Writing As A Spiritual Practice

Thank you for stopping by, and Welcome! I'll be changing things up a bit, and maybe the format, so tell me what you like.

When I started back in '07, I had no idea what I was doing. All I knew was that I had to get some stuff out, because nobody else was saying it.

Maybe you too want to get out what's rattling around in that brain of yours. Maybe you want to have your say. You might see things nobody else is saying. Or maybe you want to say it better. Writing is a journey, every time you put words to the page.          

Writers struggle out loud. We air out, what's churning around inside of us. We set our words free, to see how they fly. Usually they fall apart and crash into the earth. But not always.

We spill out our deepest thoughts, especially if we can turn a good yarn.

We work through and formulate our thoughts, dreams and visions. It's never pretty, but it's real. "Our mess is our message." ~John Maxwell

We embrace living close to the edge, so we might help somebody else. Writing is like doing battle with words.

In fact, when it comes down to it, all writing is a spiritual practice. Most of us never even see it, but it's the place we all write from. Whether it's books or poems or songs or hymns or stories or copy, we 'bleed all over the page.'

Your words are vessels that hold your spirit, or lack of it, your genius or your empty words. So choose them carefully, and make every word count. They're filled with you.

Let's begin together. Let's begin intentionally, to learn the art of writing as a spiritual practice.

Be forewarned, it's a bloody messy business. And there's no telling where it will take you. It's a dangerous thing to take a pen in hand. But with it, you have a real shot at changing the world.

So wield your heart and soul and strength and sinew. You've got a story to tell.

Again, Thank You for stopping by. My hope is that you will start writing as a spiritual practice if you already haven't. Even if no one ever reads it, it makes a difference. Keep coming back.



Photo Credit: The Humble Scribe Urban Fairytales

3 Easy Steps To Meditative Reading

Break Free of The Trance

We're hardwired to scan. We're grabbing our information on the run. We gobble down our fast food, consuming our flashing screens, and then we're off, 'run rabbit run.' I dare you to stop. Download your self from the Wi-Fi.

First Thing                  

                                                                                     
First Thing: Print this post out. Now. Get a physical copy into your hands. There's several reasons for this. But just do it.

                                           Photo Credit: Dey

How To Read Meditatively

1. Clear Out The Noise: Get in your quiet spot. Don't have one? Make one. Get away from the distractions that will hijack your ability to focus. Now, take a few deep breaths, to clear your spirit. When you've worked this for a while, you immediately go to step 3. Life isn't linear progression. It's a relational one.

2. Face Your Conflict: If you're feeling inner conflict, realize that conflict is always about change. You've made peace with something that's trampled, or clogged up the springs of life in your heart. It's time to go against the false flow. It's time to clean out the wellsprings of life and get things running again. Especially if your inner flow is an adrenaline rush into a brick wall.

For most of us, we have to slay our dragons daily, before God can do the impossible in our hearts. Paul put it simply, 'I die daily, that I might live to Christ.' Our real conflict is surrender.

3. All Words Are Vessels: Empty words slowly empty the life out of us. While on the other hand, when Jesus says, "the words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life," that's what they are: brimming with spirit and life.

So, speak Jesus words to yourself. And read them, in the depths of your heart. 'Taste and see,' the spirit and the life. Let them engage and transform you...'from the inside out.'

There's a 'mutual dwelling' in meditative reading that's radically transformational.

Insight: There are 9 people tapping on their smart phones in a waiting room as I write this. You can learn to 'clear out the noise' anywhere and at any time with practice. Jesus lived life on the fly. Not in some quiet holy place. He was the holy place. You can be that too. The key: mutual dwelling. Now you're on the way.

                                         Photo Credit: Dev Latimer
                               

                     
Top Photo Credit: gwilmore

Breath: The Essence of Life

Let's look at breath.

How You Breathe Is Critical To Your Whole Life

As Westerners, we tend to breathe shallow and unconsciously. Heck, we never even consider how we're breathing.

Some of us know better.  As a runner, I ran 10 miles a day for several years. And as any runner will tell you, breath management is critical to how well you do. If you breathe unconsciously, you can expect to pass out.

Think of  the swimmer who doesn't manage or improve their breathing habits. They won't last long.

Your breath is critical to how well you live.

Why Breathing Is Spiritual

The Hebrew word for spirit is the same word for breath. Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Three deep breaths when you're tense, slowly releasing your breath is a universal way to calm down.

It's a fact, if you stop breathing, you're pronounced dead.

So our crazy notion that there can't be any science or spiritual discipline learned about breathing, is just being religious brain dead.

I'm a singer and I always struggle to develop my lungs to sing better. How about you?

Those morning walks are critical to our good health, and well being.

Our problem is that we are adrenaline junkies and caffeine is the Christian drug of choice.

