Imagination

The GT Weekend! ~ Sketched VII Week 3

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The GT Weekend!

At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”.
Use this time to invite the Almighty’s fullness into you life in a deeper way!
Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to
reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ.
Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with other women in prayer,
rest your soul in reflective journaling,
and spend time worshiping the Creator who
longs for intimacy with each of us!

Worship Through Journaling

Worship Through Journaling

1) Adam, a youth pastor who had been heavily influenced by his own youth pastor, sat across from another impressionable youth at a local coffee shop. Adam didn’t expect this moment, but is willing to sit in the uncomfortable while the boy across from him wrestles with the big questions about God raging in his heart. Here is discipleship lived out. Here is missional living, right in the heart of everyday life! Adam was willing to engage in another’s life, get messy, and face the uncomfortable right alongside him. Are you? Who has God already strategically placed in your life, waiting for you to get messy and live missionally alongside? Are you willing to sit still and allow the Holy Spirit to enter into another’s wrestling to bring about life change? Start praying for God-sized engagement in the life of someone around you!

2) When you think of “missionary” or “evangelism” or “sharing the gospel”, what happens inside your heart? What images come to mind? Do you find yourself pulling back with fear or breathlessly leaning in with anticipation? The missionary who shared her story on Wednesday admitted that her story likely met none of your expectations for what a missionary looked like. What if this statement was more of the “norm” for missional living? Just suppose our fears for sharing Jesus and being a missionary are unfounded? What if we are anchoring our visual concepts and heart fears of missions on a base of deception planted by the enemy to deter us from living out what God has richly called us into as He builds His eternal kingdom through us? What if?!

3)  Nikki began her story by stating she didn’t know what God was calling her into in the long run, but it all began with one step of obedience because she saw a desperate need. Often, this simple beginning is how the Lord motivates our feet to run towards Him and into His mission for us. He begins by stirring our hearts with a need we can visibly see and increasingly long to meet. This passion is not a mediocre passing thought, but a need that persists and chases. Where do you see this in your life? Or maybe that need was once a fiery burn in your chest, but you chased it away with other things. Just suppose the Lord God Almighty was calling you into something bigger than you can imagine, and all He asks right now is one step of obedience as you see a need?

Praying Scripture back to the One who wrote it in the first place is a great way to jump start our prayer-life! Pray this passage from Isaiah 6:8-9 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

Prayer Journal
Whom will You send, Abba? Will You send me? What of my fears? Do I know you well enough? Is there even an “enough” requirement to be sent? Where will I go? To the lost, Lord, You always send to the Lost, to the Broken, to those stuck in their sin. Oh Lord, remind me moment by moment, that “those” are “me” without You. We are the same! Lord, You are sending me out to people just like me. You are sending me to my people. Whoever “my” people are in different seasons whether months from now or decades, break my heart for them. Stir my heart with passion for them to know you deeply and intimately as You stir their hearts to reject their sin and love You most and best. Here I am, Lord, send me!

Worship Through Community

Can we pray for you? Reach Out! We’d love to pray for and with you!
Send us an email at prayer@gracefullytruthful.com

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Share how God spoke to you today!
Comment Here or in our Facebook Community Group!

Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

Here Day 14 Bethlehem: Digging Deeper

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Digging Deeper Days

Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!

Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out Bethlehem!

The Questions

1) Such vivid imagery and dramatic beginning of this passage (verse 1)! What does this mean?

2) How does the promise in verse 2 connect with “therefore Israel will be abandoned….” in verse 3?

3) Why is “ruler of Israel” (verse 2) significant and how does it relate to the other benefits prophesied about that would come with the Messiah??

Micah 5:1-6

Now, daughter who is under attack,
you slash yourself in grief;
a siege is set against us!
They are striking the judge of Israel
on the cheek with a rod.
2 Bethlehem Ephrathah,
you are small among the clans of Judah;
one will come from you
to be ruler over Israel for me.
His origin is from antiquity,
from ancient times.
3 Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of the ruler’s brothers will return
to the people of Israel.
4 He will stand and shepherd them
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majestic name of the Lord his God.
They will live securely,
for then his greatness will extend
to the ends of the earth.
5 He will be their peace.
When Assyria invades our land,
when it marches against our fortresses,
we will raise against it seven shepherds,
even eight leaders of men.
6 They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod with a drawn blade.
So he will rescue us from Assyria
when it invades our land,
when it marches against our territory.

