lessons

Session 2 Real Change is Messy

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:11:17 +0100

Session 2: Real Change is Messy

Meal: Chicken Salad Wraps (different veggie toppings) Steamed Zucchini & Summer Squash, Grilled Cob Corn Disks This was a hit! 2 different kinds of chicken salad: one seasoned with Old Bay, and one seasoned with curry. Yummy, and everyone got to create their own with the different toppings!

Prayer: Father, Creator, Daddy… we come before you tonight, interested in change. We know how stubborn we can be and how human beings tend to get caught in routines and ruts. We want real Holy Spirit change in our lives. We invite You in, surrender to Your will. Father open us up to your change, help us see in different ways, hear with new ears, know with a new heart… your heart. Let that new heart renew our minds and make us over in You. Jesus we will cling to You, watch You, follow You… just show us the way. Holy Spirit, work simply in us. Take us out of our norms and show us the new… help us get past our resistance and to change for the better… help us live joyfully and creatively abide in the vine that is Jesus. By His name we pray, amen.

Focus/Topic Discussion:
Can WE change? The world would have us believe that if we read enough self-help books, see enough therapists, try just the right medications and really work hard at what seems to be a monumentally complicated and difficult journey, we can change ourselves. This is not Biblical and is, in fact, wrong. For no matter how much we try to change ourselves & no matter how many smaller changes we see as a result of our efforts, we always seems to revert back to our old patterns or see new versions of these old patterns emerge in our lives. Real, true & lasting change must be done by the Holy Spirit. We just get in the way. Eph 4:17-24 “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should not walk from now on as other nations walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. For they, being past feeling, have given themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and were taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus. For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness.” Gal 5:16-26 “I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. But those belonging to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become glory-seeking, provoking one another, envying one another. (Meaning not to focus on attaining recognition for works OR for what changes you have made, for you have not made them, He has. Not to provoke one another as in stirring up strife as some do – some people just love drama. They seek to rile people up and cause upset (for their own entertainment, or so they can play hero in ‘solving’ the problem). Not to envy each other… to do this means not to compare yourself with others, for this causes envy and all manner of slandering thoughts both toward others and toward yourself.
In this discussion, the connection to Proverbs 12:15 was brought up. "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who listens to advice is wise." We got into a fairly long discussion on hardness of heart, and the fact that when a person's heart is hard, and they think they are always right (as Proverbs is telling us), it makes it impossible for the Holy Spirit to work or true change to occur. As long as one is hard, blind and right in his own eyes, one cannot receive the new heart that God wants to give us through Jesus. Others cannot change him, nor convince him of his error. We must be willing to receive what God wants to give us and it is surprising how many people will not receive it, because they are convinced they are right and don't need it... utterly amazing. Loved ones spend years banging their head against the wall trying to "help" them, but all it does is create problems for the loved one... because while doing this, that person can't receive and move on either... it causes them BOTH to be prisoners in the lie. Freedom can only be found it the letting go of the other person, and finding forgiveness in Christ. This is as simple as DECIDING not to believe the lies that keep one imprisoned and rejecting those thoughts as soon as they come into the mind. The battlefield really is in the mind. We also talked about Jer 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Again, the hardened heart deceives us... causes us to believe we are right when we are not, AND causes us to believe a lie, because we are afraid of what would happen if we didn't.) This spawned connections to scripture that tells us that "life and death are in the power of the tongue" and that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks". When the hardened and blinded heart speaks out words of death (criticism, hatred, name-calling and the like... those words have a powerful effect on others around them, and bring death (of spirit). Sadly, those words are spoken because those thoughts are in the heart already. What is in the heart comes out... one way or another. SO... the antidote to all of this??? Surrender to Holy Spirit change in us, and prayer for the other people around us.

