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Praying Psalm 23

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Fear Not

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About the Series Leader
William Gaultiere, Ph. D., is the Director of Spiritual Formation Ministries at the Crystal Cathedral. Learn more about Bill and his ministry at his
"Christian Soul Care Blog."

Wednesday Nights

Welcome to "Come & Grow" Wednesday Nights! We invite you to come join us at the Crystal Cathedral to grow closer to Jesus. Here are the most recent notes from the current Wednesday night series:

Fear Not
Led by Bill Gaultiere
& the Spiritual Formation Ministries Team
Crystal Cathedral, Family Life Center 470
Wednesday, 7 to 9 pm

WEEK 4: Fear Not: Submit to the King
November 18, 2009

Review
Last week we learned about basing our identity on being the disciple Jesus loves. The Apostle John lived this way. His Gospel and Epistles show this. What an example for us! Say to the person next to you: "You are the disciple Jesus loves!"

We said that if in the stresses of our lives we go into them "prayed up" and focused on being with Jesus to become like him that his peace will guard our hearts.

I shared part of my story with you and how after I got my Ph.D. in Psychology most of my income came from being a security guard! I was the "Doctor of Security!" The Lord humbled me and taught me to find meaning and joy in my relationship with him and not my job.

Often it is through disappointments and hardships and injustices that God teaches us that he alone is our Rock – our source of stability and security.

We talked about how Jesus asks us, "What do you want me to do for you?" And we admitted that we tend to answer that question with the blessings we want him to give us. And we are prone to lose sight of the "One Thing" in life: the opportunity to be the disciple (or student) that Jesus loves.

If we will choose to learn how to orient our whole person and life around being an apprentice of Jesus we will find that many of our problems dissipate.

Memorizing the Luke 12:22-34 passage and meditating on it is a great help to orient us toward living in the kingdom of God as an apprentice to Jesus Christ.

We also shared in a meditation, "Come Close to Christ."

Come Close to Christ (From Psalm 148:14, John 13:23, Revelation 3:20)

Come Close to Christ
Supper with the Savior
See his smile
Lean on the Lord
Hear his heartbeat
Delight to be his disciple

Check In
About one year ago Debbie Lipps went through a frightening situation: she was in a bank when it was robbed! While the bank robber was wielding his gun and making threats she drew on the Scripture meditations and prayers that she'd been practicing in the spiritual formation small group she was part of at the time.

Probably you haven't been through a bank robbery this week! But I'm sure you've had other challenges.

How has the last week gone for you in your relationship with Jesus? Have you done any "spiritual experiments" in prayer, Scripture memory or meditation?

What is Christ doing in your life? How are you growing in your apprenticeship to Jesus? Or what are you struggling with? Or maybe you have a question? Please share briefly – it will be a blessing to others here.

"Fear Not: Submit to the King"
The Man in the Airport who Wanted to be King. When Kristi and I and her dad were at the airport waiting to get on a plane to New Mexico for the conference I helped to lead we had an interesting experience.

I was sitting in a chair. Maybe it won't surprise you to hear that I was meditating on a Psalm! (I actually do the things that I suggest as being helpful for you!)

I hadn't noticed, but there was a mechanical dog making a lot of noise in one of those airport shops that was just behind our seats. This mechanical dog was beside three huge stacks of dogs in boxes. I suppose they were Christmas presents waiting to be bought for little boys and girls who would find delight in them.

Well, there was a man sitting across from me. He was looking right at these dogs. This noisy mechanical dog was really bothering him.

The dog would go, "Bark! Bark! Bark!" And then it would roll over onto its back, stick its tongue out, and squeal playfully, "Ah! Mmm-mmm! Ah! Mmm-mmm!" Over and over it made these noises.

I was so deep in meditation and so relaxed that I honestly didn't even notice this dog or this scene until what I'm about to describe to you. (I think Kristi and my kids understand this! I do this not just when I'm meditating, but when I'm reading or working on the computer I concentrate and zero in and lose touch with my environment.)

Well this man was trying to do some work on his lap top and he got really irritated by this barking and squealing mechanical dog – and this is when my meditation was interrupted and I noticed what was going on.

The man started grimacing and growling. (Like he was the dog!) He was getting more and more angry. Finally, he blurted out some cuss words about the noisy dog. He was red faced as he stomped over to the airport store, picked up the dog and turned off it's switch and slammed it back to the ground. And then he sat back down – still upset and irritable.

