The Collaboratory : A Listening Prayer Experience

This intermission between seasons 2 and 3 offers a whimsical overview of "how I got here"... beginning with the story of a young girl who always believed there was a God, but discovered there is a grand difference between believing him and knowing him. May you be entertained and encouraged as we listen together... Music by Matthew Wright www.thecollaboratorypodcast.com

In tuning your heart to the voice of the Lord and strengthening your spiritual ears, it is helpful to practice daily. I present three simple questions and a simple exchange for you to begin each day with as you become a person who is animated by the impulses of the Spirit of God... Let's Listen Together Music by Matt Wright

Have you ever felt alone? I trust the greatest lie of the enemy is the threat of alienation... that you are indeed alone. Left behind. Misunderstood. Not pursued, wanted, known. And yet what if I told you there is more to the story? What if I told you that your perception is not always your reality... Let's listen together. "God, remind me of a time you were with me and I did not know...&...

Our identity is not what we do, what we have, or what others say about us. It is WHO God says we are. The essence of what makes us unique image bearers and a gift to the world around us. It is as essential to know who we are as who we are not... thus exchanging lies we have believed about our identity for the truth of God is the very task of this episode. Find a place you can settle in... Let'...

What do we do with emotions that keep us bound? What is our recourse when fear, shame, loneliness, anger seems lodged in our bodies and isolates us from truth and love? There is a way through. From anger to peace, from shame to freedom, from isolation to love. Let's listen together. Visit thecollaboratorypodcast.com for resources and coaching. Music by Matt Wright

How do you process your emotions? Chip Dodd, in “Voice of the Heart” proposes 8 primary emotions and affirms that while they may be comfortable or uncomfortable, they are ALL good. Do you know that emotions are invitations? They have something to offer us… they reveal what we believe to be true. May we get curious as to what they have to tell us, and how they might lead us to converse with God in...

Do you know that you have a portable sanctuary of the heart? A place to retreat to and "behold the Lord" as the ancient writers invite us. Indeed, where head and heart meet is the deep and sacred place of the imagination. Join me in a thought experiment as we behold the person of peace in a place of peace. May you be encouraged. May your faith be deepened. May we meet with God. Let's...

We talk about forgiveness, but do we do it? For years, I did not know how. I did not know that true forgiveness demanded a third party. It had escaped me that only when I released people to God could I actually have any prayer of making things right with them... if I even had the opportunity or the safety to do so in person. Today I lend you my practice of releasing others in forgiveness. It is a...

This exercise in forgiveness was offered to me years ago and has served to help me release people from minor and major offenses alike. May it serve as a guided prayer meditation that would lead you to freedom and deeper intimacy with Jesus.

What is forgiveness? What is it not? In short, forgiveness is “the great exchange”… where God trades death for life, guilt for innocence, and bondage for freedom. It is the most glorious gift. We will play in the Collaboratory today with what we have understood confession, sin and forgiveness to mean... and wonder if there is a more hopeful path toward freedom. Let's listen together.... ⁠Visit...

The Question that Changes Everything We so often think that we know what we need to know. What if we don’t? What if the things on God’s heart wouldn’t even occur to us to ask about? What if open-ended, curious questions really are the best way to know a person, and the best way to know a personal God? God, what do you want me to know? Let's listen together... Visit HERE to download “Can You He...

The first episode of Season 2 offers a tool for coming to the present moment in order to connect with God. We start with a breath exercise coupled with sensory awareness, then practice a body scan culminate with and visualizing God at the center of the heart. May you sense God's presence within you as you listen to the voice of Love.

Season Two, the "Toolkit" is about to begin... the pre-lab gives you a taste of the next leg of our journey. I cannot wait to continue... let's listen together. Visit thecollaboratorypodcast.com for details and resources. Music by Matt Wright

In this final episode of season one, we discuss the fact that we are storied people. We are formed by the stories where are told, and by the stories we tell. The question is, whose voice is shaping you? Let’s listen together. Visit thecollaboratorypodcast.com for more details and resources. Music by Matt Wright.

Have you ever felt like your faith was only as strong as you were disciplined? As in, the consistency of your Bible reading or your prayer life or church attendance (or lack there of) was your source of confidence? This is a faith that is dependent upon us and not upon God. What if the way that we engage God - through prayer (silence, listening, and talking), engaging with Scripture, and in commun...

What does it mean to be blessed? Perhaps not what you think... Dive in with me as we explore trial and temptation, joy and blessing, and the relational God who measures things by an other worldly metric of love. What is a blessing in your life? Let's listen together... Music by Matthew Wright.

Do you know that what you think about, meditate upon actually becomes part of your very body? “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 The question is not whether or not we can renew our mind, but how? Let's listen together... Music by Matthe...

What if God gave us our imaginations as a way to behold him, to sense his presence, to engage with the Voice that is in us but not from us? And what if God had a glorious sense of humor and wasn't as serious as we always made him out to be? This one is going to be fun. Let's listen together... Music by Matthew Wright

Episode 9: There is nothing so unnerving as silence in a conversation when you are craving connection. Let’s begin to explore together some of the possibilities for when we experience quiet when we talk to God. Let's listen together. Our question: “God, what do you want me to know about the quiet?” Visit HERE to download “Can You Hear Me?” I hope this free listening guide serves you as you pra...

Episode 8. There are three Greek phrases translated to "Word" in our English Bible: Logos, Graphe, and Rhema. What does this have to do with listening to God? More than you could imagine. Let read the Word, hear the Word and and experience the Word as we listen together to the One who is the logo of heaven. Music by Matthew Wright

The Bible is not a novel, but a library. Its narrative arc serves as the litmus test for hearing God's voice, as it reveals God's very heart for us. Let's explore together all that it holds and what that might mean for hearing God's voice. Resources: https://bibleproject.com/ https://www.bemadiscipleship.com/ Music by Matthew Wright

What is your experience with the Bible? Perhaps you are overwhelmed or elated by it... cynical or swept off your feet when you read it. May I invite you, regardless of your experience, to look afresh at the Scripture, and to let it inform your listening. Visit ⁠thecollaboratorypodcast.com⁠ for more resources. Let's listen together. Music by Matthew Wright

Is that me? God? The enemy? The chili? What if we were to have a filter through which to run the voices we hear so that we might discern the source of them? Visit thecollaboratorypodcast.com to download "Can You Hear Me?", a free listening guide that outlines this episode. I pray it serves you as you practice. Let's listen together. Music by Matthew Wright

Does God speak to only those that know Him? Is he only near to those who are faithful? Let me tell you of a story of a woman on a plane, and an unlikely conversation that led me to believe what has always been true… That the story of God is that he first draws near to us. And that there is nowhere we can go from his presence. May you come to believe this beautiful reality, that peace has always be...

To rightly interpret the voice (or silence) we sense when we pray, we must know the character of the One whose voice we seek. Who does God say that he is? Exodus 34:6 and Matthew 11:28-30 give us the heartbeat of God. Let's listen together...