Category: Lent 2014 – Heart to Heart / Making All Things New

Reading:  Making All Things New Chapter II: “His Kingdom First”

It has been an incredible journey together so far!  In our first week we got honest about the current state of our hearts, expressing worry, fear, depression, loneliness etc.  Last week we took some time to consciously create an opportunity for our heart to speak to the heart of Jesus – to be honest with Him, and to open our hearts to receiving the great love He has for us.

This week Henri invites us to make a shift in our focus.  When we are caught in our worries or fears, it is often because we are focusing on all the negative possibilities or outcomes.  Henri reminds us to put our focus on the Kingdom of God.  Jesus came to establish the Kingdom of God here on earth, and he did so through listening intently to the Father, and acting only in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Our lives are similarly meant to establish the Kingdom of God here on earth, and we do so in the same way.

1)  It is very important that we start off by establishing that “the radical transformation of our lives is the work of the Holy Spirit” (p53).  When we live the spiritual life “successfully” in our own strength then we get the glory.  When we let the Holy Spirit do the transformational work, He gets the glory.  What is required of us is the full “yes.”
INVITATION:  Set aside 7 quiet minutes to listen to the song “I Belong to You” and give the Holy Spirit your “yes.”  Click on the words “I Belong to You” and the song will open in YouTube.

2) Henri reminds us that our “yes” involves actively shifting our focus to the Kingdom of God.  Again, transformation comes through the power of the Holy Spirit (and often is a journey), but we have a role in giving Him the opportunity to do His work in us, in part by choosing where we put our focus.
INVITATION:  Consider a difficult/worrisome situation that is on your heart, you have the opportunity to focus on one or more of the following …  
a) How might the Kingdom of God be furthered through this experience/situation?
b) What opportunity for good, or what possibility does it/could it/did it create?
c) I am totally and completely loved by my Father in Heaven (see scripture verses from last week), how can I respond to this situation out of that unshakeable love?
d) Why is my heart worried about this?  What is it really hoping for / asking me for?  Is that desire in line with seeking first the Kingdom of God?

3) As a form of encouragement to others, and to make these reflections real and understandable, please share an example of someone who lived a very difficult circumstance in life, but kept their focus on “His Kingdom First” and thereby allow God to use the circumstance for profound good (you could think of a historical figure, someone you heard about or someone you know (including yourself!).

As always, feel free to share what came up for you in the reading this week.  There is a lot to reflect on, and I look forward to hearing from each of you.

 

Reading:  Heart Speaks to Heart, Chapter 1: “Come to me…”

Last week was an honest exploration and expression of where we are at.  We expressed worries, guilt, depression, emotional and physical pain, fears that keep us busy and busyness that we just don’t know how to calm, or whether or not we should try.  Jesus is not afraid of, or overwhelmed by, any of these things.  Rather, He invites us to bring it all before Him (Matthew 11:28-30).  In Heart Speaks to Heart, Henri guides us to speak from our heart to the heart of Jesus.

1) Henri recognizes the immense and divine love through which the Father sees us, and which Jesus came to show us.  Yet he also struggles to accept it deeply.  “It is so hard for me to believe fully in the love that flows from your heart.  I am so insecure, so fearful, so doubtful and so distrustful.  While I say with my words that I believe in your full and unconditional love, I continue to look for affection, support, acceptance and praise among my fellow human beings, always expecting from them what only you can give” (p21).
a) First of all, and this is important, I ask you to search out and share scripture verses that share the truth of God’s great love for us.
b) In your quiet time, or on your commute to work, or while you are making dinner, take these verses before Jesus and, like Henri, be totally honest about your doubts, questions, and fears.  Just put them right out there before Jesus, from your heart to His.

2) “O Lord, all you ask of me is a simple “yes,” a simple act of trust, so that your choices for me can bear fruit in my life.  I do not want you to pass me by.  I do not want to be so busy with my way of living, my plans and projects, my relatives, friends and acquaintances, that I do not even notice that you are with me, closer to me than anyone else.  I do not want to be blind to the loving gestures that come from your hands, nor deaf to the caring words that come from your mouth” (p26).
a) If Henri’s words here express your heart’s desire, then express the simple “yes” to Jesus in your own way.
You may choose to ask Jesus…
b) For help and awareness.
c) To set your heart on fire with love for Him and a desire to be in His presence.
d) For strength and endurance in your pursuit of Him.
e) To allow your life to be fruitful for Him.

