The Journey
Invitation
to a Journey ~ A Road Map to Spiritual Formation
M. Robert Mulholland & Ruth Haley Barton
plus
Notes and writings on Spiritual Formation from the
Institute for Spiritual Formation, Biola University
Lesson 6—The Image of Christ—Chapter 3 pp.
Opening Prayer
Gracious and loving God, it is with thankfulness that
I hear your call to become Christlike.
Something deep within my heart stirs in its heavy sleep at your
call. The memory of something I was to
have been, but am not, yet could still be, flits on the fringes of my
consciousness. O loving God, stir up
this hunger in my heart until it becomes the all-consuming passion of my life.
(Robert Mulholland)
1. Thoughts
from last time?
What was your experience with
Silence?
2. Imagine for a minute…
Imagine the face of a close family member, either your generation or
your parents’ generation.
Now imagine the face of this family member’s child.
Do you think they look alike?
What features are similar? How
would you say they are alike?
3. In the Image of Christ
In what sense are we being formed in the Image of Christ?
What does the Image of Christ look like?
The same and yet different
4. Added On or Built In?
Is the Image of Christ alien to us, in the same sense that His
righteousness is alien to us?
What about the image of Christ do we hunger for? Why do we hunger for it?
5. Into His Likeness
I Corinthians 13:12
I John 3:1-3
I Corinthians 15:45-49
Practice: Prayers of Intention, con’t.
Now that we have had some
practice with Prayers 1 & 2, let’s add Prayer 3 to our daily practice.
Try starting out with Prayer 1, then spend a minute or two in
silence. Go on with Prayer 2, affirming
your identity in Christ and no other.
Then begin Prayer 3, asking God to show us our hearts and what is going
on in them. We will begin then to see
where we are like Christ and perhaps where we are not like Him, and allow Him
to move us ever closer to being like him.
1. Prayer of Presenting Oneself as a Sacrifice
(Rom. 12:1-2): the spiritual
discipline of presenting oneself to God as a living sacrifice, open to Him and
His will in all things.
Prayer of Intention: “Lord, I am here, I present myself to
you. Here I am, I open my heart to you.”
[This protects the will from
becoming asleep to the will and Person of God.]
2. Prayer of Recollection (Phil. 3:7-9): the spiritual discipline of reminding the
self of its true identity in Christ (full pardon, full acceptance) and “Christ
in me” (that I am not alone).
Prayer of Intention: “God,
whatever I do today, I want to do it in you.
I don’t want to do this alone, in my own power or as a way to hide and
cover. I don’t want to find my identity
in anything but Christ. I am in Christ
and that is my true identity. (confess any idolatry)
[This protects the life from
idolatry, false identities and moralism or making decisions from false guilt,
shame in life in the power of the self.]
3. Prayer of Honesty (Ps. 15:1-2; Ps 139:23-24): the spiritual discipline whereby we open to
God and ourselves in what is truly going on in our heart in order for
truth-telling to take place in our relationships and life in general.
Prayer of Intention: “Lord, what is going on in my heart right now
with You, with others, with my life, my situation? Search me, O God, and know my heart. Open my heart to you today in truth, lest I
deceive myself.” (Confess any
idolatry)
This protects us from
superficial obedience, from presenting ourselves in arrogance,
closed-heartedness, dullness of heart, etc.
Let the heart be a mirror to the truth, and open to God.]
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