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Written by Dallas Willard (1935-2013), an American philosopher known for his writings on Christian spiritual formation. This is an excerpt from his book “Renovation of the Heart.”

In renewing the language and reality of “spiritual formation” in our time and in opening afresh the way to the reality of it, the Spirit of God now calls his people to live from an adequate basis for character transformation, resulting in obedience to and abundance in Christ. This really is something different. The present moment is not an occasion to keep on doing the same things Christians have been doing in the recent past – except now “really meaning it.” It is time to change our focus, individually and in our Christian groupings. If we as Christ’s people genuinely enter Christ’s way of the heart, individuals will find a sure path toward becoming the persons they were meant to be: thoroughly good and godly persons, yet purged of arrogance, insensitivity, and self-sufficiency. Christian assemblies will become what they have been in many periods of the past and what the world desperately call for today: incomparable schools of life—life that is eternal in quality now, as well as unending in quantity.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [Colossians 3:16]

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Written by Frederich Nietzsche (1844-1900), a German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture.

The American lust for gold, and the breathless haste with which they work,…is already beginning to infect old Europe with its ferocity and is spreading a lack of spirituality like a blanket. Even now one is ashamed of resting and prolonged reflection almost gives people a bad conscience. One thinks with a watch in one’s hand, even as one eats one’s midday meal while reading the latest news of the stock market. One lives as if one might always “miss out on something”….Living in a constant chase after gain compels people to expend their spirit to the point of exhaustion in continual pretense and overreaching and anticipating others. Virtue has come to consist in doing something in less time than someone else.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. [Matthew 6:24]

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Written by Pamela Pyle, a contemporary physician, missionary, author and speaker.  This is an excerpt from her book “Anticipating Heaven.”

We all are living an earthly story with a beginning, middle, and end. While aspects of our story’s closing hold mystery, we do not have to feel lost as we move toward it. We instead can lean on the support and wisdom of others who know the path ahead… Clarity can replace chaos. Assurance can overcome uncertainty. And love can conquer fear. You are not alone on this path. You are leaving the land of the dying and entering the land of the living, a place God calls home. As one story is closing, a bright new one is beginning.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. [Hebrews 11:1]

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This prayer is from the Book of Common Prayer.

O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. [Isaiah 30:15]

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Written by Jefferson Bethke, a contemporary author. This is an excerpt from his book “Take Back Your Family.”

He [God]  wants to fill the earth with His presence. It’s in His nature — true love by nature creates. It is a cup that spills over… God creates and shapes and molds and spins into existence these beginnings. Of Heaven and earth. And He intentionally only creates a pocket of order, called Eden. Most of the earth at the time of the creation narrative was untamed. Unordered. Not fruitful or multiplying. And, of course, God could have made the entire earth to be so. But He didn’t. Instead, He created a problem and commissioned His human diplomats to continue the work…You have an entire section of the earth untamed and unordered. The problem is that it needs to be so. It is beginning to be brought into the symphony of created order and shalom, but it is not. Yet…His answer was so peculiar, especially given no precedent. Out of the very mind of God the answer was to create two particularly unique image-bearing humans. Divine reflections of Him, similar in image bearing, yet obviously not the same. And then He gave these image-bearers the capacity to multiply themselves and have kids. And in that generational multiplying, the mission remains the same: order, shalom, beauty, fruition. In essence, God’s answer to the first problem in our story was a family…When I say family, I simply mean a “relational home,” as my friend John Mark puts it. A network of committed covenantal relationships and a team that commits to one another and is interconnected through a web of long-standing relationships. It’s layered and complex and older and spans generations. And having that web specifically work together and populate and bring forth his blessing into the world was one of God’s original and ideal ways of being human. And this is good news because you can be a young single adult, you can be divorced, you can be old, you can be married, you can be whatever season you are in and you are a part of some multigenerational story — for good and bad. God wants to work through that and in that and in you.

God created humankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them. [Genesis 1:27]

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Written by Rich Villodas, a contemporary pastor and writer. This is an excerpt from his book “The Narrow Path.”

Jesus is never about adjusting behavior alone. He cares about who we are becoming, not just what we do. He rejects a spirituality that doesn’t transform our hearts. To adjust our behavior—even in positive directions—without interior examination will enslave us. Said differently, we can do all the right things but never examine why or how we should do them. I know what it’s like to help others not out of deep concern but to avoid their displeasure. I’m familiar with speaking truth not because I’m compelled by God to do so but because I’m afraid of being rejected by people I respect. I’ve been an expert at saying yes to all kinds of invitations not because I fell led by God but because I’ll be seen in a positive light. The broad path is content with believing the “right” things and doing the “right” stuff, assuming that’s all Jesus wants. But a deeper look into our motivations is necessary for cultivating life with God…Slowing down—looking within—is difficult. Jesus, however, calls us to search our own hearts..He doesn’t let us live on the surface. He calls us deeper. Behavior modification without interior examination eventually leads to spiritual desolation.   

