"JOURNAL INTO THE MYSTIC"

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Prayer Journaling as a way to build your intimacy with Christ and speak Him into others. And thanks Cindy Skillman for your painting "Quiet Time."

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Latest Activity: Jun 26

THE SPIRITUAL JOURNAL AS AN AID TO THE DEVOTIONAL LIFE

"We have already said that the most promising method of prayer is to allow oneself to be guided by the word of the Scriptures, to pray on the basis of a word of Scripture. In this way we shall not become the victims of our own emptiness....and we may be certain that our prayer will be heard, because it is a response to God's Word and promise. Because God's Word has found its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, all prayers that we pray conforming to this Word are certainly heard and answered in Jesus Christ." from Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"My tongue is the pen of a ready writer; I speak of things touching the King." Psalms 45:1

This group is dedicated to the proposition that our morning "quiet time" is the place where we saturate and immerse ourselves in the love of God for our souls. We come to Him to listen rather than speak. He has everything to teach us; we have so very little to teach Him. We come to Him to eat our daily bread, who is Jesus Christ, to be nourished by Him, to open our ears to what He has to say. Our Lord, who is Spirit, is made tangible in His words. "The words I speak to you are Spirit and they are life." (John 6:63) In order to fellowship with Him, we fellowship with His words as His words seek our fellowship with Him. We take our time. We slow down to a different rhythm than the one we are so accustomed to. In our spiritual reading, we are not seeking more information "about" Jesus Christ. We are awash in our information about Jesus Christ, but that has not transformed out lives; we seek intimacy with Him. We are actually seeking authentic "encounter" and fellowship with Him in the very depths of our being. We're not just "reading" His words, but we are "eating" them, slowly digesting them, lingering over their fragrance, even the fragrance of Christ. As scripture says, it is not just the reading of His words that gives light but

"It is the entrance and unfolding of Your word that gives light. It gives understanding to the simple." Psalms 119:130 (Amplified)

And we do not take off more than we can chew. Just smaller portions at a time are sufficient to feed us. But such feedings need to be on a fairly regular basis. As our Lord prays:

"Give us this day our daily bread."

The fellowship begins when we "pray" His words back to the Author." His words become our prayer. And really, not our prayer only, but His praying in us. We set aside our commentaries, no matter how rich, and allow the Spirit to become our indwelling Teacher. "As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.: I John 2:27

Oh how He longs to teach us, and guide us, and lead us deeper into the riches of His endless resources in Christ.

One way we can cultivate this praying His word is by responding, as in His Presence, within the pages of our prayer journals. In such spiritual writing, our pen is connected to our heart. In such writing, we seek to cultivate intimacy with the Father, the Son, the Spirit.

And we are never certain where our spiritual journals will take us, for as soon as the pen hits the paper, it begins in faith that Christ will be our guide.

As a springboard to this group, and to prayer-journaling, we are going to be reading "Contemplating the Cross: A 40-Day Pilgrimage of Prayer" by Tricia McCary Rhodes. This book is designed to start with Lent (Feb.25) and goes to Easter (April 12). For those who are new to journaling, this will introduce you to its practice. And here you will also learn the ancient practice of sacred reading or "lectio divina." This is a more contemplative approach to scripture that seeks to ponder in the heart each word as "God breathed."

We will be spending time with Jesus' the last hours of His life on this earth. It is a hard journey. And you will come to know Him in His sufferings for you and in such a deeper way. You will never be the same again.

And we also invite you to join in some of the other journals started here, such as Ephesians and I Thesslonians, or start your own.

In His Grace,

Your brother

Discussion Forum

CONTEMPLATING THE CROSS: A 40-DAY PILGRIMAGE OF PRAYER 133 Replies

Started by Clark Wade. Last reply by Clark Wade Feb 19.

John's Gospel - Chapters 14 - Chapter 17 221 Replies

Started by Mitzi Cox North. Last reply by Clark Wade Sep. 3, 2009.

PRAYING THE NAMES OF JESUS: I AM THE... 1 Reply

Started by Clark Wade. Last reply by Donna Tremaine Apr. 16, 2009.

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Comment by Cindy Skillman on April 24, 2009 at 11:25am: Hi Guys

Sorry it's been a while since I've been here, and now I have just a quick prayer request. This probably is going to sound a little odd, but I woke this morning with the words Dan and Beersheba in my mind. Although I'm sure I subconsciously knew what that meant, I couldn't figure it out without a bible search. Dan to Beersheba, for anybody like me, who doesn't remember, is often how "all of Israel" is referred to in the OT. Dan to Beersheba means, basically, the whole country. I still didn't know what, if anything, God was trying to tell me, but just now, as I began to pray, I sensed God urging me to pray for Israel "from Dan to Beersheba" for protection. So, for those of you reading this, if God prompts you, would you join me?

