THE UNHURRIED LIFE WEEK 5

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1 THE UNHURRIED LIFE WEEK 5 LOVE ISN T RUSHED In our world today we have mastered great technical knowledge, has this knowledge come at he expense of our relational knowledge? Our world of iphones, s and Facebook, focuses on the superficial; it focuses on image rather than who we really are. We can have hundreds of friends on Facebook, who like every image we post, and yet not be able to have a single real and meaningful relationship. As our lives have become busier and busier, more hurried and as our technical knowledge has increased our ability to develop deep, meaningful and lasting relationships with others, seems to have decreased. Christ calls us back to what really matters: - He calls us back to what can be found in the unhurried life with Him deep and meaningful relationships intimacy with God and with one another. - Such things can only occur when they are given time. - True love develops and matures slowly it cannot be rushed. - What is of true and lasting value cannot be manufactured overnight. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD Cultivating the Garden of our Souls Read Luke 8:4-15 Hopefully for each of us, our lives would represent the seed that fell on fertile soil and produced a rich crop. However if you don t feel like you are producing a rich crop of fruit in your life which one of these categories that the parable illustrates do you most identify with? o Are you like the rocky soil, where your roots don t go deep enough to withstand the tough times? And your faith and strength seem to whither under pressure? o Or are you like the seed that fell among the thorns is your faith at times crowded out by the worries and cares and busyness of this life, or by the lure for riches, the desire for things, or even the enjoyment of and the pleasures of this life?

2 On reflecting on the parable of the Farmer scattering Seed it becomes obvious that the main issue is our use of time. In our busy hurried lives, we simply don t have time to grow our roots more deeply into good spiritual soil. All the other things that demand our time and attention crowd out the development of our faith and our relationship with Christ. True love, true relationship, cannot be rushed. In the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Screwtape advises Wormwood to make sure that a man who becomes a Christian regards his time as his own. We will only ever be able to enter into the unhurried life that Christ knew when we surrender our time to God, and allow Him to be Lord of it, rather than trying to control it or hoard it for ourselves. It is only as we give our time to Christ, that our relationship with God will become real, meaningful and intimate and that He is able to change us from the inside out. Cultivating The Spiritual Disciplines The antidote to the problem of our relationship with Christ being crowded out by the worries, busyness, riches and pleasures of this life, the antidote to having shallow roots is to go deeper into God. Read Galatians 6: 7-8 A farmer is helpless to grow grain; all he can do is provide the right conditions for the grain to grow. He cultivates the soil, he plants the seed, he waters it and then the natural forces of the earth take over and up comes the grain. This is the way it is with the spiritual disciplines they are a way of sowing into the Spirit. The Disciplines are God s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where God can work with us and transform us. By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing, however the Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that He can transform us. The Spiritual Disciplines are God s way of enabling us to deepen our relationship with Him. Note: The following Spiritual Disciplines although distinct are intertwined and often overlap one another, and are usually carried out in conjunction with one or more Discipline.

3 Spiritual Disciplines Prayer Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Prayer is to religion what original research is science. PT Forsyth. Prayer can change our world. Read Acts 4:31 In pairs share with one another either how prayer has changed your world or a personal experience of answered prayer. Prayer is something that we learn. Read Luke 11:1. The more we do it, the more we will learn how to do it. Read Luke 11:1-13 Of all the spiritual disciplines prayer is the most central, because it is communion and intimacy with God. All the great men and women who have walked with God have viewed prayer as the main business of their lives. A common misconception regarding prayer is that prayer mainly involves asking things from God (although this is part of prayer) the main function of prayer is communion with God. Prayer involves both speaking to God and listening to Him. Prayer ultimately is the communication between the Lover and the one beloved. To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. Can you share a specific example from your own life where you have come to God in prayer about something, and as you have prayed God has changed your heart? Fasting Read Matthew 6:16-18 and Isaiah 58: 3-8, and Ezra 8:21-23 According to these verses what is the benefit of fasting? Why do it? According to these verses when is fasting of no benefit? What do we need to wary of? If you have fasted before as a spiritual discipline share any benefit you or others gained from this? Share your views as to why you do, or don t think fasting is a good thing to do. Meditating on God s Word and God Himself Explain what your understanding is of Christian Meditation.

