Why We Need SPAs - Spiritual Partnership Activities

It's time for a refresher post about why I write these SPAs every week.  My inspiration comes from Peter's words in 2 Peter 1:3-4.  He wrote:

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

The key phrase for these SPAs is "that you may participate in the divine nature."  We are invited to be partners with God so that he can share his divine nature with us.  Read that phrase again.  Seriously.  This is not a moral or ethical statement.  This is a spectacular invitation to actually have more and more of God's life flowing in and through our lives.  He desires to share more and more and more of his goodness, peace, love, joy, holiness and hope with us.

We accept this invitation by living what Dallas Willard referred to as the "with God" life.  Throughout Scripture God calls us to walk humbly with him on a daily basis. I write SPAs, Spiritual Partnership Activities, to provide simple opportunities to partner with God in the moments that make up daily life.  Christ died and was raised from the dead to bring us peace with God and enable us to enjoy  life with Him.  SPAs help us learn to live with a conscious awareness of God's presence as we trust the promises he has made of his presence with us, his power for us, and his love that is always working for our good.

In light of this, I have one small piece of advice for these activities.  Make sure you do these activities WITH God, not FOR God.  You are not trying to earn points with God, you are learning to enjoy life with him.  Be encouraged, God wants to do life with you!

Pray More to BE a blessing than you pray FOR a blessing

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”     

 Jeremiah 29:7  NIV

   We trust and serve a sovereign God.  In the Scripture above, God is reminding the people of Israel that while it appears that their enemy has carried them into exile, God is the one who has allowed their enemy to do it.  God had not neglected them or forgotten about them.  He was watching over them and working in them through every circumstance of their lives. They were in this foreign city on purpose.

What did God ask them to do in this city?  He commanded them to seek  peace and  prosperity for the city of their enemies.  He commanded them to pray for this city’s prosperity. God wanted them to believe that he could bless the city through their presence in it. 

This simple idea is applicable to us today.  We tend to focus more on praying FOR a blessing, but God wants us to focus more on praying to BE a blessing. 

   

How often do you pray that you are a blessing to your city? 

What can you do, with God’s help, to bring peace and prosperity to your city?  This week, pray each day for God’s blessing in your city and the surrounding area.  Pray that people see that this blessing is from God so that they discover his goodness and trust in him.  As you pray, also ask God to guide you to be a blessing to your city and region.  We need a faithful presence in which God’s blessing overflows our lives and flows to everyone around us.  

There Is No Progress Without Meditation

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.

                                                                Psalm 119:15  ESV

   If we want to experience more of God’s gift of new life in Christ, it is important to make meditation on God’s character and ways a foundational part of our everyday life.  The natural tendency for us is to worry, obsess over and be distracted by the problems and difficulties in our lives.  While it is important to deal with these things, worrying and obsessing accomplish nothing.  Meditation, however, puts us in a positive frame of mind that empowers us to creatively overcome our challenges.

   How do we meditate?  It’s not complicated.  Meditation is simply choosing to fill our mind with thoughts about God’s character and ways and how these apply to our lives.  Meditating on God’s power and wisdom gives us confidence to tackle our problems.  Meditating on God’s love gives us hope because we will remember that he will bring good out of our bad times.  Meditating on the new life God promises us in Christ keeps us from settling for a less than holy life.  Meditating on all the good God has given us fills us with gratitude and helps us become generous to others.

   This week, set aside a few minutes every morning to reflect on God’s character and ways.  You may want to start with some of the ideas above.  Fill your mind with all of the potential goodness you can experience in Christ and you will find yourself moving toward that goodness and experiencing it more and more.

Praying for God's Blessing on Our Enemies

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another.      Romans 12:14-16  NIV

   While few of us have the opportunity to influence peace on a global or scale, or even just for our own country, we do have a mostly overlooked way to spread peace in our own sphere of influence.  Peace is something that spreads through webs of relationships, so even small actions by a few individuals can have a rippling effect  that accomplishes more than we can imagine.

    What is this opportunity that we all have?  It’s the opportunity to pray for and bless our enemies.  When we use the grace God has given us to pray for those who have caused us pain and ask for God’s blessing on them, we revolutionize our attitude toward them and we begin a ripple of peace.  This week, make a short list of people who have brought difficulty into your life.  Commit to praying for God’s blessing on them every day this week.  Don’t ask God to make them treat you better, just simply trust God to work for good in their lives in the way that he knows is best.  You will be amazed at how this will change your attitude toward the people on your list and make you more compassionate toward others in your life as well.

Grieving with God

Answer me quickly, O Lord!  My spirit fails!  Hide not your face from me,

lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.     Psalm 143:7-8 NIV

  
 Psalm 143 is a great example of pouring out our pain to God while at the same time reaffirming our trust in him.  God is fully aware of our pain and we never need to be afraid of honestly speaking to him about it. In fact, spilling our guts to God can set us free from the hurts that hold us down and steal our energy.
 

   This week, take some time to air out your grief to God.  What is frustrating you?  Are you feeling a painful loss?  Are you angry about some circumstances?  Get alone and talk to God about it in detail.  If you have a journal, write out your pain to God.  Don’t just make a general statement such as “God, I hate what’s going on in my life right now.”  Tell him exactly what you hate and how it is draining you.  After you have poured out your heart to God, take some time to affirm your trust in him.  Remember that he is good and faithful and tell God that even though you don’t understand what’s going on, you still trust him.  If you feel comfortable, you may want to pour out your complaint to God in the presence of a friend.  Affirm your your trust in God to your friend and then have your friend pray for you.

The Importance of Honor

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.                                      Romans 12:10  ESV

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.                                             Romans 13:7  ESV

   Honor is publicly aknowledged value.  It is the foundation of strong and enduring communities, churches and schools.   Paul challenges us to outdo each other in publicly showing how we value each other.  People have value because they are made in God’s image.  Parents deserve to be valued by their children simply because they brought them into this world and give up so much to raise them.  Teachers and other leaders deserved to be valued because they help develop success in others.

   What can you do to show those around you they are valuable?  How can you outdo others in giving honor?

•        Come up with a creative way to show your spouse how they add value to your life.  Share this with them in front of your kids or some friends.  

•        Send a note or email to your child’s teacher thanking them for the value they add to your child’s life and send a note to the principal about the value syou shared with her.  

•        Thank your boss or a coworker in front of other employees for something he or she has done well for your company or organization.

•        Send an email to a school board member thanking them for the sacrifice of time they made to add value to your community.  Copy the rest of the members of the board on the email.  

•         Thank a police officer or first responder, for their part in making your community stronger.

This week, ask God to lead you to show three to five people that you are thankful for the value they bring to life.  Honor them with your appreciation and do it so others can hear it if  at all possible.

Building Up Others with God

 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.                                                   Ephesians 4:29  ESV

   With all of God’s commands, as we do good to others, we do good to ourselves.  In God’s beautiful wisdom, he has designed his creation so that when we bless others, we are blessed.  It doesn’t work like a vending machine.  We don’t deposit a coin of goodness and get to select what goodness is returned to us.  It works more like a garden.  When we plant seeds of kindness in others, kindness grows in our lives.  When we refresh others with generosity, we are refreshed by the generosity of God.

    The same principle works with our words.  When we speak words that spring from an unselfish motive to build up other people, we become stronger.  Since opportunities to build others are always available, opportunities to become stronger also abound.  You can test this principle, it will prove itself to be true.

    This week, make a list of five people that you can encourage and build up with your words during the week.  Ask God to give you words that will be very meaningful to the  people on your list and then look for the opportunity to speak your empowering words.  As you bless, you will be blessed!