Thanks, Cindy

Comment by Mitzi Cox North on April 15, 2009 at 8:49am: Jim...so glad to hear from you and blessed that you made the journey with us.

Ron, I have always felt John 17 had a special significance and always knew God loved us just as He loved the Son. But I'm seeing how that His love for His Church, with His Son as it's head, is beyond what I can comprehend within myself. His love for His Church motivated Him to send Christ to the Cross...that it might be brought forth pure, perfect, and unblemished.Always...His eye is upon His Church. And I see that all activity done upon this earth in the name of God or Christ is to be done by and through His Church. Understanding the corporate Body of Christ is not so much a physical coming together but an understanding of it in the spiritual realm. It is a spiritual body...and as we act in the things of God...we act as a part of that spiritual body...not independent of it. It has more to do with a knowing on the inside of you that you are the spiritual church....whether you're acting alone or with a group. In the same way as Jesus said...when you see me ..you see the Father. When you see a member of His Body...you see His church....you see Him. Each one of us represent Him as and His Body. We are all in Him and He in us. We are in him as a body in the same way He is in the Father and the Father in Him... We get hung up on "being one" as if it were something accomplished in the natural realm...it's a spiritual thing that was accomplished at the Cross. The oneness comes from being In Him...and we have been placed in Him if indeed the Spirit of God lives in us.
You spoke about independence...the Spirit showed me that the sin that Adam and Eve were guilty of was the sin of independence. Anytime we seek dependence upon ourselves or another ..other than Him...we move away from His divine purpose. Our dependence upon Him is for our own good....He knows that we derive our strength from abiding in Him and in ourselves there is no strength or power to defend ourselves against the wiles of the enemy. The temptations of Christ were the same....to get Him to move away from dependence upon God. Paul says, In Him I live, I move, I have my being.....suggests there is no life out of abiding In Him and anything away from that position is into death. How many times do we move out of that place of peace and safety? Peace, or lack of it, is to our inner man what pain is to the outer man....it acts as a guard or a warning sign against things that would harm you. We have to learn to let the peace of God rule our inner man.

As Christ represented His Father in this earth...so does the Church. His Body is to be the exact (mirrored) image of the Father and the Son. If we abide in them, then out of the abundance of our hearts...comes forth the thoughts and words of the Father and the Son. We will come to absolutely abhor those things which come forth from the flesh and self...there is such a contrast in the spiritual and the earthly. One is sickening to your inner man...the other is peace and comfort.

My prayer is that we might be so sensitive to His Spirit that we are quick to repent when He shows us we are yielding our members to the flesh. When we speak...let it not be words of pride which He hates and so do we...but words of humility. I pray that our hearts will be so consumed with Him that our words are His words...our thoughts are His thoughts...our actions are His actions.
Father, increase our strength in the inner man...that we might walk in You and in Your Spirit each moment. I pray that your Holy Spirit might dominate our spirits and teach us to walk in Him, listen to Him, and yield our members only to Him. I pray that our knowledge and wisdom of Christ and His Church would increase...not for our glory, but for Yours. That Your church might glorify you upon this earth and all might know that you love your church even as you love the Son. I thank you that we, as His Body, submit ourselves to Him as Lord and master and willingly and lovingly do the things He asks us. That we obey Him that you might be pleased....as He leads us into the things which please you. We thank you that you are well pleased with the Son and with those that abide in Him. Not us...but us in Him. We thank you that we are perfect in Him, complete in Him. He fills us, His Body, with all of Your fullness...because In Him is all of Your fullness. We are clothed with Him.....what a glorious Body!
We are Your Glory...just as He was Your Glory. We are You in this earth. Not anything to do with us...just Him....

Comment by Jim Kliner on April 15, 2009 at 7:31am: I did not make any commets, but I want you to know I really enjoyed the study. The comments that were made were inspiring and many times my emotions ran the gamet. I was in awe, repentant and loving my Jesus all the more, if that is possable. Wish this had a word speller, another reason I don't comment, pride, have to work on that. Thanks for a wonderful study, In Christ jim

Comment by Ron Kellington on April 14, 2009 at 11:26pm: Mitzi, you're trying to describe something that's almost impossible to describe, but, boy, did you do a good job.. You shed another glimmer of light for me on the 'corporate Christ', who, really, we are all a part of. I don't know if you read Milt Rodriguez new blog, The Holistic Church, but he comes at this from another angle also giving some more light on this.

