Wednesday's Living Water

Scripture –

…in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
Daniel 9:2-3



…en el año primero de su reinado, yo, Daniel, pude entender en los libros el número de los años en que, por palabra del SEÑOR que fue revelada al profeta Jeremías, debían cumplirse las desolaciones de Jerusalén: setenta años.

Volví mi rostro a Dios el Señor para buscarle en oración y súplicas, en ayuno, cilicio y ceniza.
Daniel 9:2-3


Reading - Slowly read the Scripture passage several times


Meditation - Take some time to reflect on the words and phrases in the text. Which words, phrases or images speak to you most?


Prayer - Offer the internalized passage back to God in the form of a personalized prayer of adoration, confession, renewal, petition, intercession, affirmation, or thanksgiving.


Contemplation - What word or image captures the spirit of the passage for you?

Tuesday's Living Water

Scripture –

Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

"If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,

and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7: 12-14


Reading - Slowly read the Scripture passage several times


Meditation - Take some time to reflect on the words and phrases in the text. Which words, phrases or images speak to you most?


Prayer - Offer the internalized passage back to God in the form of a personalized prayer of adoration, confession, renewal, petition, intercession, affirmation, or thanksgiving.


Contemplation - What word or image captures the spirit of the passage for you?

Monday's Living Water

Scripture –

But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
Luke 5: 16


Reading - Slowly read the Scripture passage several times


Meditation - Take some time to reflect on the words and phrases in the text. Which words, phrases or images speak to you most?


Prayer - Offer the internalized passage back to God in the form of a personalized prayer of adoration, confession, renewal, petition, intercession, affirmation, or thanksgiving.


Contemplation - What word or image captures the spirit of the passage for you?

Thursday's Living Water

Scripture –

"But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
Acts 6:4


Reading - Slowly read the Scripture passage several times


Meditation - Take some time to reflect on the words and phrases in the text. Which words, phrases or images speak to you most?


Prayer - Offer the internalized passage back to God in the form of a personalized prayer of adoration, confession, renewal, petition, intercession, affirmation, or thanksgiving.


Contemplation - What word or image captures the spirit of the passage for you?

Tuesday's Living Water

Scripture –

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.

He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we've learned: that there's one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.
1 Timothy 2: 1-7 (The Message)

Reading - Slowly read the Scripture passage several times


Meditation - Take some time to reflect on the words and phrases in the text. Which words, phrases or images speak to you most?


Prayer - Offer the internalized passage back to God in the form of a personalized prayer of adoration, confession, renewal, petition, intercession, affirmation, or thanksgiving.


Contemplation - What word or image captures the spirit of the passage for you?

Thursday's Living Water

Scripture-

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Mark 1: 35

Reading - Slowly read the Scripture passage several times


Meditation - Take some time to reflect on the words and phrases in the text. Which words, phrases or images speak to you most?


Prayer - Offer the internalized passage back to God in the form of a personalized prayer of adoration, confession, renewal, petition, intercession, affirmation, or thanksgiving.


Contemplation - What word or image captures the spirit of the passage for you?

Tuesday's Living Water

Scripture-

I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,

because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints;

and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake.
Philemon 1: 4-6



Reading - Slowly read the Scripture passage several times


Meditation - Take some time to reflect on the words and phrases in the text. Which words, phrases or images speak to you most?


Prayer - Offer the internalized passage back to God in the form of a personalized prayer of adoration, confession, renewal, petition, intercession, affirmation, or thanksgiving.


Contemplation - What word or image captures the spirit of the passage for you?

Sunday Living Water

Today's verse is a bit longer but the truth and direction that it holds is incredible. As you read it over and meditate on the Truths may we be encouraged to live it out!

Scripture-

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossi ans 1:9-14

Reading - Slowly read the Scripture passage several times

Meditation - Take some time to reflect on the words and phrases in the text. Which words, phrases or images speak to you most?