Then about five minutes later the clerk at the airport store noticed that the mechanical dog wasn't barking and squealing to draw in customers to buy one! So she turned it back on!

Well you can imagine how upset the man got! Again he got red faced, cussed, and stormed over to turn off the mechanical dog, and slam it down on the ground.

I thought the police were going to come! This poor man was miserable. His kingdom was being upset. He wanted control of his environment. He didn't know how to relax with that mechanical dog barking and squealing. So he took charge.

Apparently, he did not know how to pray and seek God's kingdom!

"Seek God's kingdom" (Luke 12:31), Jesus says to us. He says this in Matthew 6 and in many other places. It's his Gospel!

In the Lord's Prayer it sounds like: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This is may be the most important prayer we could pray. It covers much of the spiritual life, or, at least, it gets us started on the right path.

But today we lose sight of this in how we live our daily lives. We're more into self-actualization and self-fulfillment and getting God to help us make our lives turn out the way we want.

This is a prayer of submission to God's will.

And it is the way to resist Satan and darkness. James, the half brother of Jesus, taught us, "Submit to God; resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). Submission to God is resisting the devil. Satan has no power over us, no sway, no foothold on us when we submit ourselves to Jesus Christ as our Lord and King.

St John of the Ladder, one of the Church Fathers, teaches that we can use the name of Jesus Christ like a club to beat back the demons.

Jeanne Guyon: Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ is one of my favorites of the classics of Christian devotion. It was written in 1685. She made prayer and meditation on Scripture accessible and easy for ordinary, unschooled people. This caused quite the controversy in the Catholic Church at the time. There were book burnings and she was imprisoned.

She and other ancient spiritual writers emphasize very strongly the importance of learning to live in submission to Christ in the details of our daily lives.

She says that more important than how much time we spend in prayer is the attitude we take into prayer and life. We want to grow closer and closer to the point where we "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). This is the deeper level.

They key to entering this continuous intimacy with Christ is one word: abandonment.

You must utterly believe that the circumstances of your life, that is, every minute of your life, as well as the whole course of your life – anything, yes, everything that happens – have all come to you by His will and by His permission. You must utterly believe that everything that has happened to you is from God and is exactly what you need (p. 32).

If your prayer time brings you a delightful connection to God or leaves your mind wandering all over the place...

If someone mistreats you…

If you or a loved one gets ill…

When you go through stresses, disappointments, and hardships…

God has only good things for us. But sometimes things don't feel good. He allows people to make choices that are evil and hurt you. He allows bad things to happen to good people. But God is good all the time. And what he is doing in our lives now and forever is always good.

As we learn to abandon to God the outcomes of situations we become free of fear and worry. Instead of trying to control things we need to abandon outcomes to our Sovereign Lord: whether or not we succeed or fail, get what we want or not, the decisions people make, what people think about us, the economy, the way other people drive their cars.

My Morning Prayer of Submission is one way I cultivate this attitude. Here is a prayer that I pray (in words something like this) every morning:

Dear Lord, I seek your will today. I ask you to ordain the events of this day that is before me and use them to make me more like Jesus. Help me to accept whatever you allow in my life today as an opportunity for me to grow in my apprenticeship to Jesus. Please teach me in all situations to think your heavenly thoughts, to desire what is good, and to act with you, joining you in what you're already doing in your kingdom. And use me in the lives of all the people I interact with today to advance your kingdom purposes. Amen.

Praying in this way over the course of a number of years has changed the way I react to stress. Now I am much more likely to remain peaceful and joyful in the Lord.

Prayer Practice / Weekly Experiment (Try this meditation on your own this week!)

Let's spend some in prayer and meditation before we go into our groups at the tables. I like to think of this as a time for "Soul Shepherding."

I'm going to lead us in a centering prayer. It's inspired by Psalm 145. My hope is that this week you will try to do this on your own as a "prayer experiment."

"O Christ… Be King in my heart"

O Christ… Extend your kingdom all around me"

Small Group Questions

1. How has Jesus been teaching you to "Fear Not" during this series?

2. What is an example of an issue in your life that you need to submit to God's rule (rather than trying to get what you want to happen)?

3. What would help you this week to practice submitting yourself to God?

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