Study by Study

Too long since I have posted!  Busy time serving in church...may I tell you about this?

First, our church just celebrated its 125th Anniversary!  Yes, 125 years!  What I enjoyed most was working with church friends and getting to know them and our church history all the more.  A blessing!  We had an outstanding day with much recognition and, what I hope will be, much re-dedication.

Next...I have been learning more through several studies we have completed this fall.

1. The Magnificent Obsession: Embracing the God-filled Life by Ann Graham Lotz:  In this study, we were introduced to a Abraham I had never known, an Abraham who embraced the Magnificient Obsession.  I was once again reminded that time flies by much faster in the Bible when years may pass from chapter to chapter or even verse to verse.  In essence, Abraham had to wait years...and years...for his prayers and promises to be answered.
2. The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson:  This study we just completed last weekend...what a powerful prayer, still so applicable to today's world. I have asked the Lord to bless me, to enlarge my territory, to keep his hand with me, to keep me from evil so that I will not cause pain.
   
   

   And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain." So God granted him what he requested.   I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

   As I have prayed this prayer, I have noticed a few differences already with my life:  I add to "enlarge my territory" for You.  This prayer is not about me; this prayer is about all those I come in contact with.  Also, I am learning that if I say less, I will cause less pain.  The tongue is such a sharpened sword.  This knowledge, coincidentally, parallels what I am learning about my One Word quiet.  So interesting how God ties all these spiritual emphases!
3. Beth Moore Simulcast in September:  I spent the day with about 100 Christian women at a nearby church singing, praying, studying, listening, learning about the widow and the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4.  I was so blessed to attend, so very, very blessed.  This is why fellowship is so important.  I have friends and family who believe they do not have to attend church to be good Christian.  Fellowship is partially why we should not forsake to assemble ourselves together. (Hebrews 10:25)
4. Nehemiah:  A Heart That Can Break by Kelly Minter (still have two lessons in this study...hope to complete tomorrow).  This study was hosted by Beth Moore....loved it!  Learned so much.  My favorite verse?  Nehemiah would not allow others to distract him from God's mission:  "I am doing a great work, and I will not come down."  When God sends us on a mission, we are to stay focused, devoted to His cause.

Up Next:

1. True Woman 101's Divine Design:  An Eight-Week Study on Biblical Womanhood - Hosted by Women's Cafe, they are advancing a bit faster that I!  I should be on week three...I am on week one.  More about this one later!
2. Unconditional (a movie-based study):  This will be our next four-week study for Discipleship Training.  One evening last week, I spent about two hours searching for a study that would coincide with the Thanksgiving season.  About to give up, I found this one when the word generosity caught my eye.  Based on a book and a movie released this fall (which I hope our church will watch upon completion of the study), the study focuses on several characters and the problems that each face, culminating in a project that the groups chooses.  I am very excited about this; I look forward to seeing what good works come out of this one!
3. Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren:  I am also excited and in anticipation of this year's three-week Christmas study.  This study focuses on Christmas as a time of celebration, salvation, and reconciliation.  Please, expect my sharing of the grand outcomes of this study.

I am discovering ever more that the more time I spend in His Word the more I want to remain there.  I am so blessed to live in this grand nation and be afforded the many opportunities and the freedom to engage in such studies as those listed here in this post.

Please share!  What do you do to stay close to our Heavenly Father?  What is a favorite Bible study of yours?

My prayer for you:  As this year comes to a close and we celebrate some very meaningful holidays, may you find the true meaning of these seasons and may you be even more blessed.

An Instant Answer

Today, we returned to the 2012-13 school year, and it was a really good day. A really good day.

Within my classroom, I have access to an LCD projector, to which I had misplaced the remote, which allows me, in part, to freeze or blacken the screen, which is really helpful, as I may work on my teacher computer when the screen is frozen.

I had looked all over my room.  In every place in which I thought I might have placed it.  In my desk drawers, in my storage area, in all the places that I might have just placed it for safe-keeping.

Today, needing that remote, I paused to pray.  Just a quick, quiet prayer.  Then, instantly, I knew where that remote was.  I went to my desk, removed the lower right desk drawer, got down on my knees and knelt, and there in that space in the back of the drawers lay my remote. It had fallen out of the back of the drawer and sat waiting on me to find it.  Right beside the remote, lay several jump drives for which I had also been looking.  Thus, my prayer was answered in abundance!

This was such a blessing to me.  God answered that prayer so quickly.  He place on my mind, right then,  where that remote was. He might as well have spoken audibly to me. That just blessed my entire day!

