Embracing Divine Presence: The Gift of Secure Attachment

Devotional

Day 1: Embracing Divine Presence as a Gift

The presence of God, encapsulated in the name Emmanuel, is a profound gift that we are invited to receive, not earn. This divine presence is always with us, even when we feel spiritually inadequate or distant from God. It is a radical gift that calls us to set aside feelings of unworthiness and embrace the assurance that we are never alone. By accepting this gift, we open ourselves to a deeper spiritual journey, one that is marked by the constant companionship of God. [00:49]

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV): "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Reflection: In what areas of your life do you feel spiritually inadequate? How can you intentionally invite God's presence into those areas today?

Day 2: Understanding Attachment Styles in Our Spiritual Lives

Our attachment styles, developed in childhood, significantly influence our relationships with others and with God. These styles can be secure, anxious, or avoidant, and they shape how we give and receive love. A secure attachment allows us to love freely, while anxious attachment makes us fear losing love, and avoidant attachment leads us to fear intimacy. By understanding these styles, we can work towards cultivating a secure attachment with the divine, allowing us to experience God's love more fully. [02:22]

Psalm 139:23-24 (ESV): "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!"

Reflection: Reflect on your attachment style. How does it affect your relationship with God, and what steps can you take to cultivate a more secure attachment with Him?

Day 3: The Interconnection of Biology and Spirituality

Interpersonal neurobiology reveals the deep connection between our biology and relationships, highlighting our spiritual nature and need for divine attachment. When we are attuned to others, we experience a profound connection that is both physical and emotional. This connection mirrors our spiritual need for divine attachment, reminding us that our relationships are a reflection of our spiritual journey. Christmas, as the celebration of the incarnation, serves as a powerful reminder of this divine attachment, as Jesus embodies the "with God" life. [04:31]

1 John 4:12 (ESV): "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."

Reflection: How can you become more attuned to the people around you, and how might this attunement deepen your understanding of God's presence in your life?

Day 4: Jesus as the Source of Secure Attachment

In our spiritual lives, we often experience a divine attachment disorder, feeling anxious or avoidant in our relationship with God. However, Jesus offers us a secure attachment, assuring us of God's love and presence. This security is rooted in being seen, soothed, and safe in God's love. By embracing this secure attachment, we can counter our tendencies towards anxiety and avoidance, finding comfort and assurance in the knowledge that we are seen, loved, and safe in Him. [10:13]

Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV): "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

Reflection: In what ways do you experience anxiety or avoidance in your relationship with God? How can you lean into the secure attachment that Jesus offers?

Day 5: Embracing the Promise of God's Presence

We are encouraged to set aside our anxieties and avoidances and to embrace the promise of God's presence. God is with us, providing comfort and security in every circumstance. By trusting in this promise, we can find peace and assurance, knowing that we are never alone. This divine presence is a source of strength and comfort, guiding us through life's challenges and reminding us of the unwavering love and support of God. [11:03]

Deuteronomy 31:8 (ESV): "It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

Reflection: What specific anxieties or avoidances do you need to set aside today to fully embrace God's presence? How can you remind yourself of His promise in moments of doubt?

Sermon Summary

In today's reflection, we explore the profound concept of radical acceptance and openness to the divine presence, a gift that is central to our spiritual journey. This gift is encapsulated in the name given to Jesus, Emmanuel, meaning "God is with us." This presence is not something we can earn or control; it is a gift to be received, even when we feel spiritually inadequate or distant from God. We are invited to set aside feelings of unworthiness and embrace the divine presence as a radical gift.

The idea of attachment is crucial in understanding our relationship with God. Just as children are born with a need to attach to their caregivers, we are created to be attached to God. Our relational styles as adults often mirror the attachment styles we developed as children. These styles can be secure, anxious, or avoidant, and they influence how we relate to others and to God. Secure attachment allows us to give and receive love freely, while anxious attachment makes us overly concerned about losing love, and avoidant attachment leads us to fear intimacy.

Interpersonal neurobiology, as described by Dan Siegel, shows that our relationships are deeply intertwined with our biology. When we are attuned to others, we experience a profound connection that is both physical and emotional. This connection is a reflection of our spiritual nature and our need for divine attachment. Christmas, the celebration of the incarnation, is a reminder of this divine attachment, as Jesus embodies the "with God" life.

We often suffer from a divine attachment disorder, feeling anxious or avoidant in our relationship with God. However, Jesus offers us a secure attachment, assuring us of God's love and presence. God sees us, soothes us, and secures us, providing safety and comfort even in the darkest valleys. Today, we are encouraged to set aside our anxieties and avoidances, and to embrace the promise of God's presence, knowing that we are seen, loved, and safe in Him.

Key Takeaways

1. Embrace the gift of God's presence, even when feeling spiritually inadequate. This presence is not earned but received as a radical gift, reminding us that we are never alone. [00:49]
2. Our attachment styles, developed in childhood, influence our relationships with others and with God. Understanding these styles can help us cultivate a secure attachment with the divine. [02:22]
3. Interpersonal neurobiology reveals the deep connection between our biology and relationships, highlighting our spiritual nature and need for divine attachment. [04:31]
4. Jesus offers a secure attachment with God, countering our tendencies towards anxiety and avoidance in our spiritual lives. This security is rooted in being seen, soothed, and safe in God's love. [10:13]
5. Set aside anxieties and avoidances, and embrace the promise of God's presence. God is with us, providing comfort and security in every circumstance. [11:03]
** [11:03]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:25] - Radical Acceptance and Openness
[00:38] - The Gift of Presence
[01:03] - Receiving God's Presence
[01:31] - Attachment and Spirituality
[02:08] - Understanding Attachment Styles
[03:28] - The Attachment System
[04:12] - Interpersonal Neurobiology
[05:01] - Attunement and Connection
[06:47] - Incarnational Love
[07:30] - Divine Attachment
[08:14] - The "With God" Life
[09:20] - Divine Attachment Disorder
[10:13] - Secure Attachment with God
[11:03] - Embracing God's Promise
[11:51] - Community Engagement

