Spiritual Formation: My Experineces
by Vince on Mar.20, 2010, under Uncategorized
“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;”
The last aspect of spiritual formation in “The Me I Want To Be” is the practicum. It is the action item of spiritual growth. As you can see in this familiar text on spiritual gifts, it is critical to “use them.” Having them is one thing, using them is quite another. Practice may not make us perfect, but it does help us grow more perfect!
Living in the flow of the Spirit means I use my gifts in the context of my daily life. Experiences are what we do in life. Most people spend over half their lives “at work.” Our work is our arena of experience.
“Work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do……the medium in which we offer ourselves to God.” Dorothy Sayers
“You come to know God by experience at His initiative as He reveals Himself to you. As you experience God, you come to know Him more intimately and personally.”
YOU COME TO KNOW GOD BY EXPERIENCE AS YOU OBEY HIM AND HE ACCOMPLISHES HIS WORK THROUGH YOU.
Some Insight into Work:
I. Discover your strengths (Marcus Buckingham, Now Discover Your Strengths)
II. Understand what you receive when you work
III. Let your work honor God (Col. 3:22)
IV. Make work a part of your calling
V. View work as a service to God
VI. Adversity “can” lead to growth.
1. Rising to a challenge reveals abilities hidden within you (and beyond you!) that would otherwise have remained dormant.
Temptation has a way out; not necessarily adversity!
2. Adversity can deepen relationships.
3. Adversity can change your priorities about what really matters.
4. Adversity points us to the Hope beyond ourselves.
Ernest Hemingway, “Sooner or later, the world breaks everyone, and those who are broken are strongest in the broken places.
MAYBEyou need to stretch and plan an experience that would stretch you in a new way.
MAYBE you need to offer up your “ordinary life” to God as a means of learning more and giving more.
SF My Experiences: SF My Experiences
