by David Alexander on February 26, 2010
This is the last in a series of posts with ideas on how to implement the GPS Bible reading guide. So far, I’ve written about the need to find a specific time each day to spend in daily devotion, the importance of establishing a “sacred space” for you to focus, and spending time reflecting over the scripture that you have read. Today I want to talk about creating an “archive” of our devotional life.
About four years ago, the fruit that I was experiencing in my life as a result of my daily disciplines increased dramatically. Key to that change for me was that I started journaling. In fact, I started carrying a small black journal with me almost everywhere I went. I now have a stack of about 10 of these black journals in my office which represent the ups and downs of the last four years of my life.
I had never been serious about keeping a journal prior to this, and I frankly did not understand how it could be of benefit. Today, I would describe the benefit in this way.
We often assume that the benefit of our daily devotion time is that we will get a chance to hear from God every day and receive direction from God for that day. Now, that does certainly happen. This time for me usually happens in the mornings, and the days when I have a dedicated time with God, my day goes smoother.
But there is something much larger going on here than investing in that particular day.
To engage in a daily time with God is to invest in every day for the rest of your life. In other words, the fruit that we receive from this discipline is often “slow developing” but at the same time, “long lasting.” Understanding how God is speaking into our lives and directing us by God’s grace over the course of time is just as important as receiving something for that particular day.
Journaling facilitates this more subtle process, and I truly believe that staying committed to this daily discipline is fueled by the fruit that grows slow. If you miss this fruit because you are not paying attention to it’s growth, I think that increases the chances that this new discipline will fade.
Buy a journal.
Share your thoughts.
Archive where God is leading you in your life.
by David Alexander on February 25, 2010
This week I’ve been writing a series of posts with some ideas on how to implement and use the GPS daily Bible reading guide. So far, I’ve written about the need to find a specific time each day to spend in daily devotion as well as the idea of establishing a “sacred space” for you to focus. Today, I want to talk about one of the most critical elements of this process we might think of as “reflection.”
The pace of our modern lives does not lend itself to spending a great deal of our time in reflection. Consequently, for many of us, it has become a foreign idea. In the context of daily Bible study, we might think of reflection in two different ways.
First, reflection is simply engaging in serious thought and consideration. It implies that we are giving an ample amount of time as well as the appropriate amount of “brain space” to thinking about what we have read and what God might be saying to us as we engage the Bible. Establishing “sacred space” is a key element of this in that serious thought also implies the elimination of other distractions. In this way, we might think of reading and studying the Bible as focusing on a beautiful piece of art or the experience of soaking up the image of a beautiful mountain sunrise. It’s about taking time to appreciate the full picture.
We might also think about reflection in another way. None of us have ever seen our own faces, and yet we all have some sense of what we look like because we have seen a reflection of ourselves. In the same way that we might look into a mirror to understand what we look like so we also look into the Bible to see who we are in light of the word from God that we find there. In other words, reading the Bible is about growing in the knowledge of God, but it also about growing in our understanding of ourselves. We are meant to find ourselves in the story, and allow that story to speak truth into our lives.
Let me give you an example of what that looks like.
When I first became serious about studying the Bible my freshman year of High School, my youth pastor gave me a really easy to remember process for engaging in reflection. The process he outlined for me was centered around three simple questions.
- What does this text say about God?
- What does this text say about us?
- What does this text say about the relationship between God and us?
He even gave us an acronym to remember these three questions: GUR. [God, Us, Relationship] This process of reflection still guides me today, and I share it with the hopes that it might be a benefit to others as well.
Tomorrow, I will share the last post of this series in which I will be talking about the benefiting of creating an “archive” of our walk with God.
by David Alexander on February 24, 2010
Yesterday, I started this series of posts to share some ideas on how to implement and use the GPS study guide that our church launched this past weekend. If you are not familiar with GPS, you can find more information here.
In that first post, I talked about the importance of establishing a set time each day to spend time in study and reflection. I truly believe having a specific time, regardless of when it falls during your day, will help keep you committed to this important practice.
Today, I want to write about establishing “sacred space,” where you might go during that time each day.
