Oh Sisters, how in the world do I recap this week chock full of so much that stirred my heart?! The fun thing is knowing that the Holy Spirit is out there stirring your hearts too, and it may all be in very different ways. He is speaking to us very specifically right where we are in our own little worlds. Do you find that as amazing as I do?
I hope you were able to take this last week and get caught up if you were behind. I was thankful for the break so I could go back and do two days that I missed last week while my daughter was home sick. We're on the home stretch now, so don't give up!!
I want to concentrate today on one of the bullet points on page 143 that truly spoke to me:
"He is holy and worthy and incapable of abusing His divine authority over you. So submit to God."
Do you believe this? Do I believe this?
Read it through again and really soak in what that statement is saying.
As I have re-read this over a period of several days, I have come to the conclusion that my faith is not sincere unless I wholeheartedly believe this statement. If I believe God for who he says he is, and believe all his attributes, how do I continue to assert my will and my control over my life and decisions?
I am stubborn, and in my arrogance I think that I know what is best for me. But God has the entire plan laid out in front of Him. Why can I not trust everything I am to Him?
Does this hit close to home for you as well? I need a change in thinking and action on this one!
Faith without works is dead. This has spoken volumes to me but I may be overanalyzing it. I think my works can be in my own home and in my own community. Does my faith show to my children? Does my faith show when I get angry? I need to take honor and show glory to God in my everyday small tasks. I need to pray for contentment with where am I. I always think I have to do big but I feel the Spirit nudging me to do big HeRe. The extra week extremely helped me. This is an in depth and intense study and I often find myself rushing through and I was finally able to just let it speak to me.
ReplyDeleteThe below points hit me hard:
1. Put your sweet self under God. Entirely. No arms and legs kicking out to the sides. Knees to the floor. Eyes to the skies. Hands wide open. Death to your pride. Here we run aground on where the devil flees. Whoa is all I can say!
2. The devil is trying to steal from you and destroy you and make it look like it was all your idea. So, girlfriend, submit to God.
3. "Slander among siblings in Christ should not be the fare of the day but shocking and appalling." This is probably one of the most critical things for me.
4. "what if we really believed that if we seek Gods kingdom and His righteousness, everything else of true value would be given to us, too." I need massive prayers here. I need to smash my doubts and worries and submit to God. I need to seek his kingdom FIrST above my husband, above my children, and above my everyday petty behavior.
This weeks lesson really spoke to me and I can actually apply it when I realize what I'm doing. I use my highlighted when I am spirit filled and this was the most by far so I think I have some deeper things to talk to God about:-)
Not doing well with writing James out or memorizing but I will :-(
Kristy Aiken
Every week of this study I've felt like Beth Moore wrote it specifically for me...in fact I almost feel as though I should be looking over my shoulder to see if she's standing there :)
ReplyDeleteI really loved the section on friendship and how she said "face to face presence intimacy with Christ only comes intentionally...no one who lives in this world is a friend of God accidentally."
The submit to God phrase that spoke to me most on pg. 143 was "He knows the well-deliberated plan for your life and how all things must fall in place for you to fulfill your destiny." This went hand in with Day 5 for me. "Instead you should say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:15)
It took many years for me to submit to God's will for my life. I refused to believe His plan was better than my own. I thought just because I wanted children more than I wanted anything else, I should have them. That wasn't God's plan for me though. It's crazy how hard we resist, how we pull and tug against God. May we learn to submit to all He wants to give us, even if at the time we are unable to see the future blessings He plans to provide.