Here are my notes from yesterday!
OCTOBER 22, 2008
WEDNESDAY
Give us a spirit of wisdom and understanding.
Spiritual Temperament teaching comes from a book called Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas
He starts with a basic question: If God created us all so different why is it that we are expected to have the same expression of faith? Because obviously God created you with a unique DNA. Only you can think and feel the way you can. Only you can express love to God the way you can. Our connection with God is so unique that only I can have this relationship with God that I can. The people that He’s seeking are people who will worship in spirit and truth. Seeking for people who are themselves, not pretending to be someone else, before God in worship in their expression of love to Him. He wants us to understand about ourselves. Gary realizes different ways, main ways, that we express our love to God. He calls them spiritual temperaments. There are nine: naturalists, enthusiasts, contemplators, ascetics, sensates, activist, intellectuals, caregivers, traditionalists. The temperaments help us understand how to have encounters with God. It will maximize how to experience God and minimize the things that are making our relationship with God confusing and boring. We all love God but it is possible that we are doing things that are not helping our pursuit of God. We need to grow not just in intimacy but in enjoying God and spending time with Him. We are trying to find out what is it that encourages me to hear Him and experience Him?
Lets start!
The idea is not to just put ourselves in a category, we need to understand every expression so that we can understand how others worship.
Naturalists – The place that we worship has a profound impact on our worship. They love to worship God in a natural environment. We see in scripture how God constantly goes outside to worship or to meet with God. He sought the natural environment a lot. One of the most memorable memories is Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Believe, perceive, receive. We believe that God is the creator of all that exists and we allow the Holy Spirit to bring revelation and we must perceive. We have to ask God “What are you trying to say to me through this?” And then we receive the message God has for us. If this is you, then get outside! Allow God to speak to you through the natural environment. Activities for you, is walks in natural environment to observe natural events, read the Bible outside, listen to natural music. Temptations, spiritual deceived, the energy of nature the force of nature, you don’t see God you see energy, to idolize nature and individualism. Jesus would go alone in nature to be with God and then come back to minister to others. We need to remember to go back and minister to others.
Enthusiasts – Woo hoo! They love God through mystery and celebration. They love to experience God with emotion and reverence. They enjoy the more supernatural forms of our faith. We worship a God who is supernatural. Therefore, how will He express Himself? In supernatural ways! This is not based on anti-intellectualism but it is based on faith. I might not know everything about God, I might not understand everything about God. Don’t confine yourself to a corner. God is offering so much to us, don’t just say we are okay with this little crumb we have. The spirit realm existed before the natural realm. It is more real then the natural realm. We live in the natural realm and so we don’t understand the spiritual realm. The closer we get to God the more He will reveal to us. There is all of this reality that we don’t even see. Think about the Angelic realm. What about the armies of heaven? Treasures hidden everywhere. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, it has not entered into our heart, the things that God has prepared for us. The beginning of all of this is FAITH. Everything starts with FAITH. We must believe that He exists and that He is who He is. You don’t seek these experiences just for the experience but because you want to understand Him. You want more of Him. We can’t sit back and say “God if You want to touch me then come and touch me.” We need to fight to touch Him. We need to have faith. Unbelief stops the presence of God. You always need people who believe more than you. It will help increase your faith! Activities are like dreams, visions, expectation, enthusiastic worship, acts of celebration, prayer, times with children, creativity, reading the Bible out loud. You cannot see a miracle if you don’t need one.
Contemplators – They love God through adoration. They want to love God passionately. They seek to know Him in profound ways. Isaiah 29:13 Says, These people worship me with their mouth and honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from Me. We can be a Christian but our hearts can be far from Him. Never find themselves satisfied. Activities: Prayer, secret acts of devotion, prayer of the heart is simply this – where you silence your mouth and you just go into that secret place and come before God and quiet yourself (the lost art of the church), they need to remember the cross (the sacrifice), divine lecture (meditation on the Word).
