1. What is the great priority and purpose of man? Man’s great priority and purpose is to love God with his entire being: heart, soul, mind and strength (Mk 12:29-30). 2. Why is this man’s great priority and purpose? Loving with the entire being is worship: expressing the worth and value due to God (Ps… Continue Reading
8. Can we love anything or anyone besides God? Ultimate love for God demands that we love all that God loves, for His sake (Matthew 10:37). 9. How can we love people or things for God’s sake? First, we can love what reflect and reveals the Creator (James 3:9, Ps 19:1, Jas 1:17). Second, we can… Continue Reading
15. How does the Father magnify God’s beauty? The Father magnifies the glory of God as Beholder, by delighting in it and declaring its uniqueness to all (Is 42:1, Mt 3:17, 17:5). 16. How does the Son magnify God’s beauty? The Son magnifies the glory of God as Beauty, by expressing it and displaying its… Continue Reading
23. How does God accomplish this love in us? God sheds His love abroad in our hearts by work of grace: changing our natures to love His glory, changing our exposure to His glory in His presence, and by changing those nurturing influences in our lives that will shape our love for Him. (Deut 30:6,… Continue Reading
29. What has the Father done to enable us to abide in God’s presence? The Father lovingly chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4-6; 1 Pet 1:2), and so will never condemn us (Ro 8:34) or forsake us (Heb 13:5; Jo 10:27-29), but has adopted us into His family (Eph… Continue Reading
33. What is meant by communing with God? Communing with God is beholding of the glory of the Triune God, directly and indirectly, in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 3:18-4:4) as the Holy Spirit illuminates our imagination with truth, resulting in a desire to bless and magnify that glory, and become more like… Continue Reading
39. What is meant by imagination? Imagination is that faculty which interprets and construes reality, and enables us to understand both what is seen and unseen. 40. How are we to behold God in His revealed and reflected presence? We are to gaze persistently (Lk 11:5-13, 18:1-8) and deliberately upon His Word and works, diligently… Continue Reading
46. What is meant by confession? Confession is the agreement of the mind and heart with God’s conviction (1 John 1:9). The mind agrees with the sinfulness of the sin, and accepts the guilt of it (Ps 51:3-4). The heart agrees it has loved what God hates and hated what God loves, and sorrowfully revolts… Continue Reading
52. What is meant by consecration? Consecration is dedicating something to the holy glory of God. 53. What are we to consecrate to God? Whatever cannot be loved for God’s sake should not be loved at all; whatever can be loved for God’s sake should be consecrated to Him (Phil 4:8). 54. How are we… Continue Reading
60. What is the Spirit’s work in this cycle also known as? Grace: He grants the grace of conviction, the grace of cleansing, the grace of conformity, and the grace of illumination (Phil 2:13). 61. How is this grace received and the cycle maintained? Grace is always received through faith (Eph 2:8) – the faith… Continue Reading
67. How is faith nurtured? Faith is nurtured through the grace-enabled practice of the spiritual disciplines (2 Pet 1:5-7). 68. What is spiritual discipline? Spiritual discipline is imposing order upon disorder to nurture communion with God (2 Tim 3:3-6). 69. What is the first purpose of the spiritual disciplines? The first purpose of the spiritual… Continue Reading
76. What disciplines will nurture faith and maintain abiding in God’s presence? We must embrace disciplines of private worship, public worship, and perpetual worship. 77. What are the disciplines of private worship? The disciplines of private worship are meditation, private prayer, and memorization, which seek to behold reflect and magnify God’s glory in solitude (Mt… Continue Reading
84. What are the disciplines of public worship? The disciplines of public worship are recognition, service, discipleship, and corporate worship, which seek to behold, reflect and magnify God’s glory in the society of others. 85. What does the discipline of recognition entail? Recognition is repeatedly submitting to the biblical view of our neighbor as a… Continue Reading
91. What are the disciplines of perpetual worship? The disciplines of perpetual worship are gratitude, discernment, fasting , and stewardship, which seek to behold, reflect, and magnify God’s glory in His works of creation, redemption and providence. 92. What does the discipline of gratitude entail? Gratitude is receiving all that is good and lawful in… Continue Reading
97. What is our ultimate hope? Our ultimate hope is to see God’s glory in His realized presence (Rev 21:2-3, 22:4; Joh 17:21-26), where we will behold His beauty forever (Ps 27:4, 23:6). 98. How will we commune with God in His realized presence? We will behold Him without the curse of corrupt bodies and partially… Continue Reading