Prayerfully Re-Center around God
Philippians 1:9-11
This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
~ Apostle Paul
Pondering Point
Capture this idea in your mind and dwell on it: Seeing your love toward God connect with a deep knowledge and wisdom about Him. Now see that combination of love and insight of God enabling you to know what is best and carry it out, bearing fruit to the glory and praise of God. Can you see picture of God celebrating His will being done on earth as it is in heaven? Let see it as we prayerfully re-center around God:
Review
Review your love toward God. Remember why you love Him and how He first loved you.
Repent if Necessary
Knowing that repent includes turning, turn to God and ask for greater knowledge and insight.
Return (as necessary)
Return your attention to loving God first – above all things – and let Him produce in you a Spirit-filled life of righteousness in Jesus. And God will be glorified.
Micro-Group Moment:
Considering time with the Holy Spirit as a
way of participating in Micro-Group life:
Personal Examen (Saint Ignatius Loyola)
Examen seeks to find, in five steps, the movement of God’s Spirit in our lives by reviewing your day. Take 15 minutes at the end of your day to walk through the following steps:
- Recognize that you are in the presence of God.
- Look at your day with gratitude: Begin by giving thanks to God for the gifts of this particular day.
- Ask help from the Holy Spirit to look honestly at your actions and attitudes, to understand your motivations and reactions.
- Review your day like a movie. Notice details and contexts of what happened, how you reacted and why.
The following questions can be helpful in your review:
- When did I give – or receive – love today?
- What habits and life patterns do I notice?
- In what ways did I notice God in my day?
- When did I fail today? Why might this be?
- When did I feel most alive? Most drained of life?
- When did I have the greatest sense of belonging
- When did I have the least sense of belonging?
- When was I most creative? Least creative?
- When did I feel most fully myself? Least myself?
- When did I feel most whole? Most fragmented?
When ready, close with the following quote, then pray the prayer asking God for help with "making it our ambition to lead a quiet life."
A year after I got back from sabbatical, I taught through Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. After three months of sitting in his short missive, one line in particular kept coming back to haunt me. Something about it imprinted on my brain; it has become my manifesto. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.
I'm struck by the juxtaposition of Paul's words. The word ambition next to the word quiet. These two words sound like enemies, not friends. When I hear ambition, I generally think of hurry or its new synonym hustle and all that comes with a driven, careerist kind of life. I imagine the latest celeb entrepreneur or type A professional – driven to succeed, even at the cost of his or her soul. But Paul says we are to aim our ambition – the pent-up energy and drive that we all have at some level – at something else entirely: a quiet life. That's the goal, the end, the vision of success: a quiet life.
J.M. Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, pages 252, 253