3) “Help me to close the many doors and windows of my heart through which I flee from you or through which I give entry to the words and sounds coming not from you, but from a raging, screaming world that wants to pull me away from you” (p27).
a) For those who are visual this may be a helpful visualization.  When you are spending time in God’s presence, but distractions come your way in the form of worries, negative thoughts about your worth, “to do” items etc, you can imagine yourself, very gently, closing that window, or door, and thereby leaving the thought muted on the other side.  Then return your attention to Jesus/ the scripture you were pondering.
b) For me I find it very helpful to quickly jot the thought/worry down on paper, and promise to attend to it at a specific time, and actually return to it at the promised time.  Of course, if you want to bring the thought, worry, or “to do” item before Jesus, that is fine too.

4) “O Lord, you kneel before me; you hold my naked feet in your hands, and you look up at me and smile.  Within me I feel the protest arising, ‘No, Lord, you shall never wash my feet.’ It is as if I were resisting the love you offer me.  I want to say, ‘You don’t really know me, my dark feelings, my pride, my lust, my greed… No, I am not good enough to belong to you… But you look at me with utter tenderness…” (p28).
INVITATION:  Set aside a few minutes, and allow this experience to be yours.  As you read Henri’s description, sense Jesus before you.  He is holding your naked feet, ready to wash them with clean, warm water.  What protest rises up in you?  Tell Him.  And then listen to how He responds.

In reality each of these four “questions” are invitations.  Our goal this week is to create a conscious opportunity for your heart to speak to the heart of Jesus.  Looking forward to hearing from each of you!

Reading:  Making All Things New, Chapter I:  “All These Other Things”

Welcome to our first full week of the discussion.  We begin with a challenging, but crucially important chapter.  Henri asks us to go deep into ourselves and bring an awareness to our current experience of life.  If we are not happy with the actual state of our lives, Henri asks us to challenge the assumption that we have to just accept things as they are (p22).

1) “Our first task is to … look critically at how we are living our lives.  This requires honesty, courage, and trust.  We must honestly unmask and courageously confront our many self-deceptive games” (p22). 
a) Consider carefully the ways you think, speak, feel and act in your day to day life.  How might some of these expression, both the negative and the positive, actually be a subtle expression of hunger for the Spirit of God?
b) Have some of your ways of thinking, speaking, feeling and acting held you back from living the full life in the Spirit that Jesus came to give you?  Are you ready to question/challenge these limiting beliefs, expressions, feelings and actions?
c) Take some time to consider if you are ready for change.  Ready to seek and discover the joy, peace and abundance that are yours in Christ Jesus, yours even amidst the “pains and joys of the here and now” (p21).
d) Do you believe change is possible for you?

2) Henri uses two words to describe the experiences many people have in their day to day life.  The first one is being “filled” – and this can mean being busy and or being preoccupied (worried).  The second one is being “unfulfilled” – a sense of boredom, resentment, and depression.  
a) How does being “filled” (busy and/or preoccupied) serve you?  What benefit do you get from it?  How does being “filled” keep things safe?
b) How can being “filled” be a limiting factor for your spiritual life?
c) How can a life/mind that is filled in either of these two ways lead to a heart/spirit that is unfulfilled and lonely?

3) The good news is that “Jesus responds to this condition of being filled yet unfulfilled… He wants to bring us to the place where we belong.  But his call to live the spiritual life can only be heard when we are willing honestly to confess our homeless and worrying existence and recognize its fragmenting effect on our daily life.  Only then can a desire for our true home develop” (p37, italics added).
INVITATION:  Give some dedicated time this week to allow a desire for your true home to develop.  Take 30 minutes each day and bring these questions, along with all of your own, before Jesus.  Ask him to help you see the honest answers, to give you the courage to acknowledge your current reality, and the trust that he has something much better in store for you.  Share your experience with us, if you choose.

As I wrap up I want to share, for those who don’t already know, that Henri truly understood the struggle to put worry in its place.  At times it was a powerful force in his life.  But he didn’t accept that as the inevitable.  You too, no matter how powerful the force of worry currently is in your life, can make a choice for something different.

Finally, please, as always, feel free to share whatever comes up for you in the readings.  These questions are meant to guide us and get the discussion flowing, but we are not bound to them.