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Ready Day 6 Laboring Love

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Read His Words Before Ours!

1Thessalonians 3:1-13
Colossians 1:24-29
Jude 20-25

Ready, Day 6

During my daughter’s first years of university studies, my mind was always with her.  I knew that university lifestyle was quite different from secondary school. I was praying for her almost every day, calling to know how she was doing, and sending her text messages to encourage her.

Two things prompted my actions.

  1. I love her, and wanted her future to be good.
  2. I was afraid lest she fell into a bad company and ruin her life; I didn’t want my labor to be in vain.

I see a similar relationship between the Thessalonian Christians and the apostle Paul, Silas, and Timothy, who traveled together to encourage churches. (1 Thessalonians 1:1) Having suffered great opposition, they persevered to preach the gospel to the believers in Thessalonica together. After being forced to leave the city, they were keen to know how the new believers were growing in their faith. Paul’s team made several attempts to visit, but were hindered by Satan (through aggressive persecution). At last, they resorted to sending Timothy to go and encourage the churches on their behalf.

Recalling his labor among them, Paul said,

“We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.” (1Thessalonians 2:8)

As a result, Paul’s team was afraid, lest the new believers become weary and give up their faith because of affliction. Therefore, they sent Timothy to “strengthen and encourage” them, so no one would be shaken by afflictions. (1 Thessalonians 3:2)

Wow! That pricks my heart; I ask myself again and again whether I am committed to loving the Church this way. How often do we pray for the Church, especially new believers? What about those who have backslidden? Are we making efforts to restore them back into Christ’s fold? I am afraid that instead of reaching out in empathy and support, sometimes others’ failures become a topic of discussion to us. In our hypocrisy, we talk of it with pleasure, as if to say, “it serves them right.”

There’s a hymn that usually keeps me in check; as I sing, I am reminded of all I owe Jesus:

“Must I go and empty-handed?
Must I meet my Savior so?
Not one soul with which to greet Him?
Must I empty-handed go?”

Are we prepared to meet our Savior?
Will our life’s work reflect His heart of passion for each person?
We must return to this first-love question throughout our lives.

Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28:19-20) We must not take His command for granted; it calls us to action! The immediate receivers of His command (His disciples) obeyed it.

Now it is our turn.

How committed are we to making disciples?
Do our hearts yearn with love, the way Paul and his team did for the Thessalonian Christians?

His deep care for them compelled Paul to say,

“When I could no longer stand it, I also sent him [Timothy] to find out about your faith.” (1Thessalonians 3:5)

Paul was afraid Satan might have tempted them to abandon their faith, and thus Paul’s labor would have been in vain. I am deeply challenged by the attitude of Paul and his team; overwhelmingly, it is dominated by caring for and nurturing the Thessalonians’ faith. Similarly, our concern must be to prepare the world for the coming of Christ.

When Timothy returned with a positive report about the Thessalonian Christians, Paul describes how the team celebrated with joy:

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction we were encouraged about you through your faith. For now, we live, if you stand firm in the Lord. How can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experience?” (1Thessalonians 3:7-9)

To Paul and his team, the steadfastness of the faith of the Thessalonian Christians was life; he explained, “Now, we live.” What a passion!

Such celebration is for us, as well!

Jesus describes the incomparable joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7); should there be anything for us to celebrate more than the increase of God’s kingdom?

The report of the Thessalonian Christians further spurs Paul and his team to deep and fervent prayers.

“[A]s we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and complete what is lacking in your faith.” (1Thessalonians 3:10) What a commitment!

Doesn’t this kind of zeal challenge us?
Sisters, it’s time for us, like Paul, to step into Jesus’ commission and commit ourselves to disciple-making. Like Paul and his team, may our hearts burn in prayer “day and night” for those we know are perishing without Jesus.

What joy shall it be, when we see such people repenting and growing strong in their faith! Such great rejoicing will be ours when, at last, Jesus says to us,
“Well done, my faithful servant!”
(Matthew 25:21)

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Treasure Day 3 Mirror Of Her

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Jeremiah 29:1-14
Isaiah 45:9-13
Psalm 139
Ephesians 1:3-19

Treasure, Day 3

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,
plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

I’ve read Jeremiah 29:11 more times that I can remember, and I’ve heard it more times than I’ve read it. I bet many of you can say the same. We all want to claim God has good plans for us, plans for a good future and hope. The deep application of Jeremiah 29:11 is richly rooted in our inheritance from Christ, who Himself is our Hope and Future, but do we really walk in that truth in our everyday lives? For me, I know I’m quick to skip over the eternal riches of Christ, instead wishing for a right-now-fix of “I deserve….”.

