Means of Grace: Hospitality and Prayers Exercises Paper Example

Silence and Solitude Exercise

During the three hours of silence and solitude praying, the first hour was challenging, and concentration was a bit low, but with time, I started to experience immense spiritual discipline and adventure as God was waiting to meet with me. The silence and solitude that I encountered have changed my soul in ways beyond words. During this time, I noticed that I needed depression and desire that in a way helped me to want to pursue more time with God. I left that I would pay more attention to the emotions that were stirring my soul and at that moment I found more connectivity with God.

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During this moment of silence and solitude, I learnt that I had time to think on how I would incorporate it in my life regularly, so that I could express my needs to God in simple prayers and at the same time in a place that would help me to stay alert and at the same time worshipful. In this moment of solitude, I would overcome any distraction, I was able to entrust all my concerns to Godin prayer, and I felt free to be fully present with Him during this time. At times, the feeling would be overwhelming, and to some extent, I felt afraid when I felt the presence of God.

I felt that my body, mind, and soul rested during this moment and I would hear the voice of God speak to me. I would allow myself to accept the presence of God, disengage my mind from all problems in my life and I would talk about things that I could that my mind could not figure our but my spirit could understand. I would feel emptiness in my soul, and in a way, this emptiness motivated me to pray even more in an attempt to seek fulfilment. I would feel that I had a love of God so deep and that He loved me unconditionally in return. Since that time in silence and solitude, the experience I gained I have been in a position to give the same in other people's lives and extend the love I felt to others.

Food and Media Fasting Exercise

My experience on the one day on food and media fasting was a challenging one, but at the same time, I felt many benefits. Hunger was immense, and I also felt an endless urge to be with my cell-phone, but I had to restrain myself. During the twenty-four hours of fasting, I felt that I had mental clarity and at the same time my creativity increased. I felt inner calmness, found a new love relationship with myself and I had a dream that I vividly remember in those twenty-four hours.

During this period, I felt that I had an increased spiritual connection while praying and that the presence, of God, was more vivid in my soul and I felt a firm assurance of what I was praying about. I felt that the hunger I felt would drive me to pray even harder and I would feel it no more. At some point during the fasting, I felt that I had a mild headache but when I finished the prayer it was no more. Before the fasting, I would always feel that I had a lot of urge to engage with friends in the social media, but after the fasting, I felt that this urge had reduced in a way.

I felt that my intimacy with God had increased and that despite the physical discomfort I felt, there was a spiritual reward. I would feel spiritual clarity, and I would discern Gods will as I felt I gained wisdom and understanding after fasting. There was a spiritual revival, and I felt that the Holy Spirit rekindled and I would talk in tongues which in a way refreshed my heart. I felt that I had the will to overcome every evil thing that came my way and the extra time I had from the media I felt that it was worth praying.

Confession Exercise

During my prayers, I was asking God to forgive my transgressions, and God directed me to confess the same to my friend who I had offended. As I was confessing before God, I felt inadequate of His grace and that I had sinned for a very long time and I cried uncontrollably. That afternoon, I went to his house where I found my friend and told him that I needed to confess him. To my surprise, he hugged me, told me to calm down and that he was ready to listen to what I had to acknowledge. At first, I felt like this was very hard to do, and to some point, I wanted to change the topic, but he urged me to go on. I told him that I, and at that point, he said to me that there is something he too wanted to confess to me for a very long time. At this point, I became very eager to know what that was and I also felt that I would finally confess to him.

My friend confessed that he had gossiped about me a few weeks ago and that had cost me to be removed from the youth leadership in the church. He admitted that he had the wrong information from a third party and told a few people in the church without knowing the consequences. He was so apologetic, and at that point, I felt that I needed to forgive even though I wasn't aware that he was the one who started the falsehood. Then it was my turn to confess to him, and when I did, we prayed together for our forgiveness, and this was so overwhelming. We felt close to each other, we hugged, and to date, we remain to be very close friends.

Abiding Exercise

To abide in Christ means to live, continue or remain in Christ. Currently abiding in Christ in my life is continuously looking for Jesus through the scriptures. As a result, I depend on the Holy Spirit to walk in faith, spend my time focussed on God and engage in intentional actions. Daily, I preach the gospel to myself, plan always to read the scriptures, pray, help others and still fighting sin. As I do this, I depend on the Holy Spirit to bring me closer to Christ. As such, I feel united to Christ in that I rely on Him and always plan to remain in him.