4 Read Genesis 24:62-63, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:2-3 From these verses what are some of the benefits of meditation? Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to fill the mind. The Bible uses two different Hebrew words to convey the idea of meditation and together they are used some 58 times. These words have various meanings: o Listening to God s word, o Reflecting on God s works, o Rehearsing God s deeds, o Ruminating on God s laws. Meditation involves silence and listening. What happens in meditation is that we create the emotional and spiritual space which allows Christ to speak to our hearts. Christian meditation very simply is the ability to hear God s voice and obey His word. Studying God s Word The study of God s word involves more than simply reading God s word, although this is the central part of it. Study involves four parts: 1. Concentration 2. Comprehension 3. Repetition 4. Reflection Study requires humility and a teachable spirit. Meditating is devotional; study is analytical. Meditation will relish a word; study will explicate it. Although distinct, there is some overlap between study and meditation. What we study will determine the types of thoughts and the kind of habits that are formed in our lives this is why Paul urges us in Philippians 4:8 to focus on things that are true honourable, just, pure, lovely and gracious. Read Romans 12:2 How does Paul say that we are transformed? This renewal of the mind comes about by the study of God s word. Behavioural science experiments have shown that by repeating certain affirmations regularly (e.g. I love myself) the inner mind is trained and will eventually respond by modifying behaviour to confirm to the affirmation.

5 How much more so when it is God s word that we are studying and repeating Study of God s word is one of the central ways that God uses to change us, because it changes our minds and our thoughts. Read John 8:32 According to this verse what is it that sets us free? Christians may love Jesus, live as obediently as they know, even receive divine visions and revelations yet remain in bondage to fears and anxieties and not be free. This is because without a knowledge of the truth we will not be free. This is why the study of God s word is so important. Christians and churches today who focus on spiritual experiences and neglect in depth study of God s word, will never experience all that God has for them, and can find themselves in real spiritual danger. Have you personally experienced or observed any examples of this? Other Spiritual Disciplines 1. Worship 2. Journaling 3. Silence/Listening 4. Memorising God s Word 5. Reading God s Word Aloud 6. Confession Share your experience of any of these other disciplines and how you have found them meaningful. In practicing the Spiritual Disciplines is there anything that we need to be wary of? Jesus Our Example OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH ONE ANOTHER Last week we looked at how Jesus set aside time to spend alone with his heavenly Father. Jesus also set aside time to develop deep and meaningful relationships with his disciples. He often withdrew from the crowds in order to spend time alone with his disciples. Jesus understood that love cannot be rushed, that love takes time. What things did Jesus do to develop His relationship with His disciples? 1. Took time out to be alone with them (Luke 8:22,Mark 6:30-31)

6 2. Talked with them (Luke 6:20) 3. Ate with them (Luke 22:14-15) 4. Prayed with them and for them (John 17:20-21) 5. Served them (John 13:3-5, 13-15) 6. Sacrificed himself for them (John 17:19, John 15:12-13) Share some of the things that you do to cultivate the relationships in your life that are the most important to you? Things to Think About and Act on Over the Next Week - - What Spiritual Disciplines could you begin to do, or do more of, in order to deepen you relationship with God? What practices could you put in place in order to deepen and cultivate your relationships with others? (Which relationships do you most need to put time and effort into right now?) PRAY Pray for one another that we would learn to cultivate the spiritual disciplines in our lives, and deepen our relationship with God. Pray for one another that we would learn to cultivate our relationships and learn to love one another better (especially those who we are closest to within our own families.)