Bible Archives - Gracefully Truthful

Worship XI Day 13 Qof & Resh

June 14, 2023 by Sara Cissell Leave a Comment

Worship XI Day 13 Qof & Resh

Sara Cissell

June 14, 2023

Deep,Enough,Forgiven,Freedom,Fruitfulness,Fullness,Holy Spirit

Psalm 119:145-160
Isaiah 43:1-4
Romans 8:28-29

“I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell; and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.” –C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

This quote from C.S. Lewis brings to mind my last year of college. Praise God that Heaven awaits me, and my eternity will not carry the pain of that year. To this day, I reflect on the thoughts and emotions of that season, and my stomach rolls.

The vividness of my memories has not diminished, but the lens of truth through which I view them has shifted, thank the Lord!

What would a personal hell on earth look like for you?

For me, during my senior year pursuing an elementary education degree, I was told by authority figures I would never be a good teacher. Miscommunications, spiritual warfare, my lack of confidence, and personality differences all were at play. For years, I’d worked toward my degree, and as the journey neared the finish line, I received deep criticism rather than encouragement.

For a people-pleasing perfectionist with a strong desire to be part of a team, the slow and bitter rejection and injustice of my senior year created physical, mental, and social torture. I lost weight. I battled fear. I understood how the devil could make the lie of suicide solving all problems so very palatable when life clenched a stranglehold on hope. I cried myself to sleep most nights.

I was miserable.
I was also desperate for the Lord in ways I had never been before.

Many nights, as tears streamed down my face, I clutched my Bible to my chest. John 1:1 says the Word was with God and the Word was God. In those moments, I was literally holding Him close.

During that year, I was devoted to reading the Word and expecting the Lord to speak to me. Countless times, I started my Bible reading time begging for the Lord to bring His Word to life. I knew how desperately I needed His voice of authority covering me.

My heart-cry echoed the psalmist’s words:

Qof
“I call with all my heart; answer me, LORD.
I will obey your statutes.
I call to you; save me,
and I will keep your decrees.
I rise before dawn and cry out for help;
I put my hope in your word.
I am awake through each watch of the night
To meditate on your promise.
In keeping with your faithful love, hear my voice.
LORD, give me life in keeping with your justice.”
(Psalm 119:145-149)

He proved faithful. He provided His manna for the day, and I left nothing behind for the next day. (Exodus 16:31-35)

By the time I graduated and became a certified teacher, I was no longer the same person. Much healing still needed to take place, but I walked away from my college years with much more than a degree.

It has been years (*cough* decades) since that year of struggle, and in preparation for this Journey Study, I pulled out my journals from that long-ago season.

What I found made me weep and fall face down before my King.

10/22/03 “Lord, I am struggling. I feel weighed down, overwhelmed, and lost. I cannot carry this burden. I can’t. I lay my stress, concern, anger, hurt, shame, and defeat at Your feet. I want Your peace and Your joy. I need Your strength alone, Lord. My strength is so weak, unbelievably weak, and yet I still try to do it on my own. Forgive me.”

11/8/03 “God, I need You desperately. I want You to use me, grow me, keep me humble. Lord, I do not know how to deal with this year. What is its purpose, Lord? Please help me obey and remove my pride. Please, Holy Spirit, teach me. Turn this struggle into a growing and refining time.”

11/12/03 “Lord God, You are awesome. This has been the hardest week thus far of this semester. I praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and amazing grace.”

12/10/03 “Lord, increase my faith that You are in control. Turn this negative experience into a positive one. God, use this experience to make me a better teacher, person, and Christian. Thank you, Father, for the growth I have experienced this semester. I have learned how to cling to You in a new way. Glory be unto Your name!!”

As I read through countless journal entries, prayers of thankfulness filled my heart. The Lord has faithfully answered those prayers. Clinging to His Word, His promises and His precepts, have brought about good fruit in my life.