Change can be MESSY! We live in an instant world, where things move fast and we want everything to happen now. That isn’t real or lasting. It is an illusion, for all things that happen that way just as quickly and easily are gone. We don’t like to get messy or dirty (in general). We like nice, neat & easy to explain little boxes with clear labels on them and we try to apply this to our lives. It just doesn’t work that way. This is also an illusion. In truth, everything is connected. Experiences, knowledge & reactions build on what came before. Like an intricate root system, you cannot remove some end roots (symptoms) and expect that to deal with the big roots (the actual problem). Yet we spend thousands of dollars and years of time trying to do just that. We don’t want to feel the pain, because pain is bad (or so we are taught). We don’t want to dig deep, because that takes too much effort and digs up things we didn’t want to dig up, and often things we didn’t even know were there. It is a process that takes time, comes in stages and is wrought by the Holy Spirit. We have to be patient and allow the process to happen. 2Co 3:16-18“But whenever it (the heart) turns to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. And the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit.”James 1:3-4 “…knowing that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. “ 2Co 1:8-9 “For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, insomuch that we despaired even of life: yea, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead…”
In this discussion, we made a point of the above underlined sections (in pink) in scripture. They are very important! "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty"... a key statement! If we let Him, the Lord does in fact bring liberty. The key words are: if we let Him. We tend to fight against him, and that is counter-productive. Most of us don't even realize we are doing it at first. But the more Word we get in us, and the closer we get to Him, the more we realize what we are doing and can address it. If all we do is complain that we're not getting anywhere or that God isn't doing anything, NOTHING will change. God actually can't do anything to help us because we won't let Him... but when we finally surrender and let HIM do the work... liberty comes! "...glory of the Lord as in a mirror"... definitely bears examining too! Key words being "as in a mirror". The more we let HIM work in and on us, the more liberty we experience, the more joy, the more peace... and HIS glory begins to show in us... like a mirror. It is truly freeing and wonderful. Then when those things of the world come along, they don't affect us the same way... ever again. It's not that the world or the people around us change... we do. Then we have "from glory to glory". Another way I've heard it is "from victory to victory". Guess what? That means it's NOT instant... it takes time, different levels of change, different steps, each building on another... and it can be MESSY and painful. But growth is painful. Do you remember having growing pains as a child? I did. There were times that my legs hurt so bad that I would just lay in bed at night and cry. There was nothing anyone could do... the pain was from growing. Growth is necessary. If we stunt our growth because we don't want to experience the pain, we never get anywhere... I don't know about you, but to me... the growth is worth it. The thing is, the more you let Him work on you, the better you get. It's been the experience of myself and every other person I've spoken to that has acheived victory through Him. And this brought us to this session's project... a visual/tactile representation of this process.

Creative Project: Making Silly Putty
1. Start with the first two ingredients: 2 Tbsp. white glue & 2 Tbsp. water
The glue represents man in his original intended state, and the water represents sin & worldly influences. We did a little experiment with just these two ingredients first. When the two are mixed together (the way sin & worldly influences mix into us, it becomes runny & less effective for its original intended purpose. If you put this on a hard surface, such as a paper plate (representing society - its ideas, opinions, etc.) and move the plate (because opinions & social norms change), the watered down glue moves easily and quickly, running all over the place... so do we if these are our only influences. We wander all over the place, get thinned way out, have no effectiveness, no purpose... and so many people are living this way. Some are oblivious that this IS what they are doing, but some struggle daily in frustration and torment, not knowing why. Not only that, but then we took some parsley (to represent greed) and some fennel seeds (to represent bitterness, envy, etc - those seeds that get in us and grow, often causing misery and manifesting as illness) and sprinkled them over this glue mixture... of course, they stuck. Once stuck and mixed in, it becomes difficult to remove them. Then we froze this mixture (to represent the cold-heartedness that usually follows all of the above conditions). When the mixture is frozen (cold), then gets hit with a hammer (representing sudden traumatic events), it shattered... and so would we. This was VERY enlightening.
2. Starting over, we combined the 2 Tbsp. white glue and 2 Tbsp. water again. Then each person picked their favorite color (craft paint) and added 2 drops of their color. The color represents our unique characteristics of personality, talents, etc. And mixed this all together very well. This is us BEFORE the Holy Spirit becomes part of us.
3. Then comes the Holy Spirit, represented by 2 Tbsp. Borax (find it in the laundry powder section of the supermarket). It is IMPORTANT to add this all at once, because the chemical reaction happens immediately! Then immediately begin kneading it all together with your hand (representing the hand of God). I recommend wearing a latex glove at first. It will be sticky, messy and goopy... just as we are when the Holy Spirit begins working in us... BUT... the change happens on a molecular level.... the mixture is changed at its very core... forever! Keep working it, just as God continues to work us.
4. Then you may take off the glove. The mixture is non-toxic and the color will not come out onto your hands. Keep working it... the end result is a changed substance that can be bounced, pushed into, stretched, moulded, etc. Think of all of these actions as things that happen to people going about their lives... we fall, but with the Holy Spirit, we bounce... we get pushed, stretched, flattened and have things pressed into us... but with the Holy Spirit, we don't change from what we are and can be formed right back into a ball. It is important to note that the color REMAINS part of it... our personalities don't disappear because we've surrendered to God... we are still us. Many people are afraid that if they surrender all of themselves to Him, they won't be who they are anymore. I've heard this over and over from new Christians and people afraid to commit to Him. But the truth is that I am now MORE who I really am (personality, talents, unique characteristics) than I ever was before, because those lies and worldly prisons kept me from it. Once liberty is received from Jesus, there is nothing left to hinder that. Note: the longer you work this "silly putty", the better it gets. The more you let the hand of God work you, the better you get. We tried sprinkling the greed and seeds of bitterness again, only this time, they bounced right off and did NOT stick... neither will they stick to a person who has received the Holy Spirit through Christ and let the hand of God work them into something new.
5. Then, we took one of the balls and froze it, just to see what would happen if a person who had the Holy Spirit allowed themselves to once again become cold/bitter... when it was hit with the hammer, it broke, just like before... let that be a caution not to allow those things back into your life. However, once those pieces were thawed again (warmed up), they could be worked together again... so if you've found yourself headed to a cold place, just turn back to Him... let Him work you together again!

