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The GT Weekend! ~ Champion Week 2

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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) On average, authors will write up to ten drafts before they are ready to publish a finished novel. Each time life has thrown you something of a plot twist, have you found yourself reaching for a pen, furiously rewriting what the next chapter of your life should look like, desperate to get it right this time? Well, I have a secret to share with you. Just as He was the author of Esther’s story, Yahweh is the Author of yours, too, so you can put down your pen and take a deep breath. And unlike the literary greats of our time, it only took God one draft to get it right. We can trust God with our own stories because His good works are all around us. His characters illustrate imperfection, gumption, disobedience, obedience, pride, humility, fear, courage, doubt, and faith. That is to say, His characters are perfectly human. And the best part of all of His stories? Each one ends with redemption. So the next time you find yourself reeling from one of life’s great heartaches, turn to your favorite story in the Bible and remind yourself who is writing your story.

http://www.gracefullytruthful.com/champion-day-6-behind-the-scenes/

2) It is easy in our world, today, to forget that we are lacking. Self-fulfillment is the message preached in every corner, but we have limitations, weaknesses, struggles. We are insufficient. God is what connects us from where we are to where we are meant to be. The thing is, God also values free will. This means every day from the moment we wake up, we are faced with the choice: do I act in God’s name, or do I act according to my flesh (the world)? Daniel shows us what it’s like to face the majority culture and say no for God’s sake. He abstains from the easy meat and wine of the king (Daniel 1:8-16); he calls out the incapable Babylonian priests and magicians, pointing to God for wisdom (Daniel 2:27-30); he worships God despite the fatal repercussions of breaking the king’s new decree (Daniel 6:7;10-13). These choices don’t make Daniel’s life easy, nor does God promise to make our lives easy, but rather He promises to never leave us (Deuteronomy 31:8); He promises to make us fruitful (Jeremiah 17:7-8); He promises us eternal life with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Which choice will you make today?

http://www.gracefullytruthful.com/champion-day-8-fearful-and-fierce/

3) Just as Daniel showed us that each day we are offered a choice to follow God, king David shows us repentance will also be a daily battle. David gets quite the rap as far as Godly men are concerned, but make no mistake, he was just as broken and sinful as we are. What David does so well, though, is honest repentance. Let’s visit Psalm 51 to get a closer look at how he does this. At the time of writing this psalm, David has just coveted a loyal soldier’s wife, knocked her up, and had the soldier killed so he can marry the woman and hide the unlawful pregnancy (2 Samuel 11). Yikes. How does David even start to address this mess? Well, he starts with asking for forgiveness from God, relying wholly on God’s mercy and compassion. Then he admits his sin without trying to hide any of it from God. David recognizes that of all the people he hurt when he sinned, his relationship with God suffered the most. David continues by asking God to renew his heart and recognizes that God wants our broken spirits and hearts more than He desires physical sacrifices. The next time you find yourself in need of repentance, look at Psalm 51 as a reminder of how to ask God for forgiveness. Remember that your words matter less than your humility, honesty, and a willing spirit to turn from sin and back to God.

http://www.gracefullytruthful.com/champion-day-10-casting-out-the-shadows/

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 Philippians 1:6, 9-11 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (…) And I pray this: That your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.”

Prayer Journal
Yahweh, I come to You today with a solemn heart for life troubles me. I cling to the promise You have made to always be with me (Deuteronomy 31:8) and I know, Lord, that even in times of lamentation I can be joyful in God my savior (Habakkuk 3: 17-18). So I lay my sin bare in order that I may receive the righteousness You have offered through Your Son, Jesus Christ, and I seek your compassionate, merciful heart just as David did in Psalm 51. I pray that when I get lost in the words of the page I am living now, I will be reminded of the great stories You have woven throughout history and the redemptive and eternal ending that waits patiently at the close of mine. I know you will finish what you have started in me according to Your own timeline. The troubles of today will prepare me for Your glory tomorrow. So God, I ask that You give me the discipline to obey, the humility to submit to Your will, and the patience to see Your plan through, God. It is in Your Son’s name that I pray, Amen.

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

Build community, be transparent, and encourage others:
Share how God spoke to you today!
Comment Here or in our Facebook Community Group!

Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

The GT Weekend! ~ Redeemed Week 1

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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) Whether you are gleefully looking into the face of your future with bright eyes and high hopes, or you have weathered many storms of loss, heartache, and grief, the Lord has a storyline for you. Regardless of where you are in your journey, whether beginning, middle, or end, the Lord’s pen has not yet halted, leaving you alone. He, the maker of our stories, invites us deeper, moving beyond the surface to see the woven fabric underneath. The tale He weaves touches more lives and carries deeper significance than we can fathom. Will you surrender your pen to His hand and allow His fullness to overwhelm you or will you keep holding onto the myth of control, attempting to navigate the pages of your story on your own? Take some time to journal out what it looks like to surrender your happily ever after to the Lord.

2) How often have you felt deeply that the Lord was indeed against you just as Naomi felt? She voiced her feelings, her beliefs, clearly. Yet, God did not hold this gut-wrenching honesty against her; rather, He walked beside her in her grief. Naomi felt alone, but she was not alone. She felt abandoned, but God had never left her side. He was intimately involved with every detail surrounding Naomi’s situation, even her agony. Can you relate to Naomi? When have you walked a pathway of grief so painful you have wondered aloud if the Lord had left you alone? Feel the freedom to express your fears and your feelings, but don’t sink your teeth into them so firmly you’re unwilling to hold onto truth. To help you practically remember the truth of God’s nearness and love this weekend, click for a free printable you can download and print for your bathroom mirror or kitchen wall!

3) Often, we find it most easy to look back over the plotline of our lives and see our struggles, our lows, and see the landscape which caused pain or loss. As you reflect on these periods in your own life, where do you see the goodness of the Lord showing up and being present with you? As Naomi, full of grief and loss, left all she knew and returned to a homeland with empty hands instead of full, the Lord provided for her. She did not see the fullness God would bless her with. She could not know the redemption that was coming, but still, He was faithfully walking beside her. His proof was Ruth. Take time to reflect on your own proof of the Lord faithfully showing up and walking alongside you. Praise Him for never abandoning! Share those moments of victory with someone else who might need encouragement to keep trusting the Father! If you don’t readily see His hand, pray and ask Him to show you! He is near!

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 Joel 2:25-27 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

I will repay you for the years
that the swarming locust ate,
the young locust, the destroying locust,
and the devouring locust—
my great army that I sent against you.
26 You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied.
You will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
My people will never again be put to shame.
27 You will know that I am present in Israel
and that I am the Lord your God,
and there is no other.
My people will never again be put to shame.

Prayer Journal
Ah Lord God, that You would love me enough to plan for my salvation and my rescue from my own sin before the beginning of time is profoundly radical; I could think of this amazing love and never grow tired of it! But Your love is more pervasive still, intent on redeeming all things! God, this love is too magnificent for me to grasp! I am so unworthy of such divinely intimate love! To walk beside me in my brokenness, and point my eyes forward to the hope of redemption is amazing! Thank you for loving me so deeply, Father. How wonderful you are! Remind me of these truths and teach my heart to worship You in good times and in difficult!

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

Build community, be transparent, and encourage others:
Share how God spoke to you today!
Comment Here or in our Facebook Community Group!

Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

Redeemed Day 5 Comfort In The Bitter

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Exodus 15:22-27
Ruth 1:1-22
Matthew 20:17-28
Philippians 2:12-18

Redeemed, Day 5

Murmurs whispered swiftly through the small town, carried by dusty, sandaled feet. A sudden sense of excitement and curiosity pulsed through Bethlehem as two women approached. Questions swirled among small clusters of residents as all peered intently at the two figures.

The older woman walked with an authority that conveyed she knew the town well, and as excitement grew, a woman nearby exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” The elder woman stopped suddenly, and electricity charged the air as all within earshot waited for her reply.

“Don’t call me Naomi.” She bit the words off as if they were a weapon. “Call me Mara, for the Almighty has made me bitter.” The younger woman walking beside her slipped a comforting arm around her tense shoulders, but she stiffened and continued. “I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

When Naomi left her hometown as a younger woman, she was in a far different season of life. Life in her new home of Moab was good. There were hardships, sure. It was a time of famine, after all. But for the most part, her life was pleasant. Which was fitting; the name “Naomi” means “pleasantness.” Her life was following the natural order.

Marry a good, upstanding Jewish man. Check.
Build a family together and continue the lineage. Check, check.

Her list could have been mine. Or yours too, maybe?

But then.

