Spiritual Disciplines: Door to Liberation

Currently I am teaching "Spiritual Discipline" in my church. Those who are interested, our class start at 11.30am, Education Block Level 5, every Sunday. This book, "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster was one of my reference book. Let me share a little bit of my study in this post.

A Study base on "Celebration of Discipline" (Richard Foster)

The intention of spiritual discipline is to invite us to explore the spiritual realm. In today world, spirituality is becoming superficial. Spiritual discipline is to call us to move from surface living into the depths.Spiritual discipline is not for spiritual giants, but for ordinary human beings.

Spiritual discipline is to help ordinary people experiencing God transforming power which liberate themselves from the bondage of worldly desire.

Spiritual disciplines are not hard to practices but require time and effort. As you practice spiritual discipline, you will face two struggles:

1. The philosophic mind of human. We tend to doubt our ability of reaching beyond the physical world. We try to use intellectual and rationality to limit our understanding of the unseen spiritual realm.
2. Practical of spiritual disciplines. We don’t really know how to practice spiritual disciplines. There are not much practical steps that stated in the Bible to lead us in practicing spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual habits set us free from the ingrained habits of sin. When we were sinners, our lives were live under the condition of sin. The natural motions of our lives are sinful. Sin is part of the internal structure of our lives. We are being trapped by sin.

We try to use will power and determination to overcome sin. However, such power will only result in temporal success. The Bible teaches us to deal with our mind and our inner self rather than just physical victory.

Spiritual discipline is to help us re-direct our focus to God, relying on His power and grace to transform us. God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving His grace. However, take note that the spiritual discipline by itself can do nothing. They are only a means, a channel for God’s grace. The practices do not produce transformation, but it will put us in the place where we can receive God’s grace for transformation.

However, there is a danger to put the spiritual disciplines higher than God. This becomes legalism. The spiritual disciplines are not laws; they are only God given means for us to break out from our sinful condition and into a new condition where we can receive God’s abundance grace. Our heart and attitude towards the spiritual disciplines will affect our spiritual life.

Dealing with People who are hurt in the Church

Recently I was bombarded with this question, how to help those who are in hurt? When you face certain situation, sometimes you might act in certain way out of the norm. People who are hurt will do things beyond our expectations. So, as a church, how should we respond to these people. At one hand, we do not want to condone the wrong things they are doing. Perhaps during their hurtful time, they sin excessively. On the other hand, we know that they are suffering with the pain in their heart, and if we come straight to them, it might not able to help them at all.

As a Christian, if you see your brother/sister, facing difficulties in life, and he/she make certain decision or conclusion that you think is wrong, what will you do? If after you have try persuading yet it doesn't seems to help, what will you do next? On top of that, you find that people in the church started spreading rumours about what this brother/sister did, how do suggest to manage the situtation?

I welcome discussion from anyone who are reading this post. Put your comment in.

Invitation from Aloneness to Solitude

“It is in deep solitude and silence that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brother and my sister.” Thomas Merton

As I study the invitation of aloneness to solitude, it is amazing to know that this invitation is the most fundamental discipline that moves us from the business of the world to the presence of God. It is through solitude that we are able to develop intimacy with God.

So what is solitude? This invitation invites us to be alone with God, laying aside all social and activities of the world, and find solace in the presence of God. Jesus himself practiced solitude. He went into the wilderness to be alone before he started his public ministry, went to the mountain to be alone before he select his disciples and went to the garden to be alone before he sacrifice his life on the cross.

What is the meaning to go from aloneness to solitude? Jesus calls us from loneliness to solitude. In our society today, we are filled with so many negative influences. We are trapped by these “negative voices” that put us into the temptation of self-rejection. We became addicted to the noise and crowds around us that we are so fearful to be alone. When we are alone, we feel lonely and empty.

Moving from aloneness to solitude is to find fulfillment of being alone with God. By changing and renewing our mind, we are able to break free from the fear of aloneness, and maintain the state of solitude at all time.

However, in the journey from aloneness to solitude is not without trials. We are so comfortable with our lifestyle. We want to be appearing important and significant to others. We want to be busy all the time. When we are call to be silence and be attentive to God, we will find ourselves struggling with our mind and thoughts.

As we allow ourselves open to God, there are many times we will face negative result such as dryness, depression and even lost. This is what St. John of the Cross called “The dark Night of the Soul.” As we removed all our false identity, being alone with God, we are forced to face our inner self. It is at these moments, God will nurture our souls. Our soul’s appetite will then change from the voice of the people, to the love and grace of God. We will no longer fear of being alone, but constantly experience the presence of God, even in our daily life.

I too face great difficulties as I journey into the state of solitude. I am a second child, with an elder and younger brother. Throughout my childhood, I have been crying for attention, do my best in everything I could in order to receive approval from people around us. As I face adulthood, I become so dependent on my friends.

When I practice the discipline of being, the question of ‘significant’ keeps popping out in my mind. God is dealing with my identity. If I were to strip off from all my credential, all my status, and all my achievement, who am I to God? I struggle to find my true self in God.