Such a great reminder that God answers prayers in His time.  I truly needed that remote to help my class run more smoothly.  Sometimes, His timing is instantly!  Praise God!

Such a great reminder, too, that we should ask in abundance, for He wants to bless us.

You do not have, because you do not ask God. James 4:2

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask - we know that we have what we ask of Him. 1 John 5:14-15

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. Mark 11:24

Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all you ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path. Proverbs 3:5

What did I do next?  I testified!  Of course!  During lunch to those in my English department.  After school to another teacher friend.  Tonight to you on this blog post.  Later this week at church.

As I type and reflect, I now realize that the answered prayer is also confirmation that I am right where I need to be.  I have struggled much with my career, wanting to use my degree in administration, knowing that the timing is not right, that God wants me right where I am.  I pray I that I continue to ever be more mindful of remaining where God wants me...in His perfect will.

God is good.  All the time!

On a Musical Note

I was so blessed tonight through a conversation I had at church with a former student of mine...about music (not English...which is what I attempted to teach him!).

Our song leader was a bit late getting to church, so I jokingly said, "Jarrod, you may have to lead us in some songs."  Then, in a bit he admitted that he played the guitar...everyday...and is teaching himself, in, what I call, "playing by ear," which is how I play the piano.

Then, the song leader arrives, and the service begins.  Church ends.

Jarrod immediately turns around and begins talking again about playing and maybe playing music with us at church, that this is something he would like, so I began to testify!

When I initially began playing the piano, I banged the piano keys in an attempt to mock the musicians at church, as I pretended to be those ladies, my heroines.  I dreamed of the day I would sit on that bench and play for church services.  (God is a giving God...keep reading!)

To save her sanity, my mom taught me what she knew about chording.  As time went on, I "picked out" one song...I think it was "Jesus Loves Me."  (Thank you, Lord, for this gift of love!)   Then, I picked out another.   Over time, a piano-playing friend here and there would show me a trick or two, and the Lord played the piano via my fingers.

I cannot read music, and I have never had any professional training.  Yet I have played at weddings, funerals, various special events...and many, many church services.  God granted the desire of my heart to sit on that bench and play the piano at church.  God is good.  All the time.

As I shared with Jarrod, this is a gift from God, and I do my best to use it for God, hardly ever play anything but gospel music.  When I do perchance play something besides gospel, it's only something that edifies, which is what I encouraged Jarrod.  God has given...is giving...him a gift, and if Jarod will use it for Him, the Lord will so greatly bless that gift, and his gift will bless others.  A very wonderful cycle of blessing.

Now, this is true of all God-given gifts.  Use them for God.  Reserve those gifts for God.  Then, watch, feel, allow that gift to be utilized via you for Him.  See how that works?  The more you get out of the way...the more God can work through you!

As I told Jarrod, the more I remove myself from playing, the more I do not think about what I am going to play, the better it sounds, the more the Lord takes over.  I truly believe that.

Surely, this must be how a gifted preacher or speaker feels.  Just remove the self and let God take over.  I often hear them say in a prayer, "Lord, let me get out of the way, and you take over."  For my God-given talent, I am very grateful.  May I ever use this gift for Him.  May it bless someone in some small way to draw  someone closer to Him.

Please share!  In what area has God gifted you?  How does He use this gift via you?

Time for a Feast?

This past month I have been working through Kelly Minter's study of Nehemiah:  A Heart That Can Break.  Here's what I got out of this past week's lessons...get ready...it's exciting!

In Nehemiah 8, we read that the people are participating in a Feast of the Trumpets ("a special day for God's people to begin anew and remember the grace God had poured out on their lives," p 106), yet the people are in mourning.  Crying.  A celebration that equates to our New Year's Day.  I cannot ever remember our people crying, mourning throughout this holiday. (No, this is not the exciting part...wait, though, it's coming!)

Why such depths of spirit?  The Israelites now realize how far short they have fallen from where they should have been.  On second thought, yes, maybe this country should be crying on such a holiday.

Back to the Israelites and Ezra and the Levites and Nehemiah, though.  In verses 9-11, they tell the people three times that this is a sacred day and to not grieve, for, as Minter points out, holiness and gloom just do not, cannot, go together.