The Lord has been, and is, showing us His heart for His Church. He's showing us from that passage you quoted from John 17 that He wants relationship.. it's about fellowship... always was and always will be. It started in the Godhead in eternity past; we're invited into that fellowship right now; and we will all be one in Christ at the consummation of the ages. But it started at the Cross...that's when the Church came out of Him... and we're one.. that's a big corporate "one"..

I'm seeing that every time we choose something other than the Lord, we are living independent from God.. when we choose Him in whatever situation we're in, we're dependent on Him. That's the problem with the flesh... choose it and we choose independence... and that's not what He wants. He's building His church and preparing His bride to be His wife! O, to only get our eyes off of ourselves and onto Him. Lord, we fix our eyes on You...

That reminds me of an old Vineyard song, Jesus Alone, the first part of it goes like this:

A D/A F#m Esus E D (E/D D)
Father, open up our eyes to see Jesus alone
A D/A F#m Esus E D
Spirit, give us ears to hear the words of Jesus alone
Bm7 A E/G# E A Bm7
For we have put out hope in mortal man
A/D E
But we will turn back to you

(chorus)
A E
Lord, we fix our eyes on you
Bm7 A/C# D A/C#
You are head of the Church, Chief Cornerstone
D A/E E
The Only Foundation
A E
Lord, we fix our eyes on you
Bm7 A/C# D A/C#
You're the Mighty Commander, King of all Kings
D A/E E A
Lord of Glory

Comment by Clark Wade on April 14, 2009 at 10:25pm: Mitzi: I was much struck by what you wrote here:

"I have seen His love for His bride as never before. The Cross ...a place of death and life......the place where His Body was brought forth and united with Him. There are no words to describe God's Love that I've witnessed there. His love for His church is uncomprehendable to me. It makes me hate everything that is not of Him within myself and yearn for Him to be all and all within His body."

It makes me hate everything that is not of Him within myself and yearn for Him to be all and all.

That lended music to my yearnings as well. With that in mind, it makes it so necessary to "stay in the Cross" doesn't it? In the Cross, Christ is all in all. Away from the cross we drift so easily, and when we do, we become so full of ourselves, and Christ is diminished in us.

O Lord! May you increase while we decrease until there is nothing left in us but You. To Your cross we eternally cling where You gave us Your all so that You could be our "all in all." O Lord! How we thank you! How we love You!

Comment by Mitzi Cox North on April 10, 2009 at 12:38pm: Father,
I pray that we might have our vision enlarged to see the larger picture...not just our individual forgiveness of sin...which is awesome...but the redeeming of Your Church ...not as individual identities but as one identity...Christ.

I pray, Father, that we might be one in You...even as You and the Son are one....that we might display the Son for all to see...that the world will know that You sent Your Son and they might know that You have loved Your church just as You loved Your Son.... That You might be glorified in Your Church just as You have glorified Yourself in Your Son....Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven......................we bless you and love you, Lord.

Comment by Mitzi Cox North on April 10, 2009 at 12:24pm: An amazing journey this has been....I have seen the Church as never before.
I have seen His love for His bride as never before. The Cross ...a place of death and life......the place where His Body was brought forth and united with Him. There are no words to describe God's Love that I've witnessed there. His love for His church is uncomprehendable to me. It makes me hate everything that is not of Him within myself and yearn for Him to be all and all within His Body. I yearn for Him to be glorified within His church that all might know Him and experience His vast and unconditional love.

John 17: "That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

I understand this portion of scripture in a deeper way than ever before....it happened at the Cross.

Comment by ANNE on April 10, 2009 at 8:45am: Father God , I need Thee every hour, so unworthy, saved only by your grace, Thank you so much for the Cross, for your blood spilt out for me, Jesus what can i say, love so amazing so divine, demands my soul my life my all.

Comment by Catherine Howell on April 9, 2009 at 11:39pm: This was so very beautifully written. His Spirit truly does lead me into all truth. It is amazing that He would love me like this...

Comment by Clark Wade on April 9, 2009 at 11:07pm: Yes brother! My life has been so enriched in the fellowship of the saints. As I am falling deeper in love with Him, there is a corresponding love that is growing deeper for those who are His "abodes" as well. All of us "together" are being built up into HIM! How glorious this is! How glorious He is! How glorious Christ is in us and we in HIM!

I find it hard to describe in words what this forty-days has meant for me. This has been one of the most blessed experience of my life spending this time with you with HIM.

I dearly wish we could all be together to hug and weep and rejoice and exult in our Savior as one. Some day, we shall. Until then,

"Let us learn to praise that glorious generosity of His which has made us welcome to the everlasting love He bears towards the Son."

In love with Him and with you,

Clark