Session 1 Intro to Creative Abiding

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:12:18 +0100

Session 1: Introduction to Branches - Creative Abiding

Meal:Pizza Muffins (top yourself) & Salad

These were great... fun to make, everyone got what they liked, and so easy/simple!

Prayer: Abba Daddy, we come to You as children, Your children. We love You above all and want only to be with You more, to sit at Your feet, be held in Your arms and to see You smile. Nothing else matters more. Help us to let go of anything that gets in the way. Heal our wounds and restore joy unspeakable. Thank You, Daddy, for forgiving us when we mess up and for Your patient guidance in life. Increase our faith that we may be bold as children in shining Your light on the world. Teach us to play and love pure, as a child and to stand strong with the confidence of a rightful & righteous warrior. Let the awe & wonder of You never dim. You meet our every need and our hearts desire, even when we don’t know what they are. Thank You Daddy. Join us this evening as we seek You, through Your Word and our Savior, Christ Jesus. Help us to see & hear. Amen.

Focus Topic/Discussion: Overview of the Ministry - coming to God as a child, creativity in us. What does a child do/have that adults typically don’t?

· How are you creative (we are ALL creative!)?
We are all made in the image of God, THE Creator... it IS in us! Some of us make art, music, cook, sew, write, make games, are creative in how we help others, decorate, creative use of math or science, and much much more... creativity can be found in more ways than we realize!

· What games or forms of play did you enjoy as a child?
We discovered many traits & things we did that were lost as we grew up, but also many that we kept! A good way to find these in ourselves is through the art project for this lesson.

· Difference between child-like & child-ish
Child-like traits are things like awe, playfulness, trust, joy, etc.
Child-ish traits are things like selfishness, lying to get our way, temper tantrums, etc.

· What happens to us as we grow to lose those child-like traits?
We discovered that it happens many ways, but usually comes in forms like:
criticism from others, "should's", guilt, trying to imitate grown-ups with their own issues (grow up too fast), etc. It starts with what our parents say/do, continues in schools & society. Removal of art & music and imagination in school a real issue, wanting kids to "behave" in ways that squash, etc.

Supporting Scripture/Reference

As a Child -

· 2Kings 5:14 his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

· Mark 10:13-24 “Allow the little children to come to Me and do not hinder them. For of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter into it.” And taking them up in His arms, He put His hands on them and blessed them…. And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answering again said to them, Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

·         Luke 18:13-17 justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted…. For of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no way enter into it.

Creative –

·         Gen 1:27 And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female. (but do read the entire section 1:1-28

·         Gen 5:3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years and fathered a son in his own likeness, after his own image. (Goes to us also creating in our image)

·         All through the old testament we see instructions for creating and building: the temple, garments, and more.

Child-like Bubble Journaling:

1. Save your paper towel and toilet paper rolls, because they make great disposable stampers, using watercolor paint. Fill small bowls with a little watery paint to stamp circles on your journal pages. A paper towel dabbing then dries the pages pretty quickly.

2. Using a gel pen, trace around both sides of the circles you made, taking care to follow all the wiggly edges.

3. Using the gel pens again, brainstorm on all the different childhood traits & things they could think of that you enjoyed, whether now lost or not.

4. Then use the watery paint & a brush or colored pencil to fill in the area around the circles. Dark coloring is encouraged to create a lot of contrast.
This project got creative juices started & helped us creatively remember... Use your favorite color here! Make the traits and things you write specific to you. We had a variety of responses, and I combined the responses from everyone in this sample. Let go and just see what comes to mind for you. It can be quite enlightening. We learned a lot in this exercise, not only the traits & things we wrote, but the colors chosen and the way we wrote them also tells us about ourselves. Don't overthink this, it should be free-form and fun! You can go back and learn about yourself when the project is done...