Turning into conscious of God’s presence in our lives and on the planet is a vital step in religious transformation. It solidifies our religion and evokes us alongside the way in which. In Incline Your Ear: Cultivating Spiritual Awakening in Congregations, Rev. Chad Abbott and I write about how religion communities and congregations can turn out to be extra reflective about moments the place they expertise God’s presence.
Particular moments to Savor
For many of us, the moments of acute consciousness of the Spirit’s motion in our lives are particular and occasional. Previous timers referred to as these “mountaintop experiences,” and we don’t get to the mountaintop daily. However as soon as we’ve been there, it’s useful to apply remembering these particular moments of deep connection and to ponder how they’ve modified our lives and the way we are able to proceed to be remodeled by the perception gleaned from these necessary moments.
What’s Religious Reflection?
Religious reflection is popping our consideration to what we deem most necessary—what theologian Paul Tillich refers to as “final concern,” which he describes as “numinous or holy, distinct from all profane and peculiar realities. Additionally it is skilled as overwhelmingly actual and useful—certainly, so actual and so useful that, as compared, all different issues seem empty and nugatory.”
Paying consideration to what’s holy and being grateful for these moments is countercultural and all the time has been. Keep in mind the story of Jesus therapeutic ten lepers and just one remembering and turning again to say “thanks” and reward God (Luke 17:11–19)? The world strikes very quick, and we turn out to be impatient to get on with our lives, like these 9 lepers who did not cease and present gratitude. After we decelerate, we could discover ourselves out of step with our “transferring on the velocity of life” tradition. But when we merely take all these great presents with out spending time appreciating them, then we’re lacking out on the fullness of the blessing.
Concentrate on Listening to God
Religious reflection is the intentional deal with how God is making an attempt to speak with us. A lot as Elijah contemplated the hearth, earthquake, and wind, questioning whether or not God was chatting with him via them, we additionally marvel about God’s voice and presence in our lives. We search to discern God’s work amongst us, a apply for which we’ve got biblical tips however few absolute commandments. For instance, if a voice tells us to kill somebody or to steal, we all know the commandments that prohibit these decisions. Voices and leadings from God on issues for which there are lots of good decisions are tougher to discern, and we do properly to test these out in session with our religion neighborhood, scripture, historic custom, private expertise, and purpose.
Reflection on the Motion of the Spirit
With all this speak of religious reflection and listening to God, chances are you’ll be pondering: How do we all know it’s God we’re experiencing, and never simply our ego or creativeness? How do we all know when God’s Spirit is transferring, main, or encouraging us? We’ve got good purpose to be cautious about saying we “hear God’s voice,” as a result of we’ve seen examples of individuals claiming to be appearing on God’s behalf whereas doing ungodly issues!
We are able to take a look at what we consider are messages from God by figuring out if they’re in step with Jesus’s Nice Commandment: love God and love your neighbor as your self (Matthew 22:37–38). We additionally take a look at messages to see if they’re in step with what we find out about God from scriptures that echo that Nice Commandment.
Need to be taught extra about religious course for congregations? Chad Abbot and I’ve a e-book from Fortress Press on this, Incline Your Ear: Cultivating Spiritual Awakening in Congregations.
