Scripture Support:

• Deuteronomy 6:4-9 → [4] “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. [6] And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. [7] You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. [8] You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. [9] You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (ESV)
• Joshua 1:8–9 → [8] This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. [9] Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (ESV)
• John 8:31–32 → [31] So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, [32] and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (ESV)
• John 20:30–31 → [30] Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; [31] but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (ESV)
• 2 Timothy 2:14–15 → [14] Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. [15] Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (ESV)
• 2 Timothy 3:14–17 → [14] But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [15] and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (ESV)

Online:
SEEING GOD: Daily Bible Reading Plans The Bible is one of the primary resources when it comes to knowing and understanding the heart and will of God, as well as the restorative love story of His Son Jesus.

Books:
The Bible Recap: A 1-Year Guide to Reading and Understanding the Entire Bible → Tara Leigh Cobble 

Quotes:

• A. W. Tozer (The Pursuit of God) -- "The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts"
• David Mathis -- "Don’t let the push to check boxes keep you from lingering over a text, whether to seek to understand it (‘study’) or to emotionally glory in what you understand (‘meditation’)"
• Tim Keller -- "God’s way is perfect and his Word is flawless. A perfect God could have nothing less than perfect communication with his people. It is we who read hastily, skip prayer, and fail to meditate on his Word, who find it confusing"

Scripture Support:

• Psalm 46:10 → Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth. (AMP)
• Psalm 62:5 → For God alone my soul waits in silence and quietly submits to Him, for my hope is from Him (AMP)
• Matthew 6:6 → [6] But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (ESV)
• Luke 5:15-16 → [15] But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. [16] But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. (ESV)
• Mark 6:30-31 → [30] The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. [31] And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. (ESV)

Practice Reflection:

1. What questions do you have about the practice of silence and/or solitude?
2. Are you growing in understanding of fasting and assessing motive along the way?
3. Are you experimenting with silence & solitude?
4. What are your biggest obstacles while practicing?
5. How has the practice of silence/solitude helped your pursuit of Jesus?

Podcasts:

• PRAYING LIKE MONKS LIVING LIKE FOOLS PODCAST: Be Still and Know (prayer posture)

Prayer doesn’t begin with speaking but with listening.  Most of us, though, were taught a way of prayer that’s more monologue than dialogue, and most of us live in a hurried world that makes stillness nearly impossible.  So how do we quiet our lives and tune our ears to God? And what happens when we do?

• JOHN MARK COMER TEACHING PODCAST: The Power of Quiet in a World of Noise

What if the greatest threat to faith today is not hedonism, but distraction? John Mark discusses the importance of making time for silence and solitude in our rule of life, and the benefits of quiet in our spiritual walk: helping us accept reality, experiencing God’s love, yielding to God’s will, hearing God’s voice, and ultimately becoming people of love.

• FREELY AND LIGHTLY PODCAST: The Power of Silence pt 1

Keeping company with Jesus and hearing from God can be difficult because of the “noise” and distraction readily found in daily life, or the challenge of not knowing where to begin. Yet the practice of silence can be equally difficult and very uncomfortable. Join Mark and David as they share their experiences of learning to practice silence, and offer practical encouragement for how to begin to incorporate this practice into your life.

Online:

• PRACTICING THE WAY -- Silence and Solitude 

Quotes:

• Henri Nouwen (The Way of the Heart) -- "In solitude, I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephone calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me—naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken—nothing. It is this nothingness that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me wants to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something. But that is not all. As soon as I decide to stay in my solitude, confusing ideas, disturbing images, wild fantasies, and weird associations jump around in my mind like monkeys in a banana tree. Anger and greed begin to show their ugly faces. I give long, hostile speeches to my enemies and dream lustful dreams in which I am wealthy, influential, and very attractive—or poor, ugly, and in need of immediate consolation. Thus I try again to run from the dark abyss of my nothingness and restore my false self in all its vainglory. The task is to stay in my solitude, to stay in my cell until all my seductive visitors get tired of pounding on my door and leave me alone.”
• Ronald Rolheiser (The Holy Longing) → “Today, a number of historical circumstances are blindly flowing together and accidentally conspiring to produce a climate within which it is difficult not just to think about God or to pray, but simply to have any interior depth whatsoever…. We, for every kind of reason, good and bad, are distracting ourselves into spiritual oblivion. It is not that we have anything against God, depth, and spirit, we would like these, it is just that we are habitually too preoccupied to have any of these show up on our radar screens. We are more busy than bad, more distracted than nonspiritual, and more interested in the movie theater, the sports stadium, and the shopping mall and the fantasy life they produce in us than we are in church. Pathological busyness, distraction, and restlessness are major blocks today within our spiritual lives.”