Resh
“Consider how I love Your precepts;
Lord, give me life according to Your faithful love.
The entirety of Your word is truth,
each of Your righteous judgments endures forever.”
(Psalm 119:159-160)

He used that prolonged, hard season to uproot what could not remain in my life. He provided time for my heart and mind to begin to consistently search for Him and His perspective, to bring about a humility resulting in fertile heart ground, and to teach me to trust His voice of authority over all others.

In essence, He took a year that felt like hell and planted seeds that drew me closer to Heaven.

I declare with the psalmist,
Your compassions are many, Lord;
give me life according to Your judgments.
(Psalm 119:156)

For indeed, He HAS!

Tags :

Bible,embrace,hope,love,Truth

Share This :

Recent Journeys

Done Day 11 Reconciled Redemption

August 7, 2023

The GT Weekend! ~ Known, Week 3

July 29, 2023

Known Day 15 Jehovah Nissi: Digging Deeper

July 28, 2023

Worship XI Day 14
Digging Deeper

But God doesn’t connect to humanity because He needs something from us. He draws near out of the abundance of who HE is.

The psalmist understood something important: he had an ongoing relationship with His creator because of God’s coming near! The psalmist continually called out to God from his heart. Through the day and the night, he walked with God by obeying His word, putting hope in His word and meditating on His word.

Dig Deeper!

Can We Pray With You?

Prayer is central to our ministry as believers in Jesus as we carry eachother’s burdens and intercede for one another. Our team is honored to share the work of praying alongside you!

This Week's Lock Screen

Explore This Journey Theme!

Join a GT POD!

Authentically living out a life of worship to the God who rescued us from darkness requires accountability and intentionality. Join a GT POD and take the next step in your faith journey!

Join the GT Facebook Community!

Free Registration!

Share Your Story!

Build Day 5 Building Faith

February 18, 2022 by Marietta Taylor Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Nehemiah 4
James 2:14-26
James 1:2-4
1 Peter 14:12-19

Build, Day 5

Did you know haters existed in the Bible? They did, and today I want to talk about two of them, Sanballat and Tobiah. Their target? Nehemiah primarily, but also the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile in an effort to resettle the city. Let’s see how Nehemiah’s haters operated.

The Israelites were minding their business, each working on rebuilding their assigned portion of the wall. Sanballat and Tobiah’s first line of attack against them was mockery and insults, trying to discourage the workers. (Nehemiah 4:1-3) Nehemiah, who was leading the building efforts, could have responded directly to them verbally or even physically, but he chose the way of wisdom and faith. He prayed. (Nehemiah 4:4-5)

Nehemiah trusted God to handle the opposition, instead of trying to handle them himself. His response reminds me of someone else who prayed in response to His haters. Jesus, hanging on the cross, accused of being a liar and a fraud, turned to the Father in prayer instead of using His unlimited power against His haters.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.’” (Luke 23:34)

I’m praying we can follow these examples and respond to opposition with prayer, instead of trying to handle it by ourselves. After all, God said, “Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay.” (Deuteronomy 32:35) We need to trust Him, relying on Him to handle the situation.

If you thought Sanballat and Tobiah were done, think again. As the Israelites kept on building (Nehemiah 4:6), the haters upped the ante, plotting with other nations to attack the Israelites. (Nehemiah 4:7-8, 11) Some workers grew discouraged at the opposition and the sheer magnitude of the task remaining. (Nehemiah 4:10-12) This time, Nehemiah did not pray alone as many workers prayed alongside him. (Nehemiah 4:9)

Then Nehemiah asked everyone, leaders and workers alike, to do as he had been doing and would continue to do, trust God, who had shown Himself faithful time and again. While also, joining God by taking appropriate action. They could act as guards and protect themselves and their families. (Nehemiah 4:13-18)

Nehemiah armed the people with prayer and encouragement as well as the practicalities of guards, weapons, and an alarm system. The people responded by returning to the work God had given them. (Nehemiah 4:15-21) Nehemiah embodies the promise found in James 1:2-4, “The testing of your faith produces endurance.” That endurance makes us “mature and complete.”