My dad, as a pastor lived on caffeine and cigarettes, and died a premature death. And he was considered a spiritual giant.

How many pastors do you know, who down a Red Bull, or cup of joe before speaking? It effects our spirit and our message. It pushes the adrenaline, and pushes other people in our sphere of authority and influence.

We're so addicted to caffeine and sleep deprivation, we've retrained ourselves and we've totally forgotten how it feels to breathe and to think normally.

Breathing As Spiritual Practice

So we have to retrain ourselves to breathe deeply, slowly, consciously, pausing at the end of each breath.

Regardless what you think, the fact is: breathing and your spiritual life are inseparably tied together. At least in this life. Ever since God breathed 'the breath of life' into Adam. The evidence is all over the place, but frankly, we're unaware.

When I ask God for forgiveness, I consciously breathe out. I let all the junk out, and breathe in God's forgiveness. I breathe in his Spirit, his new life. That's a habit of prayer I formed many years ago. And quite frankly, it has sustained me through hard times more than anything else.

How do you think the breath prayer, or the cadence of the Black Preacher came about? What about monks praying daily? There's a breath cadence, a rhythm.

When I'm ready to be contemplative, awake and aware of God's presence, I shift. I start with my breath and my focus.

A side note here is that if you pray silently, the tendency is for head games, distraction, and 'run away thoughts.' Use your breath. Pray out loud, even at times with "groanings too deep for words." That 'private and personal' stuff has to go. You're a disciple of Jesus after all.

In Conclusion:

So when you're ready to focus and deepen your devotion to Jesus, to dive into your spiritual life, Remember, your breath and your spirit are linked together.

And for Jesus sake, realize that your breath and your brain functions are tied together too. So breathe deeply and slowly.

Let me put it in contemplative mumbo jumbo: Your breath arises with your spirit from the seat of your being. And that my friend, is where you commune with God.

You are a human being, not a human doing, first and foremost. Spend time just being present with God. 'Hang out'...just soak it all in. And let your religious preconceptions be burned up in the knowledge of knowing Him.

He knows you and He loves you. He's your Father. Your eternal and heavenly Father, who will never leave you nor forsake you. He wants to spend time with you.

Get to know Him.

Now, "may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you now and forevermore. Amen."


Photo Credit: Kevin Coner Keller

Is Jesus Jewish?

National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul Saving Assembly of the U.S.A. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yeshua Hamashiach or Jesus Christ?

It's so easy to forget that Jesus was, and is Jewish. That hasn't changed. We see him as Christian, even Catholic, Orthodox, Holiness, or Baptist. But Jesus doesn't fit well into our structures. In fact he'd blow our wineskins apart.

So the next time you see your "church" as sacred. Remember Jesus. He isn't Baptist or Catholic. He isn't even Messianic. And he sure isn't American. And his viewpoint isn't yours or mine. He is God.

So stop castigating Jesus into your paradigm, and enter into his. Jesus is Lord and his government is the Kingdom of Heaven. We are his Bride after all.

Love each other.

Post Note: I'm reading Jesus Uncensored: Restoring The Authentic Jew by Bernard Starr. Not sure that I'll recommend it yet. It reads like an agenda book, but it's got some killer points. For one it has a chronological list of all the atrocities committed against the Jews in Christ name by the church. Starr contributes to the Huffington Post. Ex: To Experience Jesus, Visit A Synagogue.
Having been Messanic for a season, I see a lot of stuff we as Gentile Christians totally miss. I loved Elizabeth lighting the candles, and doing Shavuot as a family. I'm grateful for Followers of Yeshua in Winston Salem.

Our Conversations and Leveraging Love

Image via CrunchBase

I was reading the Critic Stumbles by Seth Godin. He recently attended a Broadway play that got a standing ovation. In fact, it got the longest standing ovation Seth has ever seen. He says the play deserved every minute of it. Everyone seemed to love it, everyone except for one critic. The critic gave it a bad review.

So what sells? How do we engage people? Is it the press? The marketing? No, it's our conversations and our leveraging love. It's nothing fancy or high tech. It's the touch of love.

As followers of Jesus, we can be like that critic shouting at the world, and yes, there are platforms for that. But are we spewing out of our angst, yelling at the crowd, as opposed to reaching out to the crowd in love? There's a huge difference between talking at people and talking to them.

Jesus had a myriad of issues he could have addressed. The burning issue of the day was the Roman occupation. But Jesus addressed the heart. He cut through the flack. He reached out in love.

"Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." 

Follower of Jesus, follow Jesus's example. Have a conversation of the heart, especially on line. So when you address the issues of our day, Abortion, Sex Slavery, Global Warming, Homosexuality, Poverty or whatever you address, stop yelling at people, and check your heart. Jesus always, always, always went for the heart. And here's the kicker. If you're leveraging anything but love, you've missed it. Jesus says, "Come to me" and that's our message. 