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. [Proverbs 21:2]

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Written by Chris Webb, a contemporary priest, author, and speaker.  This is an excerpt from his book “God Soaked Life.”

Brother Lawrence spoke about the “practice of the presence of God” as an intentional activity, a habit we can learn and cultivate, rather than an inherent inclination or personality trait. It’s tempting to talk as though some people in this world are more “spiritual” and “reflective” while others are “practical” and “down to earth”; the business of tuning in to God’s presence then, becomes the preserve of the religious and introspective types. But it’s simply not true; in my experience it’s no easier or hard for any given person to develop attentiveness to the presence of God. Those who are most aware of God’s presence in their day-to-day lives are usually those who’ve troubled to train themselves in being aware.

 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God. [John 8:47]

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Written by Thomas Kelly (1893-1941), an American Quaker educator and author.

Have you ever seen a miracle?  I have. Have you ever seen the water of ordinary human nature changed into the wine of divine creative living?  I have. Have you ever seen men and women whose outer world was repellent, or tragic, or barren, or hopeless, yet who walked serene, triumphant, radiant, released, undismayed, living constructively, as iff they were already in Eternity and drew not their encouragement from time?  I have. We all have. Such persons have meat to eat that the world knows not of. Their secret life is not outside of them or around them, it is within them. In a rocky land, they hae a well of water springing up within them unto Eternal Life. Are you such a miracle of radiant eternity lived in the midst of time? Am I such a miracle? Are we people whose lives cannot be explained by our environment, but only by saying, The Eternal Life and Love are breaking through into time, at these points?

The Kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is! ‘ or ‘There it is! ‘ For, in fact, the Kingdom of God is among you. [Luke 17:21]

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Written by John Fisher (1469-1535), a bishop, educator, and martyr.

Most loving Father, you command me to love you with all my heart and soul, mind and strength. But I am sure that I do not do so. I know this by reflecting on how I loved others: I loved them to the point of rartely forgetting them. They were constantly present to my memory, my heart dwelt on them almost all the time, and their image ran through my head in their presence as well as in their absence. O loving Father, I regret to say that I do not act this way toward you. I do not keep you in my memory, nor do I have you present in my thoughts, nor is my heart sufficiently occupied with you. As soon as the merest trifle enters my head, I drop you and lose sight of you. As soon as the slightest whim enters my heart, I discard you and quickly forget you..So with all the fervor of my being I ask you to grant me your Holy Spirit who will deliver me from this weakness of mine. Your Holy Spirit will enable me to love you with all my heart and soul, mind and strength, for he is the origin of all true love. Amen.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. [Deuteronomy 6:5-7]

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Written by Jonathan Bailey, a contemporary author and co-founder of the Dwell Bible app.

Before any of Israel’s great stories of faith and formation were put on paper, they were spoken and heard in the form of narratives, parables, and sayings. Theirs was a listening life. We’ve lost that I think. Those moments where we hear God’s word read over us, where the words ring out in the sky or around the sanctuary or through the miniature speakers aimed at our eardrums. This listening life, a life committed to soaking in Scripture, is what we ought to recover.  The spiritual practice of Scripture listening is not just significant because our Christian ancestors did it, it’s significant because Scripture listening forms us in ways that Scripture reading can’t… When we read, our default tendency is to study, we want to pull the text apart and piece it back together, draw conclusions, make decisions, we put the text to work. We’re seeking comprehension… When we listen, we have to leave all that behind. We lose our ability to be precise, there’s no underlining, cross-referencing, consulting commentaries, starring, or highlighting. Listening is more leisurely. When we listen, our default tendency is to marinate. Instead of reading the words, we steep in them. When we listen we’re gaining apprehension. That means we’re laying hold of something, or better said, something is laying hold of us. We’re seized, captured, engaged, and engrossed. It’s similar to what happens to us when we listen to music. We get lost, we’re caught up in it. Scripture listening seeks to put our hearts in a position to simply soak in the Word. In essence, when we listen to Scripture, we’re not trying to get something out of it, we’re trying to get into it. To inhabit it, and ultimately to be inhabited by it.

Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. [Deuteronomy 6:4]

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