My wife is a third grade teacher, and one of the things she does prior to every school years is spending some time setting up her room for her kids. What I discovered that first year in helping her was that there is a certain science involved in how you “set up” an elementary age classroom. Everything was placed in the room in such a way that would create a great learning environment for the kids that would help them to focus on their work and limit any distractions from that key task.
In short, when setting up a classroom for 3rd graders, environment matters.
I think the same thing is true when we think about our daily devotion time.
For instance, I’m writing this post early Wednesday morning from my house where I usually have my daily devotion time. I’m sitting at a small bistro table we have set up in the corner of our living room. I have my headphones on with some soft music playing in the background. I have my morning coffee sitting beside me, the lights are dim, and it’s still dark outside. In short, there is nothing to distract me from my primary goal of focusing on God.
In talking with our Senior Pastor Mike on Monday, he shared with me that his “sacred space” is his front porch when the weather cooperates. Other times, it’s his chair in the living room. I remember several years ago hearing a pastor talk about the “prayer closet” he had constructed for himself in his garage. With five kids at home, the garage was the only place where he could find some quiet in order to focus, and so he had built himself a small room in the garage where he could go.
There are thousands of different ways in which to create sacred space. The key is to find one that fits you. With just a few small adjustments [it does not have to involve a construction project] I think you will find it easier for you to focus and listen to what God might be saying to your heart during your devotional time.
I want to encourage you to think about how you might create, “sacred space.”
Some of you may already be doing this, and I would love to hear about what you are doing. If you would like, please leave me a comment below. Your space may be a source of inspiration for someone else checking out this post. You may also email me if you would like.
Tomorrow, I’ll be talking about the importance of “reflection” in our daily time with God.
by David Alexander on February 23, 2010
As our GPS daily Bible study program launches this week, I am going to be sharing a series of posts focused on how to implement and use the GPS guide. For some, this may be a brand new discipline, and I am hoping these thoughts will help you get started.
First, I want to say up front that I recognize that everyone is busy! I do not meet very many people who are just looking for stuff to do in order to pass the time. With that thought in mind, we have designed GPS to provide a “bite-size” piece of Bible reading and reflection. We are committed to providing a resource that is manageable for anyone and everyone to use in their life.
That being said, even with the simple format of the GPS guide, it does require a certain amount of time. I would say for most, you can work through each day’s reading and reflection questions in 15-30 minutes depending on how much time you want to spend reflecting on the questions.
So, the first step is finding that time!
What I want to encourage you to think about doing first as you seek to implement the GPS guide into your daily practices is to try to find a time that works best for you, and try to stick with that time everyday. When we place a new discipline within a pattern for our daily life, I think it greatly increases the chances that we will continue to invest in that discipline.
For some, that might mean that the first thirty minutes of the day are dedicated to GPS. For others, you might take the first few minutes when you sit down at your desk at the office to read through the GPS guide. It might be during your lunch break, during a mid-afternoon stretch, or just before you go to bed. It does not matter when you do your daily devotion time. What matters is that you find a time that works for you and try to stick with it.
Don’t be too legalistic about it. If you start out in the morning, but after 7-10 days that does not look like it’s going to work for you, try a different time. Many people carry the expectation that their daily devotion time must happen first thing in the morning, and while that works well for me, it may not work for everyone’s schedule. Find a time that works for you.
Once you’ve found a time that works for you, you are ready to think about finding the right “space.” I’ll be sharing more about finding “sacred space” tomorrow.
by David Alexander on February 22, 2010
Today is a big day for our church as we officially launch our new GPS daily Bible reading guide. For those who signed up to receive this daily reading via email, it should have arrived in your inbox this morning.*
At The Well yesterday, I really appreciated what our Student Ministries Director, Johnny Brower had to say about this new resource during our reflection time after the message. He took some of my words from the sermon, “something big is about to happen,” and used them in reference to our excitement about GPS and the potential impact it has for our Church.
As I said this weekend in worship, I have several fundamental beliefs that guide me in my teaching. People want to change. They belief that the Bible is an important book, and contains in the words of the Apostle Peter, “the words of life.”