Elimelech died. Her person. The one with whom she built a life. The one she cleaved to, having left behind her family and friends. Gone.

Every plan for the future, every marital hope, every daydream glimpse of her beloved as a gray-haired grandfather, telling stories to delighted little ones. Vanished. Gone forever, like a wisp in the desert air. As a widow, she found herself facing an unknown future, alone.

Her sons married, and years passed.

It’s likely she began to look forward with expectancy as she waited for news of grandchildren. Scripture doesn’t say if those ten years were hard or soft, but sudden loss came to call on Naomi again with the death of not one, but both, of her sons.

Another defining facet of her identity, marred forever. Stripped of the treasured roles which defined a woman’s value, she grieved both those she loved and her cultural purpose. Wounds of loss and disappointment were raw and gaping for a time, but eventually, they began to harden.

Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, and Ruth insisted on joining her.

Scripture doesn’t describe the scene of Naomi’s return in quite the detail my imagination paints, but it isn’t difficult to picture, is it?

By the time Naomi and Ruth reached Bethlehem, Naomi’s heart posture was apparent. The grief and loss she had endured were not submitted to the Lord, but were instead allowed to harden into bitterness. By telling the women in Bethlehem to call her “Mara,” she drew a clear parallel between herself and the Israelites’ experience wandering through the wilderness with only bitter water to drink.

Anger, frustration, self-pity. Bitterness.

I imagine as they approached Bethlehem, her mind was flooded with memories of the day she and Elimilech left, and the sorrow of that initial separation. The naive, wistful thoughts about returning together in the future, perhaps with a few mischievous grandchildren in tow. Instead, she returned with her son’s widow, carrying a burden of grief and sorrow.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. 

Oh, Naomi. I’ve been there. The words feel familiar, because they are familiar. They’ve split through my hurting heart more than once.

And maybe yours, too, Sister? 

Have you let your own plans, or the experiences in your life, define you?

Have you let them fill you? 

I have. 

Just like Naomi, we can all reflect on times we have sought what only God can give
us from our
husband,
family,
friends,
career,
health,
talent,
reputation,
safety,
security,
political party, or
fill-in-your-blank.

But dear friend.

If we are filled and defined by what we want, or by our relationships or experiences, how are we any different from the rest of the world? Do any of those things fill us with light or God’s truth? 

More importantly, if we are full of those things, how can He fill us with what He desires? 

Ouch.

The truth of what happens when we allow ourselves to be filled by anything but our God is illustrated by Naomi’s response to the pressure and loss in her life. She allowed herself to be filled by something other than the Lord, so when those people and relationships were no longer in her life, she was empty. The wounds of loss allowed her hard heart to spill out when she publicly blamed Him for all she endured.

She missed the comfort the Lord provided her in Ruth, but she also missed the opportunity to share with the townspeople about the comfort, peace, joy, and fruitfulness the Lord provides in hard seasons.

And friend? We are in danger of the same. When we allow ourselves to be filled by anything but God, we are missing the blessing He longs to extend to us in both the famine and the plenty.

Lord, You are the author and creator of life. Your plans are far above any I could devise. I confess my desire and need for control, and I choose to repent today. Heal the places in me that need a touch from You, and teach me how to walk in Your way. All I have is Yours. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

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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 Redeemed Week Two! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Sola Day 7 Sola Gratia: 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 Sola Gratia!

The Questions

1) What does it mean to “thirst”? (verse 1)

2) What is that which does not satisfy? (verse 2)

3) How is hearing connected to a soul granted life and an everlasting covenant? (verse 3)

Isaiah 55:1-3

1 “Come, everyone who is thirsty,
come to the water;
and you without silver,
come, buy, and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without silver and without cost!
2 Why do you spend silver on what is not food,
and your wages on what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.
3 Pay attention and come to me;
listen, so that you will live.
I will make a permanent covenant with you
on the basis of the faithful kindnesses of David.

