Friday, February 8, 2013
Unbelief
The obstacle to knowing and believing God is UNBELIEF.
Believing God is about trusting Him.
I was so taken back to learn that when I don't believe/trust God in my life, that is defined as 'not being worthy of confidence'. I would never 'say' God is not worthy of my confidence! Yet, when I doubt what God is doing or doubt that He is doing anything, or second guess Him, or do not believe He cares about me or my life, that is exactly what I am 'saying'!
Impossible! It is impossible for God not to be worthy of confidence. Are you kidding me. The One who spoke and the world came into being; The One who set the sun and the stars in place; The One who knit me together in my mother's womb; The Alpha and Omega isn't worthy of my confidence?
Oh dear, I shutter to think how many times in my life, I thought I had a better plan than God. Or how many times I thought God must be too busy with someone else, because He certainly doesn't appear to be helping me. Goodness, what was I thinking.
My God is FAITHFUL!
"Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, The Lord is my inheritance therefor, I will hope in him!" Lamentations 3:21-24 (NLT)
Remember the song you learned as a kid -He's got the whole world in His hands?
He DOES!.
Believing God is about trusting Him.
I was so taken back to learn that when I don't believe/trust God in my life, that is defined as 'not being worthy of confidence'. I would never 'say' God is not worthy of my confidence! Yet, when I doubt what God is doing or doubt that He is doing anything, or second guess Him, or do not believe He cares about me or my life, that is exactly what I am 'saying'!
Impossible! It is impossible for God not to be worthy of confidence. Are you kidding me. The One who spoke and the world came into being; The One who set the sun and the stars in place; The One who knit me together in my mother's womb; The Alpha and Omega isn't worthy of my confidence?
Oh dear, I shutter to think how many times in my life, I thought I had a better plan than God. Or how many times I thought God must be too busy with someone else, because He certainly doesn't appear to be helping me. Goodness, what was I thinking.
My God is FAITHFUL!
"Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, The Lord is my inheritance therefor, I will hope in him!" Lamentations 3:21-24 (NLT)
Remember the song you learned as a kid -He's got the whole world in His hands?
He DOES!.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Removing the Obstacles
This week we learned there are obstacles to experiencing every benefit is ours as believers.
The first benefit was to know and believe God.
-Prayerlessness is an obstacle to us experiencing God's Peace!
God wants relationship with us. To have relationship with someone there has to be interaction. Pray is an obvious action moving us into relationship with God.
For some, prayer sounds intimidating. Prayer is just talking. Just talking it out like you would with a friend. You can do that with God too. As a matter of fact, why not start with Him first. Talk it out with Him and you might find the need to speak to another person wain! Try it.
The other side of prayer is listening. In the bible, God says, "my sheep hear my voice". The sheep is us or is it, the sheep are we(?) :) So just how do we 'hear' God talk to us. Well, my pastor says, 'when you open God's book, He opens his mouth'. I like that. It seems kind of silly at first, but if you get into the habit of speaking to God in prayer, and reading His Words out of His Book, something happens and they become personal. It is what I call a 'God is freaking me out' moment. They're cool!
Prayerlessness- an obstacle to me knowing and believing God. I know how to remove that road block.
Do you?
The first benefit was to know and believe God.
-Prayerlessness is an obstacle to us experiencing God's Peace!
God wants relationship with us. To have relationship with someone there has to be interaction. Pray is an obvious action moving us into relationship with God.
For some, prayer sounds intimidating. Prayer is just talking. Just talking it out like you would with a friend. You can do that with God too. As a matter of fact, why not start with Him first. Talk it out with Him and you might find the need to speak to another person wain! Try it.
The other side of prayer is listening. In the bible, God says, "my sheep hear my voice". The sheep is us or is it, the sheep are we(?) :) So just how do we 'hear' God talk to us. Well, my pastor says, 'when you open God's book, He opens his mouth'. I like that. It seems kind of silly at first, but if you get into the habit of speaking to God in prayer, and reading His Words out of His Book, something happens and they become personal. It is what I call a 'God is freaking me out' moment. They're cool!
Prayerlessness- an obstacle to me knowing and believing God. I know how to remove that road block.
Do you?
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
To know and believe
In Breaking Free this week we discussed the benefits of being a Believer. We learned that 'to know God' was something that was intimate, like the intimacy between a husband and wife should be. The relationship between a husband and wife is meant to be exclusive. There are some things that only your spouse should know or experience with you. There should be nothing between you. In the same way, our relationship with God should be one where there is nothing between us. I am not hiding or trying to hide anything from Him. Truth is, He already knows it anyway! It is a lie to believe I could ever keep something from Him. But many of us try. We keep things from God because we have the wrong image of God. God wants to reveal our sin not to hurt us but to FREE us.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Untying the Cords of the Yoke
In class this week, we listed the good and the bad of the four kings- Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. They started out wholeheartedly following God but then they compromised. When God told each one to remove the 'high places' the idols in their lives, they compromised. They would obey God to a point, then they decided they had a better plan.