Recently, someone I know received several opportunities I had been eyeing for a while. Let me tell you, the richness I have in Christ was the furthest thing from my mind. All I could think about was “Why not me?”  Yep, the cloud of comparison infiltrated my heart and mind. I started to believe poisonous questions and lies over deep truth.

You might be familiar with some of those untruths.

What did she do to deserve this over me?
I must not be as good as her.
Now my chance is ruined.
Maybe I need to do (insert action) more (or less).

But let’s not just talk about the times where we knock ourselves. Let’s chat about the times we compare “in reverse”.  This type of comparison is equally as untrue and poisonous. Trust me, I know this from personal experience, sadly. We may get to do some great things or receive some incredible blessings and comparison sets in again. I’ve said things like:

I’m finally on her level (or above her).
This is an even better opportunity than she had.
I’m going to exceed what she did.

Ladies, do you know what we do when we compare, whether positively or negatively? We’re telling God how to do His job.  Isaiah 45:9 illustrates how the created should not be questioning its Creator.
“Does clay say to the one forming it,
‘What are you making?’”

Neither should we say, “God, you should have made it possible for me to do that” nor “God, thank you for giving me more talent than her.” Instead, with humility, we should be looking at ourselves and at our sisters, especially our “her” as God does.
He sees us as wonderfully crafted treasures.

Psalm 139 beautifully reminds us whose we are.
We belong to God.
Not just me, or you, or even her.
All of us.
We are all His treasures, and we’re fully known by Him.

He created our inward parts and knit us together (verse 13).
It is God who knows and understands our every thought and word (verses 2-5).
We have been “remarkably and wondrously made” (verse 14); we are His “wondrous work”! Not better or worse than anyone. But wondrous!

When comparison begins rearing its head in my life, I remind myself,
“Mari, God made her, therefore she is wondrous. And guess what? He made you too, so that makes you equally wondrous. You are both wonderful treasures!”. You should try this with your “her”. Real truth changes our heart perspective!

Yes! We are wondrously made and intricately crafted as His treasure! For a full picture of how God sees us, let’s consider who we are. In exploring Ephesians 1, we discover all we are chosen to BE. It’s an outstanding list: holy, blameless, adopted, redeemed and forgiven. We’re chosen to receive an incorruptible inheritance, have wisdom and understanding, receive the seal of the Holy Spirit, hear the truth, and receive spiritual blessings and grace. We are chosen to belong to Christ, know God, praise Him, and believe Him at His Word!

This is who we are. This is who she is too.

Let’s make this practical, because it’s easy to say we will view others as God’s treasure when comparison isn’t lurking. But once it arrives, we need readily available tools to help us hold onto God’s unchanging truths over the all-too-sweet lies of comparison.

In case you were wondering, I’m not telling you to do something I haven’t done.
I take the list from the previous paragraph and write it out. (Mine is in the margin of my journaling Bible). When I need to renew my mind about me or her, I go to this list. I first insert my name in each statement (i.e. Mari is chosen to belong to God). Then I start over and insert her name. Friends, there is no way you can do this and not see how we are all priceless treasures of God!

By digging into truth, I realize my friend, and every other “her” in my life has been blessed by God with good opportunities, but He has also blessed me with different opportunities. He treasures her gifts and gives her chances to use them, but this in no way prevents Him from treasuring and blessing me. She is not my competition. She is my sister in Christ. We can shine for the kingdom in our individual, different ways. And we do.

So sisters, let’s all embrace this truth and walk in the freedom of being His handcrafted Treasures!

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Seeds Day 8 Stepping Into Identity

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Acts 7:54-60
Psalm 56:1-13
Ephesians 2:1-10

Seeds, Day 8

Have you ever seen one of those fundraisers where people pay a few dollars to take a sledgehammer and pound on a car destined for a junkyard? Strangely enough, this picture came to mind as I prayed about what to write. Ironically, that image has become a precious “trophy” in my mind.

Before you seriously begin to question how my brain is wired, let me take you back to one of the hardest seasons of my life.
(Feel free to question my wiring after that.) 😉

My senior year of college was a season of the sledgehammer in my life. After years of being an achiever, I suddenly found myself being told I did not measure up. In hindsight, I can see how so many different elements were in play:
lies of the enemy,
the reality of sinful people interacting (myself included),
and hard life lessons in general.

Regardless of the cocktail that led to the darkness of that year, I finished it battered in a way I had never experienced before. The majority of the hits centered around my identity.

Career
You will not succeed as a teacher.

Future
You’re graduating and have no set plans.

Home
Your family is in one state. You went to school in another. Uncertainty about where to live.

