Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry
Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry

Author: Jeannie Oestreicher

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2009-08-30

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 0310831644

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How often have you struggled to help your students really grasp God’s love? How often have you been frustrated by their Sunday school answers when you try to draw them into the depths of God’s story? You’re not alone. Many students (and even youth workers brave enough to admit it) are experiencing emptiness, lack of passion, and a growing inability to hear from God.But there is hope. Just use your imagination...God created our imaginations. Why not harness them to encounter our creative God in brand new ways? Try it right now: Picture yourself in a boat with Jesus as the seas grow rough, as the water crashes over the bow. Notice what’s going on...notice your emotions at this critical moment. What is your sense of Jesus’ presence in the midst of the storm?The latter is just one example of the many guided exercises within the pages of Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry. You’ll find tools that can help you use imaginative prayer as a means of experiencing the God who is continually reaching out to us. Invite your students to open their imaginations (and their five senses) to God’s spirit and allow God to move and speak directly to them through the 50 imaginative prayer exercises inside. They come complete with instructions, environment suggestions, and optional debrief questions—there’s even a topical/Scripture reference index so you can find just the right exercises to suit your needs. If you want to introduce your students to the God who loves them (in a way that allows them to truly experience that love), imaginative prayer is an effective means to do so—you and your students will never be the same.

Seeing Is Believing
Seeing Is Believing

Author: Gregory A. Boyd

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 2004-04

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 080106502X

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Break out of spiritual performance into a liberating relationship with Christ. Experience the reality of Jesus through the imaginative power of prayer.

Imaginative Prayer
Imaginative Prayer

Author: Jared Patrick Boyd

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2017-07-11

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 083089229X

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How do we help our kids connect with God and experience his presence? Jared Patrick Boyd has discovered that children's spiritual formation is rooted in the imagination. This unique resource helps us guide our children through weekly sessions of imaginative prayer, providing a yearlong experience of spiritual formation.

Unlocking the Secret Garden
Unlocking the Secret Garden

Author: Jenneth Graser

Publisher:

Published: 2021-06-17

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13:

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"Imagine...you hold a key in the palm of your hand. Turning it over, observe the weight of it, the designs worn to a smooth bronze through the passage of time. You walk towards a high stone wall covered with tapestries of wisteria, virginia creeper and ferns. Under the waving foliage, you can just make out the edge of a door..." You are at the beginning of a retreat, filled with self discovery, healing, and imaginative prayer. Each of the 100 devotions in this book will take you on a journey of exploration into your secret garden within. Explore the different sections of your secret garden, and encounter God through a great variety of different styles of prayer to help you enter a more intimate and connecting spiritual space. Inspiring quotes, paintings and activations accompany you throughout the retreat. As each day unfolds, themes come to life in a garden with no containment. Allow the child in you to be present, as you experience some new ways of praying with your imagination. Hold sacred in the centre of your heart, that everything you need for your unfolding journey will become available to you, one step at a time. Hear the voice of Jesus as he calls you by name, "Come into the garden..." There has never been a time like this on the earth, and you will find this devotional to be a blessed companion of comfort, healing and stress-relief, as well as an adventure of discovery in prayer.

Busy Lives & Restless Souls
Busy Lives & Restless Souls

Author: Becky Eldredge

Publisher: Loyola Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780829444957

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2019 Best Book Awards, Finalist: Religion--Christian Inspirational If you've already figured out your life and feel totally complete, then this book may not be for you. But if you are like the rest of us, every day presents a mountain of to-do items, jobs to go to, errands to run, projects to complete, meals to cook, children to raise... You forge ahead and get it done, but you know that things aren't as they should be. Even when you check every item off your daily list, you still feel as though something meaningful and essential is missing from the very center of your life. Spiritual director and writer Becky Eldredge has felt that same longing, and she knows what people are missing--a relationship with God through prayer. In Busy Lives & Restless Souls, Eldredge interprets principles of Ignatian spirituality in a fresh way to equip us with prayer tools that are accessible and practical within the relentless realities of our daily routines. Just as important, she shows us how we can bring our relationship with God to life by becoming what St. Ignatius called "contemplatives in action." For all who sense that there is a missing peace in their lives, Busy Lives &Restless Souls will help them find it--right where they are.

What Is Ignatian Spirituality?
What Is Ignatian Spirituality?