Original Intent

1) What does it mean to “thirst”? (verse 1)
God, the Almighty Author of the Universe, is passionate about pursuing His created ones in order to reconcile us back to Himself. This mission is fueled by a love so deep we cannot even begin to comprehend it, and He will use every means possible to show us the depth of His love. To help convey His saving plan of reconciliation, He uses common ideas we are familiar with in order to show us deep spiritual truths. One very common need every human can relate to is thirst. In Scripture, God uses what we already know (being physically thirsty) to demonstrate the true need of our hearts (being spiritually thirsty). The idea of being thirsty is used often within the context of Scripture from the Old Testament all the way to Revelation, the last book in the New Testament. The prophet Isaiah describes a thirsty land (Isaiah 44:3), and Moses recounts a thirsty people (Numbers 20:1-8). In both instances, it was the Lord alone who provided in full for them. The psalmist sings soulfully of how deeply he longed to be quenched by the presence of God. (Psalm 63:1) Jesus encountered the woman at the well who was filling water jugs, and leveraged her physical thirst to point to her deep thirst for the life only God can provide. (John 4:10) This thirst for God is real, it needs to be recognized by each of us, and, mercifully, Living Water (Christ) exists to quench our thirst to overflowing to all who ask! (Revelation 21:6)

2) What is that which does not satisfy? (verse 2)
The prophet Isaiah was calling for an awakening revival for Israel. In the previous chapter, Isaiah had prophesied how the Lord God would come and renew Israel, bringing restoration in the wake of their deserved exile and punishment. Israel’s punishment would not last forever because the Lord was tender and compassionate towards them. “For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.” (Isaiah 54:7) Isaiah is pointing to the utter futility of Israel’s ways as they pursue rebellion against the God who loves them so immeasurably. They chose to chase after everything they laid their eyes on and lusted after, rather than responding to the call of God. Later, the prophet Haggai would use similar language towards Israel saying, “you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who learns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.” (Haggai 1:6) Both prophets pointed to the complete emptiness resulting from pursuing the temporary happiness of “things”.

3) How is hearing connected to a soul granted life and an everlasting covenant? (verse 3)
There are three instructive commands in this passage of Scripture, “come”, “listen carefully”, and “pay attention”. First, the invitation to come is extended freely to all, but there is one limiting condition of finding real life, to be thirsty. Only those who are thirsty will find satisfaction. Only those who are thirsty will welcome and receive all the benefits of being quenched by the presence of the Lord God. Fullness and satisfaction can be forced on no one. The Lord invites all, but will force none to receive Him. The choice is ours. The invitation is followed up immediately with the call to action of listening and paying attention. The Lord designed His message to be told and boldly declared in order for it to be heard and received. As Pastor Paul queries in Romans 10:14, “And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher?” Proverbs 1:20 and 23 also speak of this need to listen with attentiveness in order to gain life, “Wisdom calls aloud in the street….if you respond to my warning, then I will pour out My Spirit upon you.” It’s conceivable that someone is thirsty for spiritual things and curious about the things of God, yet still refuse to actually listen to truth and wisdom being poured out for them. They could hear, but not being paying full attention in order to gain understanding. Jesus notes this is the case with the religiously zealous Pharisees of His day when He quotes Isaiah 6:9-10, “they may indeed look, and yet not perceive; they may indeed listen, and yet not understand; otherwise, they might turn back and be forgiven.” (Mark 4:12) When the thirsty respond to the invitation to come, and when they listen with the desire to understand, they will receive real, abundant life, an everlasting covenant where He will guard our souls for eternity.

Everyday Application

1) What does it mean to “thirst”? (verse 1)
Water. Generally, human beings cannot survive without water for more than 3 or 4 days. Tongues stick to the roof of a mouth and just a drop of water becomes the only focus, nothing else matters to the severally dehydrated person. A PE teacher from high school constantly hounded us to drink more water. She rightly said, “If you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.” Because the human body is amazingly designed, we can “cover up” our need for water for a while, maybe a sugary soda or a coffee or two, and we end the day deprived of the life-giving water our bodies crave. Over time, our bodies can be trained to work harder to cover the deficit of less water, further covering our real need. This physical truth reflects a deep, spiritual truth. We can put off our spiritual needs, pretend they don’t really matter (or even exist), or occasionally sprinkle our soul with water from a weekly church gathering, or listening to Christian music. Our souls were meant to be utterly drenched in the living water offered by Christ. We can’t earn it. We can’t purchase it with good deeds or displays of kindness. We don’t deserve it; not even a drop. Yet, here the invitation stands to “all who thirst”. Yes, that’s every single one of us, because we were intentionally created with thirsty souls. How will you nourish your soul? Will you allow the Living Water to wash over you again and again, or will you keep living a dehydrated life? Remember, if you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated! Come! Drink of the full life of Christ!

