[SOLVED] Quick writing prompts

I’m trying to study for my Psychology course and I need some help to understand this question.

Write one original response to each of the prompts. Use headings (dev. 1, dev, 2, etc.) Each response should be 100-150 words). This does not need to written in APA format. No cover page, no reference page

Dev. 1

The following is an excerpt from Richard Foster’s book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home:

Today the heart of God is an open wound of love. He aches over our distance and preoccupation. He mourns that we do not draw near to Him. He grieves that we have forgotten Him. He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness. He longs for our presence.

He is inviting us to come home to where we belong, to come home to that for which we are created. His arms are stretched out wide to receive us. His heart is enlarged to take us in.

For too long we have been in a far country; a country of noise and hurry and crowds, a country of climb, push, and shove, a country consumed by technology, a country of frustration, fear, and intimidation. And He welcomes us home: home to serenity and peace and joy, home to friendship and fellowship and openness, home to intimacy and acceptance and affirmation.

The key to this home, this heart of God, is prayer. And if the key is prayer, the door is Jesus Christ. How good of God to provide us a way into His heart. He knows that we are stiff-necked and hard-hearted, so He has provided a means of entrance. Jesus, the Christ, lived a perfect life, died in our place, and rose victorious over all the dark powers so that we might live through Him.

We may enter through the door of God’s grace and mercy in Jesus Christ.

Dear Heavenly Father, I am so grateful for Your invitation to enter Your heart of love. As best I can I come in. Thank you for receiving me. Amen.

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Dev. 2

The following is an excerpt from Richard Foster’s Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home:

“Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.” St. John Vianney

How very strange that the Prayer of Examen has been lost to we who live in an age of obsessive introspection. It is actually possible for people today to go to church services unit in and unit out for years without having a single experience of spiritual examen. What a tragedy! What a loss! No wonder people are weak. No wonder they are barely hanging on.

How much richer and fuller is the biblical witness. The Psalmist declares, “Yahweh, you examine me and know me” (Ps 139:1). King David witnesses, ‘The LORD searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought” (1 Chronicles 28: 9). Paul reminds us that “the Spirit searches everything even the depths of God” (1 Cor 2:30). These folks of faith knew the examen of God, and they experienced it not as a dreadful thing but as something of immeasurable strength and empowerment.

So what is this prayer of examen? It has two basic aspects:

• Examen of Consciousness through which we discover how God has been present to us throughout the day and how we responded to His loving presence. It is the means God uses to make us more aware of our surroundings. He invites us to see and to hear what is around us, and, through it all, to discern the footprints of the Holy.

2.In the Examen of Conscience we are inviting the Lord to search our hearts to the depths. Far from being dreadful, this is a scrutiny of love. We boldly speak the words of the Psalmist, “ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps 139: 23-24).

Precious Savior, why do I fear Your scrutiny? Yours is an examen of love. Still I am afraid…afraid of what may surface. Even so I invite You to search me to the depths so that I may know myself and You in fuller measure.” Amen.

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Dev 3

The following is an excerpt from Richard Foster’s Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home.

As difficult as the time of struggle is, we must not despise it or try to avoid it. It is an essential part of our growing and deepening in things spiritual. In time we begin to enter into a grace-filled releasing of our will and a flowing into the will of the Father. It is the Prayer of Relinquishment that moves us from the struggling to the releasing…releasing with hope. Even when all we see are the tangled threads on the backside of life’s tapestry, we know that God is good and out to do us good always.

Oh Lord, how do I let go when I am so unsure of things? I’m unsure of Your will, and I’m unsure of myself…That really isn’t the problem at all, is it? The truth is I hate the very idea of letting go. I really want to be in control. I’m afraid to give up control, afraid of what might happen. Heal my fear, Lord. How good of you to reveal my blind spots even in the midst of my stumbling attempts to pray. Thank you! But now what do I do? How do I give up control? Jesus, please teach me Your way of relinquishment. Amen.

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Dev. 4

Speaking Truth

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. (Ephesians 4:25 ESV)

“Truth” is a dying word in our contemporary vocabulary. Truth ceases to exist in a world that claims multiple truths even when they contradict. Yet we find in this verse and throughout the Bible the mandate to speak and live truth in our lives. Jesus himself claimed to embody truth (John 14:6).

Counselors are often called upon to speak truth into the lives of others. This does not mean that we are condescending or aggressive in this but it does mean that we create an atmosphere of discomfort as we help clients see themselves honestly. Yet it is all too easy to be concerned about truth in another’s life while forgetting to be honest with ourselves.

How can you be honest with yourself today? How can God speak truth into your own life and create the atmosphere of discomfort and change?