“Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1)
Tag Archives: Spirituality
Confessing (Psalm 32)
‘I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.’ Psalm 32:5
There are earthly consequences to our sin, broken relationships, justice, maybe if a law was broken. When you remember back to times you have confessed something you may have only got back guilt and shame from that person or done the same for someone confessing something to you. We are not perfect, things hurt us and we respond. However let’s look together and what Confession is, how we can confess to God and how we can better support others who confess to us and want to accept God’s forgiveness
Crying (Psalm 6)
“Turn LORD and deliver me, save me because of your unfailing love.” (Psalm 6:4)
We continue our series on Spirituality for Dark Times with Psalm 6, ‘Crying’.
Fearing (Psalm 34)
“Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.” (Psalm 34:9)
We often think of spirituality as bringing us a sense of peace and comfort from connecting with God’s love and that is true. But it should also bring us into a healthy fear of God. Fear of God is freeing not limiting, it brings peace, because we are confident that justice will win out and it develops a wisdom in us, that will enable us to prosper in life.
Meditating (Psalm 1)
“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.” (Psalm 19:7)
How do we remain rooted and flourishing through the dark times? Meditate on God’s word.
Seeking (Psalm 143)
“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)
By saying the Psalms, we discover that we share with people down the ages the same distress, despair and doubt as saints throughout history. Yet, out of the struggle we are also joined to their faith, which leads them out of the darkness of despair to the light of hope, out of the powerlessness of life to the power of God, our rock and our salvation.
Out of Darkness (Psalm 103)
“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” (Psalm 103:2)
This week we begin our series, “Spirituality for dark times.”, ‘dark times’ is meant to refer to times of difficulty or struggle that many of us are or may face. So, how do we deal with these “dark times”? As Christians we have a distinctive perspective. We believe in a God who is both in charge of the universe in ways beyond our comprehension and yet incredibly is also totally committed to us at a deeply personal level. For us spirituality is not just a set of practices to make us feel better, but a way of renewing and deepening our faith in the God of Jesus Christ, that reorients our souls from darkness to light.