The House You're Building

Prepare Your Heart: Read Luke 4:15-22.  Pray that God would open your heart to see what He has for you to learn about your desire to share His good news with others.  Today writing to communicate has so many outlets.   We can text, Facebook, Tweet, email, instant message, chat, post, comment, blog…I’m sure there are many more but the written word to communicate is all around us.   I think sometimes I write more than I talk to people anymore because everyone is on such opposite schedules we communicate when it’s convenient for us. Words today can lack meaning and punch because there are so much of them!   But in this letter to the Corinthians Paul holds nothing back.   His words are intense and emotional because he feels deeply for them.   He isn’t there.   He can’t just text.   His words are passionate because he doesn’t have many opportunities to wake them up.   He needs his words to be remembered.   Letters were often passed aro...

Prepare Your Heart: Always remember to begin with prayer.   How to pray before you study?   Tell God what you are hoping to learn, ask Him to open your eyes to His truth through His Spirit.   Ask Him to bring conviction when needed, wisdom to apply what He shows you, and courage to share with others…and always thank and praise Him for He is worthy! Ever hear only part of a conversation, make a judgment, and then later find out you were missing important details?   What about reading a quote, being a little surprised, and later reading the whole article only to find that it was misleading?   Context is key to correct interpretation.   Let’s spend some time getting into the context of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. As mentioned in the study introduction you will need a bible and a journal/notebook/laptop to record things you are learning.   If you want to get crazy, grab some colored pencils to write in your Bible.   If you don’t want to write in your bib...

My husband and I finished a four-year process of home building this last February.   Throughout the process we had paperwork, permits, receipts, product manuals, samples of materials, and even some tools and parts left by the sub-contractors that looked important.   So we kept them all.   We put them in a box.   People that know me well know that I love efficiency and organization.   But for this I just needed a box.   A place to put all this stuff that I know I’m supposed to have but don’t have time to deal with.   Stuff that is probably important, but thrown in none-the-less.   It gives me comfort to know at any time I can dig around in this box and find what I need when I need it. Today it occurred to me that my faith is like this box.   One of the fun things about building (and there really isn’t a lot of “fun” involved so you hang on to the joys no matter how small) is getting to customize many things.   One of the things we chose a...

So ladies we are coming to the end of our study of the Holy Spirit, though I hope that your walk with Him will always continue as you seek to know and honor His presence and power in your life.   As you know (as I’ve had you do it so often), journaling is one of the primary ways I process my faith-journey with God.   It is a common practice of mine to stop and look back periodically to see what I have been learning and what growth has occurred.   Similarly to looking at old pictures, sometimes growth seems small until you compare it to times past.   It is always encouraging to look back and see how far you’ve come and the things that have made an impact on you.   The term gleanings is a biblical custom found in Leviticus 19:10 and Ruth 2, where the poor would be allowed to follow after the harvest and gather the leftover wheat from the workers.   Ladies, you have just harvested knowledge from the Lord.   Go back and glean and receive His final words f...

This morning my son needed a sick day, so instead of worshiping the Lord at church, I am here with you in my thoughts at my laptop, worshipping the Lord through this amazing passage of scripture.   This is my favorite story of motherhood in the Bible.   In part because it reminds me of two dear friends who struggled with conceiving who now have experienced the gift of life through the Lord’s blessing.   And also because this woman had a deep soul-need and found satisfaction in the Life Giver alone.   Hannah was a woman with a rival.   Her husband’s second wife bore many children.   Yet she had none.   Barren.   This stigma was especially piercing in her day because women didn’t have many other opportunities or status.   She was a faithful and godly wife, loved greatly by her husband, yet her soul ached to have a child.   What did she do?   She brought everything she had to God and weeped before Him.   Poured out her desires ...

Prayer Prompt: Lord, give me discernment to know what spirits are from you and keep me faithful until You bring me home.   Read: 1 John 4 Introduction: I love the connections in Scripture!   Did you see where God brought us from our last study?   This chapter says that he who loves God should love his brother (v. 11, 21).   This same place was where we arrived last time in studying Ephesians 4!   The Spirit of God brings love among His people.   This chapter will bring our study of the Holy Spirit to a close.   The verses I’ve given you are not exhaustive; if you’ve enjoyed learning about the Spirit keep reading.   Plug “Spirit” into any Bible search engine (here’s one I like: http://www.biblegateway.com ) and have at it.   For our purposes, this is a good place to end our study as we will get into some Revelation today and thoughts about the end times.   Ladies, I have studied that book 3 times in the last 10 years and am always amazed ...