Prayer - Offer the internalized passage back to God in the form of a personalized prayer of adoration, confession, renewal, petition, intercession, affirmation, or thanksgiving.



Contemplation - What word or image captures the spirit of the passage for you?

Our final review! It really is a wrap up for the week. How have you been doing? Has it helped with your study time. Creek Living Water is off and running. His Word transforms us if we will just dig in, reflect, chew, and then apply. Let's look at our last entry from Pastor John:

"My heart is that we will all drink deeply of the Living Word and be transformed!

As I was reading John 1:1 this week I was reminded of the True Message.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Jesus is the logos (Greek) or Word. It means the 'message.' Jesus IS the message and He has left us His Living Word not so we can be filled with information, but so that we can be filled up with Him. As we drink in the Word - in our minds and hearts - we are drinking Him in as His Holy Spirit speaks to us!

I want to encourage you to continue on in Lectio.

Read and Listen to the Text allowing yourself some silence and listening for the Spirit's voice

Meditate on the words or phrase that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about

Pray, speak to the Living Word and wrestle if necessary with what the Spirit has been speaking Contemplate by resting in God and praise Him for speaking to you

I pray that the River of Life continues pouring the hope and power of Jesus through you and out into the world!"

Isn't it wonderful to be able to review, reflect and get ready? These blog entries have been lengthy but there is so much to absorb in each one. If time has allowed, I hope you have been able to spend time thinking about Lectio Divina and applying these ideas to your devotion time. Maybe you have just had time for a quick check in, a quick read. That's okay! I hope you will revisit these entries and give yourself the time to reread. The lessons are good. Let us press on with todays! Once again, from Pastor John:

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right." (2 Tim. 3:16)

'ALL Scripture' - I understand that there are certain parts of God's Word that apply to us and impact us more at certain times in our lives, that is so true. And at the same time I kind of wince sometimes when folks tell me that so-and-so verse is their life verse, or their guiding verse --- folks the ENTIRE Word of God is our LIFELINE, period.

And to this end we must know that meditating on God's Word is a marathon - a long term process - that builds upon itself. The more we store away in our hearts and minds, the more the Holy Spirit is able to help us to remember a word or a phrase and a fresh wave of Jesus is able to blow through our lives.

As this happens more and more we begin to cultivate a life rhythm 'thinking on things above' and of continuously 'being filled' with His Spirit. The results are the 'much fruit' and 'straight paths' (just to name a couple!) that Jesus promises us!

With that in mind, I want to introduce you to another method of meditating on Scripture this week. It's known as the Ignatian Method after Ignatius of Loyola (He was a 15th century radically converted priest who became the founder of the Jesuit order. The Ignatian method detail below is taken from the Pastors Network Retreat - Retreat Folder).It will expand your thoughts on meditation while reminding us that our subject is ALWAYS JESUS!

The Ignatian Method of Meditating on Scripture
Preparation of the one about to Pray

In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius recommends that meditations always begin with this or a similar method of preparation:

1) Preparation of the Interior Place of Prayer:
The one about to pray calls to mind the importance of what is about to be done, that is, to come into the presence of the living God. This can be done by sitting quietly for a moment, or by pacing up and down until the gravity of the very act of prayer and Scripture reading is realized.

2) Preparation of the Exterior Place of Prayer
This consists of signaling the entry into the presence of God by assuming the posture one is to have throughout the time of prayer. The actual posture itself is not the focus of this movement, as much as the knowledge that one has come into the presence of God and that the Almighty is watching, eager to know our hearts and what we would bring to him. It is fitting to acknowledge the presence of the Lord with an act of reverence or humility.

3) Purification of the Mind and Heart
Next, one recites a short prayer that expresses a desire to completely devote oneself in the present – and at all times, to the greater glory of God. Ignatius suggests this prayer: "Lord, grant me the grace that all my intentions, actions, and operations may be ordered purely to the service and praise of your Divine Majesty."

