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What is Forming You? – At the Threshold · Still, Here

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is still here, a quiet moment to remember what is true.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to these words from the book of Galatians chapter 4 verse 19.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: We are being formed all the time.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: We change and grow every day.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: The deeper questions are what are we changing into and who or what is informing that change.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Attention forms us.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Repeated thoughts form us.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Relationships, loss and success form us.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: The voices we trust,
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: the stories we absorb,
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: The environments we inhabit and the technologies we use all exert pressure on
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: the person we are becoming.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Formation does not wait for us to become intentional about it.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: When we are passive we are more vulnerable to whatever forces are strong enough
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: to hold our attention.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Paul gives us another possibility.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: He speaks of Christ being formed in us.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: That formation is already God's work.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit has been present through everything we explored in the Love Beyond Measure series.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: God has been strengthening,
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: renewing, revealing, joining, healing, and teaches us to live from love.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Intentional spiritual formation does not mean taking that work away from God
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: and becoming responsible for constructing a better self.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: It means becoming attentive to what God is developing and learning how to participate with Him.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: We begin asking different questions.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: What has my attention right now?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of person is this habit making me?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: What fear keeps shaping the way I see?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Where do I sense more life, truth, love, courage, and freedom?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: What is the Spirit asking me to release?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: What might God be making possible that I have been too afraid or distracted to see?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Those questions move us from passive formation toward intentional formation.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that is where the future begins to change.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The future is not merely something waiting somewhere ahead of you.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Part of it is already taking shape in the person you are becoming today.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot control everything that will happen around you.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: But you do have agency in what you give your attention to,
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: what you practice,
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: what voices you allow to define reality, how available you remain to the Spirit.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: God is not standing at a distance waiting to see whether you manage the future correctly.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: He is working within you now.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: He will be present in possibilities you cannot yet see.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: He will keep turning the compass toward life in Him.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: You do not have to be certain about the future to become confident in what is coming.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can become intentional about what is forming you.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Next, we begin the formed future.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: We will not begin by trying to predict what comes next We will begin with the person
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: who will meet that future.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Take a moment for this prayer of presence.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Christ Jesus, you are already forming me from within.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: I do not want to give my life passively to every voice,
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: fear, habit or pressure that competes for my attention.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Make me aware of what is shaping me.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Teach me to participate willingly with the work of your Spirit.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Form in me a life that can meet the future with love, courage, wisdom, and freedom.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: As you step back into the rhythm of your day, carry this prayer with you.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Christ is forming me.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I offer my future to God.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Christ is forming me.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: I offer my future to God.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Christ is forming me.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: I offer my future to God.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you would like to go deeper,
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: The written reflections and other resources are available at powerloveandmiracles.com.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay steady, stay open, stay present.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: You are still here.