"JOURNAL INTO THE MYSTIC"

Information

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."

Members: 23
Latest Activity: Dec 29, 2011

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 100 Replies

Started by Clark Wade. Last reply by Clark Wade Feb 19, 2010.

John's Gospel - Chapters 14 - Chapter 17 205 Replies

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

View All

Comment Wall

Comment by Cindy Skillman on January 18, 2009 at 10:59pm: Hi, Clark

I'm looking forward to this--have ordered my book.

God bless, Cindy

Comment by Noelle Ligtenberg on January 19, 2009 at 11:53am: I'm looking forward to growing closer to Jesus and hone my skills in listening and journaling. Thank you for starting this group. I know Cindy has talked about reading through scripture and asking the Holy Spirit what he would have to say to us through it. This has been the same thing that has been on my heart to come to a quiet time and let the Lord teach us in Spirit an in Truth and really learn to hear and know our Father's voice. I'll try to purchase the recommended book this week.
Noelle

Comment by Ryan Huling on January 19, 2009 at 2:03pm: Thanks for the invite Cindy. I have been journaling for quite some time now. It will be great to hear about everyone's experience with Christ in this way.

Comment by Frank Allabaugh on January 19, 2009 at 5:49pm: I ordered my copies of Contemplating the Cross: A 40 Day Pilgrimage of Prayer by Tricia McCary Rhodes.Cannot wait to go on this journey with you all together.

Comment by Clark Wade on January 19, 2009 at 11:48pm: "Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son--
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown."

Greetings and welcome to each one in the name of our Lord. First of all, I want to seek your understanding in my own feeble attempts here in putting this together. My intention is that this is a place that doesn't burn with controvery like so many other places I have visited. I want this to be your place where our relationship with Christ is shared with each other as we experience His love for our souls. I think as we actually begin doing that work, all will be made much clearer, and we will grow deeper. And not only will we fall deeper in love with Him, but with each other as well. Our gratitude will know no bounds.

For that reason, the "name" is incidental. If that is a problem beloved, let's just bury it. Shall we have a "name contest?" I'm open to your suggestions.

I did give an explanation on this on the discussion "Your Devotional Practice." Please check that out and you might come to understand my thinking a little bit better. .

Noelle, by "mystic" I'm referring to that which is personified, and is profoundly Christian, in such people as Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, Guyon, Teresa of Avila, George Fox, Isaac Penington, John and Charles Wesley, Thomas Kelly, Frank Laubach (Letters of a Modern Mystic), and the list goes on and on. These saints of God are considered "Christian mystics" but not in any new-age, pantheistic sense. They, as well as I, know that our God is wholly other, and were not.

One of the big problems with modern Christianity, as I see it, is its over-dependence on rationalism. Much of our Christianity is defined by the things we believe about Christ, or know about Him. For this reason, much of our practice as Christians comes right out of the "Enlightenment" where "reason" was elevated as the end all and be all. We have done much of that in the modern church world. That's one of the reasons we like good oratory, and sermons, and such. Keep filling the head while the heart starves.

Yet there is so much about our living faith that is "supra-rational". For example, we are told to "fix our eyes on that which is invisible." "Our life is in Christ and His life is in us." "We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world." I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." One of my translations speaks of the "mystic-secret" of Christ in you.

Now the rationalist is one who knows things "about" Christ. The Christian mystic, in its classical, and I would even say, "orthodox" sense, is one who is pressing "into" Christ as the very lover of the soul, in the same way Mary did in sitting at His feet. It is a divine Dance, a divine Romance of the Beloved to the beloved. Do you see the difference here? Now, I don't have a problem with the word "mystic." On once occasion, I was sharing with another brother my experience of knowing Jesus Christ as my indwelling Savior, Lord, Teacher and Friend, and he looked at me and said, "Clark. You're a mystic." This experience of knowing Him so close, of fellowshiping with Him so near, is not real common today. I wrote of this amazing revelation at my space here at simple church. You can check it out. It's called "Celebration of the Indward Presence."

