Devotional Spirituality Study 5

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

Romans 11:33-36

English Standard Version Chapter 11

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34  “For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

35  “Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

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

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.

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?

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

Psalm 37:7-9

English Standard Version Psalm 37

7  Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

8  Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

9  For the evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

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

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.

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?

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

Psalm 115:1-11

English Standard Version Psalm 115

To Your Name Give Glory

115 Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,

for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

2  Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

3  Our God is in the heavens;

he does all that he pleases.

4  Their idols are silver and gold,

the work of human hands.

5  They have mouths, but do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

6  They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

7  They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

8  Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them.

9  O Israel, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

10  O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

11  You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

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

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.

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?

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?

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?