Relationship
You do not have a spouse or significant other.

I didn’t realize how so many of my identity markers were being removed in that season until I went to the wedding of a couple from my larger friend circle. At the time, my brother was dating a girl with my same first name. At the wedding, everyone began asking them when they would be getting married too. They all asked as though it were a foregone conclusion they would be the next couple to marry, and I suddenly faced the potential of no longer even having my name as part of my uniqueness. There would be another woman, in my family, with the same name.

Every major identity marker I could think of to distinguish myself to a new person felt like it had been pulled from my fingers. I remember telling my brother that very statement with tears streaming down my face. His response is forever imprinted on my mind and heart for I sensed both the love of the Lord and His reminder in his words. My brother replied that maybe, just maybe, the Lord had intentionally brought me to that place to prove that my identity is found in Him alone.

We were on the third floor balcony of a hotel and I distinctly remembering wanting to throw something off the edge when I heard those words, but I also felt all fight leave as well. This was truth spoken in love, and it became the foundation for such a grand adventure.

Large amounts of healing were still needed as I moved through that season, and I remember thinking my body and emotions had taken a beating (think fundraiser car with sledgehammer dents). However, I also recognized that my spirit and walk with the Lord had never been more alive.

The beating had left its marks, but I arose undefeated
for the Lord had carried me through it all.

In Scripture, Stephen demonstrated this reality long before my college experience, and His beating led to a literal death. His source of strength, however, shone through for the glory of the Lord. In Acts 6:8, Stephen is described as being full of grace and power evidenced through signs and wonders. He knew who he was in the Lord and he knew the Lord intimately. This was no mere acquaintance for whom he put his life on the line. Stephen’s source of strength resided deep within him and fortified his actions and faith.

So, my dear sister, while we may not walk the path of Stephen with the same level of physical persecution, we do face a daily choice to live from a similar place of identity and confidence.

What does that look like in your daily life?
What verses are imbedded in your heart and spirit that anchor your identity in Him?

Do you know that you are:
Fearfully and wonderfully made? (Psalm 139)
Called by name? (Isaiah 43:1-3)
An overcomer? (I John 5:4-5)
Forgiven? (1 John 1:9)
Seen? (Genesis 16:1-14)
Chosen? (John 15:16)

I am forever grateful for the season of having my identity deconstructed,
for it challenged me to build on the foundation of Christ alone.
I still need to remind myself of this truth and rest on the promises of who I am found in the Word, but I live with a confidence that, regardless of the battles faced,
the Lord is faithful and true. Christ in me results in victory.

Live, dear sister.
Live as Stephen did.
Live in the fullness of Christ and who He created you to be.
Step into your identity in Him.
For that is truly living.

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Glimmers Day 10 Hope In The Story

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Glimmers, Day 10

John 1:6-8
Isaiah 40:1-5
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Ephesians 2:11-22

Uncomfortable truth alert: I didn’t fully grasp what hope was before I lost my daughter. 

Is that shocking to hear? Maybe.
Is it something I don’t love to admit? Absolutely.
But is it truth? A hundred times, yes. 

I’ll never forget the day hope caught fire for me. It was a cold Sunday, a few months after our daughter, Cadence Hope, had died. I had returned to serving on the worship team at our church, and while continuing to lead worship while working through the grieving process was the hardest thing I had ever done, it was also proving to be incredibly transformative.

That morning, as I exited the platform and made my way toward the lobby, I saw my dad walking toward me. As we paused to say hello, something in his face made me lean in to listen. His eyes glinted with tears, but his face was full of unmistakable joy.

“Merry, while you were leading today…I couldn’t shake this vision.” His voice cracked. “That while you were leading others and worshiping Him here today, Cadence was worshiping Him there, at the same time.”

I don’t think I reacted much in that moment as I processed what he said, but as his words took root and my heart took hold of the truth wrapped within, my breath caught in my throat. 

He had pictured the two of us. A mother and daughter, separated by physical death, yet each worshiping the only One worthy of worship.  

From opposite sides of eternity, each one wholly focused on Jesus.

That morning, it felt like something split open inside of me, forever changing my perspective. It had absolutely nothing to do with my grief, or the fact that my dad had pictured my daughter, but everything to do with my Jesus. In that instant, some things became suddenly clear to me.

 First, that loss and grief are a part of life, but that because of Jesus,
we do not grieve as those who have no hope.
This was a truth in Scripture I had known for most of my life,
but to know something and to know something are two very different realities.
We do not grieve as those who have no hope, because we have Jesus!