Original Intent

1) Such vivid imagery and dramatic beginning of this passage (verse 1)! What does this mean?
The Jewish nation was struggling to maintain the title “nation”. They had suffered much already at the time of Micah’s prophecies, but would endure much more in the years ahead. The nation had split between Northern Kingdom (Israel) and Southern Kingdom (Judah) following King Solomon’s reign, which was immediately following King David. During Micah’s lifetime, the Northern Kingdom would fall and be dispersed, never to be a nation again. Still to come for Judah was a 70-year exile at the hand of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Micah’s short book is packed full of warnings to Judah of all the destruction that was still to come, while also woven through with hope that the punishment would one day end. The “daughter under attack” is the nation of Judah, or Zion, as also referenced in this book. So great was the devastation coming towards her as punishment, that Micah calls for her to “slash herself”. This isn’t intended to read like modern-day “cutting” or suicide, rather it was a call to awareness of how great Judah’s sin was in the eyes of God. A siege was coming (from Babylon), and there was nothing they could do to stop impending judgement from God. Babylon would strike the “judge (or king) of Israel on the cheek with a rod”, meaning it would be shameful for Israel to be conquered and taken captive.     

2) How does the promise in verse 2 connect with “therefore Israel will be abandoned….” in verse 3?
The timing of the Lord is perfect, flawless, and wholly wise. He waited for “just the right time” in the grand timeline of history to send Jesus as an infant. (Romans 5:6) Nothing about His actions were either slow or rushed; they were precise and intentional. Micah had laid out the warning of judgment their sinful actions would bring about. He told of the coming, rightly deserved, punishment on Israel. He had also delivered the word of hope that one day, the Messiah, God wrapped in flesh, would come and rule and shepherd Israel, bringing about peace. Now, God would give space. God would wait. He would wait until the perfect time, for Mary and Joseph to be born and raised waiting for hope, engaged to be married with no expectation for what and how exactly God would intervene. God waited for Caesar Augustus’ call for census so Mary and Joseph would travel to Bethlehem, the prophesied about city of Jesus’ birth. He would wait for Rome to build roads across the eastern world so that missionaries like Paul and Peter could easily reach more people with the message of the cross. He would wait for Greek to be the common language so the gospel would spread quickly. Yes, it looked like God “abandoned” Israel, but He hadn’t, He was waiting. The Hebrew word used for “abandoned” in this verse literally means a setting aside for specific work. God intentionally set Israel aside, deferring their coming salvation, until that very moment when history would forever be divided.

3) Why is “ruler of Israel” (verse 2) significant and how does it relate to the other benefits prophesied about that would come with the Messiah?
Where verse 1 mentioned “the judge of Israel”, meaning the human king, verse 2 speaks of One who would be “ruler over Israel for Me”. The “Me” here is God speaking through Micah. This would not be a human who would speak for God like a prophet, this Ruler would BE God whose “origin is from antiquity”, meaning, exactly like God, He had no beginning, but has simply always existed like John speaks of Jesus (the Word) in John 1:1. This ruler would “stand” with authority, He would “shepherd” Israel with tenderness and care, and all He would do would be done with the strength of Yahweh and all would be done in the Name of Yahweh, which would come to pass by Jesus’ own words of Himself, “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19) He would bring security without fear for His people, and His “greatness” or fame will be endless and known by all. (Isaiah 52:10, Isaiah 45:22) He would be Israel’s peace, their final victory, and mighty rescuer against strongest foes. No human king could attain such lofty goals. Even if someone was able to bring about peace and all these other wonderful things, there is no possible way it would last forever, yet that was exactly Micah’s prophecy. One human being who would come from Judah’s lineage, but was somehow also God, was intended to fulfill each of these incredible prophecies!