Then, as I was working through the scriptures in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Nehemiah, it clicked. The Feast of the Trumpets was held on the first day of the seventh month, so I actually read the chart going across the pages of Leviticus, and this holiday's timing equates to the modern Sept/Oct.  Get this...our church's 125th Anniversary is scheduled for October 7.  This is just what we need...a Feast of the Trumpets!  "...a special day for God's people to begin anew and remember the grace God had poured out on their lives."  Yes, absolutely!

Then, as I continued to read,  Kelly Minter stated, "God loves celebration, community, feasting, and lightness of heart." Again, just what our church needs as we are currently between pastors and are working through this process, also.

Nehemiah says in 8:10, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is sacred to our Lord.  Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."  What a tremendous theme scripture for our 125th birthday!

I just met with the 125th Anniversary Committee last evening.  Then, as I worked through the study, I felt such a sense of joy, exactly what Minter said would happen.  God is good!

I encourage your committing to such a study.  Oh, the wealth of joy you will receive.

Verse by Verse

Currently, the discipleship training class I lead is studying Anne Graham Lotz's The Magnificent Obsession. So very interesting!

Lotz's bible study time focuses on just a few verses that are analyzed by completing three steps:

1. List the facts in each verse...no paraphrasing. 
2. Learn the lesson from each fact.  This may differ from person to person depending on life's lessons.
3. Listen to what the Lord is telling you in each verse and respond to that in the form of a question.

I have learned so much about Abraham and Lot that I did not ever catch/learn before when reading their narratives and lessons in Genesis.  Abram should not have taken his father nor Lot with him.  Abram failed to pray when confronted with a famine and made some very poor decisions, including giving his wife Sarai to Pharaoh to be a part of his harem.  Horrible!  Bad Abram!  To return to God, Abram had to...literally...return to the spot where he left God.  Lot was selfish.  Very selfish.  To the max.

What a difference this method has made and is making in my comprehension of the facts within the verses and the lessons that the Lord wants me to learn.

One thing that really stood out to me in this week's five-day selections of verse study was the differences between Abram and Lot.  I had never noted before that the Bible makes no note of Lot ever praying.  Quite the contrast to Abram, who builds several altars to the Lord.  Oh, the power of prayer!  And the rewards of of that prayer are wondrous.  Powerful!

May we pray...on this day of loss of so much life in Theater 9?

Lord, we come to you, not ever wanting to be a Lot, who did not turn to you.  Lord, for the families of the victims, may you surround them with a peace and a sense of comfort that only You can give.  Please place the people in their lives, the angels such as the ones you sent to Lot to warn him and his family, may you take care of those families.

Lord, for those injured, please guide the hands of the doctors and nurses and bring them such healing, both physically and mentally.

Lord, for the family and close friends of the shooter, I pray for them comfort also as the endure the anguish that is a result of such a horrific act against humanity.

Lord, for our country, may you forgive the sins our country, for her many misdeeds and her conduct, conduct that so not pleasing to you.  Lord, may you bring healing to our country.

Amen.

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Another way in which I feel God is leading is how I spend my time in the mornings. Currently, I get up check out Facebook, my email, and update my Smurfville, a game I play on the iPad.  What if I spent that time studying His word?  I would not be so far behind in my attempt to read the Bible through in a year!

  

I am also reading Lotz's book by the same name, reading the chapters as we study that focus in discipleship training.  In this week's chapter, Lotz shares how God had her get up early to study and listen.  "...it's better to be sleep deprived than God deprived." (pg. 55)

Right now, I have time the time to read study, but what about when school starts, and class work dominates my time, and I am, oh, so tired in the evenings...what about that?  If I sat my alarm for 5 AM, that would give me an hour to study and listen.  Can I do it?

I really would rather be sleep deprived than God deprived!

Sister to Sister

This past week, Mrs. Dawn and I had our first meeting for our study of Nehemiah.  What a blessing for me!

We met in my home and shared a dinner consisting in part of the enchilada recipe provided within the workbook.  So good!

Then we watched videos and discussed scripture.  This is the first such Bible study in which I have been involved.  This is a learning experience!  Not quite sure I am dong this right!  Then, Mrs. Dawn suggested we study the scripture using the model we are learning on Sunday evenings in Discipleship Training as encouraged by Anne Graham Lotz in her study of The Magnificent Obsession.  Interesting!

Following this, I have been working through the daily sessions in the workbook and am truly appreciating studying God's word verse by verse.  I get in such a hurry to read so much a day...or worse, I get behind in my attempt to read the Bible through in a year, and I read too fast, not comprehending even a fraction of what is embedded within each book, each chapter, each verse.