The hope Paul referenced isn’t about who we will or won’t see again in Heaven – it is solely and wholly about who HE is.
Eternity will not be spent finding our long lost loved ones (although what rejoicing there will be on that blessed day), it will be spent worshiping HIM!
Spending time in His Presence!
Ascribing to Him all the glory He commands and is due!

Second, my hope does not lie in the fact that one day I’ll see my daughter again (although that is wonderful), nor because I know where she is now, but because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my life is not about me. It is only about HIM. Regardless of my situation, circumstance, or feelings, my life will always ever point to Him.

If you had asked me prior to that Sunday morning, I probably would have told you I had hope. I would have told you that I understood what it meant and why it was important. That Jesus was my Savior, and that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt where I would spend eternity after I breathed my last. That my hope was in Jesus and the knowledge that by faith through grace, I was adopted into God’s family.

And I would not have been lying to you.
But compared with the hope that took hold of my heart that morning,
the hope I used to carry was a small, someday sort of hope.

And a small, someday sort of hope doesn’t hold a candle to the
big, all-consuming fire kind of hope John the Baptist shared when he told about the Lamb of God:

From Him we all receive grace upon grace.
Grace and truth come only through Him, Jesus Christ.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

John the Baptist believed God’s Word and obeyed, telling all who would listen of a Savior he had never seen. The hope John carried was the big, all-consuming fire kind of hope. The kind of hope that caused him to declare that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah! The kind of hope that made him call out that Jesus was the Lamb of God, twice!  

And we have access to that same kind of hope, Sister!  

Do you know how freeing it is, to know that absolutely nothing in this life compares to Jesus?

That no illness, no challenge, no difficulty, no heartbreak, no grief, no loss, nothing can touch the hope that fills your heart because the God you worship is the same yesterday, today and forever?!

And that the investment you put into relationship with Him daily, through studying His Word and spending time in prayer and worship, is an investment into your forever future with Him?

It’s difficult to contain that kind of hope, once it catches hold in you. It would be like trying to restrain the ocean. Even if you were to try to hold it in, the waves would splash up and over your edges again and again… changing you and the atmosphere around you…and how you respond to situations and experiences in your life.

That’s the kind of hope that fuels courage in the face of fear. The kind of hope that helps us lay aside our earthly belongings, our status, our treasure and our talent, and stay eternity-minded in the middle of our mess.

The kind of hope that lays us bare and vulnerable so our story, however painful, however vulnerable, can be used to ignite the fire of hope in others. 

Truth?
I sometimes get caught up in the worry that when others read things I’ve written which reference the loss of our daughter, they might think that I share things I shouldn’t, or that the topic is too weighty.
Too personal. Too vulnerable. Too real.

But Love?
Every time I seek His heart about it, He reminds me that my story is only ever His story, and His story always pulses with a rhythm of hope.

So which is it for you, Sister? 

Maybe you relate to the small, someday sort of hope I had. You believe, but there just doesn’t seem to be much fire in you. You want to share with others, but you don’t feel much urgency.

Maybe you relate to the big, all-consuming fire kind of hope. Maybe it spills up and over so quickly you miss it, sometimes.

Maybe you feel somewhere in the middle.

No matter where you are, know this, dear one: HE is your hope. Regardless of your current situation or feelings, HE IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE. There is nothing you can do or say to change it, but you CAN lean into Him and ask Him to fill you with all the hope of Heaven – and He will do it!

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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!

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Glimmers Day 9 Hope; It’s Coming: 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 Hope; It’s Coming!

The Questions

1) Did the vision given to Habakkuk (verse 2) offer him any hope?

2) When people talk about their hope, especially non-Christians, they are most often referring to a feeling or mindset regarding their future. With this in mind, what is the difference between biblical hope and the hope we frequently observe in many people?

3) Are we, as people of the new covenant, still waiting for that “appointed time” (verse 3) of which was spoken to Habakkuk or was this vision fulfilled?

Habakkuk 2:2-3

2 The Lord answered me:
Write down this vision;
clearly inscribe it on tablets
so one may easily read it.
3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
it testifies about the end and will not lie.
Though it delays, wait for it,
since it will certainly come and not be late.

Original Intent

1) Did the vision given to Habakkuk (verse 2) offer him any hope?
The context of Habakkuk 2 places the people of Israel in a predicament they had created for themselves. Because of their disobedience towards God, they are experiencing the consequences of being among godless people (Chaldeans, aka the Babylonians). In the first chapter (Habakkuk 1:3, 3:1), the prophet is literally questioning God’s plan for His people in Judah. He recognized their unfaithfulness, but He believes God is good. God’s answer, through a vision, is probably not the answer that initially produced in Habakkuk a hopeful heart. In essence, God said it would get worse before it got better. When God told Habakkuk He was going to deal with Judah’s rebellion by using their enemies to do so, Habakkuk had to rely on the kind of faith mentioned by the author of Hebrews (Hebrews 11:1-2). The kind of faith that doesn’t have all the answers. Though we aren’t given much information about Habakkuk’s vision itself, the kind of ‘hope’ it apparently offered was the waiting and trusting God’s character and His Word kind.

