Path to Wholeness

Welcome 2015!

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Welcome 2015! According to the dictionary if you have Welcomed the next 365 days you are “freely inviting or eagerly and delightfully accepting” the days ahead. That would make the New Year like a cup half full, instead of half empty.

new year 2015

Most people make Resolutions at the beginning of a new year. But they are usually short lived because they are orchestrated in the mind and based on their own willpower. Using only mind-power and will power puts us in control, which makes the outcome dependent upon us. But real, lasting change happens as we approach something with both mind and heart (see my blog, The Changing Process). Including our heart in the process, offers us the opportunity to transfer the control of the change process from us to God. The book of Proverbs reminds us that it is the heart that will ‘determine the course of our life’ (4:23, NLT). So, how can you include your heart with your mind in the process of Welcoming 2015?

First, it is necessary to let go of those things that are behind you and reach forward to those things that are ahead of you (Phil. 3:13). Ask yourself this question: Where is my heart and mind positioned right now? Am I wasting too much energy on things from yesterday when I could be looking forward to what God has for my future? A process called Examen will help you to be free to ‘look forward’ as you Welcome 2015.

Begin by sitting down in a quiet place and reflecting on the past year, looking at both the positive and negative happenings. Then celebrate the good things that happened and put to rest those that weren’t so desirable! This may mean that you need to ask God to forgive you for something or you may need to forgive yourself or someone else. You may also need to reflect on what you have learned from these undesirable experiences and how God wants you to personally change.

Then, ‘throw’ all your concerns about the past year on God for he cares for you (I Peter 5:7). As you ‘let go’ of these happenings, you clear out any unfinished business from the past year. You are now ready to Welcome 2015 with a clean plate because you are fully present in the New Year, not stuck in the past! In the next blog we will discuss how to move forward in the days to come.

Digesting Spiritual Food

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Are you digesting Spiritual Food? In my last blog (12/13/14) I talked about the process of engaging both head and heart when meeting with God in his Word. If we fail to do this, we will merely take in facts and miss the growth and maturity that God has for our lives. His words, our spiritual food, will not go through the complete spiritual digestive process.

I recently experienced a physical illness that helped me understand this better. It began with sensitivity to foods like gluten and dairy. In a two-week period in August 2013 I lost 14 pounds even though I was eating regular meals. The problem, according to my health care professional, was that my system was not absorbing the nutrients in my food. Thankfully she was able to help me with my digestive issues and in time I began to absorb nutrients again and gain weight.

The same thing can happen to us spiritually. We may take in spiritual food during church, a bible study or personal devotions, but still fail to grow and mature. Part of the reason is because we are primarily engaging our left-brain (a logical process). Left-brain process is necessary but must be integrated with right brain process as well (i.e. reflection, use of imagination and a connection to our emotions). Otherwise, we will only experience part of the spiritual digestive process.

If this has been your situation you may need to learn to reflect, meditate, and process Scripture through both your left and right brain. In my book, Intimate Moments with the Father, you will find ideas in the Appendices that may help you in developing your right-brain process. These include ‘Quieting your Heart’, ‘Clearing out the Debris’, and ‘Spiritual Exercises to Engage the Mind and Heart’. These Spiritual Exercises can also be found in the Spiritual Growth Exercise section of this website. I suggest you start with Lectio Divina and Experiencing the Presence of God.

I recently downloaded a great resource called the Blue Letter Bible as an App and as a website, www.blueletterbible.org. One day I was looking up the Greek word for ‘meditate’ (hagah) and noticed one scripture that really intrigued me. “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey …” (Isa. 31:4). The Greek word for growl in this passage was hagah and it did not just mean to growl, but to imagine and to meditate.

578609_22755681What a surprise! The lion in Isaiah’s passage was ‘meditating’ on whatever prey he had caught, and was taking his time eating and digesting it. He was chewing, swallowing, using his teeth, tongue, stomach, and intestines, like a dog working on its bone! The lion was getting all the value he could out of his meal and delighting in the process.

We too can experience this as we ’meditate’ on Scripture, growling over it in delight! The Psalmist says, “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you…I will be satisfied as with the richest of foods” (Psalm 63:3-5). I encourage you to turn now to Psalm 63:1-5 and partake of the spiritual exercise of ‘lectio divina’. You can find the steps here.

May you “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8). May you partake of, savor in, and anticipate God’s soul-energizing words as you participate in the process of Digesting Spiritual Food!

The Changing Process

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‘Meeting with God’ in his Word is one of the most helpful processes I have found for growth on my Path to Wholeness. Yet many people read the bible but aren’t really changed through the process. And why is that?

The Changing ProcessThat’s because Scripture needs to be read with both mind and heart. I agree it is important to teach people how to study the bible; but just studying the Bible intellectually won’t bring about change. If you are going to grow and change, it will require you to use two processes, ‘comprehension’ and ‘reflection’. Comprehension comes fairly easy for us in western culture because it is the way our educational process teaches us. But reflection is often more difficult because it causes us to look inside which is not always comfortable. And it may reveal things in us that need to be changed. So being willing to admit that you need to change is a critical first step in the ‘Changing Process’.

Phil Collins says, “Studying the bible can be done in the spirit of trying to master the text so that we are the ones who control the Bible instead of putting ourselves under the authority of God’s Word”. In contrast, as we begin to ‘reflect’ on Scripture and invite the Spirit to speak to us we transfer the control from us to God. When we listen to the words of the text with the ‘ears of our heart’, we become aware of not only information but how God wants to ‘form’ us by these words. This allows the process to begin in our mind, move to our heart, and to conclude with a personal application.

The spiritual formation process of lectio divina embraces all three of these – mind, heart, and application. It begins by engaging the mind and then moves to the heart as we offer our whole self to the process of reading and applying God’s Word to our everyday life. Now the reading of God’s Word has become a two-way conversation with God as he reveals himself to us. Since the word of God is living and active and can judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart (Hebrews 4:12), it has the power to change our lives as we obey what God is saying to us as we listen in this two-way conversation.

I invite you to try this process of lectio divina. I have written a small book called, ‘Intimate Moments with the Father: An Experiential Journal’ that will help you understand and experience this life changing way of engaging in God’s Word.