WEEK 6: MONDAY OCTOBER 19
SILENCE, STILLNESS, AND CENTERING BEFORE GOD:
As you begin to spend time with God, settle yourself somewhere quiet and comfortable. Take a few deep breaths. Spend a few minutes in silence, becoming aware of God’s presence with you and in you.
READ:
Let your mind settle. Silently read the Scripture for this week: Mark 7.
ASK:
Read the Scripture again, this time aloud. Listen for a word, phrase, or section that grabs your attention. Write down any questions about the passage that you have. When you finish, close your eyes. Recall the word or phrase, taking it in and mulling it over. Write down what comes to mind.
REFLECT:
Jesus scolded the Pharisees for placing human tradition above God’s commands and His vision for human life and flourishing. The Pharisees missed the point of God’s commands, which was to love God and love people. Reflect on possible ways—in your local church, at Northwest, and/or in your own life—we place our focus, unintentionally or intentionally, on our human traditions above God’s commands and vision for life? Ask the Holy Spirit to bring clarity and light.
Jesus declared, “What comes out of person (from their heart) is what defiles them.” What point or truth is Jesus trying to illuminate to the Pharisees and his disciples in this story? How does the Gospel of Jesus address the problem of a defiled heart?
Jesus, when healing a deaf and mute man, placed his fingers in the man’s ear and touched his tongue. Why do you think Jesus touches him? What can we learn from Jesus here?
PRAY:
Read the Scripture one last time, then stop and listen for who Jesus is inviting you to become or what He is inviting you to do this week. Write down what comes to mind.
Talk with Jesus about it.
PRACTICE:
For our discipline this week as a community, we will be practicing Intercessory Prayer. The heart of intercessory prayer is to turn our concerns and worries into prayers; to enter God’s heart for the world and then pray from there. Intercessory prayer invites us into God’s care and concern for us, for those around us, and for our world. Intercession is not a means of manipulating heaven into doing our will, rather, it is a way we become aware of God’s prayer for a person and join in that intercession. Ephesians 6:18 writes “In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out”. Intercessory prayer helps us to see the world and the people in it from God’s heart and perspective. This prayer discipline is a lifestyle.
Here is a practical way to strengthen this discipline. Let’s do it now:
Take a second to acknowledge God’s presence with you, and ask Him to reveal to you what He is already doing. Ask God to show you if there is anything you need to surrender in order to better join him in your concern.
Sit there for a moment and wait for a person’s name or group of people to come to your mind. (could be someone you know/don’t know, someone you have been hurt by/bitter towards, a close friend, etc.)
As a person/group comes to mind, offer them up to the Lord. Ask God “what is your prayer for this person/group?”
He may answer you with a certain emotion that the person may be feeling, an image, a word, or a scripture.
After he reveals this to you, begin to pray for them. Don’t rush through this time of prayer.
To finish, thank God for what He is already doing and that we can put out trust in him.
To continue with this discipline, create a prayer journal or a list of requests that you can continue to pray over.