As I continue my journey to the state of solitude, I became aware of my selfishness in making relationship to people around me. I became aware of my perception of friendship which is really base on my personal benefits. I became so aware of my weaknesses which tear my self-confidence down to the drain.

However, God did not leave me there. After some time journeying to solitude, I found my true identity in Christ. My heart was filled with gladness that I was a child of God, love and care by Him. I was able to regain my confidence in life, not on myself, but on the grace given by God.

Today, as I relate to others, I can really appreciate those friendships. I can be alone with God and enjoy every moment of it. Although there are times there is the tendency to walk back the old ways, the temptation of the ‘significance’, and the feeling of loneliness still persist from time to time, yet, whenever I face such situations, I will be able to aware of it and move into solitude.

This invitation really helps me to understand many pilgrims who struggle with their life. It is because I am in solitude; I can see the image of God in the pilgrims’ life. I can relate with them in term of their struggles, but yet not being pulled down by their negativity because of my intimate relationship with God.

During my journey of solitude, I could pour out all my emotions and problems to God. Whenever I face difficulties with the seeker, I can come before God and pour out to Him. There in the state of solitude, God will hear me and help me regain my strength.

Fight to be SIGNIFICANT!

After so many months without blogging, finally last Sunday I revived my blog. Surprisingly there are people following through my blog. If you are reading my blogs, I do hope that you will follow through my discussion. It is my joy to know that what I wrote would help you in your life. Although I have not right things that are too complicated, but sometimes, simple things in life have many lessons to be learned from. I also encourage you reader out there to give me comments, whether you agree with me or not, good or bad comments will certainly add life to this blog. Thanks for those who commented, your words are treasure to me.

Yesterday I wrote a paper on the six invitations of soul cares for my counseling course. One o the invitation of soul cares is the invitation of solitude. Solitude is one of the fundamental practice of Christian Spiritual Disciplines. If you are interested to know more about it, let me know by your comment, then I will write a blog on it.

The paper was my personal reflection on the six invitations and how it help me to be a companion for others. In the invitation of solitude, one of the main point that I stress in the fight of being "SIGNIFICANT."

People are fighting to earn their significant on this world. From young, we try to study hard so that our parents found us significant in the family. When we grow older, we try to work hard so that we feel being needed by the company and family. As we grow old, we try to play hard so that our children will see us significant to the family. However, when we study hard, work hard and play hard, and result doesn't turn to be what we expected, we felt frustrated. If the cycle goes a few round, bitterness will start to root in our heart. Then we will form what people say "low self-esteem."

The invitation to solitude call us to come before God and find significant in Him. Today, if I removed all your status, your credentials, your job, and everything, who are you in Christ? Do you have any sense of significant left on this world if you are called a "nobody" in the other people's eye?

Today, let me just invite you to come before God. As you come before Him, lay aside all your burden, your carrier, your responsibility, and just be you. Allow God to help you to find significant in Him alone. Then, you will be able to stand and face the world with the Godly-image.

Church Split is one of the greatest sins of the church

In today General Epistle Class, I learned about the teaching by John in 1 John. John had a very strong message on God as Spirit, God as Light and God as Love. As my lecturer commenting the verses till 1 John 3, suddenly he changed in his tone and emotion. He was saying that church split is one of the greatest sins of the church. I was thinking about the phrase that he mentioned and reflected upon the Bible, 1 John. In chapter 2, the author of the Bible talked about God as light, and how Christians should keep themselves from sinning against God by following His commandments. Then suddenly, the author changed the topic to talk about antichrist and false teachers both in chapter 2 and 3. The author seems to address the issue in the church that there were divisions in the church. My lecturer painted the background of the Christians in 1 John, that they were actually quite emphasize on the Spirit. They were people claim to have direct message from God and started to deny the truth of God, even the atonement of Jesus Christ. Then these antichrists were influencing other Christians to leave the Church.

Leaving the church is a sign of hatred among brothers and sisters. This is absolute contradict with God, where Jesus came to demonstrate God’s love. Leaving the church here refer to people who were not happy with the church, who not satisfy with the church, who have conflict with the church and decide to leave the church. These people in the eye of John are not from God. This is because if you are in God, you will live like Jesus. Therefore, there is no reason for us to justify hatred because Jesus never hated his brothers and sisters. Moreover, church is a family, and how can family members leave the family? Church is not a social club. It is a God’s family where Jesus is the head of the family.

Nevertheless, the author of 1 John understands that there will be conflict in the church. Just like a family, there will be different opinions, different method of doing things, different personalities, the church consist of many different people. Therefore, it does not justify for a person to leave his/her church if things just don’t go according to their way. John was rebuking his audience for loving only in their words but not in deeds. I think one of the reasons that church conflicts were not able to resolve is because we don’t really practice what Jesus mean by love. Just be reading 1 John helps me to once again reflect my attitude towards church and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I need to love them with the love of Christ.

The only reason I think we can leave is when a church is no longer a church. A good question to ask: What is a church? What does the Bible say about church? Well, buy some books and read about it.