2) What is that which does not satisfy? (verse 2)
We all know what it’s like to labor hard for something, only to watch it waste away, or even betray us. Maybe it’s as simple as working hard on a document only for your computer to shut down and erase all memory of said writing. Perhaps you’ve invested heavily into a relationship, only to grieve deeply while that person abandons you. Maybe it’s a stock market crash or an illness that took you by surprise, leaving you debilitated where you once were strong. Perhaps you were once motivated passionately, but when real life hit you hard, you were swept under the current and left limp and lifeless. The reality of our broken world will always result in eventual emptiness, leaving us feeling as if we’ve put our everything into a “bag with holes in it”. Poet, C.T. Studd said it best, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” The prophet Isaiah awakens us with his invitation to leave the emptiness behind and find the fullness of life that is only available through Jesus Christ. Imagine the difference of living your everyday moments with the promise of eternal fullness in Jesus!

3) How is hearing connected to a soul granted life and an everlasting covenant? (verse 3)
Where are you in the process of invitation, being thirsty, and listening attentively? Regardless of whether we have surrendered our everything to the lordship of Jesus Christ, or if we are exploring what it means to follow Christ, this same pathway of invitation, thirst, and attentiveness exists. If you’ve long followed Jesus, His invitation to know Him more deeply stands with the door flung wide every moment of every day. Are you still thirsty for Him, fellow believing sister? Do you long for more of Him? Are you actively listening to His voice? Do you practice learning His voice a little more each day by reading His Word and engaging with Him? His invitation is open! Not sure about Jesus? Wonder if He is who He claims? Do you have doubts? Feel insufficient in your faith? The Lord’s invitation stands for you, “Come!”. “Come, buy without price!” There is nothing you must do, no part of your life you must “fix” on your own before coming. Christ simply calls out, “Come!”. Embrace the thirstiness of your soul and the longings for wholeness and healing of  your heart. Listen for the Lord as He speaks life over you!

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
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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

Share What You’ve Learned!
Pray Together!
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Our Current Study Theme!

This is Sola Week Two!
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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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Pause 3 Day 2 Intended For Rest

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Pause 3, Day 2

Rest.
We all need it, but most of us push back from it, not wanting to be found lazy, weak, or ineffective. We stay awake until the wee hours working, press ourselves to exhaustion during the day, or move from one activity to the next without a breath.
Yet, we were designed for resting.

Resting.
Pausing.
Breathing.
Being.

As often is the case, the physical realm mirrors the spiritual in order to accentuate it. Just as our physical bodies were made to literally live off of rest, so were our souls. This is the emphasis of chapter three in Hebrews. The only safe haven of rest for our souls is found in Christ Jesus, the author of our hearts.

Grab your Bible, a journal and pen,
and open your heart to bask in the presence of the Almighty!

Today's Challenge

1) Pull out your Bible and read Hebrews 3 fully through 3 times.

2) Each time, write down everything that pops out at you, makes you curious, or wonder “why?”. When you’re finished, go back through and you’ll be amazed at the new things the Spirit is leading you into knowing about Him!

3) Pay special attention to the kind of rest we are made for. Who is able to ensure we will be given the inheritance of rest? What kind of rest is the author wanting us to make sure we enter? How do we enter it? What keeps us from this specific rest?

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Hebrews 3

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was in all God’s household. 3 For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house. 4 Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers tested me, tried me,
and saw my works 10 for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation
and said, “They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known my ways.”
11 So I swore in my anger,
“They will not enter my rest.”

12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start. 15 As it is said:
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

16 For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses? 17 With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

How Does “Pause” Work?
1. Each day, Monday through Friday, for 2 weeks, we will provide you with a simple challenge. Each challenge is designed for you to engage with the Almighty in a deeper way and perhaps in a new way than you have been recently.

2. Having a journal is a must! You’ll want to take notes as you walk this special Journey of Pause.

3. Each week focuses on one or two passage of Scripture and we walk with you as you study and flesh these out for yourself. As you write your thoughts, read His Word, and pray, questions might come up. That’s Perfect! Ask a trusted fellow believer, a pastor, or send us an email as you work through them!

4. Jumping in at the middle? No problem! Here is the entire Journey Theme.

5. Connect with others on Facebook by visiting our GT Community Group!

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 Pause 3 Week One!
Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Here’s a link to all past studies
in Pause 3!