DAy 18 VIM: Vision of life in the kingdom

What we are aiming for in this vision is to live fully in the kingdom of God, as fully as possible, now and here, not just hereafter.

DW p.57-58

Group 2

One of the things that came up in our "live" version of the discussion of Renovation of the Heart was a prayer called the Litany of Humility. It was written by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val.
Kerry found it in an article she was reading. It really fits perfectly with the things we have been learning in this book. I thought it would be a really useful tool for me as I cotinue growing to that point where "dying to self" is second nature. I hope it you find it helpful as well.

Here it is:

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

Day 17 What is our Plan?

The effort to change our behavior without inner transformation is precisely what we see in the current shallowness of western Christianity.

DW p.55

Day 16 Standing for the right without Egotism

Does dying to self mean we will be without feeling? Far from it. Apprentices of Jesus become disturbed about many things and passionately desire many things, but not getting their way does not disturb them.

DW p.52

Day 15 What "Death to self "looks like

We will need a wise and constant use of disciplines for the spiritual life. This is because the substance of ourselves formed in a world against God, is ready to do otherwise.

DW p49

Each day I find goodness and love occuring in the oddest places. Could that be because I no longer demand and expect it from others? I'm content to hang out with Jesus all day long. Whatever he's up to, I want to tag along.

JJ p. 51

Day 14 Foundation for Spiritual Formation

Our "survival" cannot be the ultimate point of reference in our world. We must not treat ourselves as God. This selfless life enables us to do for the first time what we want to do: be truthful, transparent, helpful and sacrificially loving with joy.

DW p.46

Day 13 Wanting that different kind of life

Christians commonly speak of their own "brokenness." but they are usually talking about their wounds, the things they have suffered, not about the evil that is in them.

DW p. 43

The life from above is a completely different kind of life that may seem odd to others.

JJ p44

Day 12 The Soul's Lostness

Wanting God to be God is very different from wanting God to help us.

DW p41

Day 11 God being God

"Knowledge" in biblical language never refers to head knowledge but always to experiential involvement.

God being God offends human pride. If God is running the universe and has first claim on our lives, guess who isn't running the universe and does not get to have things as they please?

DW p. 37

Day 10 Ruined Souls

The path of spiritual formation today lies through the illumination that we have ruined souls.

DW p.35

Day 9 Possessing the Land

To possess this promised land of transformation we will have to arrange our lives differently....For now the question is this: Do I believe transformation can happen?

JJ p.33

Day 8 The Loudest Voice within Me

If we focus on our body as our main concern, we make it impossible to please God and we ensure the utter futility of our lives.

DW p.30

Our automatic words can be death-dealing or life giving.

JJ p31

Day 7 Interplay of Will, Thoughts and Feelings

What sort of God is so generous as to share with persons the capacity to originate things and events, to exercise freedom and creavtivity? What sort of God allows humans to move outside his influence with power to do what is good or evil? Ponder why God chooses to give us humans such freedom.

JJ p.28

Day 6 The Heart of me

A person who is prepared and capable of responding to the situations of life in ways that are good and right is a person whose soul is in order, under the direction of a well-kept heart, in turn under the direction of God.

DW p.25

Teach me your way O Lord,
and I will walk in your truth
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

Psalm 86:11

"...to be the same person all the time."

JJ p. 25

Day 5 Who we are, Not how we act

"Often what human beings do is so horrible that we can be excused for thinking that all that matters is stopping it. But this is an evasion of the real horror: the heart from which the terrible action comes. In both cases, it is who we are in our thoughts feelings, dispositions, and choices-in the inner life-that counts."

"Love-the genuine inner readiness and longing to secure the good of others."

Day 4 Trying to be good

"The external manifestation of Christlikeness is not the focus of Christian Spiritual Formation."

DW p 18

"The weight of trying to be good is an unnecessary load because the way to God is the way of all encompassing inner transformation."

JJ p19

Day 3 Change me on the inside

" What sort of heart would you like to have? What actions would flow from such a large heart?"

Day 2 No Unsolvable Puzzle

What thoughts do you have on our part in the process of Spiritual Formation?

Day 1 Kingdom Possibilities

Let's say I confessed to you my disgust with someone who annoyed me and how hopeless I felt about ever loving this person. What if instead of trying to make me feel better by saying, "Nobody's perfect," you said you believed in God's power to transform me into a radical person who pays loving attention to those who annoy ne? What if you prayed for me about this?

Jan johnson p 10

What if there were a whole community of people trying to do that for each other?
tk

What were your thoughts from Day 1?