Nehemiah was definitely being tested as a leader through escalating opposition and discouraged countrymen. Yet he showed himself mature by demonstrating his faith in God through prayer and works. He prayed, made and implemented plans, and even worked alongside the people. (Nehemiah 4:21-23) Imagine how encouraging it is for workers today to have their boss stay late, roll up her figurative sleeves, and help out with that critical project. Now imagine how the Israelites felt having Nehemiah join in the work, all the while risking his own life too!

James 2:17 says, “Faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.” How is this reflected in Nehemiah’s story? Nehemiah shows a complete picture of trusting God to work on our behalf, while also actively putting that faith to action by using the wisdom He imparts for leading well. We can learn much about building from this prophet.

As we are building our families, ministries, and communities, what can we learn from Nehemiah’s experience?

Trust the one and only Builder, God, first and foremost. Without Him, we build weak straw huts and sinking sandcastles. (Matthew 7:24-27)
Pray. By praying we acknowledge “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) Who can stand against God? (2 Chronicles 20:6)
Do the work. Don’t just make plans, but actively participate in the work as an act of obedience to God and for inspiration to our fellow builders.
Endure the trials and the opposition. God is glorified when we suffer for His name. (1 Peter 4:12-19)

As we trust, pray, build, and endure, we can stand confidently on His assurance He will never leave us nor forsake us!

“Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For the LORD your God is the one who will go with you; He will not leave you nor abandon you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Ready for more? Dig Deeper!
Join us for every Journey Study by signing up!
Looking for yesterday’s Journey Study?
Share your thoughts from today’s Study!

Don’t miss today’s Digging Deeper! And we’d love to hear your thoughts from today’s Journey! Comment Here!

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 Build 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 Build!

If Day 3 Indwelling

July 14, 2021 by Rebecca Adams Leave a Comment

If Day 3 Indwelling

Rebecca Adams

July 14, 2021

Deep,Dwell,God,Holy Spirit,Jesus,Love,Rescue

Read His Words Before Ours!

John 16:5-15
John 14:12-31
Galatians 5:13-26

What if Christians were merely saved from sin?
Suppose we were rescued, then left alone to traverse the difficulties of life?

Divorce, loss, financial ruin, emotional trauma, grief, persecution, sinful temptations…suppose God rescued us only to leave us alone until we somehow crossed the line of Eternity?

Would He be a loving God?
One who came in the flesh, but left us utterly alone?

Does love abandon?
Does God?

At Gracefully Truthful, we care quite a bit about original languages. Some believe the Bible you hold in your hands, or read on your phone, has been “translated” so many times and is so far removed from the original manuscript, it’s impossible to know if anything we read in the Bible is factual. At first glance, this premise seems to build a convincing argument that the Bible is unreliable and nothing more than a fictitious collection of stories passed from generation to generation, modified by each storyteller.

This renders the Bible, God’s very Word to humanity, nothing more than a crutch.

Thankfully, none of that is true.
Ergo, original languages are our jam.

And if you aren’t living in the United States, allow me to translate the colloquial phrase “jam” as meaning, “thick, good stuff we love to take pleasure in; it’s our ‘happy place’.”

See, language, it’s more important than we might think.

When modern-day Bible translators are writing the Bible in a new language, they study from the original language copies that have been preserved for centuries. Yes, those Bible translators are reading copies that were in circulation while many of the original disciples were still alive. Still Alive!! This means they could have easily refuted what was being circulated if it wasn’t in keeping with the original. And we don’t have just one copy, or two, or even ten. For Shakespeare’s writings, we have roughly 235 surviving copies, and no one questions his authorship. For the New Testament books, there are over 5,000!

When GT authors share a word from the “original language”, take notice. This carries significant weight because the Bible is the living active Word of God preserved by the Spirit of God, spoken out by the Spirit of God.

