Spiritual
disciplines, like physical exercise mean nothing if you don’t use them. Using spiritual disciplines (or
tools) will grow your relationship with God.
Meditate on His word: Colossians 3:1-17
Since, then, you have been raised with
Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right
hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you
died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your
life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death,
therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality,
impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these,
the wrath of God is coming. You used to
walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves
of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language
from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old
self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in
knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew,
circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is
all, and is in all. Therefore, as God's
chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive
whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord
forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all
together in perfect unity. Let the peace
of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to
peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach
and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do,
whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God the Father through him.
7 Tools for Personal Spiritual Wellness
1) Prayer –
communicating with God - The A.C.T.S. of prayer.
2) Confession – acknowledging your sin
James 5:13-16 Is
any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs
of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to
pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer
offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If
he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other
and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous
man is powerful and effective.
3) Fasting – a reminder of the source of all nourishment.
Scripture
does not command Christians to fast. However, the Bible presents fasting as
something that is beneficial. The book of Acts records believers fasting before
they made important decisions (Acts
13:2; 14:23). Fasting and prayer are often linked together (Luke
2:37; 5:33). Too often, the focus of fasting is on the lack of food.
Instead, the purpose of fasting should be to take your eyes off the things of
this world to focus completely on God. Although fasting in Scripture is almost
always a fasting from food, there are other ways to fast. Anything given up
temporarily in order to focus all our attention on God can be considered a
fast. Fasting is not a way to get God to
do what we want. Fasting changes us, not God. Matthew 6:16-18 “When you fast, do
not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show
men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in
full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it
will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who
is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Matthew 4:1-2 Then Jesus was led by the
Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days
and forty nights, he was hungry. Jesus was ready for the temptation
after 40 days complete focus on God. No hunting / No cooking / No cleaning up –
all that time with laser focus on God.
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NOTE: After this point in the worship service prayer team members were invited to come forward to pray for others who were then invited to come forward for prayer and be anointed with oil. In both services 80-90% of the people came for prayer. Therefore - what is written below was not preached but saved for the following week - as you will see the following week some slight changes were made.
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5) Study – careful attention the reality that God
reveals to us, especially through Holy Scripture Luke 2:43-48 After
the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed
behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 46 After three days they
found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them
and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his
understanding and his answers.
6) Service – supportive action
toward others Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
7) Worship – giving God glory
through attitudes and actions 1 Cor 14:26
When you come together, everyone
has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an
interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
Have you ever thought; “I am going to church for the benefit of someone else?”
Col 3:1-17
So if
you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like
it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. 2 Don't shuffle along, eyes
to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be
alert to what is going on around Christ — that's where the action is. See
things from his perspective.
Your old life is
dead. Your new life, which is your real life — even though invisible to
spectators — is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real
life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too — the real
you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. And
that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual
promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel
like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by
things and feelings instead of by God. It's because of this kind of thing that
God is about to explode in anger. It wasn't long ago that you were doing all
that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure
it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty
talk. Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a
filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now
you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is
custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now
obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider
and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now
on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ. So, chosen by
God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you:
compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered,
content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and
completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on,
wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Let the
peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None
of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the
Word of Christ — the Message — have the run of the house. Give it plenty of
room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense.
And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives — words,
actions, whatever — be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the
Father every step of the way.
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