In the many conversations I have with individuals deeply involved with our church, new members who are just beginning to establish a connection, or first time visitors to our church who may be seeking in their faith, there is a powerful shared desire to engage the Bible and allow the truth we find there to lead us in our lives.
It is my prayer that GPS will be a resource that meets and fuels that desire.
May God bless you this day as you search the scriptures and invite God’s truth to lead your life.
*If you had previously submitted your email address, but did not receive the GPS today, please Let me know. You must verify your email address before your sign up is complete, and that confirmation email may have gone to your junk folder in your email.
by David Alexander on February 20, 2010
We are two days away from the launch of GPS, our daily Bible reading guide. Our GPS guide is a five day reading plan, published weekly, which is designed to supplement the season and sermon series emphasis we share each weekend. GPS, which stands for Grow, Pray, Study, will kick off on Monday with the beginning of our new, “24 Hours that Changed the World“ message series.
You can receive your GPS guide in a hard copy format as an insert in our weekend worship bulletin. You may also subscribe to receive the daily scripture reading and reflection questions via email. If you choose this option, you will receive an email every morning.
We’ve already had 324 subscribe for that email subscription!
If you are interested in subscribing via email, click here for more info.
To find out more about GPS, you can visit our GPS blog at www.growpraystudy.org
*I also want to mention that anyone and everyone is welcome to subscribe. If you have a friend or family member who does not live in Mansfield but would like to receive this guide, we would love to share this resource with them as well.
by David Alexander on February 19, 2010
Yesterday, in my post about my plans for Lent this year, I mentioned that I was going to be using a book called Eastertide which is a prayer book put together by Phyllis Tickle. I promised to write more today about what is called The Daily Office, a pattern of praying at certain hours of the day, which provides the framework for Eastertide.
I actually wrote a bit about the Daily Office several years ago in preparation for Lent. Here is some of what I shared in that post dated February 13th, 2008.
Throughout the Judeo-Christian story, both Christians and Jews have participated in certain practices that have taken place at certain times of the day. Going back to the days of the Jerusalem temple, there were certain sacrifices, prayers, and liturgy that were specific to the hour of the day. The Psalmist writes, “Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous ordinances.” [Psalm 119:164]
In the New Testament, we read several references to the hour of the day and the significant things that happen in this life of Jesus and his disciples at these specific times of prayer. The most notable is Peter’s vision in Acts 10 which happens when, “About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.” [Acts 10:9] What was Peter doing? The same thing he did everyday at noon… Praying!
The best way to describe the Daily Office is that it is fixed hour prayer book [also called The Canonical Hours]. Working with a prayer book, you set aside time during certain times of the day to work through some readings and prayers. The book that I use has four prayer times during the day; The Morning Office to be observed between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., The Midday Office to be observed between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., the Vespers Office to be observed between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Compline which is observed before retiring before bed.
Each of the Office times take about 10-15 minutes and include prayers, scripture reading, and other portions of sacred writings from all parts of Christian history. Sometimes this is a thought from a 13th century theologian. Sometimes it’s the words to a hymn written in the 19th century. Each office incorporates the Lord’s Prayer and the Gloria which those who attend one of our traditional services would know. [Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and forever, AMEN.]
If you have never worked with a prayer book like this before, I will warn you that it will feel a bit strange at first. It has a set pattern, and you basically read through all the sections for that particular time. We tend to overvalue spontaneity in our prayer life and so reading through a prayer book might feel a little dry. If you do try it out, I encourage you to do a couple of things.
- Don’t give up too quickly. Try it out for a few weeks. It may not fit you, but since it is so different from what many of us are used to, it may just take some time to adjust.
- Read out loud. I have found that in doing this, it makes me slow down the pace of my reading and really focus in on what I’m saying.
- When you are finished, record your reflections in a journal. As I said, each office only takes you 10-15 minutes. Take 5 minutes to check in with yourself in your journal.
If you’re interested in learning more about using The Daily Office in your prayer time or have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment below or email me.
by David Alexander on February 18, 2010
My wife sent out the following email this morning to some family and friends.
After a late night E.R. trip, we have 3 stitches. You wouldn’t even know it from how he is acting today. He’s tired, but very happy.
