Loving God through Quiet Adoration Connecting with God: Finding Your Soul’s Path to God – Part 7 July 26, 2015

INTRODUCTION: God has always been in a love relationship with His people. My wife has told me many times that she feels most loved, most secure, and most at peace when wrapped up in my arms. She has said that I am often God’s conduit of love for her. That makes me feel special! And it is a huge trust that she places in me!

If the most common metaphor God gives us for His relationship to us is a marriage, a committed, passionate intimacy, then how much more so should our worship reflect that? This desire is particularly present in the Contemplative Christian.

Loving God through adoration – this is the mark of the Contemplative sacred pathway as described by Gary Thomas in his book, “Sacred Pathways.” This is a Christian who worships God best by just adoring Him (talk about the kids running to me when I’d get home. “How does it feel to be adored?” Nadine would often say.). The contemplative loves to “hold hands,” sit at his feet, and simply be His friend. They “seek the perception of God’s being or presence” (page 193). Contemplatives will rid themselves of anything that chokes desire for God, and learn to love Him deeper.

The Contemplative pathway is similar to the Ascetic, which we talked about two weeks ago. A favorite Bible verse might be taken from the Song of Songs as they experience what it refers to as “divine romance.” The focus of a contemplative is not necessarily serving God, doing God’s will, accomplishing work in God’s name, or even obeying God. Rather, contemplatives seek to love God with the purest, deepest, and brightest love imaginable.

Slides 2 & 3 SERIES RECAP: The current series that we’re in, has us taking a look at the many ways that we connect with God. Gary Thomas’ book, Sacred Pathways” proposes there are 9 Sacred Pathways by which we find ourselves worshiping and following and connecting with God. He likens it to our spiritual temperaments, similar to psychological temperaments or personality traits. The first week we looked at the Sensate… then the Naturalist… Traditionalist… then the Ascetic. Now today we’re going to take a closer look at the Contemplative.

Slides 4-9 One of the best Biblical descriptions of the role of the contemplative is found in Moses’ blessing of the tribe of Benjamin prior to his death: “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders” (Deut. 33:12 NASB). “Resting between God’s shoulders” is the favorite pastime of the contemplative. He or she wants to enjoy God and learn to love God in even deeper ways. (Tell story of me as a little boy sitting between two relatives – Uncle Wayne and Aunt Pat).

The psalmist David expresses the contemplative desire when he writes: [Read PSALM 63 page 568]

Slide 10 TIME: Time is of utmost importance to the contemplative. The love relationship that fuels the contemplative is not hesitant and done out of a sense of obligation. It is simply an appreciation for Christ that empties into unadulterated adoration. Time is one of the best gifts we can give and the contemplative wants to give God plenty.

Slide 11 GOD’S RECIPRICOL LOVE: We are to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength. In obedience to this command, David thirsts and seeks for God as a man in a desert seeks water. He finds God’s love to be “better than life,” and his soul is satisfied “as with the richest of foods.” God doesn’t want just obedience, He wants to be loved, just like you and me. Said of the nation of Israel: “I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert” (Jer. 2:2). His love for his people is so strong that when Israel betrays him it is likened to adultery.

Contemplatives are often misunderstood and judged, like Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet instead of making a meal (Luke 10:38-42), and the woman who poured perfume on Jesus’ head (Matt. 26:6-13). But this is the kind of worship God desires.

INTIMACY IDEAS: There are several “acts of contemplatives,” or in lovers’ language, “intimacy ideas.” These are things you can do with God to practice and develop the completely personal and unique relationship you have with your King and Savior who loves you more than all the room in the universe. Basically, I can’t tell you how to fall in love. But I can share some ideas of how to foster being aware of the presence of God.

Slide 12 Secret acts of devotion: One of the ways listed in Thomas’ book, Sacred Pathways, is to love God through secret acts of devotion (Similar to this week’s Sunday school “soul training” exercise.”) This is anything from writing an anonymous note of encouragement and putting it in someone’s mailbox at church to sneaking out in the middle of the night to leave a gift basket for a

1 Loving God through Quiet Adoration Connecting with God: Finding Your Soul’s Path to God – Part 7 July 26, 2015 needy family. You could also write a love note just to God, plant seeds in honor of Him, or sing a certain song only in His presence. Just like lovers have special secrets only they share, so you can love God by doing things and loving others only for Him.

Slide 13 Adoring prayer: There are several different ways to pray that focus on loving God and just being in His presence.  The Jesus Prayer has many forms, but a common one is, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The purpose is to help us refocus on God when our minds drift. It helps us remember who He is and who we are, and put our reliance on Him.  Centering Prayer is similar. Thomas describes it as an act in which you don’t do anything, “you’re simply resting in the presence of God” (pg. 197). You start by saying a word, such as ‘Jesus,’ ‘Father,’ ‘hope,’ or ‘love.’ When your mind strays, repeat the word to refocus. God commands us to, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). We don’t always need mental stimulation; sometimes we need to just be still with God.  Dancing Prayer is when you allow God to take the lead and move you to pray. You let the Spirit lead, humbly acknowledging God’s wisdom in knowing what needs to be prayed for.  Meditative Prayer involves prayerful reflection on a biblical text or theme. The “stations of the cross” are the various events surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion and can be prayed through (Google it). Picture the truth of scripture at each development of the story and what you can learn. Allow the Spirit to lead. (Put slide up of the 14 stations.)  Prayer of the Heart focuses on the state of our heart as we enter God’s presence. Are we centering our adoration on God, or something else? Is our emotional state towards Him what it should be?

Slides 14-17 POTENTIAL PITFALLS: But, like any spiritual path, there are potential hazards for the contemplative. There are temptations even for those who like to sit in the presence of God.  Contemplatives can fall prey to thinking and acting as if the only way God can reveal His love is through one on one intimate encounters. He also chooses to reveal himself through others and things He has made. Just as you spend time doing things with your lover that they like and engage them in their interests, so you should engage God in his interests as Creator of man and nature.  Contemplatives should also be wary of meditation methods that call for an emptying of self or being absorbed into God. While we are called to put off self, we are also called to be filled with the Spirit.  Another temptation is forgetting virtue. As Thomas writes, “Just as marriage must pull two people beyond a crush to engage in a commitment built on self-sacrifice, so contemplatives must move beyond mere meditation to an alignment of our will with God’s will” (pg. 203).  Like the Enthusiast, the contemplative can become addicted to spiritual experience and exchange true worship of God for this lie.

CONCLUSION: It’s difficult to give a well-known, modern-day example of a contemplative since a true contemplative is not going to seek the spotlight. However, virtually every Christian is familiar with the biblical account of Mary, who sat and worshipped at Jesus’ feet, and who was commended by Jesus for doing so (Luke 10:38-42). If you love this story and feel a kindred spirit with Mary, you may be a contemplative.

Slide 18 The lives of contemplatives remind us of a startling fact: There is one thing that each individual Christian can do that nobody else can. There will always be evangelists, teachers, writers, and witnesses, but all a person has is him/herself to give to God. Our spouses, pastors, and coworkers can’t do this for us – only we can give God our personal love and affection.

EXERCISE IN CONTEMPLATION: Pass out handouts and explain as we go into Waiting Worship.

Do you like to just be in the presence of God? Do you give Him your undivided attention? Should you be doing it more? Take the quiz in the folder entitled “Are You a Contemplative” and below to discover if you are a contemplative! Let us know what you do to deepen your love with God. Try some of the methods above to worship the One who loves you passionately and come back next week to discover the Sacred Pathway of the Activist (Loving God through Meaningful Action w/ Cleta Crisman).

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