Author: Mary Margaret Funk Publisher: Liturgical Press ISBN: 0814634699 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 257
Book Description
After fifty years of monastic life, prayer, and spiritual direction, Meg Funk knows what it means to listen with the ear of one's heart to the Holy Spirit. InDiscernment Matters, she shares what she has learned. This book is a resource for those who want to learn and practice discernment as taught by the early monastic tradition. It includes an accessible summary of teachings about discernment from monastic traditions of late antiquity, consideration of important tools for making decisions today, and practical examples from the lives of St. Benedict and St. Patrick, as well as from the experience of monastics today. With this fifth volume of the Matters Series, Funk completes one of the most comprehensive presentations of the spiritual life available today, demonstrating why this inner work is both necessary and such a joy. Mary Margaret Funk is a Benedictine nun of Our Lady of Grace Monastery, Beech Grove, Indiana. From 1994 through 2004, she served as executive director of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, which fosters dialogue among monastics of the world's religions. In addition to the volumes of the Matters Series, she is the author of Islam Is... An Experience of Dialogue and Devotion and Into the Depths: A Journey of Loss and Vocation.
Author: Watchman Nee Publisher: Christian Fellowship Publishers ISBN: 0935008918 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 95
Book Description
Listen to the prayer of the apostle Paul for his beloved church in Philippi: “this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; so that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ” (Phil. 1.9-10). What was it that inspired him to offer such a prayer for the dear saints in Philippi? Do we today desperately need the same prayer? We talk about love and fellowship, and yet we encounter many problems and failures. What is the missing link to a glorious church? Can it be the lack of “full knowledge and all perception that ye may prove [or, distinguish] the things that differ” (literal translation)? Certainly spiritual discernment is the pressing need of today. How can we obtain this full knowledge of God? Where do we get spiritual discernment that we may know the things which differ or are more excellent? These are the matters which brother Watchman Nee tried to address during his latter years of ministry. This present volume, entitled Spiritual Discernment is composed of three parts: Abound in Knowledge, Abound in Discernment, and Approve the Excellent. The Publishers were able to acquire these Notes in Chinese recently, and they have now been translated into English for sharing with the English-speaking saints. May these Notes help many in meeting the pressing need of today.
Author: Tim Challies Publisher: Crossway ISBN: 1433520524 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 208
Book Description
Spiritual discernment is good for more than just making monumental decisions according to God's will. It is an essential, day-to-day activity that allows thoughtful Christians to separate the truth of God from error and to distinguish right from wrong in all kinds of settings and situations. It is also a skill-something that any person can develop and improve, especially with the guidance in this book. Written by a leading evangelical blogger, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment is an uplifting, scripturally grounded work that explains the need for discernment, its challenges, and the steps that will cultivate it. Author Tim Challies does not do the discerning for readers; he simply shows them how to practically apply scriptural tools, principles, and wisdom so that their conclusions about everything-people, teachings, decisions, media, and organizations-will be consistent with God's Word.
Author: Ruth Haley Barton Publisher: InterVarsity Press ISBN: 0830869786 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 257
Book Description
Church boards and other Christian leadership teams have long relied on models adapted from the business world. Ruth Haley Barton, president of the Transforming Center, helps teams transition to a much more fitting model—the spiritual community that practices discernment together.
Author: Stephen V. Doughty Publisher: Companions in Christ: A Small ISBN: 9780835899581 Category : Discernment (Christian theology) Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
There is an increasing sense of uncertainty in the world. The Way of Discernment offers participants a way to discover God's will in their lives both as individuals and as a community of God. Whether experienced as a simple desire to follow God's way, a deep longing, or a satisfaction when we find a fulfilling path, discernment beckons believers. This 10-week study focuses on the ancient spiritual discipline of discernment for the individual, congregations, or larger bodies of the church. It follows the familiar Companions in Christ format of a weekly reading, daily exercises, and a weekly 2-hour small-group meeting. More of a journey in discernment than a how-to guide, this study for groups gently leads to the prayerful path of a richer, wiser life both for individuals and the larger church. Also available is a Leader's Guide with clear suggestions for the structure of meetings, leadership suggestions, and specific entering and guided prayers.
