COMMISSIONED FOR THE JOURNEY: CROSS AND TRANSFIGURATION

 

  • Read Luke 9: 21-10:56.
  • At each juncture journal at least a word, regarding what you sense God speaking to you.

 

  • Peter, James, and John exhibit twin temptation in the presence of God:  falling asleep, and being useful (even when they don’t know what they are talking about!)
  • How and where do you find yourself slipping into either, or both, of those temptations?

 

  • The corrective to both those temptations seems to be the voice from heaven:  “This is my beloved Son…listen to Him”
  • What has been your experience of trying to listen more deeply to the voice of Jesus?
  • what have been the frustrations?
  • what have been the experiences of deeper communion?
  • As you become more ‘awake’ and attentive to God’s presence all around you, how have you felt Jesus speaking to you through your neighbors and context?
  • When faced by the needs around you, and perhaps the perceived pressure to perform:
  • What activity do you tend to engage in?  Or perhaps feel guilty that you are NOT engaging in?
  • Hold that before God in silence, and listen.

 

  • The disciples are unable to grasp the Calvary road upon which Jesus is leading them.  They fall into comparison and judgment.
  • How have you been tempted to compare yourself to other people?  (Whether you find yourself lacking, or see yourself as better)
  • How have you been tempted to compare InnerChange, your team, your Church, or other group, to other ministries?
  • How do you feel about the apparent success of those who are ‘not with us’?
  • Where do you notice indifference, annoyance, impatience, anger, or even violent thoughts toward members of another race, ethnicity, belief (or lack thereof)?
  • Take those feelings with open hands into God’s presence, and allow God to speak to you in the silence.

 

  • Peter, James, and John come down from their mountaintop experience, and encounter the others facing off against an evil spirit they cannot cast out.
  • How have you experienced the roller coaster ride between sweet communion (and perhaps apparent success), to failure, and powerlessness against forces out of your control, and evil itself?
  • The night before he was martyred, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the crowd in Memphis that was gathered to support the cause of the sanitation workers.  It would be his last speech, and eerily it seemed that he knew it.  Here are the final words of that speech:
  • “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.   And I don’t mind.  Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!  And so I’m happy, tonight.  I’m not worried about anything.  I’m not fearing any man!  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!”
  • Take a few minutes in prayer to go back in your mind to those personal times of sweet communion at the mountaintop.
  • As you sit in God’s presence, allow God to use those sweet memories as a sneak preview of the promised land.  Listen to Him.

Journal for a few minutes any connecting thoughts or words you sense from God.  Come back and share with each other what you have heard.

CLARITY OF MISSION

  • Read Luke 4:14-21
  • In InnerChange, while we are relatively clear about our commitments and currents and crosses, our specific Mission on the ground can often become cloudy, especially as we are finding our way at the beginning of the journey.  We often wonder just how we might find the clarity for which we long.

 

  • Returning in the power of the Holy Spirit, we see how clear Jesus is at the outset of his public ministry, grasping his Mission as a manifestation of the passage he reads from Isaiah 61.
  • With the Spirit of the Lord upon him, what are the major elements of Jesus’ Mission, as described in this passage?
  • As you read those, how do you see them resonating in your own context?  How do they fit with what you sense is (as best as you are able) the specific Mission God is calling you and your team to?  Where do they not seem to fit?  Where do they stretch you and the vision God has given you and your community?
  • What other passage(s) of scripture have been a clear and defining call in your life and/or that of your team?

 

  • The Temptations.  Read Luke 4:1-13
  • Why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil?  A 40 day Retreat?
  • Consider this complementary passage from James 1:2-5
  • “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

 

  • What are the three temptations?
  • How have you seen these three temptations manifest in your life and ministry?
  • How do they manifest corporately in your community and nation?

 

  • What is the repeated focus of satan in each of the temptations?
  • How have you found your identity in God to be attacked or questioned?
  • By those close to you?
  • By your own inner voices and self-doubt?
  • By narratives and people in your context?

 

  • Jesus’ Baptism:  Submerged in Grace and Love.  Read Luke 3:21-22
  • In the Baptism of Jesus, two things happen:
  • The Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus
  • A voice is heard from heaven:  “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”
  • Take 10 minutes in the presence of God to sit with that voice, and hear it personally for you:
  • “You are my daughter, you are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”.
  • What feelings come to the fore?  Is there resistance?  If so, offer it with honest, open hands before God.
  • How does it feel to be totally loved and embraced by the God who knows everything about you, and  LOVES YOU, and is WELL PLEASED WITH YOU?
  • Bask in that BEDROCK TRUTH.

 

  • Tattoos and the False Self
  • What are your own ‘tattoos’?  Those things to which you look for identity, acceptance, and love that are NOT rooted solely in the pure truth of God’s unmerited love for you, acceptance of you, and pleasure with you, just as you are?
  • As those come to mind, recognize that they are manifestations of what Thomas Merton calls ‘the False Self’.  Left alone, they lead to death.
  • Offer them to God in silence for a few minutes.
  • Return in your Spirit to the voice of God, rooted in your True Self:  “You are my daughter, you are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased”.  Dwell for a few more minutes in that BEDROCK TRUTH.

 

  • Give praise to the God who loves you unconditionally, who calls you, who sustains you in trial and temptation, who forgives you, and who leads you toward Transfiguration and Life to the full!