Love one another. Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you... and yes, be the light of the world, be the salt of the earth in a way that the world can see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Leverage love.

Is Your Spiritual Hardware Up To Date?

Most of us want a non intrusive spirituality. We want a deep seated, a 'cultural spirituality' that runs in the background, without us ever having to think about it.

This 'hardware spirituality' however, needs daily updates to work properly. And that my friend, is what a devotional life is all about.

So pause, listen to the Spirit. Await expectantly in the silence of your heart.

Enter that quiet place in your soul.

Listen and get your update.

Are you stuck?

Maybe read a passage of Scripture.

Better yet, hide it in your heart. Memorize what awakens and gives you that "Aha."

Then, in those moments of silence, the Holy Spirit can bring back those "spirit-filled" words for you, to talk about, and meditate on.

Words are containers, like a cup that holds water.

We all know what 'empty words' mean.

Well, God's words fill, as he quickens them in us. They ignite, and ignite us. They awaken us. They empower us. They pour into our lives from their fullness, and flow like living waters through us to others. They refresh us with life.

They transform the hardware of our psyche. So that we can see, taste, and know things we could hardly ever have imagined.
 
On our own, we have limits. But with God in us, all things are possible.

So make sure your spiritual software is up to date. It's a love affair of the heart.

Photo Credit: bergius

You Don't Need A Script

We don't need a script to talk with God. In fact, nobody does.

English: Minnesota state photograph "Grace" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rote prayers can actually become another separation between us and God. Don't we have enough separation already? Aren't rote prayers just another act of religious busyness, rather than spiritual reality anyway?

I'm prodded by Nicky Gumbel when he says, "There's nothing you can do or not do, that will cause God to love you anymore than He does right now."

God's grace is freely given. It's never earned or deserved. So, I can't expect to court God's favor with eloquent words.

But on the other hand, I'm reminded by Jeff Goins that, "We become what we practice." Why? Because "We are what we repetitively do. Excellence, is not an act, but a habit," So says Aristotle.

So now I'm seeing a two edged sword here, one of grace, and one of works. It cuts both ways.

OK, now I've got grace, but I want to practice Jesus. And that sounds like walking on Mars...it's so 'out of touch' with reality, or is it?

Would you start with prayer, or fasting, or giving, or good works?

Things get complicated real quick. The complicated builds layers of separation, layer upon layer. They look like the real deal, but 'Where's the life, the joy, the peace?'

At this point, I'm hit with the words of my friend, Greg Richardson when he confesses, "Depth is beyond my powers of analysis, beyond my ability to control." 

Then the Scripture thunders in my heart: "Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All your waves and breakers have rolled over me."

And I'm undone. Untied, and at the end of myself.

How do I make it simple? How can I keep it real? My life can be such a train wreck.

Then it dawns on me. I've got to begin with my heart. And that takes time, and attention, and focus, and most of all, being present. It takes all of me.

I may be praying on one level, and yea, that disciplines me; but on a deeper level, I am entering in.

And I find myself in the presence of God again. And I'm amazed. "Oh, How He loves me..."

Practice of The Heart

"A cheerful heart is good medicine." Proverbs 17:22                         Be sure to take your medicine. 

Our practice begins in our heart, as a thirst for more...a magnificent obsession, a burning passion for more of God, in more of you, in more of me.

While our sin thirst like a dry husk, dying for more; our thirst for God is like diving into a pool of living water that flows through, then spills out of our lives. It is this thirst, that thrives in the celebration of God, in the dance of our lives. While sin abandons us in lack, sin isn't sustainable. Our dance with God, is like an artisan spring...giving, loving, eternal life.

Do we fail? Do we fall and totally blow it? Absolutely. We all fail. You and me. That's why we practice eternal life. We begin by turning our heart toward God...returning to the springs of life.

Jesus says: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give your rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11:28-29.

Photo Credit: Bob Holmes 

Celebration of Discipline Book Review

Your habits, for good or ill, will carry you much further than you ever intend to go. So, choose wisely young Jedi.

I was encouraged to read Celebration of Discipline by Richard J Foster. Doesn't that sound like a misnomer? Celebrating discipline? Ugh! It's the reason I didn't read it when it first came out.

We were in Judah, a Christian Community at the time. I was fasting two days a week, praying three hours a day, and let me tell you, it was no celebration.

Time's passed, things have changed, and as a friend of mine highly recommended it, I thought I'd give it a try.

Well, I am shocked. I feel like Simon Cowell hearing Susan Boyle sing for the first time. I didn't expect this.

If I'd had this book 'way back then', it would have saved me years of suffering and heartache. So, I'm telling you now. Get this book!