Everyday Application

1) Such vivid imagery and dramatic beginning of this passage (verse 1)! What does this mean?
Micah prophesied of an extremely grievous scenario for Judah, but at the time of prophesy, things didn’t seem that bad. They enjoyed relative wealth, and they felt they were “getting away” with their sinfulness. (Micah 2:8) Yet, every act was seen by God, and their debt against Him must be paid. We are not Judah, but the scenario is the same for us! How easy it is for us to justify our sin, to feel like we can get away with it, to ask forgiveness later, and ignore the reality of sin incurring a debt against a holy God. Like Micah warned Judah, telling her to grieve deeply, so should we grieve over our sin. Punishment for our sin must take place, but we could never pay it, which is why God planned to send the Promised One, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to take our punishment for us! Babylon would attack Judah and take what was left of the divided Israeli nation into captivity just as Micah said they would. For us, without surrendering everything to Jesus and trusting Him to pay our debt caused by sin, we too will face a captivity. Ours will be eternal, however, and death will have the final word. There is only one hope, God wrapped in flesh, living our life perfectly for us without sin, and then sacrificing Himself as an atonement for sin, followed by a victorious rising from the dead so that life would have the final word for those who believe in Him! Don’t ignore the warning! Grieve over your sin, and let that grief bring you to repentance! (2 Corinthians 7:10)

2) How does the promise in verse 2 connect with “therefore Israel will be abandoned….” in verse 3?
We are quite familiar with waiting, in fact, it often feels as if that’s the majority of how we spend our lives. Waiting to grow up, waiting to graduate, waiting for the right spouse, waiting for children, waiting for achievement, waiting to be noticed for that position, waiting to be loved well, or waiting for that loved one to turn from their erring ways. Rarely do we consider how God also waits. He waited for just the right time for Jesus’ birth, and only He knew when that fullness of time had come, and all of the intricate reasons why that time was perfect. But that’s not the only time He has waited. Every single time someone turns from darkness, away from their sin, and chooses to walk in the light and love of Jesus, God has been waiting for that moment. He’s been waiting to pour out His Spirit into their hearts and fill them with knowledge of Him. As that person grows in understanding and takes more steps of obedience in Christ, God waits at every pause, holding every tear, celebrating every victory, and waiting patiently while we keep growing. We wait in line, we wait at the microwave, we wait in our relationships, but so does our God. While our waiting can seem pointless and frustrating, His is always intentional and pregnant with purpose. Next time you’re waiting for something, anything, remember God waits too, and He has a set aside, specific purpose for that wait!

3) Why is “ruler of Israel” (verse 2) significant and how does it relate to the other benefits prophesied about that would come with the Messiah?
With such wondrous promises at stake, it’s no wonder that Bethlehem kept holding onto the hope of being the birthplace of “the one”. As the years stretched into decades and centuries, I wonder how many people scoffed at the prophesies made by a long-ago prophet named Micah. But, then, I think about today, and my life, and our time. We wait for the same coming King. Yes, the Ancient One, the Word become flesh, has indeed arrived in insignificant little Bethlehem just as God foretold through Micah, but we wait for another coming Day. The same Jesus will come back again! “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11) It’s been over 2,000 years since this Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and though no one knows the day or the hour when He will come back to “stand” with authority, to “shepherd” His people with kindness we’ve never imagined, and bring a “peace” that will last for eternity because He is God, we know He absolutely will. So, we, like Bethlehem of old, wait with anticipation!

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with Bethlehem!

Digging Deeper is for Everyone!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!

Digging Deeper Community

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Our Current Study Theme!

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Why Dig Deeper?

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Study Tools

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Memorize It!

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Worship V Day 5 The Love Of God

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Read His Words Before Ours!

John 3:16-17
Ephesians 3:14-21
Romans 5:1-11
Romans 8:31-39
Lamentations 3:22-24

Worship V, Day 5

A California businessman loses everything.

A prisoner in an asylum scratches out words on his cell wall.

A Jewish Rabbi writes a poem for Pentecost.