Sermon Clips

hey this is john ortberg and we are walking together through adopting a posture towards god towards life towards other people towards ourselves of radical acceptance radical openness to uh gifts that we cannot earn or force that we're not in control of and today is maybe the central one the one that certainly is at the heart of this season and that is the gift of presence the gift of the name that was given to jesus emmanuel god is with us you are not alone i'm not alone [00:00:17]

and i want to invite you today to begin to think about this we're going to work on receiving it accepting it even though you may feel inadequate spiritually maybe especially though we might or might feel quite far from god or feel like other people are way more spiritual than us or that i have done things that would disqualify me from such a gift that i'm not nearly pure enough in my own heart or my own motivations i'm going to ask you to put all that aside and receive as a radical gift the gift of god's presence [00:51:92]

we were made to be attached to god there's a book that got written about 10 years ago it's called attachment and it's uh hot as a firecracker it's one of the very rare books been out for more than 10 years and it's selling more every year than it did the previous year and the thesis is quite simple it's that just as little children are born to be attached to their parents to their caregivers and they will develop based on that experience certain styles then when we grow up the relational styles that we have in adult relationships actually mirror the styles around the attachment that we had when we were little children [00:87:76]

people get put into one of three categories either secure attachment where you desire intimacy and you're capable for it and you're able to give and receive love or some folks have what's called an anxious attachment style and if this is the case then i'm i'm actually obsessed with relationship obsessed with being loved and i become hyper vigilant about the other person am i going to lose your love and i get worried about that or the other attachment style is sometimes called avoidant and in that one actually i'm concerned that if you get too attached to me if i get too relationally connected to somebody else it's going to impinge on my freedom and i might be smothered and i might lose my options and so i actually avoid too much intimacy in relationship [00:137:84]

our brains actually have a mechanism that sometimes called an attachment system and it motivates a little infant to see seek proximity with the caregiver and to initiate conversation and you can tell attachment is kicking in when a baby is first born for the first couple weeks or months it doesn't really matter who holds that baby but somewhere around seven months or so that baby becomes aware not all adults are the same and it develops an attachment with a mom or a dad or a caregiver and when there is stress when something is unusual or something is threatening the baby wants that caregiver above all [00:199:36]

dan siegel describes his work uh with the phrase interpersonal neurobiology because he says that we are our biology we are our bodies in particular we're uh the neuron system that we have but then we're relationships and uh when i am sued they're cared for by you i that actually becomes a part of my own neurological system and that i'm able to soothe myself seagull says and this is all going to relate now to our relationship with god that when a parent attends to and is attuned with the inner subjective experience of a child that child thrives [00:255:60]

there is something incarnational embodied about the very act of love and we were made to seek by proximity and communication a sense of attachment and when we have it we are secure to live and i believe what all this is showing us is that we were made to be attached to god god has created us in a remarkable way god invented gifts like parenthood and interpersonal neural biology as little indicators that we are spiritual beings not just physical and we were made to be attached with god and this is what christmas is about above all the incarnation is jesus fulfilling what dallas willard used to say was the theme of the entire bible from genesis to revelation the offer of with god life attachment to the divine centered in the person and message of jesus christ [00:431:20]

every human being needs in order to live a flourishing life to be seen and that is what god does uh psalm 121 the lord watches over your life the lord watches over your coming and going both now and forevermore god knows what is going on not just with your body but inside in your mind every human being needs to be soothed when you say to a little baby it's okay honey honey i know i know neurons are forming that allow that baby to begin to soothe him or herself it becomes inside god says comfort comfort my people the most common command in the bible is fear not and the idea is not feel guilty if you are afraid the idea is it is the soothing word of the god who loves you [00:492:16]

we are made to be attached to god but we suffer from a kind of divine attachment disorder and we get anxious about our relationship with god i'm afraid i haven't done enough i'm afraid i'm not good enough i'm afraid i'm inadequate or we get avoidant of god it's very interesting that if you go back to the garden when the evil one is trying to pry people away from god before sin god tries to talk them into an avoidance mode did god really say is god trying to keep you from doing something you want don't be around god and then after sin after the fall they go into anxious mode adam where were you i heard you in the garden and i was afraid because i was naked and so i hid [00:563:76]

but what jesus offers is not an avoidant god and is not an anxious god it is the security of being loved by a god who sees you the hairs on your head are numbered there's not a sparrow that can fall out of a nest god doesn't see and who soothes you let not your heart be troubled and who secures you the lord is my light my salvation lord is my rock and who makes you safe going through the valley of the shadow of death [00:609:04]

set aside anything in me in you that is anxious about god be honest about anything in me in you that would cause me to avoid god and accept as the sure and certain promise that is the message of this season god is jesus god is emmanuel god sees everything about you god cares about your fears god is walking with you so that you can be safe and secure in him today take that word with with with and let it come when i'm confused when i'm frightened when i'm uncertain when i feel guilty when i've got a problem god is the god that is with he'll be with you today [00:651:20]

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