You Tube Theology

James Houston – Mentored Life

In a sense, the truth of God is secondary to the love of God. The essence of God’s being is His love. God is person.

The opening of oneself before God’s spirit as the basis for spiritual growth. We are open to that which wholly transcends us.

Unposessiveness: we are possessed of the Father. Unpossesiveness is the heart to the openness to the ways of God.

Dissapointments: failure is perhaps more therapeutic for us than even success. Loss can sometimes be more valuable than gain. Dissapointment and depression, doubt and despair, may be pointers that simply point we have lost our way. Human frustrations are angelic ministrations.

3 Ways to gain intimacy:

Attentiveness: concentrate on the other, be attentive to the other.

Empathy: identify with the feelings of another, put ourselves in their place.

Responsiveness: immediate feedback to another. Indicate that responsiveness that comes from us.

Identifying then and understanding what are prominent themes in another’s life: having a present awareness of what is important to the other person. What it is that captures their conscious and unconscious energies.
Embrace the need, aspiration, desire or objective that is so important to the other. I stand with you with what is important to you.

Appropriate responses: clear communication, meeting of their need, fulfillment of their aspiration, or pledge to encourage each other in that objective.

If we cannot exercise these qualities of relational intimacy with a person, then it’s harder to relate to God who is so far from us. Human intimacy is absolutely vital for us to have divine intimacy.

Journalling is a form of spiritual breathing. Asking questions is often the first step in answering them.
If you’re not intimate with yourself you cannot be intimate with other people.

The discovery of yourself before God.

The essence of character is integrity. Personal wholeness. Humility that conveys an accurate sense of our standing before God. Humility is spiritual openeness before God.
Honesty: it’s to be and speak the truth in whatever you say. And yet, it does not necessarily mean the disclosure of everything.
A DISCERNING spirit expressed in love: so that you can see what people can and cannot take.
A balanced life, where no area is neglected.

The Christian life is a life that has all the richness that is multifaceted and our growth has to be in all these different aspects.
Personal Soundness: there is an inner strength that has come from all these other qualities, so it bears up under the weight of responsibility, qualities of courage – the capacity to do what is right when threatened by something that is negative, pain, danger. Initiative, most of all emotional initiative, reach out with empathy, kindness, sympathy, loyalty and so on. Industry, diligent in our disciplines. And perseverance.