At first glance, these men have nothing in common.
BUT, as is His style, God weaves a beautiful story.

He sovereignly used these men, unknown to each other, to co-author one of today’s most treasured hymns.

As only God can, He ordained specific circumstances for each of these men to bring together three stanzas of The Love of God.

I first heard the hymn in college at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Despite the 15+ years since that President’s Chapel where I listened to a choir sing at Dr. Stowell’s request, I still vividly hear the words ringing through the auditorium.

When I saw this Journey Study offer, I did a double take; how could I NOT write about these beautiful, moving lyrics that have meant so much to me?!

I had NO idea about the hymn’s history, but I uncovered an incredible story of God’s sovereignty!

Fredrick Lehman lost everything and watched his business crash before him. Instead of turning his back on God, he leaned into Him. Deeply moved by a sermon, Lehman’s rampant thoughts-turning-to-lyrics left him restless all night and pursued him the next day. When he finished his temporary shift of packing crates of fruit, he rushed home to his piano and penned the first two stanzas, the chorus, and the melody for his would-be-hymn.

Stuck, Lehman couldn’t think of a third verse, a requirement for hymns at that time.
He could have tucked his incomplete song away, stashing it in a box with other papers to be forgotten.

But he didn’t.
God wanted this hymn written at that very moment.

He reminded Lehman of a card he’d been given years prior that had been used for nothing more than a bookmark until this day…

On the card was a poem:

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Tho stretched from sky to sky.

Not only were the words perfect for the hymn’s message, but when Lehman set them to the melody he’d already prepared, it too was a perfect fit!

As Lehman looked again at the card, he saw a story written at the bottom.

The poem had been found on a prisoner’s cell wall in an asylum some 200 years prior.  The words had gone unnoticed until the prisoner died and workers were tasked with painting the cell. Impressed and thinking the words were worth preserving, the workers jotted down the poem before their brushes covered the walls with paint.

How amazing is that?!
God used a prisoner in an insane asylum to write the third stanza some 200 years before Lehman would pen the first two stanzas!

As if that wasn’t miraculous enough…get this!
The prisoner wasn’t the original author of the poem.
Encouraged by the words, he must have memorized them earlier in his life.

A Jewish Rabbi, Meir Ben Isaac Nehoria, had written the poem in Hebrew in AD 1050, as a hymn during Pentecost.

God preserved that poem, ensured a prisoner in an asylum would scrawl it on the wall of his cell, in English, some thousands of years later!

God then purposed a friend to give Lehman a card with both poem and story.

God not only had Lehman use that card as a bookmark, but reminded him of it on that very day as he struggled to compose lyrics for a third stanza for his hymn!

Wow! Just wow!

God must really have wanted that message written in that exact way, with those vivid mental images of a scroll stretching across the sky, an ocean filled with ink, and EVERY person on earth picking up a pen to attempt to write about His love!

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell.

We cannot even begin to fathom how much God loves us!  It is beyond our wildest imaginations!

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin.

 Do you see Adam and Eve in the Garden?  Do you sense their shame, fear, and despair?

Do you hear God’s approaching footsteps? Do you cower lower, waiting for inevitable punishment?

Are you blown away when He graciously spares their lives AND provides reconciliation?

Do you realize God KNEW they would mess up and had a plan in place to save them before He ever spoke the first star into existence?!

Do you understand He also had YOU in mind that day in the Garden?  His promise of pardon is for ALL!

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race-
The saints’ and angels’ song.

MUCH time has passed since that fateful day in the Garden.
In every time period, people worldwide have denied God and resisted Him.

BUT, His love endures.  He continues redeeming and reconciling ANY AND ALL who are willing through His offer of salvation TODAY until the day when Christ returns.

On that day, every tongue, tribe, and nation will join together with angels to sing to the Holy One!

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song

That’s a story worth singing about, and sharing!
How might God use YOU, in intricate ways, to declare His vast love?!

Ready for more? Dig Deeper!
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Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Worship V Week One! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Click the above image for today’s Digging Deeper!

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Worship!