This God wants to be known by us. Deeply.

The how He goes about being known…. Pause with me for a holy hush… Is by His Spirit.

Like looking at a pencil drawing, and then blinking as it floods with vibrant colors, brilliant 4D movement, and suddenly, personal, comforting, deeply knowing interaction with you. THIS is the Holy Spirit’s work, making the drawing of God on a page, come to life inside you, calling you to Himself, singing over you, moving you forward into the seemingly impossible, holding you up in the midst of tragedy, anchoring you in the eye of the storm, pointing you always towards understanding exactly who this God of the Bible really is.

The Spirit who hovered over the waters at creation’s dawn. (Genesis 1:2)
The Spirit who came upon David and drew him into dancing in the streets. (2 Samuel 6:14)
The Spirit who empowered Nehemiah to courageously lead in the face of intimidation. (Nehemiah 4:7-14)
The Spirit who made a donkey talk (Numbers 22:28),
gave Samson the power to tear a lion apart (Judges 14:6),
fueled Joshua to march around an impenetrable city, and watch it fall. (Joshua 5:13-6:7)
The Spirit who overshadowed Mary and brought forth Jesus. (Luke 1:35)
The Spirit who raised Christ back to life from the dead. (Romans 8:11)
The Spirit who fell upon the disciples, allowing them to preach in multiple languages they didn’t even know. (Acts 2:4)
The Spirit who permanently lives inside every man, woman, or child who calls out in saving faith to the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue them from sin and its deadly consequences. (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Holy things. Holy work.
All initiated, led, and accomplished by the Holy Spirit.
He is not separate from God, trying to translate God for you.

No.

When God came to earth to redeem mankind back to Himself,

He did not send a representative.

He did not ask the archangel, Michael, a great leader like Moses, or a great prophet like Elijah; He Came HIMSELF as Jesus, God the Son.

And this is exactly true of the Holy Spirit. He is not outside of God.

He IS God.

רוּחַ

These are the Hebrew letters forming the sound, “ruach”, which translators most commonly render as “breath”, “spirit”, or “wind”.

When we think of the Holy Spirit, we should think of the very breath of God.

His Spirit, His own Spirit is His wind, His breathing; the Spirit is the “everything of God”.

But, unlike our breath, which vanishes the moment we exhale, the Spirit of God is fully God, always present as God.

All the wisdom.
All the power.
All the understanding.
All of His always-never-leaving presence.

Co-equal. Co-eternal. Everlasting to Everlasting.

The Spirit of God, is the everlasting breath of God’s fullness, intended to show us who God is through personal engagement.

Moses removes his sandals. (Exodus 3:5)
Holy

Isaiah weeps. (Isaiah 6:5)
Holy

Peter falls down. (Luke 5:8)
Holy

Every person who calls on the Name of the Most High God trembles. (Isaiah 66:2)
Holy

This Holy Spirit of the Living God has taken up residency within believers (Romans 8:10-11),
sealing them forever (Ephesians 1:13),
promising to hold them all the way into eternity (John 10:28),
guaranteeing to never leave (John 14:17),
to always bring His comfort (John 14:16),
to always teach (John 14:26),
to always remind (John 14:26),
to always reveal more about God (John 14:21).

Holy

This is the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, given to all who truly trust the risen Savior, Christ the Lord. It is His holy work in us, making us holy like Him, that we may live and move in Him! (Acts 17:28)

When you read His Words in Scripture,
when you raise your hands in response to Him,
when you pray fervently as He bids,
when you stand hushed at His holiness,
you are moving in cadence to the Holy One.

No, we are not left alone.

We are forever knit together with the very fabric of the Living God woven into our souls. Here, in this sweet union with God Almighty, we dance together with Him.

Let’s enter His rhythm and live in step with the Spirit!

Tags :

abandon,Bible,Does God,He is,If,Indwelling,Language,Living Word,Preserved,What iF

Share This :