Category: questions

Quest: To Go on a Journey to Find Something


Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; 
knock and the door will be opened to you. 
(Matthew 7:7 NIV)


Did you ever notice that the word question has quest in it? Ever since, my friend, Lynni, pointed this out, I have approached questions with a whole new zeal. I love journeys, adventures and quests. Especially quests that involve words. My favorite kind of quest is searching a trail through the dictionary. I start out looking for the definition of one word, and that leads to another and then another and another. Sometimes, I even get sidetracked by a word that I wasn’t even looking for!

Questions lead us in a quest for deeper knowledge and deeper intimacy with Christ. Asking questions helps to sort out what we believe, and searching for the answers prepares us to give a reason for our hope.

In 30 Ways to Wake Up Your Quiet Time, Pam Farrel invites us to ask all kinds of questions during our quiet times with the expectation that the Holy Spirit will lead us to the answers. She advises:

Spend a quiet time writing out a list of theological questions that you’d love to know the answer to. Which doctrines do you need to learn more about: eschatology (end times), the person of Christ, the Holy Spirit, baptism, sin or sanctification? 

After you’ve written a list…go to a Christian bookstore to buy a book that will help you study…try asking your pastor what theology books he or she had to read in seminary or Bible college. 

Think of questions  people who don’t know Jesus ask. Make a list and research biblical responses…For example, I have answers to questions like: Why should I wait until marriage for sex? Why should I believe the Bible? What makes Jesus so special? What happens to people who don’t accept Jesus? What is heaven like? What is hell like? What does God have to say that will help me be a better parent?

Ask other believers: Why do you still believe, and what has held your faith together all these years? Listen for commonalities. 

©Pam Farrel from 30 Ways to Wake Up Your Quiet Time (IVP). For more devotional books by Pam http://www.Love-wise.com

What question is burning in your heart today?


To find all the posts for 31 Days of Quiet, click here.
Posted on by kelrohlf 3

Thrilling Guest Thursday: Tracy Flori

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way ; walk in it.”
(Isaiah 30:21 NIV)

Please welcome my friend, Tracy Flori. Her devotion to Jesus marks every aspect of her life. In our conversations, I experience God’s quiet confidence, wisdom and love flowing through her. She is a gifted listener and asks powerful questions.

As we spend time contemplating new ways to encounter God in our quiet moments each day, I encourage you to ask questions. I challenge you to take Tracy’s questions to heart and see how your answers may lead you into new adventures with God.


Here’s Tracy!















Curiosity and Intuition: Friend or Foe?

How curious are you? What level of comfort do you have with gut feelings?

Imagine the adventures that might open up for you by embracing curiosity and intuition in your relationships and your world.

What do curiosity and intuition look like?

Curiosity is an eager desire to learn by calling attention to what might be. Intuition is an immediate knowing without the connection to reason or logic. It is a hunch, a quick insight, a gut feeling.

Curiosity and intuition foster openness, learning and growth in relationships. It believes there is something worth discovering in another person or experience.

What might be the hesitancy?

For some, this comes more naturally than for others. Some of us are born with an innately curious nature and a driving desire to test the hunch we often have, while others are more comfortable with the obvious and observable.

For myself, as a Christian coach, experiencing intuition and curiosity in the coaching process brings freedom for me to be willing to let go of what I think I know in order to join the Holy Spirit and client on a journey of exploration. There is excitement in embracing the idea of not knowing and trusting in the One who does.

How did Jesus use curious questions?

Jesus often asked powerful questions that invited his followers to test their beliefs and search for meaning and truth. He asked, “Who do the people say that the Son of Man is?” This question elicited discussion and exploration of common views and possibilities.

But the next question, “Who do you say I am?” was a marvelous question that allowed his disciples the opportunity to explore what drove them to be his followers, what they truly believed about him and what they were willing to sacrifice.


Can curiosity and intuition be increased through practice with amazing results? Absolutely!

Ask yourself the following…

What makes you curious?
What captures your attention?
How likely is it that you will pursue a hunch?
What holds you back?

Exploring and practicing this approach to life and relationships will open new opportunities to you.

What steps will you take today 
to develop curiosity and intuition?

