONAL Trust in partnership with Bridge – Logo’s Publisher, p77.
- Macarthur John. What is discernment and what does it mean? https;//www.christianty.com/theology/what-is-biblical-discernment-and-why-is-it-important-11532182, 28/1/2019.
- Stott John. The Living Church, Conviction of a Life Long Pastor, Inter Varsity Press, Norton Street, Nottingham NG7, 3HR, England, p23. 8. Stott John R. W. The CROSS of CHRIST with the Study guide, 20th-anniversary edition, Inter-Varsity Press, 1989, Forward by Alister McGrath, p343.
- Scriptures; - . Acts 2; 42. Mark 1; 35. Matthews 6; 6 – 13, 14; 23, 28; 20b. Luke 6; 12, 3; 21, 6; 12 – 13, 18; 1. . 1 Corinthians 10; 13. . 1 John 1; 9. . 1 John 4; 1 – 4. . 1 Thessalonians 5; 21 – 22. . Isaiah 40; 31. Jeremiah 31; 34. Sione Finau. 7/2/2019.
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