Devotional readings can either impact our life or not change a single way that you see yourself. When I started my spiritual disciple on devotional readings, I was excited because I could be able to better understand why God is the way he is and why he decided to love me. Growing up I knew what I should and should not have believed about God, but never fully understood what it meant to sit down and read about his word. I choose my spiritual discipline to be devotional reading so that I could build my relationship with God and continue to strive spiritually. Twice a week for thirty minutes or longer, I would sit down and find a passage in the Bible to devote my time to. The days of the week that I practiced my spiritual disciple was Wednesday and Sunday nights around nine o’clock. Before each week, I would get on google and search readings in accordance with my mood to be able to better understand myself and help myself. The reason I googled readings was to be able to understand what was going on in my life and what God was putting on my heart through my feelings. Each week, I would devote my readings to something knew which helped me better understand God’s words and myself. I did not change my pattern because the time I was reading scriptures was a convenient time because I was awake and relaxed.
My spiritual disciple helped me, but not in the way I would have liked it too. At first, I slacked with reading and completely ignored it because I thought this project was a waste
On a personal note, I practice reading the Bible through the process of observation. For instance, I practice learning what to look for in the text; interpreting the meaning; I prayerfully seek God and through the power of the Holy Spirit I can apply what I read. Nevertheless, I feel Ferrin’s process of inductive Bible study might prove more productive and edifying both personally and in a group.
That is one of the areas of my life that I know God is really working on right now; the idea that I will probably never find time, but that I need to make time for these disciplines to happen in my life. With that being said, I have decided that I will start off by journaling once a week. My goal will be to work through the example questions that are offered on page 52 of Calhoun’s book Spiritual Disciplines Handbook. For example, the first two questions that I will aim to answer are: “For what moment today am I most grateful? For what moment today am I least grateful?.” Just because I know that Tuesdays, next semester, are filled with less activities than other days of the week, I am going to try very hard to journal every Tuesday. I would love to see the amount that I journal increase every few weeks, but I know that a goal like that would not be attainable for me. My ambition is to allow myself thirty minutes every Tuesday to analyze my walk with the Lord and others; however, I hope to allow the Spirt to lead me to think about other things in my journals. In other words, I hope that what I write when answering the predetermined questions will inspire me to begin writing other burdens that may be on my
Evidence has linked a strong relationship between spirituality and medicine. There is a positive correlation between a patient’s spirituality or religious commitment and health outcomes. A spiritual assessment as a part of a health assessment is a practical step to incorporating patient’s spiritual needs into practice. The FICA Tool and HOPE Questions provide serve to assist clinicians in the spiritual assessment process. By examining the research done using these tools, it has been determined that the FICA Tool is easy to use and provides basic data on a patient’s spirituality. The FICA tool is both reliable and valid. The HOPE Questions are
different way than which one would approach normal bible study. The book seems to be aimed at
In Shaped by the Word, by Robert Mulholland Jr., one finds a way to read scripture in order to provide a deeper understanding of God and allow His Word to shape one’s spiritual life. In the Introduction, in chapter 1, the reader is introduced to the idea that there is a movement in the church that seeks to become deeper and stricter in spiritual formation. He claims there are many books written for this purpose, and his intending purpose for this book is for God to use however he may want in the reader’s spiritual life. Mulholland provides the reader with a prayer to pray in preparation of reading this book and states there may be points where God is knocking and calling the reader’s attention to something new.
Generally, I find the theology behind the numerous aspects of the Bible not only, helpful, but also fascinating. Learning about the four different views about God’s role in the inspiration of the Bible makes me more aware of the theology behind certain doctrines and principles I may not have been aware of. This unit has forced me to tear down my assumptions about the Bible and go into the Bible with a new perspective of innocence. Through having an open-mind I am able to have important conversations with people, about the Bible, from all Christian backgrounds. Additionally, learning about the multitudes of translations of the Bible, and how they fall into three distinct categories, has helped me understand there are different purposes and intended audiences for each translation of the Bible. Before, I struggled with the fact that there were so many English translations of the Bible, but now I understand each one
I had the chance to read as part of a group......4 children sat around the table within class....this was my dedicated table to assist and concentrate on.
Spirituality is an interdependence of an individual to the religion and religious beliefs, such as, visiting to temple, church and other religious buildings and participating on spiritual activities (praying, meditation, worshiping and donation). In my opinion, spirituality is the way of existing in the society and the world because every human being learn to adjust in the society from their religious beliefs and value systems which are unique among various people. Spirituality helps to find the meaning of different circumstances of the individual’s life, which provides better solution of any problem in their life. Similarly, spirituality explains the human boundaries which promotes the safety and belongingness among various people. Also it is the way of understanding the world and their role in the world.
Making an effort for private time with Jesus, meaning allowing my mind an opportunity for flowing freely. Listening prayer, as McNeal, (2011) wrote about in "A Work of Heart" is allowing our subconscious the right of passage to our conscious while simultaneously incorporating theology.
Spiritual disciplines will prepare us for our journey in Christ. I feel if understanding correctly, the classical Christian Pilgrimage remind us that we all have issues requiring regular examination. In chapter eight, the classical Christian Pilgrimage tells us we are at different stages on the path of wholeness in Christ. However, in my thoughts some areas of our Christian journey we may be doing well, but in other areas we have not touched at all. Not to mention, these are the place we are not ready or capable of handling yet, however, as we mature in God and He knows what we can handle, then we are awakened. God awakens us to our true selves which have not been completely revealed. In reality, once we reach maturity to God, he reveals all that is hidden deep inside of us (the real us/you). By the same token, he let us see the inner behaviors, attitudes, desires, in fact how we measure up in them being Christ-like. I feel the awakening stage deals with the comfort of being set free of these issues that are holding us back also causing detours on our path to wholeness in Christ. Equally, the threat is being afraid to see who we really are; also how far from Christ-like we really are. We must first be awakened from our separation also alienation from God (Mulholland 79-82).
Studying scripture in smaller sections and relating that to our world might be more effective than trying to do it all at
At Downline, I learned what the disciples of Jesus learned, and what they went through for three and a half years. Following Jesus, the
However through this class I have realized that it is necessary to conduct thorough research on topics for a greater understanding. There were times that I found myself reading and then rereading scriptures to gain insight. I imagine that could be useful under any circumstance whether professional or
The 21 days devotional assignment helped me to start another way to become closer to God, grow spiritually and personally. Before, reading the Bible seemed sometimes tiring or boring for me to the point I was not getting anything out from it. I had tried another kind of reading plans, but they were not very successful. I am not a really a good writer, and I never tried to start a journal. So, when I started my devotional journal I realized that for the first time I was actually understanding the scripture. I kept the journal for 25 days without missing any day. During that time, I felt closer to God. In many occasions, the passages were relating to the issues I was going through in that time. I recognized God’s voice and realized about his
Another strategy would be take advantage of my spiritual environment (Corbin, et al, 2016). It is actually coincidental that I am reading this portion of the book this morning because in my bible study this morning I came across a scripture in