I'm amazed this isn't required reading for every Believer, in every Church, by every Pastor. It would cause a revolution, upending the whole Church as it were. Business as usual would go up in flames. Believers would move out of their comfort zones, into God, and God into them. Their whole lives would be transformed. When followers become leaders, it's a scary thing. It changes everything.

This book is a plow to fallow ground. It digs, it's uncomfortable, it's unsettling. It engages us. It soft peddles nothing.

So, if you're finally ready to turn around and face the truth, with the grace of God, go get...no, better yet, run and grab this spiritual plow. It will tear up your life. Good beyond your greatest hope. You'll be trading in the good God has for you for his best.

Richard Foster addresses 12 disciplines: 4 inner, 4 outer, and 4 common.

I envy you now as you apply this book to your life. It will plow up your fallow ground

* Discipline puts backbone in your soul.

* Our disciplines shape the cup of our lives, so that we can better hold the waters of life to pour into a thirsty soul.

* Your habits, for good or ill, will carry you much further than you ever intend to go. So, choose wisely young Jedi.

“If everybody in the country could read—and heed—this book, what a difference it would make to the planet.” Madeleine L'Engle

You can grab it here

Song of The Heart

                   Photo Credit: James Kirsop (Creative Commons)

"It's like I always said, If God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, everything else is rock and roll." ~ A London Cabie  Rock On!

Dusty old scholars in their halls of stone, rarely mention this critical discipline of the heart. The Psalms were written as songs.  So, when I hear the Psalms being read in stain glass tones, it makes me want to throw up. I'm a musician after all. If you hear nothing else I say, hear this:  Songless souls have no joy. Sing for joy.

David drove out demons with song.* Jehoshaphat defeated armies with praise and song.** But it wasn't the music. It was the song of their souls singing in tune with the Spirit of God to harmonize in heaven and shake the earth.

Scripture makes it crystal clear:

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make melody in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 5:19-20

We are all but assaulted with the constant noise of songs, so that we can hardly hear the song of our heart. And there's no song like our own heart singing. To find your voice, and to sing your song, is at the heart of this practice. To mount up with wings as eagles, is like singing your song on the winds of the spirit.

Our Song Is A Heart Practice

I was in worship one evening, singing beside a guy who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. Worse, he was singing at the top of his lungs. Frustrated, I was trying to harmonize and losing the key. I was singing in God's presence, but my agony was about to bust out of me. Then I heard a soft voice, "Bob, do you hear how he sounds to me? Such beautiful worship."
I was mortified, when I realized that God listens to our heart. It changed me for ever.

Later, I sang for a time with two guys, one tone deft and the other flat. I smiled and laughed because it didn't matter any more. Their heart was worshiping and that's all that mattered. The miracle was that both learned how to control their voices, and one recorded three albums and toured.

The point is this: God sees our heart. It doesn't matter what we sound like. Why? Because God listens to the depths of our heart. And again, because our music is an art where we create with God in sound and timeless space. It's our song and there's no comparison. It's ours.

Overview

Worship is at the heart of song. And as we become what we worship, our life becomes a worship of God. Our life becomes an anthem, a hymn, a song of praise, of thanksgiving to our God. The fragrance of our lives, rises before God in worship and praise. Our songs in the silence of our being, becomes the anthem of our lives, rising out of our being to touch our lips. We charge the atmosphere as our heart sings.

And as our songs become the anthem of our lives, our life becomes the stage of God's presence. 

We may be washing dishes with Brother Lawrence, governing with Joseph, or tending the dying with Mother Teresa, but we charge the atmosphere around us with God. The humble part is that we rarely, if ever know it. We're too wrapped up in the wonder of God. We leave it to others to see and feel it. We're just grateful.

Music is a powerful weapon in our heart's practice. It sweeps us into the presence of God through worship, and changes the very tone and atmosphere of our lives. Remember, David would sing and demons would flee..."a man after God's on heart."

This Generation

The huge outpouring of songs in this generation is awesome. With them we are tearing down the walls of separation between us. By them we are raising the valley's, lowering the mountains and clearing out the highway to reveal our God. It's the prophetic song without the woo woo.

So, What is the song of your heart? Can't you see young David, sitting out there in the field, creating his Psalms, pouring out his heart to God in song? So, make it your song, not the stain glass songs of ancient yore, unless that's your bag. We all pull from all our resources and styles, moving into the Spirit to create, tone and refine, usually 7 or more times.

God's genius is encoded in the simplicity of a vast complexity of sound. Which means, we sing with the Spirit, and simpler is better.

Peace+

~*~*~*~

For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24

*Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him. 1Sam. 16:23

 **As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 2Chronicles 20:22 (It's in a awesome context 2Ch 20:1-30)

Well, my brothers and sisters, let's summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you. 1Cor. 14:26