2012 Copyright. All Rights Reserved. Tracy Flori.

Tracy Flori is a professional coach, speaker and trainer. She is the founder of TrueWay LLC, (truewaycoaching.com) a life and leadership coaching organization. Tracy is professionally trained to administer and debrief various behavioral temperament and emotional intelligence assessments. Her passion is equipping leaders, teams and families with understanding and skills to advance their lives.

She can be reached by emailing, tracy@truewaycoaching.com.

Please visit Tracy at her newly launched website, which is chock full of inspiration and free resources to advance your life, your family and your walk with God.

Feel free to leave Tracy your comments here today.

Posted on by kelrohlf 3

Room: Opportunity or Scope for Something

 
 
Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
    You gave me room when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.
(Psalm 4:1 NRSV)
 
 
The more I think about prayer, the more questions surface in my heart. What is the purpose of prayer? Is prayer something to practice or is it practicing the presence of God? Does prayer change things or does it change me?
In reading Psalm 4 today, the opening verse sheds some light on my quandary. God can be trusted to bring about right in my life. He listens. He answers. He enlarges my perspective when I am in distress. Just being in His presence is grace. When I make prayer more than an entrance into His presence, I lose sight of the purpose of prayer—communion.
God makes room for me. He invites me to empty myself, to recognize my nothingness in light of His all-ness. He offers me various opportunities to express my love to Him. The capacity of God staggers me. And His very being thrills me like a spacious room. To be empty is to make space for God’s fullness.
 
Here’s an emptying prayer from early church history:
Sever me from myself that I may be grateful to you;
may I perish to myself that I may be safe in you;
may I die to myself that I may live in you;
may I wither to myself that I may blossom in you;
may I be emptied of myself that I may abound in you;
may I be nothing to myself that I may be all to you.
                                             (Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536)
 
What is the purpose of prayer in your life?
 
Posted on by kelrohlf 15

Fortunate: Receiving Some Unexpected Good


When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, 
we were like those who dream. 
(Psalm 126:1 ESV)

“The privilege you are experiencing as a writer . . . is
something very different: It is the privilege of the lone 
individual fortunate enough and 
brave enough to follow her dream.”
(Eric Maisel, A Writer’s Paris: A Guided Journey for the Creative Soul)



To pursue one’s dream without doubt or fear would be very fortunate. And I used to believe it was a possibility. But two messengers of God at the recent dreamer’s retreat, spoke the truth in love. Shelly Miller told us that self-doubt is a tool, often posed as a question from God. 

And Lisa-Jo Baker asserted that fear is a constant shadow near your dream, which usually looms even larger trying to suffocate the dream just as its pushes its way into reality.  Her exact words were something like this:



“There is no cure for fear . . .Fear will come

 alongside your dream, but fear does not 

disqualify our dreams. Fear is inevitable and 

loud, but it’s a liar.”



Even as I try to absorb these truths, the fear and the self-doubt crowd in. Will I answer their questions? Will I courageously look fear in the eye and call it liar?

It’s easy to let every day life obscure my dream, but the more I live the more I believe that the mundane things are crucial to the dreamer’s life. This morning I woke up ready to sit with God and contemplate His intentions for my life. And I couldn’t sit still. I puttered in the kitchen. I sorted the laundry. 

And finally, I put on my running shoes to burn off some nervous energy. Usually I run in silence, but today I scrolled through the music on my phone, and this album by Corrine Bailey Rae caught my eye, so I pushed the play button and started out for the run. I ran my heart out to the refrain of The Blackest Lily (although when I checked the lyrics later, they were totally different than what I heard), so maybe the refrain I heard was really what I needed to hear. I heard, “The cry of my heart, the cry of my heart, I wanted more than I ever knew.”

(The actual lyrics are “Color my heart, color my  heart, make it restart, make it restart, color my heart, I want it more than I ever knew.”)

So often I have lived my life satisfied with crumbs, but today I cried out to God, “I wanted more than I ever knew.” I want all of Jesus, not just the flesh and the blood; the bread and the wine. I want His heart, soul and mind, too! I want His freedom, His creativity, His wisdom, His compassion, His forgiveness, His delight in every little thing. 

I want to be more and more like Jesus. How about you? Are you struggling with self-doubt or fear? Do you believe God wants to restore your spiritual fortunes? To make you more like Jesus?
Posted on by kelrohlf 10