I praise the Lord for opening my eyes and finding my way to both of these studies...Nehemiah through Kelly Winter's book Nehemiah:  A Heart That Can Break and Abraham through Anne Graham Lotz's The Magnificent Obsession.  An added bonus is the opportunity to get to know all three of these ladies better...authors Kelly and Anne and my friend Dawn as we study together.  Truly empowering...sisters studying together.

Today's Nugget:

In Nehemiah 2:3-15, the phrase "put its doors and bolts and bars in place."  Nehemiah paid very close attention to detail, making sure that the wall would be very secure, doing his best work for his God.  I fail in this area of my life.  I need to check more diligently the doors, bolts, and bars of my life, tightening up here and there, better securing my walk with Him.

For instance, I love to read, and in this love of reading, I do not always censor my selections closely enough, yet the Lord is working in my life in this area as "we" have chosen to not read two series:  1) Fifty Shades of Grey and 2) Diana Gibaldon's Lord John series.

According to this blog post "Fifty Shades of Magic Mike"  (and a follow-up post here) that I came across via link on Facebook, author Melissa Jenna had made the decision to NOT read Fifty Shades of Grey due to God's convicting power.

• UPDATE:  Just came across this link via Facebook to another blogger similar belief on this topic who wrote this post entitled "Magic Mike Who?" 

I have struggled with this choice, even went several times to Amazon.com and placed them in my shopping cart, yet I could not bring myself to purchase them.  Another series that I am choosing not to read is Diana Gibaldon's Lord John series...Lord John is a homosexual and promotes that lifestyle.  I purchased the books before realizing the topic.

Also in watching Kelly Minter's video for week two, she comments on watching movies because "it's just so funny," never-minding what other inappropriate topics might be involved.  Yes, I have given that very explanation myself.  Once when dealing with this, though, she heard the Lord say to her, "Because I went to the cross, then it's not funny."  We should not feed our minds on topics that contradict our Christian walk.

Now, let's just clarify something here:  I am NOT perfect! The Lord "is still working on me to make me what I ought to be."  Every day He works on me!

It's does feel good, though, to make this decision, to decide for spiritual reasons that I will not read these series.  Making such decisions with music also...I listen to more and more gospel music...love KLOVE!

I like to think that God is breaking my heart and putting it together to be more like Him.  You see...that is just the kind of God I serve.  He loves me enough to die on the cross just for me AND then to continually work to make me, to guide me to live more and more in his image.

How are you and God doing today?

Connecting: Online Bible Study

One day, while perusing my Google Reader, I learned about Beth Moore's summer book study of Kelly Minter's Nehemiah:  A Heart that Can Break.  I shared the idea at church, and another lady friend purchased the workbook also.  (We will "officially" sign up as soon as we meet and choose a name.) Beth Moore Launch and Registration here at the Living Proof Ministries.

Beth Moore will create a video and release every two weeks and release on the above mentioned blog and the first one is now available there.  I truly appreciate videos, especially when I help coordinate studies.  For instance, I lead our church's Sunday evening Discipleship Training class, and so far, the Lord tends to direct me to studies that include videos, for which I am so thankful, for I am learning right along with the class.  Plus, that's right...videos take up chunks of time!  :)

Then, I discovered Bible Cafe for Women, and they, too, are studying this book. Yes, I signed up there, also!  I am in Group 10; still learning about this and am beginning to receive emails with greetings from the leader and another group member (discovered her blog...A Quiet Place...see link to the right...AND more importantly, please pray for her as she is completing chemo...she has endured her test and her testimony is growing!).

I know our local group is small...just two so far...(still inviting friends to join), but the Word says "where two or three are gathered, I am there in their midst."  So, yes, I am excited and looking forward to my upcoming spiritual blessing.

I purchased my workbook here on author Kelly Minter's site (while there, I also purchased her workbook on Ruth...a book of the Bible to which I feel drawn).  Then, I discovered (on one of these sites!) that I could purchase Kelly Minter's videos to the Nehemiah for $2.99 each on Lifeway's site, so I purchased two to see if we might be interested in these (thinking that we will!).

This study is meant for me.  Here is an example of how God works:  In Discipleship Training, we have been working through a study of Andy Stanley's entitled Discovering God's Will.  The last two weeks' of that study were based on Nehemiah 6:3. So powerful!  "I am doing a great work, and I can not come down."  Just be still and content where God has placed you...and say "no" when encouraged to leave that place.  Talk about perfect timing!

Interested in such a study as this?  Please join us...women across this nation coming together to study God's Word.  A true blessing!