Ascetics – Monastic temperament. (Monasteries) Enclosed in one place with disciplines and focused on getting to know God. The people who love God in solitude and simplicity. They have such desire to know God that they choose to separate themselves from everything that can distract them. They live very radical lives of holiness. With lots of discipline, sacrifice, and simplicity. The less you have, the less you have to worry. Very loving with others and very strict on themselves. They desire to know God deeply deeply deeply. They are modern monks. You could confuse them with introverted people. They need a lot of time by themselves. Activities: times of silence, fasting, contemplation, radical obedience, mini retreats, simple life, night watch. Temptation: to seek God’s favor through the activity, emphasize personal pity.
Sensates – Are people who love God with their senses. They appreciate beautiful worship that involve sights, touch, hearing, senses. All of this have been created by God. They will redeem these things and bring them into the church. The use of this originated in God. Who was the one who told the Israelites how He wanted the tent of meeting to be like? What was in the tent of meeting? Fire at the entrance, sculptors of the angels, incense. God told the specific details, the materials, colors, textures, to Solomon. It was God’s idea that we would be able to encounter Him through everything. The church stops the use of all of these things for fear of idolatry. In reality God really wants it. We need to redeem them, the use of these things. God created the senses it was His intentions for us to experience Him in every way we can. Ezekiel 1:3 Talks about heaven and Psalm 147, 149, 150 urges us to worship the Lord with music and instruments. Activities: Times of worship that involve the senses. Decorate your house or area with things that have meaning for you. Explore artistic venues or expressions. Don’t become critical about what groups don’t do.
Activists – Love the Lord confronting evil. Super heroes in the church. Fighting for justice and trying to make this world a better place. Super Christians! Are nurtured by activism. Like friendship with God, to find the strategy and search for God it deepens their relationship. Church is a place to recharge their batteries and then go back out. They encourage us with their courage and their weakness and dependency on God. Activities: Intercession meetings, prayer walks, times of fasting and prayer for special causes. They want the church to be active. They are super important. Marches, letters, all of these things. To have a cause. They’re active on what God puts on their heart.
Intellectuals – They love God with their minds. They’re hearts and minds are awakened to profound love when they discover new truth about God through reading. They like never finish a book. As they learn they’re hearts are awakened. He called us to love Him with our minds. Activities: Bible studies, systematic theology (studying the Bible in a more organized way). The temptation is that they love controversy. They love more to know then to do. Pride and judgment are issues here (but also in every temperament).
Caregivers – They love God when they are taking care of others and satisfying others needs. They’re faith grows when they are interacting with the poor and the needy and the sick. They can see and feel Jesus through the ministry of mercy. They have encounters with God just by taking care of others. They think taking care of people is the most important thing in the Bible. Activities – offers themselves as volunteers in jails, orphanage, elders, anywhere there is need. It’s like adopt. Making a commitment to someone who has a need. And that way your heart is always connected to need. They express God’s love when they are in touch with a need.
Traditionalist – They love God through rituals, symbols, and structures. They have a very disciplined life of faith. This is the people that like lots of structure in their Christian life. The church would call them like Baptist. All of this structure helps them feel close to God. Not just because they learn it but they really love it. Activities – schedule of prayer like a prayer book, hymnal, to follow a Christian calendar, celebrating all of the important dates in the church, utilizing symbols. They are not ‘religious.’
SIDENOTE – It takes 21 days to get rid of a bad habit and get a new one. The problem with Christians is that we look at people and judge them we need to focus on Jesus not people. We need to point others to Him we need to just love and soak in Him. WAKE UP! God has called us to so much more, raise our faith and raise our standards. What attracts the presence of God is hunger for Him! Don’t be religious about your time with God, be creative! We must be committed to allowing everyone to be who God created them to be. We don’t need to try to conform others to be like us we need to encourage them to be in their own expression. It’s all about the basics of the faith – How can you have a personal relationship with God? It’s not about being religious or knowing your denomination. It’s about your intimacy with God!
Ask God – What activities can I do, what changes can I make, to my quiet time to improve it with You?