Listen, if we leave, ignore sin in our lives, it does not stay dormant. Sin always destroys. Even a little hurts. And it hurts not only us but those around us. As we read about King Ahaz, sin grew so, that he even burned his own sons in a fire as a sacrifice to idols!
'I would never do that', you may say, but remember these guys were not dumb. They had just been duped! They began to believe a lie, that one little sin didn't matter, and while their backs were turned, they were overtaken.
No one starts out with the intention of falling away from God. Or no one ever thinks they will be duped by the enemy. And NO one every thinks they would sacrifice their own sons, but think about it a little longer. Where have we compromised in our own lives? Where have we known there was something there that was displeasing to God and thought, 'it really doesn't matter, its so small'? Where have we sacrificed our children to compromise with the world's value system including entertainment. Where have we hidden a little something that didn't seem like a big deal.
Ask God to show you this week. Just ask Him. He is so great about helping us where we stumble. You might be surprised what He shows you. :)
Listen, if we leave, ignore sin in our lives, it does not stay dormant. Sin always destroys. Even a little hurts. And it hurts not only us but those around us. As we read about King Ahaz, sin grew so, that he even burned his own sons in a fire as a sacrifice to idols!
'I would never do that', you may say, but remember these guys were not dumb. They had just been duped! They began to believe a lie, that one little sin didn't matter, and while their backs were turned, they were overtaken.
No one starts out with the intention of falling away from God. Or no one ever thinks they will be duped by the enemy. And NO one every thinks they would sacrifice their own sons, but think about it a little longer. Where have we compromised in our own lives? Where have we known there was something there that was displeasing to God and thought, 'it really doesn't matter, its so small'? Where have we sacrificed our children to compromise with the world's value system including entertainment. Where have we hidden a little something that didn't seem like a big deal.
Ask God to show you this week. Just ask Him. He is so great about helping us where we stumble. You might be surprised what He shows you. :)
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Breaking Free!!
Ok, so here we go! Teaching the Breaking Free bible study by Beth Moore is one of my very favorite things to do. This is my 9th class! (not counting the 4 times I have completed the book with a girlfriend one on one). I have to say that this bible study has been one of the most important, life altering resources I have been exposed to. I know I like to tell big stories but seriously, this is different. I have seen God use the material in this study to really change the course of a family. MANY TIMES.
I want to encourage you as you begin your homework this week to have a 'made up mind' to complete it. It will not be easy. You will not just drift over to our workbook and open it. You will have to be intentional.
It is going to be great!
I want to encourage you as you begin your homework this week to have a 'made up mind' to complete it. It will not be easy. You will not just drift over to our workbook and open it. You will have to be intentional.
It is going to be great!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
The girlfriends in my accountablility group have been reading through a book titled "Reaching for an Invisible God" by Phillip Yancy. We have been 'reading' thru this book for a year now! It seems we just can't zoom past all the thought provoking insights Mr Yancy shares. Like this one:
"After considering the various words used of the Holy Spirit, both in Greek and English, James Houston summarizes them in the simple word, 'friend'. A true friend always has my best interest at heart. . . . . When I think of the fear and discomfort summoned up by mentioning the Holy Spirit, I have to laugh at the irony of being spooked by the Comforter."
It strikes me as funny too! Why would I be scared of a 'friend'! Being raised in church (in the South), it seems I missed somehow, the teachings about the God who lived inside of me was for me not against me. Even as an adult, it is overwhelming to me that God loves me from the inside out.
If God thru the Holy Spirit, lives on the inside of me, doesn't it make sense that if I want to see more of God in my life, then there simply needs to be less of me?
Blessings
"After considering the various words used of the Holy Spirit, both in Greek and English, James Houston summarizes them in the simple word, 'friend'. A true friend always has my best interest at heart. . . . . When I think of the fear and discomfort summoned up by mentioning the Holy Spirit, I have to laugh at the irony of being spooked by the Comforter."
It strikes me as funny too! Why would I be scared of a 'friend'! Being raised in church (in the South), it seems I missed somehow, the teachings about the God who lived inside of me was for me not against me. Even as an adult, it is overwhelming to me that God loves me from the inside out.
If God thru the Holy Spirit, lives on the inside of me, doesn't it make sense that if I want to see more of God in my life, then there simply needs to be less of me?
Blessings
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