Author: David L. Fleming

Publisher: Loyola Press

Published: 2011-09-29

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 082943092X

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Its effects are often life changing. But what exactly is it, and why do so many people embrace it? The most influential spiritual movement of the modern age is Ignatian spirituality, an approach to the spiritual life based on the insights of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatian spirituality teaches an active attentiveness to God joined with a prompt responsiveness to God, who is ever active in people’s lives. In What Is Ignatian Spirituality?,David L. Fleming, SJ, provides an authoritative yet highly accessible summary of the key elements of Ignatian spirituality, among which are contemplative prayer, discernment, and dynamic involvement in service and mission. In twenty concise chapters, Fr. Fleming explains how this centuries-old method of disciplined reflection on God’s work in the world can deepen our spiritual lives today and guide all the decisions we make. Also available in Spanish! ¿Qué es la espiritualidad ignaciana?

The Inner Chapel
The Inner Chapel

Author: Becky Eldredge

Publisher: Loyola Press

Published: 2020-04-07

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 0829449345

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2021 Illumination Book Awards, Gold Medal: Spirituality What is the “inner chapel”? The place within where God meets us. We can trust God—and we can trust in God’s promises to us, including: We are never alone. We are loved--unconditionally. We have a companion in our suffering. Each of us has a unique call. But how do we experience all that God has given us? By going to the inner chapel, that sacred place within each person where God waits to love us unconditionally. There, God gives us all we need to find our way to a life of hope instead of despair, peace instead of continued restlessness, and joy instead of anxiety. Becky Eldredge offers readers down-to-earth stories, prayer experiences to try, and enthusiastic encouragement for spiritual growth and a deeper friendship with God. The Inner Chapel will inspire individuals but also provide excellent material for small groups and people going on retreat.​

Spiritual Conversations with Children
Spiritual Conversations with Children

Author: Lacy Finn Borgo

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2020-03-10

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 0830848339

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When children have a listening companion who hears, acknowledges, and encourages their early experiences with God, it creates a spiritual footprint that shapes their lives. Lacy Finn Borgo draws on her experience of practicing spiritual direction with children as she introduces key skills for engaging kids in spiritual conversations, offering sample dialogues, prayers to use together, and ideas for play, art, and movement.

7 Ways to Pray
7 Ways to Pray

Author: Amy Boucher Pye

Publisher: SPCK

Published: 2021-09-14

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 0281084971

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For Christians, prayer is the main way we communicate with God - but what can we do when we struggle with the question of how to pray or feel our prayer lives are lacking? Seven Ways to Pray explores how by looking to ancient prayer practices of Christianity, we can find fresh ways to relate to God today. Discovering these tried and tested tools will not only strengthen our relationship with him but will bring us joy, contentment, growth and transformation. With warmth and encouragement, Amy Boucher Pye takes us through seven ways to pray to God: praying with the Bible, receiving and extending forgiveness, practicing God's presence, listening prayer, the prayer of lament, praying with the gospels imaginatively and the prayer of examen. Guiding us through their history, she shows us how easily we can make these prayer practices part of our lives and use them to grow closer to God. Along with prayer exercises to help us engage directly with God, there are questions for individual reflection or small-group discussion, making Seven Ways to Pray perfect to use as a family, in churches or with friends. This is a book for anyone who has ever wondered how to pray or is looking for ways to revitalise their prayer lives. It will give you an understanding of some of the oldest prayer practices of Christianity, and equip you with the tools you need to renew and refresh your relationship with God. Come along, and discover Seven Ways to Pray.

God Moments
God Moments

Author: Andy Otto

Publisher: Ave Maria Press

Published: 2017-04-07

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 159471648X

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Where do you seek God? Are you waiting for him to appear in a monumental, life-altering event? In God Moments, Catholic blogger Andy Otto shows you how to discover the unexpected beauty of God’s presence in the story of ordinary things and in everyday routines like preparing breakfast or walking in the woods. Drawing on the Ignatian principles of awareness, prayer, and discernment, Otto will help you discover the transforming power of God’s presence in your life and better understand your place in the world. Andy Otto found God’s presence in surprising moments during his life—when, as a Jesuit scholastic, he taught children in Jamaica and also as he discerned the call to marriage with his wife. By combining elements of Ignatian spirituality with the lessons that came from his experiences, Otto identified three practices that helped him find God in all things: Awareness—Gain an understanding that God is present in the ordinary messiness of our lives such as battle with depression or sharing in the struggle of a friend. Prayer—Develop a prayer life using Ignatian practices such as asking for a morning grace and examining how your prayer was answered at the end of the day. That way you can focus on a personal relationship with God that finds everyday physical activities such as making a meal as an opportunity to talk to him. Discernment—The more you are aware of God’s presence and draw closer to him in prayer, the better you can learn how to plug into God’s narrative of the world in a way that enables you to participate in the divine story through the use of your gifts and talents. With God Moments as a guide, you’ll have a better understanding of how to seek personal wholeness in the reality of God’s presence in the ordinary and learn to accept his invitation to participate in his transformation of the world.