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Question: How do we develop unconquerable joy?
Continue readingTag Archives: joy
RSVP with God: Outcome-Driven Quiet Times
StandardRSVP stands for the four steps I have been using to help my spirit align with God’s purposes for my life:
- Rejoice: Meditate on yesterday’s emotional highs and lows until you find a way to rejoice in them
- Shalom: Repeat until you can rest in God’s peace. Over time your “set point” of how much peace you expect will increase.
- Vision: From that place of Peace, ask God what to focus on today. As part of this, I like to read a short devotional, look up relevant Bible verses, and God for a single “theme” word for the day to prime my thinking.
- Praise: Finish by affirming God’s sovereignty over everything that is going to happen, and thanking Him for showing up.
The Universal Commandment
StandardEnjoy, Love & Glorify
God, Ourselves & Others
As Jesus Does
Corollary: The Meaning of Life
God, Us & Others
Enjoying, Loving, & Glorifying,
God, Ourselves, Others & the World
Anjali’s Catechism: A Childlike Invitation to Spiritual Christianity
StandardAnjali’s Catechism: The Book is coming in Summer 2019. Preview now.
The Invitation
Are you ready to:
- Embrace the One who created the universe as the Heavenly Father who loves you like Jesus?
- Submit your awareness, values, and goals to becoming more like Christ’s?
- Receive God’s Spirit, Word, and Body to reveal and heal the wounds in your spirit that hinder you from becoming like Jesus?
- Value God’s happiness, glory, and relationships more than your own?
- Practice generosity and vulnerability so others can see Christ in you?
- Surrender childlike happiness for the grown-up joy of loving like Jesus?
Lessons
Song: From Guilt to Grace
StandardThe following song is a lyrical version of “Graphical Theology: The Grace Cycle“, part of my burst of artistic exploration in 1996. It was the first element of a trilogy on the Reformation themes of Guilt-Grace–Gratitude, but unlike the other two I never was happy enough with it to put it to music.
LEAD! C.12 Joy in the Journey
StandardIn Which We Begin to Pursue the End…
This is the final lesson in our series, but hopefully just the beginning of your journey in understanding what it means to lead others — and yourself — into the “name” of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
As we proceed to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (cf Philippians 2:12), it is essential to continually rejoice (cf. Philippians 4:4), because the “joy of the Lord is our strength” (cf. Nehemiah 8:10). We may occasionally become discouraged when we realize we will never reach complete perfection, either in our discipline, our character, or even our theology (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:9). On the other hand, the good news is that this means we will always have room for improvement!
This course has tried to give you the basics, but there are even more wonderful truths about Christ to be understood, deeper works of the Holy Spirit to be experienced, and greater glories for the Father to be won.
May we persevere together in that pursuit until the day we are all finally united with our Beloved Bridegroom, to celebrate His matchless “name” for all eternity.
Memory Verse: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” — Matthew 25:13 (NKJV)
Assigned Reading
-
Richard Foster: Celebration of Discipline
- 13. Celebration
-
Donald Whitney: Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
- 13. Perseverance
-
Eugene Peterson: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
- 8. Joy: “We Laughed, We Sang”
- 11. Perseverance: “They Never Could Keep Me Down!”
- A Long Obedience: Epilogue
-
Ruth Haley Barton: Sacred Rhythms
- 9. A Rule of Life: Cultivating Rhythms for Spiritual Transformation
LEAD! B.3 From Mockery to Hope
StandardIn Which Our Souls Find Hope Amidst Suffering
Hope is the primary virtue of the Soul. It provides Reasons to encourage positive Emotions, and the Emotional energy to search for better Reasons. It can be defined as “the ability to joyfully pursue a higher purpose — even when painful.”
Hope is particularly needed by the Mocker, who is driven by both the need to control (due to fear) and the illusion of control (due to pride). Yet if they can unclench their soul enough to hope in God’s wisdom, Mockers may yet discover that true freedom comes from giving up control.
Though such learning usually only comes after great suffering…
Assigned Reading
-
Peter Kreeft: Back to Virtue
- 5.B (Hope) The Three Theological Virtues
- Dick Hockett: Foundations of Wisdom
- 5. The Mocker