Without breaking this moment of sacred presence, the Scripture passage is read slowly while performing the next three movements.

The Period of Meditation on Scripture

The period of meditation on Scripture is a moment that engages imagination, memory and intellect to enter into the Scripture passage we are about to read. This process also follows three movements, which should occur while we are reading the passage. This means that this time of meditation on Scripture will alternate between silent contemplation with eyes closed and active reading and rereading of the narrative to more completely enter in. Sometimes reading the passage aloud to oneself makes it more present.

1) Composition of place
This movement consists of seeing with the eyes of the imagination the actual place where the scriptural story to be read took place. If we have seen pictures or visited such places, we can recall with the aid of our memory the geographic location of the story. We can also make use of our intellect to recall what we know historically about the setting of the narrative we are reading.

2) Application of the Senses
As we read meditatively over the passage before us, we explore the mystery with the aid of the five senses. First, one sees with the imagination all the people involved in the passage. Next, one listens to each one and what is being said, and so on, smelling, tasting and touching the elements of the narrative.

3) Unfolding of the Mystery
Finally, though these three steps need not follow a strict order, the one who is praying should look at the persons involved and savor their actions and their words, always reflecting on these things in relation to one's own actions and words and how the elements of the story speak to, or about, the one praying.

Ignatius adds a note of caution to all of this. The imagination can be tricky, and an image should be used in prayer or Bible reading only insofar as it helps us to focus on the truths to be revealed in the meditation. Our imagination may challenge us, and that is okay, but if we become distracted or frustrated, we must be willing to let go of and move beyond the imagery in order to stay focused on the reason for our meditation, to draw nearer to Christ.

Ending the Time of Prayer

Ignatius believes that we should enter each time of prayer or Bible reading with some end in view, some specific favor we are asking of God. Perhaps it is for a virtue, like courage, or for an increase of faith, or for the gift of insight to better understand the working of the Spirit in one's life.

For this reason, Ignatius suggests that we remain in prayer and meditation until we feel that God has answered, or at least begun to answer, our prayer.

When we end our formal meditation on the Scripture passage, we should spend time in conversation with God about what we experienced. This, according to Ignatius, should be the longest movement of the prayer. And, he insists, we ought to speak with God or Christ exactly as we would speak to a brother, mother or friend.

We should speak to God during this time according to the state of our soul, whether it is sad or joyful, dry or fervent, frustrated or fulfilled. We should never divorce our here-and-now self from our conversations with God. Our conversation ought to be simple and informal, though always maintaining the attitude of reverence with which we began our time in God's presence.

Final Thoughts

One of Ignatius' most helpful thoughts for me is his encouragement to read with 'an end in mind.'For instance I recently read through the book of Hebrews asking God to teach me more about His 'rest.' How it was powerful to see and listen to God speak to me about the 'rest' of Jesus as each day I asked Him to show me more and more.
I pray that this week God blesses you in immeasurable ways as you seek Him!

Did the other day's entry touch your heart? Do you want to begin reading each day and savoring God’s Word? Then lets look at some steps on how to begin this process. Continuing from Pastor John’s information on Experiencing God’s Word, lets review!

1) Find a quiet place and a quiet time.
2) Begin by yielding yourself to God and ask Him to speak to you.
3) [And this will be the very hardest for many of you!] Read slowly and don't get caught up in how much you read but what God is saying. The goal is not to get through the Word but for the Word to get through us! Remember, not a Big Mac, but a 6- course meal.
4) Take a verse with you. Take a verse with you to meditate (mumble) with you during the day.

Lectio Divina
The spiritual discipline of devotional reading involves a method of reading God's Word. Lectio divina (pronounced lex' ee o dee vee' na) is an ancient discipline of approaching the Word as a Living Word that speaks to us.

