Experiencing God

Experiencing God in the midst of personal and corporate worship is essential at Disciple Church! After all, at the core of who we are as a community of God, we find our greatest strength, joy and identity in the presence of God!

The collection of songs we choose to sing each week, the way our worship is led and designed, offering prayers, corporate prayers, messages proclaimed from the pulpit - these are all born out of real encounters with Jesus in our personal and corporate life.

Yet, if you have worshipped God in any meaningful and deep way, and have connected with God in the midst of a worship song, you still know that the music, preaching, leadership alone cannot create an experience for us.

Each of us must choose to step into an encounter with Jesus! The Spirit draws us to a place where we desire and hunger to experience Him, and reveals Jesus to the thirsty heart, touching us in deep and significant ways in the process; often in the most unexpected ways.

God wants to be known and experienced by you. In fact, I believe He is eager for you to search and hunger for Him so He can gift you with His presence. Jesus is searching for the lost souls in order to draw them to an intimate relationship with Himself. Holy Spirit is wooing human souls in order to connect them intimately with Himself. In response to God’s initiative, we kiss the Divine by valuing His presence through worship, which is the primary place where our relationship with God is cultivated and nourished! 

Therefore, worship has to be experience-based; it is the central activity for the followers of Jesus. It is worship that causes all else that we do to become an act of worship. The experience of God flowing out of life of worship affects all areas of our life as the division between the secular and the sacred vanish. In fact, at our core, we are not business owners, artist, cashiers, moms, dads, children, etc. who worship but we are worshipers who are called to an intimate, nurturing relationship with God who serve the world as business owners, artists, cashiers, dads, moms, etc. So as we worship, we become increasingly sensitive and responsive to the Spirit’s presence so that we can do as Jesus did. Jesus saw what the Father was doing and He gave his life for the Father’s work!

Hebrews 12:2 | ...Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

We believe that the Spirit distributes His gifts to us, resulting in prophecy, prayer language, healing, miracles, and many other gifts we joyfully experience in His presence. 

So I believe we must value an approach to God’s presence that honors both God and people around us. We must avoid sensationalism and other efforts to manipulate either God’s presence or the response of others to His presence. We distinguish between the Spirit and the human response. We also believe that as we experience His presence through Christ by the Spirit we will be made more fully human and become a better reflection of God’s image.

As we spend the next 40 days in prayer and fasting, I want to share few gateways that will help you to increasingly experience God’s presence. Choose to enter these gateways provided for you each week and expect that He will meet with you in the process. See you next week!

Art of Growing | Daily Examen

Growth is happiness! When people grow and expand, they find joy in themselves and things they do. But how do you keep growing, day by day, week by week, month by month as a disciple of Jesus! I believe the fullness of life which Jesus shared in John 10:10 is not possible without growth. Therefore, growth is essential. 

Ignatius of Loyola, knowing that the human heart is deeply thoughtful, emotional and physical, suggested that we have a daily time to examine our life by taking time to cleanse, give thanks and reflect! It’s similar to what we call Quiet Time, which I shared in the last two articles. Ignatius called his exercise Daily Examen!

Daily Examen involves a series of simple questions that guides you to see the Holy Spirit’s work in the day you just completed, and to expect the Spirit’s work in the day ahead. You examine your souls before God, and then turn your heart to gratefulness, joy, repentance, hope and trust for tomorrow. If Quiet Time is most effective before your day begins [my opinion], then Daily Examen is designed to be most effective in the evening as you examine your day, seeking help from the Holy Spirit to guide, direct, and discover!

We approach the Daily Examen with love for God and gratefulness for His deep work in our lives.  At the heart of the practice is increasingly becoming aware of God’s presence and the Holy Spirit’s movement in your life! The primary focus in Daily Examen is in remembering. You are invited to concentrate on your experiences and encounters from the past 24 hours. The beauty of the practice is its simplicity; it is more a guide than a prescription. If some portion feels especially important on a given day, feel the freedom to spend all or most of your time in that portion. Remember, the purpose of the exercise is to increase awareness and sensitivity, not to finish a task.

Here are the series of questions you can ask during your Daily Examen. Take a moment to read and digest each section. Take your time, and give about 15 minutes at the close of your day to this spiritual exercise.

STILL HEART
Become aware of the presence of God. Recognize God’s presence with you and His desire to be with you. Consider praying to the Holy Spirit to help you to be attentive to God’s presence. Sometimes it’s helpful to repeat a simple phrase.

“Be still and know that I am God.” [Psalm 46:10].

In this moment, become present to Jesus. There may be days when you’ll need the entire time to remember and focus on the nearness of God. Don’t rush this part. Take the necessary time to be comforted by His presence.

THANKFUL HEART
Review your day with a thankful heart. See the day through a lens of thanks. Appreciate God’s gifts in each event of the day!

Meister Eckhart wrote: “If the only prayer you say in your entire life is “Thank You” that would suffice.”

Appreciate the big and small aspects of life, and recognize what reasons you have to be grateful. Focus on these experiences and encounters, helping your mind and spirit  center on the goodness and generosity of God. Use simple words to express your thankful heart to God.

“Praise be to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavens.” [Ephesians 1:3]

REFLECTIVE HEART
Become sensitive to your emotions. Reexamine your heart and review your positive and negative feelings. Did you choose to follow Jesus in each situation? An over-scheduled life robs us of the opportunity to learn and grow, to see how yesterday might inform today. This is the moment to press pause and learn more about yourself and about God’s activity in your life.

Try not to interpret, justify, or rationalize. Simply observe and remember. Allow yourself to wander the events and situations you’ve been in and notice details. Bring specific experiences to mind. When and where in the past 24 hours were you cooperating most fully with God’s action in your life? When were you resisting? What habits and life patterns do you notice from the past day?

Psalmist writes [143:8b,10] | “Show me the way I should go, for to you life up my soul... Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”


RESPONSIVE HEART
It’s only natural for you to respond to various remembering of the day. So take the time to journal and/or pray. Express your thoughts on the actions, attitudes, feelings, and interactions you’ve remembered as a part of this exercise. You may need to seek forgiveness, ask for forgiveness, ask for direction, express gratitude, or resolve to make some changes in order to move forward.

Beginning today, how do you want to live your life differently?
What habits or patterns do you want to continue practicing?

Here is an example of Daily Examen prayer by Augustine of Hippo:
“Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you! Lo, you were within, but I outside, seeking there for you, and upon the shapely things you have made I rushed headlong, I, misshapen. You were with me but I was not with you. They held me back far from you, those things which would have no being were they not in you. You called, shouted, broke through my deafness; you flared, blazed, banished my blindness; you lavished your fragrance, I gasped, and now I pant for you; I tasted you, and I hunger and thirst; you touched me, and I burned for your peace.”

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing in him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. ~ Hebrews 13:20-21

Blessings!!!