INTRODUCTION

Part 3) Connect: Spiritual Practices

Basic spiritual disciplines have been utilized throughout history to foster our relationship with God

Journal

• Explore your fears and what’s behind them.
• Write about a relational conflict you are experiencing.
• Recall a significant reaction, conversation, or event.
• List out all that you are grateful for.

 Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• How to journal? 
• What am I feeling?

Bible Text:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Psalm 147

¹ Praise the Lord!

  For it is good to sing praises to our God;

    for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

² The Lord builds up Jerusalem;

    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

³ He heals the brokenhearted

    and binds up their wounds.

⁴ He determines the number of the stars;

    he gives to all of them their names.

⁵ Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

    his understanding is beyond measure.

⁶ The Lord lifts up the humble;

    he casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷ Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;

    make melody to our God on the lyre!

⁸ He covers the heavens with clouds;

    he prepares rain for the earth;

    he makes grass grow on the hills.

⁹ He gives to the beasts their food,

    and to the young ravens that cry.

¹⁰ His delight is not in the strength of the horse,

    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,

¹¹ but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear

    him,

    in those who hope in his steadfast love.

¹² Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

    Praise your God, O Zion!

¹³ For he strengthens the bars of your gates;

    he blesses your children within you.

¹⁴ He makes peace in your borders;

    he fills you with the finest of the wheat.

¹⁵ He sends out his command to the earth;

    his word runs swiftly.

¹⁶ He gives snow like wool;

    he scatters frost like ashes.

¹⁷ He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;

    who can stand before his cold?

¹⁸ He sends out his word, and melts them;

    he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

¹⁹ He declares his word to Jacob,

    his statutes and rules to Israel.

²⁰ He has not dealt thus with any other nation;

    they do not know his rules.

    Praise the Lord!

Questions

1. Rejoicing and giving thanks are commanded. What does this reveal about the nature of joy and gratitude?
2. Why is it “good” and “fitting” (Ps 147:1) to praise God?
3. Write a prayer praising God for who He is and what He has done in my life.

Prayer