The following is an introduction to Lectio adapted from an article by Luke Dysinger and presented in Pastors Retreat Network materials. I encourage you to read fully through the following for three straight days and then refer back to it as necessary. I refer to it often just to bring my heart back to the discipline.

Introduction to Lectio Divina
The Four Steps of Lectio Divina (Sacred Reading)

Lectio divina is a four-step process: reading, meditating, praying, and contemplating, known to Christians throughout history by their Latin names of lectio (lex' ee oh), meditation (me di that' see oh), oratio (or aht' see oh), and comtemplatio (con tem plaht' see oh). It could be said these four steps are like a path that lead away from the noise of the city to the beauty of nature. Or these steps can be seen as relational; a deepening exchange between two friends; or, they can be called transformational, a microcosm of the change taking place in us as we go from creatures dead in sin to a new creation in Christ.
What is important is to see these steps as natural, for they are common to any meaningful experience we have in life. First we "read" the experience, then we reflect on it, next we talk about it to those involved, and finally, we bring it into ourselves and let it become part of who we are. Lectio divina is the way in which we follow this process with the word of God.

The Practice of Lectio Divina
Lectio – reading and listening to the text
Place yourself in a comfortable position and allow yourself to become silent. Some Christians focus for a few moments on one thing to block out the noise of life. A favorite prayer or Bible verse can be gently recited in order to become peacefully aware of God's presence. Use whatever method is best for you and allow yourself to enjoy silence for a few moments.
Then, turn to the text and read it slowly, gently. Savor each portion of the reading, constantly listening for the "still, small voice" of a word or phrase that somehow says, "I am for you today." Do not expect lightning or ecstasies. In lectio divina God is teaching us to listen to Him, to seek Him in silence. He does not reach out and grab us; rather, He softly, gently invites us ever more deeply into His presence. Once you have found a verse or phrase that the Word, Christ, is speaking to you, stop your reading and move into the next phase – meditation.

Meditatio – meditation
Rest a while on this word or phrase that Christ is speaking to you in this moment. Appreciate it for the special treasure it is: the Word, Christ, speaking to you today. Although meditation is commonly understood as very passive, lectio divina is an active encounter with a Person. Deny for a moment the temptation to apply this word to one specific situation in your life – as if you already fully understood its meaning! Repeat it slowly to yourself, allowing it to interact with your whole world of thoughts, concerns, memories and ideas.
Don't worry if you are distracted by seemingly unimportant or unrelated thoughts. Memories and other thoughts are simply parts of yourself that, when they rise up during prayer, are asking to be given to God along with the rest of your self. God wants all of you, and that includes even your most commonplace, or most annoying thoughts. Allow this pondering to invite you into dialogue with Christ.

Oratio – prayer
Speak to the Word. Whether you use words or ideas or images, or all three is not important. Interact with Christ as you would with one who you know loves and accepts you. Give to Him what you have discovered in yourself during your experiences of meditatio. Perhaps you feel the presence of the first or third Person of the Trinity. Experience God in the word or phrase that He has given you. Let it be a means of blessing. Tell God what you have found within your heart.

Contemplatio – contemplation
This part is hard to describe, because it is God's initiative; it is God acting on His desire to be present to you; all you have to do is be there. Simply rest in God's embrace. Be patient. When He invites you to return to your pondering of His word or to your inner dialogue with Him, do so. Learn to use words when words are helpful, and to let go of words when they no longer are necessary. Rejoice in the knowledge that God is with you in both words and silence, in spiritual activity and inner receptivity.

Sometimes in lectio divina, one will return several times to the printed text, either to savor the literary context of the word or phrase that God has given, or to seek a new word or phrase to ponder. At other times only a single word or phrase will fill the whole time set aside for lectio. It is not necessary to anxiously assess the quality of one's lectio devina as if one were "performing" or seeking some goal: lectio divina has no goal other than that of being in the presence of God by praying the Scriptures.

So that is the essence of Lectio Divina.