Author: Danny E. Morris Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 156699506X Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 158
Book Description
Bible study, research, and fieldwork merge in this book of practical principles for decision making by spiritual discernment. The step-by-step approach can be used to help any size group learn a new way to make decisions--a way that is interactive, spiritual, and rooted in faith practices and community. Small groups, committees, church boards, church leaders at all levels, and seminary professors will find this book valuable. This is a revised and updated version of the book, originally published in 1997. This new version inclused revised and updated material, as well as a new introduction by Charles Olsen.
Author: Segundo Galilea Publisher: ICS Publications ISBN: 093521657X Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 82
Book Description
The author describes the nature of Christian spiritual discernment, drawing on the teachings of the Spanish saints and mystics: Ignatius of Loyola, John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. He then applies their insights in a series of brief chapters on the major temptations in the two principal areas of our Christian life: ministry and prayer. In wise and practical terms, he discusses activism, entrenchment, pastoral envy, discouragement in prayer, misuse of prayer methods, and many similar problems, showing us throughout how to distinguish good spirits from evil. He closes with a short reflection on the connection between Christian self-renunciation and our natural desire for happiness. For both individuals and groups, this book offers indispensible guidance for a review of life and authentic spiritual discernment.
Author: Stephen Macchia Publisher: Zondervan ISBN: 0310127912 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 318
Book Description
Spiritual discernment is a key theme in the Scriptures. From the Garden when Adam and Eve turned away from the simplest terms of a relationship with God, to the Garden when John the Apostle wrote the book of Revelation to a distracted people anticipating eternity, discerning God has been the heart of the matter. In modern times, however, we have forgotten the basic premise of practicing a preference for God, out of which we then are invited to live for God. Instead, we have implanted strategic planning, head-to-head battling, and will-of-God knowing in its place. In The Discerning Life, Stephen A. Macchia seeks to upend the one-eyed and limited Christian understandings of spiritual discernment and invite readers and leaders to reconsider how they prioritize the care of their souls, the grace of their communities, and the mission of their lives, churches, and organizations. When we have a fuller understanding of how spiritual discernment matters to the whole of our lives, we will in turn encourage others to follow likewise and then lean fully into the mission, mandate, and message of the whole counsel of God.
Author: Henri J. M. Nouwen Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN: 0062098632 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 174
Book Description
Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life features the wisdom that spiritual leader and counselor Henri J. M. Nouwen brought to the essential question asked by every Christian and seeker: What should I do with my life? Nouwen emphasizes listening to the Word of God—in our hearts, in the Bible, in the community of faith, and in the voice of the poor as a way to discern God’s plan. Although the late Henri J. M. Nouwen counseled many people during his lifetime, his principles of discernment were never collected into a single volume. Now, in association with the Nouwen Legacy Trust, Michael Christensen—one of Nouwen’s longtime students—and Rebecca Laird have taken his coursework, journals, and unpublished writings to create this and other books in the series exploring God’s will for your life.
Author: Elizabeth Liebert Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp ISBN: 1611646014 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 200
Book Description
The Soul of Discernment provides concrete steps for groups of people who work together and need to make important decisions: church sessions, nonprofit hiring committees, etc. Liebert calls this process the Social Discernment Cycle, a process for seeking God's call in a particular situation. “It is called ‘social' because it deals primarily with human communities in their social-structural, rather than interpersonal aspects,†Liebert explains. “It is a cycle because one completed round of discernment prepares for the next. The Social Discernment Cycle is particularly apt for any discernment that involves a structure, system, or institution.†This book helps groups work through this cycle to answer the question, “How is God leading us, individually or together, to act in this particular moment in our organization?â€
Author: Mary Margaret Funk
Author: Watchman Nee
Author: Tim Challies
Author: Ruth Haley Barton
Author: Stephen V. Doughty
Author: Danny E. Morris
Author: Segundo Galilea
Author: Stephen Macchia
Author: Henri J. M. Nouwen
Author: Elizabeth Liebert