Devotional Spirituality Study 4

The Contemplative Way

1. Life and Ministry

How was your week?

What is God doing around you?

How did you influence someone this week in their relationship with Christ?

Main Idea

What are the keys to loving God, and how can we cultivate a growing intimacy with him? This section explores what it means to enjoy God and to trust in him. Henry Scougal observed that “the worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.” We are most satisfied when we seek God’s pleasure above our own, and we gradually become conformed to what we most love and admire.

Overview

Followers of the contemplative approach make the love of God their supreme and unrivaled object of life. The hunger and thirst for righteousness is the soul’s love affair with its “summum bonum,” the “highest good” for which it was created. There will be seasons of dryness and darkness, but when our desire is for God’s manifest presence, the way of the heart will seek his embrace.

Sub-Themes

Our Image of God: Session 1 & 2

The Contemplative Way: Sessions 3-5

Falling in Love with God: Sessions 6-8

Principles and quotes come from Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation by Kenneth Boa

Directions

There are three passages for each week. Read them in light of the Semester Theme and the Week’s Focus found in the boxed section above.

A daily spiritual discipline is to learn to hear God’s voice from his Word. Please don’t look at this as a homework assignment.

Find a quiet place each day to read the passage(s) slowly a couple of times through.

1. Summarize the passage(s). You might want to journal it.

2. What is God saying to you through the passage(s)? (Commands to obey, praise to give, sin to confess, example to follow, etc.) Make note of it to better remember it.

3. What does it mean to fear God? Another way to say it, what does the fear of God look like in a Christ follower’s day?

4. Be prepared to share how some of the Bible passages impacted you in your weekly group meeting. (No question mark needed here)

The key to effective application: Being a group member of like-minded Christ followers for encouragement and accountability.

Psalm 42:1-2,11

1. Summarize the passage(s). You might want to journal it.

2. What is God saying to you through the passage(s)? (Commands to obey, praise to give, sin to confess, example to follow, etc.) Make note of it to better remember it.

3. What does it mean to fear God? Another way to say it, what does the fear of God look like in a Christ follower’s day?

4. Be prepared to share how some of the Bible passages impacted you in your weekly group meeting. (No question mark needed here)

Psalm 63:1-4

1. Summarize the passage(s). You might want to journal it.

2. What is God saying to you through the passage(s)? (Commands to obey, praise to give, sin to confess, example to follow, etc.) Make note of it to better remember it.

3. What does it mean to fear God? Another way to say it, what does the fear of God look like in a Christ follower’s day?

4. Be prepared to share how some of the Bible passages impacted you in your weekly group meeting. (No question mark needed here)

2 Corinthians 5:2-9

1. Summarize the passage(s). You might want to journal it.

2. What is God saying to you through the passage(s)? (Commands to obey, praise to give, sin to confess, example to follow, etc.) Make note of it to better remember it.

3. What does it mean to fear God? Another way to say it, what does the fear of God look like in a Christ follower’s day?

4. Be prepared to share how some of the Bible passages impacted you in your weekly group meeting. (No question mark needed here)

Weekly Group Time

Hearing from God

a. What is God saying through His Word?

b. What passage of Scripture spoke to you? Why?

c. How did it change the way you live?

Talking to God

a. What do we need to say…to God about others and His Kingdom?

b. Personal: From the discussion, what can we pray for you? c. Ministry: Where do you need God’s help in ministry this week?