Faithin Omaha eBook Collection

Download or read book Kindling Delight in God written by Nathan Edwards author and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this project is to discover effective ministry methods for cooperating with the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of followers of Jesus to nurture stronger affections of love, delight, and desire for God. The theological basis of the project is built from Old and New Testament passages that describe the role of these affections, especially the meaning of biblical words for love. Jonathan Edwards’s Religious Affections and the theological history around the theme of affections leading up to Edwards provide the key literature. More recent spiritual formation literature regarding affections and spiritual disciplines is considered in light of Edwards’s legacy. The project was conducted with ten participants around a series of eight meetings, utilizing a combination of biblically-based teaching curriculum and practical experiences of spiritual disciplines. Data was collected through individual opening and closing interviews, group discussions, and written responses from participants at the end and weekly throughout the study. Some adjustments were made for the COVID-19 health crisis. Meditating on God’s creation and candid spiritual conversations between followers of Jesus were identified as the two most consistently effective disciplines for nurturing spiritual affection. Other disciplines, including scripture memorization and lectio divina, had a mixed reception from different participants. Participant responses highlight the importance of building the believer’s affection for God on God’s love for the believer and of finding expressions of adoration appropriate to the believer. Some suggestions are made for implementing spiritual disciplines in the researcher’s congregation.