Read Matthew 26:6-13.
• What was the deepest desire of the woman at Bethany?
• What ordinary events of your life have prepared you for the extraordinary experience of knowing God?

Three Core Principles
1. Vow of Stability: I will not walk out on you when the relational tension rises.
2. Vow of Conversion: I not only profess faith in Jesus as my initial conversion but I also submit myself to the ongoing conversion of my life into the image of Jesus. I am not only justified; I am sanctified.
3. Vow of Obedience: I will pay attention to God’s voice in my life with the intention to obey what I hear.

Five Core Practices
1. Prayer. Benedict: “make prayer the first step in anything worthwhile that you attempt.”
2. Study. Study what? Whatever might impart wisdom.
3. Work. Work is a means to manage our priorities
4. Hospitality. Welcoming the stranger
5. Renewal. Knowing when to stop and when to go.

• If the spiritual principles and disciplines are like the colors on an artist’s palette, what combination of disciplines are you using at this season in your spiritual life?

• How far are you willing to go to root yourself in the continual presence of God? Whose good opinion are you willing to give up? What protocols are you willing to break to have your heart’s
desire?