We dream of a day when every person at New North Church encounters Jesus through commitment to daily time with Jesus, weekly gathering for corporate worship and in community and monthly focus on a spiritual practice. Starting November 2022, join us as we practice spiritual disciplines that draw us closer to Christ.
CELEBRATION: October 2023
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ENCOUNTER JESUS
CONSIDER THOROUGHLY
Matthew 6:5-13
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Philippians 5:6-7
1 John 5:14-15
James 5:16
Ephesians 6:17-18
Hebrews 4:16
PRAYER- SUNDAR KRISHNAN
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Practice
Week 1 - Listening prayer
Set aside 10 minutes (or an hour, or just 5 minutes- whatever you can get!) each day to connect with God and pay attention to what he might be trying to say to you. Go to a quiet place where you can be alone, take a deep breath or two, and simply listen. Pay attention to God. Believe that God wants to speak to you through his Holy Spirit- in fact, that he already is speaking. Consider what thoughts come to mind. Who is God putting on your heart? What is he saying to you? Don’t worry if you get distracted- just gently guide your attention back to God and his quiet voice speaking to you. Do that every day this week and see if you don’t sense God speaking to you through the Holy Spirit.
Week 2 - Praying Scripture
Scripture is full of great prayers that the people of God have prayed before us. Oftentimes it can be difficult to know what to say or how to pray. Simply praying through these passages in the Bible can be a helpful way to shape your prayer life. Feel free to add to the words of the passages or insert names of people as the Spirit leads you. There is no one formula to prayer. Consider praying Matthew 6:9-13 every day this week, and mixing in other prayers from these passages in Scripture.
Biblical Prayers Colossians 1:9-14 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 1:17-23 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 3:14-19 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
Hebrews 13:20-21 20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Week 3 - Prayer of thankfulness and adoration
The Bible says that God’s divine nature and eternal power are clearly portrayed throughout his creation (Romans 1:18-23). Often, however, in our busy days we fail to notice it or to take time to thank God for all of the ways he has blessed.
ENCOUNTER JESUS
CONSIDER THOROUGHLY
Psalm 1
Psalm 63
Psalm 119:97-104
Matthew 14:1-13
WEEKLY NEW NORTH MEDITATION VIDEOS
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Practice
Week 1 - Meditation on Scripture
Spend at least 10 minutes each day this week meditating on one or more of the Scripture passages below. More than simply studying and exegeting the passage, seek to internalize and personalize it. What is God speaking to you through this passage? Ponder it in your heart. How does this passage intersect with your life? What are your senses experiencing? What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?
1 John 3:1
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Psalm 19:14
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Matthew 4:4
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James 1:2-4
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Colossians 3:1-4
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Week 2 - Meditation on Scripture pt. 2
This week, spend at least 10 minutes a day meditating on one of the following stories from Scripture. Rather than just reading the passage as a story, try to put yourself in the story. What would you be thinking, feeling, experiencing if you were there? Who would you be in the story? How is God speaking to you through the story?
Luke 2:1-20
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Mark 11:1-11
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1 Samuel 17
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Genesis 12:1-9
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Matthew 28:1-10
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Week 3 - Meditation on Creation
Just as a great painting tells you something about the person who painted it, so God’s creation reflects his glory, power, and beauty powerfully. This week, try to spend at least 10 minutes a day meditating on nature around you. This could mean going to the beach or the park, or simply looking at plants in your yard or in your home. What do you notice about this part of God’s creation? What might it reveal to you about God’s character? As you engage it with all five of your senses, what do you notice that maybe you’ve overlooked before? What does this bit of the created order tell you about the Creator? How does that affect you?
Week 4 - Meditate on Events of Our Time and Lives
Perhaps the most difficult type of Christian meditation, but important nonetheless. Meditating on the events of our time and lives is not an opportunity to ruminate on everything going on in our lives- rather it is an opportunity to invite God into what we are seeing and experiencing, and ask him how to interpret it. Consider the state of current events, doing your best to avoid slanted political agendas. What is happening? How does God feel about it? Why would God allow it? What is God up to? How can these events be part of redemptive history? How might God want to use you to be salt and light in the midst of these events? Similarly, look at what is going on in your own life. How is God at work? What might he be doing in you and through you? Why has he put you in the situations and places you are currently in? How does your life and experience as it currently sits fit into the larger story of God’s redemption of the world?