One can abide in Christ this day by first realizing that we need Christ in our lives. Jesus said, "I am the vine, and you are the branches. No branch can bear the fruit of itself." Secondly, we should repent our sins and at the same time changes our minds to follow Christ, pray and read the bible. This will help one to become strong spiritually and have a deep understanding of how to overcome sin and live a holy life. We should give thanks and delight in the presence of Jesus as He helps us abide in him. We should always ask God to replenish us with more strength so that we can keep the commandments that help us abide in him. Lastly, we should study the word of god in depth so that we understand what He wants with us and how we can always stay close to him and free of sin because God hates sin.

When we abide in Christ, we live and find enjoyment in Christ by spending personal and intimate time with him every day. When we abide in Christ, we should not always wait to enjoy him in church only, but we should also maintain individual fellowship with Christ in our life. We should always rejoice, unceasingly pray and always give thanks to God.

Means of Grace: Hospitality

Scripture passages:

1. Romans 12:13

"Giving, to meet the needs of others" "Sharing with God's people who are in need" "Kindness to strangers" "Intentionally striving to embrace strangers and need individuals"

2. Titus 1:7-8

"...involved vulnerability and sacrificial giving..." "...identifying openly with the cause of Christ and His oppressed people"

3. Timothy 3:2

"Hospitable to visitors"

"...thoroughgoing expectation of all Christians..."

"...reflects a vulnerability to others, a desire to care for guests and those in need." "...we should provide for them ...a place of refuge.

Biblical hospitality is the act of providing those with the means of living comfortably even when we are left with nothing, this is expected of all Christians, through this we not only open up our own lives to them but Jesus' as well.

Spiritual perks: With hospitality, there seem to be a few spiritual perks in correlation with the feeling of belonging to something and being a part of a church community. Another perk that seems to have been forgotten in the current church age is it can lead to accountability, which not only makes a community stronger, but the individual can also become stronger in his faith.

God does not have favourites among people. He cares about and loves all people, and expects us to have love and hospitality towards one another.

My hospitality and love for others are not being shown in my daily, and this is a result of my lack of involvement in a local church community. College cannot compensate for being involved with a local church.

To continue having the desire to grow as a community, so more and more people would have the chance to know the never failing love of Jesus Christ.

By not just loving and caring about people I know, but being open to share my love and physical blessings with all people, knowing that they might see this and glorify my Father in heaven.

The way I exercised my biblical hospitality was by buying a stranger behind me a cup of coffee at the local Starbucks. In all honesty, I was a little sceptic at first because the person that was behind me just happened to be a middle-aged man, but before I got there, I decided ahead of time that I was not going to wait for someone who was appealing to me to get in line and then buy them drink. Instead, I was going to buy the drink for the first person who stepped behind me in line, by doing it my way that would have been biased in a sense. After I was done buying it, he thanked me and then asked me why I decided to buy him a drink? I told him that in a sense it is for a homework assignment, but in another sense, it is something that I should do more often to express my care for other people as a Christian. He told me he was a Christian and we got to talking and come to find out we had a lot in common. He invited me to a local church that I decided to try out Sunday, and I actually really enjoyed it and might be going back this coming Sunday. It was a fantastic experience, and I plan on doing more random acts of kindness, showing my love and hospitality towards strangers.

My exercised use of hospitality was one of the craziest experiences of my life. I learned that God has a plan for everything, and I must be strong and courageous in obeying His word. Obedience is what is required of me and hospitality is commanded by me in the .

Hospitality breaks the seduction of Isolation and allows me to hear God's invitation to/for out of my comfort zone.

Celebration Exercise

In life, I love spending time with my family and friends. I took my family out to have some fun as we visited an animal orphanage to see some wildlife animals. I had some of the best moment with them, and one thing I remember very well is that before we left our house, I led in family prayer. I called upon the Holy Spirit to be our guide, prayed on God's protection during our journey and that as we had fun; we would experience God's presence. As I was praying, I would listen to God speak to my heart and His assurance that the day would be memorable would and that we would experience His love.

I would see that my family members were always happy during our whole adventure and that they found joy in all that we saw. I would feel the reassurance that God had given me all through, and I would pray that all goes well and that the joy of his presence prevails among us. I would feel joy as I felt I had personal contact with God and I was happy seeing my family enjoy. Joy is achieved when one is spiritually connected to God or people, but happiness causes bliss of pleasure. Some things can only cause the ecstasy of delight but end up leaving us empty with no joy. From my experience, I felt both happy and joy because I felt God's presence. When the presence of God is felt, happiness turns to joy, and this reassures one that all is well. When we walk in God's way, we feel the joy that includes love, peace, and goodness.

Psalms 139

Psalms 139 consist of both poems and prayers. As such, it is found in the genre of psalms...