Sunday Sermon Supplemental Reading and Homework

Posted on Jun 26, 2022 by Jake Howard in Blog | Tags: , , 

Fullness of Jesus:  the Spirit-filled life
  • Psalm 42:1-2, 5 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
  • Psalm 63:1-8 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
  • Psalm 27:7-8, 13-14 Hear my voice when I call, LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, “Seek his face! ” Your face, LORD, I will seek. I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
  • Psalm 34:8  Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
  • Memory Verse:  Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
  • Training: 
    • Fasting:  for the purpose of hungering
      • Choose how and for how long
      • When you feel hungry or thirst, ask the Holy Spirit to increase your hunger and thirst for God
      • Journal your experience of fasting when you are done fasting
    • Silence:  for the purpose of experience His love and surrendering to Him
      • Recognize His Preeminence
      • Know and experience His love
      • Be consciously aware of His full, active and joyful Presence
      • Journal your experience of silence at the end of the day
    • Meditation:  for the purpose of soaking in His Word
      • Ask God to help you choose a verse about who He is or His character
      • As you fast and are in silence, let that verse fill your mind
      • Write it down and at regular intervals in the day, read the verse without commentary. Let the Holy Spirit speak when He wants to speak
      • At the end of the day, journal what the Holy Spirit taught you.

Waiting in silence is difficult.

Posted on Jun 19, 2022 by Jake Howard in Blog | Tags: , , ,

We want to join God in His ministry and so we spend time trying to listen into the conversation He is having. We turn off the distractions. We get comfortable in our chair or we take a walk outside. And we wait in silence. We wait in expectation. We hear the clock ticking or the trucks driving by. The buzzing of flies or the chirping of birds form an interesting backdrop to what we long to be a holy and an intimate moment. So we continue waiting. And we wait. And we wait some more. Participating in the ministry of Jesus involves being at His disposition. It is, in part, a realization that His love language is time spent with us and Him. The silence of waiting is a part of the ministry of intercession. The silence of waiting is an act of surrender and of love. It is an act of surrender because as we join Jesus in His ministry, we understand that His prayer is more important than our prayer. His will for those for whom He intercedes is of far greater value than our will or desire for those for whom we intercede. So, true intercession requires silent, humble, loving waiting in surrender for Jesus to share with us His heart and thoughts. It is an act of love because the experience of waiting on Jesus is not a duty to be accomplished. Rather, it is an experience of being in the presence of one who is infinitely greater than us yet has, as the same time, invited us to be in His presence. Waiting for Jesus to share with us His thoughts and heart and to lead us in prayer is an act that begins with enjoying being with Him. To sit with Him in the heavenly places knowing Him and being known by Him is critical to waiting. We wait on Him because we love being with Him in conversation or in silence. We are still and silent because the present moment needs more being and enjoying then it needs our talking. The urgency or passion of our desires will never top God’s. Knowing this, we can find freedom to allow the urgency to surrender to the timeline of God’s goodness and control. In enjoying the moment, we will find a deeper level of passion through meeting and being consumed by His heart. We love others best by loving Jesus and His timeline most. We give Jesus preeminence in the conversation because of His rule and grandeur. We also wait on Him because we love the gift of His presence. When He bids us to speak, we will pour out all our heart to Him. When He asks us to listen, we wait for every word. When He says to watch, we keep our eyes peeled on His every move. Intercession begins with savoring. It begins with being awestruck by God’s glorious face. Intercession is maintained and we persevere because we have found what we have always sought and we are absolutely convinced that when others discover what God revealed to us, they will want to join us in the joyful fullness of His presence. They will want to join us in the ministry of Jesus, just as He has called us into His ministry. So we wait…and we love every moment of it. Practical Steps:

  1. Take a Bible passage that speaks to one of the characteristics of God and as you wait for Him to lead you into intercession, think deeply about what that passage says about God. Trust God to bring you to that passage and trust that God will illuminate to you who He is in that passage. Allow that Bible verse to fill your mind and heart.
  2. Ask God to help you love Him and to love that particular aspect of God’s character as you wait for Him. Don’t talk too much, just a quick ask in faith so that you can let that aspect of God’s character fill your heart and mind.
  3. Be content to dwell on that characteristic/Bible verse knowing that God will lead you into intercession at the right time.
  4. When God puts a person or situation in your mind as you wait on Him, ask Him to give you the words He wants you speak. Don’t be surprised if you find that the Bible verse/characteristic of God that He lead you to and in which you have been soaking forms the basis of what He wants you to pray about.
  5. Rest…wait…listen…respond….rest…wait…listen…respond…and ENJOY!

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