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 8—The Image of Christ—The Hidden Heart
Opening Prayer
Thoughts from last time?
Any
lingering thoughts from last time?
What
did you discover about yourself when you compared the New with the Old Self?
Did
you take time for Prayer #4? Did He let
you in on what He was doing?
[Adapted from
Why We Sin When We Know So Much:
Healing
the Hidden Heart by the Spirit
[Musings
on Calvin’s View of the Double Knowledge
Dr.
John H. Coe
Director,
Institute for Spiritual Formation, Talbot School of Theology
©
Copyright 2006 John H. Coe. All rights reserved.]
“Nearly all the
wisdom we possess, that is to say true and sound wisdom,
consists of two
parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves."
John
Calvin
"I desire
to know God and the soul." "Nothing more?" "Nothing
whatever."
Augustine
“Nothing is
more helpful to reduce pride than the actual experience of self-knowledge. If
we are discouraged by it, we have misunderstood its meaning.”
Thomas
Keating
A. Introduction
Why
is spiritual change sometimes so difficult and slow? How is it that a believer
can know so much truth & desire the good and yet so deeply struggle with
sin, with being loving, with obedience etc.
The Problem:
· The Incontinent Person: Knows the good,
desires good, chooses good but fails to do the good.
· The Continent Person: Knows the good,
desires good, chooses good, does the good with no joy
· The Virtuous Person: Knows the good,
desires good, chooses good, does the good with joy.
B. The
Christian Faith is foremost about the heart
· Mk. 12:29:
"Thou shalt love the Lord your God with your whole heart"
· Prov. 3:5:
"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart."
· I Sam 16:6-7 God looks not at the outward like most men but
at the heart.
· I Tim. 1:5: The goal of all instruction is love from a
pure heart.
a.
"Heart" is used for the real or core person: Will, Emotions and
Intellect
· Prov. 27:19
"As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man."
· I Pet. 3:3-4 Women are not to adorn the outward only but
"the hidden person of the heart"
· Lk. 16:15
Pharisees looked good on the outside but "God knows their hearts."
· Prov. 23:7-8 Heart is what he really thinks and is about:
"As a man thinks in his heart, so he is."
b. The heart directs our life: What is in the
heart determines our whole of life.
· Prov. 4:23
"Guard over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs
of life."
How do we guard our hearts?
Externally:
Internally:
Principles:
1.
In general, what comes out of one's life is not by accident but is already in the heart.
2.
The degree to which one is surprised by what comes out of one is the degree
which one does not know his heart.
C. Why is the
heart is so impregnable (as a fortress) and slow to change? (Bible's view
of the Hidden Heart or Unconscious Heart)
· Jer. 17:9-10:
“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick, who can understand
it. I, the Lord, search the heart . . . .”
· Prov. 16:2 We think we are clean but God alone knows and
weighs the inner person
· Prov. 14:13 "Even
in laughter the heart may be in pain, And the end of joy may be grief."
D. Things to Know about a Biblical Understanding
of the Hidden Heart (Bible’s view of the “Unconscious”):
1.
There is always more going on in the hidden heart than what
is on the surface. This explains why we often do not know why we do what we do
and the contents of our heart – what we really think. Our heart’s motives are
often hidden.
2.
The degree to which we have a hidden heart of negative
beliefs and desires that have not been dealt with is the degree to which we are
not in control of that material and it can control us.
3.
Most Christians do not intend to sin; rather, they just
leak. This leaking of sins of the heart does not excuse the believer from
responsibility, for one is as responsible for his character as much as intended actions, despite the complex manner
in which character is formed.
4.
This “leaking” is all about warring beliefs and desires in
the heart. This explains for why we so often act against out better intentions,
why we sin when we know so much.
5.
Most sins are not intentions of the moment but are merely
the tip of the habitual iceberg where beneath the surface is perhaps a glacier
of sin and vice that has deep relational and historical roots.