ENCOUNTER JESUS
Christian fasting is voluntarily going without food (or some other gift of God), for a spiritual purpose. Fasting has been practiced by Christians throughout the centuries, and Jesus himself fasted. It is meant to focus your spiritual attention on Jesus, humble you by remembering your reliance on him, and help train you to not allow your cravings to enslave you. Christian fasting is not done for physical reasons, but for a specific spiritual purpose, and often God speaks to those fasting in unique ways.
CONSIDER THOROUGHLY
Luke 4:1-13
Matthew 6:16-18
John 4:31-34
Ezra 8:21-23
Acts 13:2-3
WHY DO CHRISTIANS FAST BY JOHN PIPER
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Practice
Note:
Below is a plan to fast from food for increasing amounts of time this month. Fasting from food is the biblical norm for fasting and has great spiritual blessing in it, and, for most, is perfectly healthy physically. However, some may have physical or medical conditions that make fasting from food dangerous or impossible. If that is you, rather than fasting from food, instead fast from some other physical craving for a spiritual purpose. You could fast from technology, sex, or some other kind of regular enjoyment that would make you to enjoy Jesus more fully.
Week 1 - Fast for one meal
When it comes to fasting, it is best to learn to walk before you run. Begin the practice of fasting this week by skipping one meal (usually lunch one day is best). You can just drink water, or if you need to, drink fruit and/or vegetable juice. When your body and your brain remind you that you are hungry, spend some time in prayer. When you would normally eat lunch, instead take that time to pray and seek the Lord. Remember that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Week 2 - Fast for 24 hours
This week, you can either continue to fast for one meal, or can begin fasting for 24 hours. This means you will skip 2 meals. Plan out your fast before hand. What spiritual purpose is the reason for your fast? How will you seek the Lord while you fast?
Week 3 - Fast again for 24 hours
Notice how your fasts have changed. What is different this time as compared to the first two times? Is it easier or harder? How is God speaking to you? Don’t forget to identify a spiritual purpose for your fasting.
Week 4 - Fast for 36 hours
You can continue a 24 hour fast, or move up to a 36 hour fast. This means you would skip 3 meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner one day, and then break your fast at breakfast the following day). What purpose does God have for you to fast? How does he speak to you differently throughout the day? Is your spiritual attention sharpened by the fast?
ENCOUNTER JESUS
Christian fasting is voluntarily going without food (or some other gift of God), for a spiritual purpose. Fasting has been practiced by Christians throughout the centuries, and Jesus himself fasted. It is meant to focus your spiritual attention on Jesus, humble you by remembering your reliance on him, and help train you to not allow your cravings to enslave you. Christian fasting is not done for physical reasons, but for a specific spiritual purpose, and often God speaks to those fasting in unique ways.
CONSIDER THOROUGHLY
Wait for it.
WAIT FOR IT
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Practice
Week 1 - Read the Gospel of Mark
Have you ever read straight through a book of the Bible? This week, start on page one of the gospel of Mark and simply start reading. Pick up where you left off the next day. The book is 16 chapters long so if you read about 3 chapters a day, you’ll get through it with a couple days to spare. As you read, notice the flow of the book, the themes that keep coming up, and what is going on. Don’t simply read it to get through it, but really read it to study it – like you would a book in school. What is the author trying to communicate?
Week 2 - Read Colossians every day
This week, try reading through a shorter book like the book of Colossians one time each day. Repetition is an important part of study. Notice what jumps out to you? What is the author saying? What is the flow of the argument? What sticks out to you? And what do you notice later in the week that you didn’t notice the first couple times reading it through?
Week 3 - Focus on a particular passage
Set aside 15 minutes each day this week to focus on a particular passage. Read it over and over again. What is it saying? How is it constructed? What is the flow of the argument like? Focus on any passage you want, but consider some of the following:
Romans 8:1-17
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James 1:2-18
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Romans 11:33-36
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Matthew 6:25-34
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John 3:1-21
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Week 4 - Repeat on of the previous weeks
Pick one of the habits from the previous three weeks and repeat it. You could read through a book of the Bible (try John, or 1 Corinthians). You could read through a shorter book every day (try Galatians or Ephesians). Or you can focus on particular passages (try Galatians 2:19-21; Psalm 1; 1 Peter 1:3-12; Matthew 27:32-56).