Scripture Support:

• Joel 1:13-14 → [13] Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar.  Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God!  Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.  [14] Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly.  Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. (ESV)
• Joel 2:12-13  → [12] “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; [13] and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. (ESV)
• Isaiah 58:6-7 → [6] “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? [7] Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? (ESV)
• Matthew 6:16–18 → [16] “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. [17] But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, [18] that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (ESV)
• Matthew 9:14-17 → [14] Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” [15] And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. [16] No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. [17] Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” (ESV)
• Luke 18:9-14 → [9] He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: [10] “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11] The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. [12] I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ [13] But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ [14] I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (ESV)
• Acts 13:3 → [3] Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. (ESV)
• Acts 14:23 → [23] And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. (ESV)

Practice Reflection:

1. What questions do you have about fasting?
2. Are you growing in understanding of fasting and assessing motive along the way?
3. Are you experimenting with fasting?
4. What are your biggest obstacles while practicing?
5. How has the practice of fasting helped your pursuit of Jesus?

Podcasts:

• JOHN MARK COMER: Offering / Fasting pt 1

Why should we fast? John Mark outlines the history of fasting in the Christian tradition, and argues that we don't fast to bio-hack our way to holiness, but rather to expose our weakness where God meets us

• JOHN MARK COMER: Holiness / Fasting pt 2

How can we overcome sin when our willpower isn't enough? John Mark talks about how fasting is one way to help us grow in self-control, and the ripple effect that can have throughout our whole lives

• JOHN MARK COMER: Amplify Prayers / Fasting pt 3 

Do you ever feel like your prayers aren't heard? In a world where we often feel disconnected from God's voice, fasting can be a powerful tool to hear and be heard by Heaven. John Mark explores the interplay between prayer and fasting, uncovering how these two ancient practices flow together and compliment the work of transformation in our lives

Online:

• THE GOSPEL COALITION: Fasting Isn’t for the Spiritually Elite…It’s for the Hurting 
• CS LEWIS INSTITUTE: The Placing of Fasting in the Christian Life 

Books:

• Hunger For God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer → John Piper
• Fasting Scot McKnight → Scot McKnight

Teachings::

• Matt Chandler (Practicing the Presence series): Feasting While Fasting (2019)

Quotes:

• Elmer Towns (Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough) → "If you are serious enough to take up the discipline of fasting, you can expect resistance, interference and opposition. Plan for it, insofar as you are able. Do not be caught unawares. Remember that you are attempting to advance in your spiritual journey and to gain ground for the Kingdom. That necessitates taking ground away from the enemy - and no great movement of the Holy Spirit goes unchallenged by the enemy”
• Donald Whitney (Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life) → “Fasting does not ensure the certainty of receiving clear guidance from God. Rightly practiced, however, it does make us more receptive to the One who loves to guide us" 
• Dallas Willard (The Spirit of the Disciplines) → "Actually fasting is one of the more important ways of practicing that self-denial required of everyone who would follow Christ (Matt. 16:24). In fasting, we learn how to suffer happily as we feast on God" 
• John Piper (Hunger For God) → "Christian fasting is a test to see what desires control us. Fasting reveals the measure of food’s mastery over us – or television or computers or whatever we submit to again and again to conceal the weakness of our hunger for God. A real lived-out human act of preference for God over His gifts is the actual lived-out glorification of God’s excellence for which He created the world. Fasting is not the only way, or the main way, that we glorify God in preferring Him above His gifts. But it is one way”
• Richard Foster (Celebration of Discipline) → "Fasting must forever center on God. More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us."

The following sampling of devotions from the YouVersion Bible app, are intended to help you (and your family) begin practicing the rhythm of ABIDING in Jesus:

https://northstarpulaski.org/abiding

Scripture Support:

• Luke 10:25-37 → 25 Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, ‘Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 26 ‘What is written in the law?’ he asked him. ‘How do you read it?’ 27 He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.’  28 ‘You’ve answered correctly,’ he told him. ‘Do this and you will live.’  29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’  30 Jesus took up the question and said, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. 34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’ 36 ‘Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’  37 ‘The one who showed mercy to him,’ he said.  Then Jesus told him, ‘Go and do the same.’”

WK2 Study Guide

Practice Reflection:

1. What if you read this parable as you laying there helpless on the side of the road?
2. Do you pray for the proper motive…to live & love as a beacon for the love and grace of Jesus?
3. When is the last time you have taken a risk to extend selfless love out of obedience?
4. Are you willing to pray for practical & intentional ways to extend compassion to someone?

Podcasts:

• TAMPA UNDERGROUND: Catalyst Talks

Lucas Pulley addresses two connected ideas that emerge from the two scenes or parts of the Good Samaritan.   The first scene exposes a common, maybe even universal tendency to interpret life through the lens of the self. And secondly, the story that Jesus offers shows (partly at least) how the poor can expose our inner life hypocrisy better than almost anything else can.

Quotes:

• Tim Keller -- Not everyone is your brother or sister in the faith, but everyone is your neighbor, and you must love your neighbor
• CS Lewis -- Do not waste time bothering whether ‘you’ love your neighbor; act as if you did
• Jefferson Bethke -- Love others so radically that they wonder why

The following sampling of devotions from the YouVersion Bible app, are intended to help you (and your family) begin practicing the rhythm of LOVING God and one another well:

​https://northstarpulaski.org/loving​​​