6.
Beware of “prayers of magic” or avoidance to have God take
away sins; be open to letting God teach you in humility about these.
7.
No amount of (a) surface correcting of deep sinful beliefs
(or overlaying the beliefs by the truth alone) or (b) immediate behavioral
change in conformity to the Word will transform the heart or resolve or alter the
deep beliefs and desire behind the sins of the heart (II Cor. 3:4ff).
E. How Does God
Open the Heart and Begin the Process of Change-Transformation:
Someone
is going to have to help open the heart
· to bring out
the heart,
· to apply love
and truth to the heart and ----
· to begin to
assist the person in new habits of the heart.
This
involves both a
Negative
process of Formation (“Putting off” or Detachment): opening the heart to
Biblical truth with others and with the Spirit in prayer to take every thought
captive to the obedience of Christ and expose idols of the heart (II Cor. 10:5)
and
Positive
process of Formation (“Putting on” or Attachment): opening the heart to
Biblical truth as well as the love and truth from others in the Body and the
Indwelling Spirit who is able to penetrate into the heart in love to convince
the believer to trust God that all one’s needs are met in God’s love.
Practically
speaking, transformation will involve:
1.
The Word (Heb. 4:12)
2.
Trials and “Thorns in the Flesh” (II Cor12: 7-10)
3.
Opening to God’s Sovereign Work of Transformation in all Circumstances (Romans
8:26ff)
4.
Fellow Believers (Eph. 4:15)
Incarnational
Knowing of the Heart (Opening the heart with a Soul Friend)
a. Know the other hears from the
“Hidden Heart
b. Provide others with a context of
safety and acceptance:
c. Bring out the hidden heart: ask
questions or articulate the heart for the other.
d. Speak truth and love into the
heart: interpret defenses etc.
5.
Prayer and Soul Work
Divine Knowing of the Heart (Opening the heart with God
in Prayer)
God
alone is the master Soul Surgeon (“Divine Therapist”) and is in the business of
exposing men's hearts and transforming them by love and truth. All the
one-another passages are to model this (encourage,
love, rebuke, help one another etc.). His goal is to make our heart His home.
Ps.
139:23-24 "Search me O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious
thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the
everlasting way."
· God’s
Knowledge: God knows that we hear him, pray to him, hear his Word from the
“Hidden Heart.”
· God’s
Acceptance: We are justified by faith; there is no condemnation (Rom. 8:1).
· God’s
Invitation: The Spirit invites the believer to fellowship with Him in the weaknesses
of our heart (Rom. 8:26) that the power of Christ may be real (II Cor. 12:10).
· God’s
Interpretation and Healing of the Hidden Heart: In the context of love and self-awareness,
God wishes to speak the truth into the heart: to interpret our deep sinful
beliefs, motivating defenses, and to lead us into a free life in Christ. etc.
F. The Result:
A Broken and Open Heart (the beginning of the process of growth)
· Ps. 51:15-17
God delights not in sacrifice but a broken and contrite heart
· Joel 2:12-13
"return to me with all your heart, rend your heart and not your
garments"
Practice: Continue with the Prayers of Intention
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.]
4. Prayer of Discernment (Eccles. 7:13-14): the spiritual discipline whereby we learn to
watch what the Spirit is doing in us and not merely our work, to “consider the
work of God”, what His will is in all things versus ours or the devil’s so that
we can better cooperate with the Spirit.
Here we seek wisdom on how to respond to His work that is ongoing in us.
Prayer of Intention:
“Lord, what are you doing and what is it that you want me to become and
do if I am to do your will? How can I
open to your purpose today?”
[This
protects us from responding to false calls of guilt of what to do in our life,
to fantasy, to the demonic, to our grandiosity, to working alone. Here we learn to wait on God and watch His
work more than our own.]
You can share our lessons
with others who can’t be here in person by referring them to http://christian-transformationblog.blogspot.com
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