I do think the term "mystic" has been pretty much co-opted by the New Age, and panthetistic thought. One of the most definitive works on the subject of Christian mysticism is Evelyn Underhill's "Mysticism." It's a pretty daunting task to read through, but for anyone interested in the lives of these people of God we call the Christian mystics, it's worth the effort.

I'll close with the words of one of the Christian mystics, Teresa of Avila, who had such a big impact on my life. After your read some of her thought here, I think you'll understand a little bit better why I am a bit enamoured with some of these dear people of God:

"So I will tell you from the outset, you will only exhaust yourself if you struggle to understand with human intellect this interior castle and its beauty. You must enter the castle with your soul. And all the while, hold these truths in mind: While He is within us, He is still, also, the high and holy Creator and we are His creations. And there is a vast difference between our comprehension and His. He is Spirit, and we are flesh. How can we ever create with our own hands, by our poor efforts, a place fitting for His Majesty, since we cannot form the slightest conception of Him on our own?

"We begin in this way: We choose to bring all things--our rebelling thoughts, will and emotions, and every external circumstance, however pleasant or miserable-and lay them at His feet.

"In short, we start by allowing our sovereign King to govern-and in this way we begin to see, as through a mist, the first dim outlines of the castle He longs to reveal within us--and interior dwelling place of sublime dignity and great beauty." The Interior Castle

Your brother,

Clark

But as long as we are reading scripture with our rationalistic mindset, we have a hard time "seeing through a glass darkly." We don't understand the implications on what is being said so we just read "over" it.

Anyway, I pray we get back on track.

Comment by Clark Wade on January 20, 2009 at 12:32am: Bless you Noelle. And right now I ask dear Lord Jesus that you will grant to Noelle the pen of a ready writer to speak of the King in such ways that will bless and encourage others to know you deeper and that such writings, of the heart, will also reveal more of You. In Jesus Name.

Comment by Cindy Skillman on January 20, 2009 at 1:39am: Hi, Guys

Thanks for all the replies. I suspected that you were "spitting out the bones," Ron, but I just wanted to make sure, and to keep everything clear for everyone as well.

I like the idea of "mystic" as defining the return to honoring the subjective aspects of our faith. Rationalism has gone too far, and we need a dose of mysticism--though continuing to honor reason and the rational interpretation and knowledge of the written word.

Anyway, while I do like the name of the group, I wonder if it will tend to frighten off people who associate it with gnosticism, etc. What do you think? We don't want to miss people who might benefit from being included.

God bless, Cindy

Comment by Ryan Huling on January 20, 2009 at 9:58am: A song by Mattwew West is the prayer of my heart: " I don't wanna go one more day without your all consuming passion inside of me. I don't wanna spend my whole life asking what if I had given everything? Instead of going through the motions. No regrets not this time mind I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind . Let your love make me whole. I think I'm finally feeling something. Take me all the way Take me all the way"

Let us go deeper into Christ letting His love transform us into passionate disciples of His. His love is better than life! Let us come to experience this truth.

Comment by Clark Wade on January 20, 2009 at 6:08pm: C.S. Lewis said, "Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a fire?"

That fire beloved is the love of God in our souls. We are gathered together around this fire to speak together of Him, and in so doing, we ignite to a hotter blaze our love for God. Elton Trueblood said the Christian enterprise is one in which one loving heart ignites other hearts.

"Take with you words and return to the Lord. Say to Him, take away all our iniquity, accept what is good and receive us graciously and so will we render our thanks..and pay the confession of our lips. Hosea 14:22

Comment by Ryan Huling on January 21, 2009 at 10:34am: I have just ordered 2 copies of the book. One for me and one for my wife. We are looking forward to going through it. I'm excited to share this journey with everyone in the group.

Comment