2) When people talk about their hope, especially non-Christians, they are most often referring to a feeling or mindset regarding their future. With this in mind, what is the difference between biblical hope and the hope we frequently observe in many people?
One of the ways Webster defines hope is “to want something to happen or be true … without any basis for expecting fulfillment”. Typically, we have this in mind when we hope for something. It’s more like a wish. But biblical hope is much more than a wish. In verse 3, God tells the prophet that it “will certainly come.” Biblical hope centers our desire in “someone … accompanied by expectation of fulfillment.” The Bible dictionary connects hope to words like “trust” and “confidence” and “eager expectation”.
“The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth…He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and become weary, they will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 20:28-31)
Peter reminds us that “after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10)
Biblical hope is about Who. In Luke 2, Simeon waited expectantly for God’s promised One for many years. God was faithful to allow him to see the promise unfold. God will always accomplish His good purpose, even if we have to wait for it.

3) Are we, as people of the new covenant, still waiting for that “appointed time” (verse 3) of which was spoken to Habakkuk or was this vision fulfilled?
Reading Old Testament prophecies can leave us wondering if they were meant only for the specific reader/hearer or if they had future application. We study the context of a passage to help us understand what is occurring. In verse 3, the ‘appointed time’ would come specifically, and will come ultimately. Though there would be waiting, God was faithful in His judgment against Babylon (Isaiah 13; Jeremiah 50-51) and the enemy kingdom would certainly fall. (Daniel 5:28-30)
As we meditate on these words of God to Habakkuk in context of all of Scripture, I believe we can also conclude that God was communicating His ultimate judgment and redemption. At the ‘appointed time’ God will render His judgment on His enemies and He will save His people through His Son. Every single word of His will come to pass exactly as He has spoken. The God of Habakkuk never changes. Just as He told the prophet, he spoke similarly to John. “Mark my words: I AM TRUE AND FAITHFUL.” (Revelation 21:3-5)
So, the answer to the question is YES! “For every one of God’s promises is ‘Yes’ in Him. Therefore, through Him we also say ‘Amen’ to the glory of God!” (2 Corinthians 1:20-22)

Everyday Application

1) Did the vision given to Habakkuk (verse 2) offer him any hope?
In verse 3, Habakkuk was told to wait, but that God would certainly fulfill His plan. This is what biblical hope looks like for us in our daily lives. We are to trust in who God is even when we can’t understand what He’s doing. We believe His word and can expect Him to keep His promises. The vision gave hope to Habakkuk only as much as he was willing to trust and wait patiently for God’s fulfillment. God’s perfect plan will happen. But it will happen in His time. Maybe you’re experiencing suffering and confusion. Like Habakkuk, you are wondering how long it will take for God to reveal what He’s doing. (Habakkuk 1:2)
Even though it took some time, Habakkuk ultimately learned to rest in God’s sovereign plan for himself and the nation. In the waiting, he learned to hope in faith. In our waiting, we can unveil a present and very real hope by seeking the faithful and true God Himself. Who was. Who is. Who is to come. (Revelation 1:8)
When we’re tempted to fret and ask God for a timeline, it is our sure hope that gives us the strength to wait.

2) When people talk about their hope, especially non-Christians, they are most often referring to a feeling or mindset regarding their future. With this in mind, what is the difference between biblical hope and the hope we frequently observe in many people?
Proverbs 13:12 tells us that “delayed hope makes us heartsick.” In our human frailty, when we must wait for something we can succumb to feelings of hopelessness. When we continue to pray without receiving the answers we long for, we tend to despair. But biblical hope is connected to faith. It’s not just wishful thinking. Biblical hope helps us rest in the reality of a future we can’t yet see because of the God who controls it. The old hymn says it this way: Standing on the promises that cannot fail when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail; by the living Word of God I shall prevail, standing on the promises of God.
God’s promises CAN’T fail. Faithful in His character and true to His Word, He will give us the strength to prevail. This kind of hope is sure and steady in the midst of long days that might otherwise tempt us to doubt.

3) Are we, as people of the new covenant, still waiting for that “appointed time” (verse 3) of which was spoken to Habakkuk or was this vision fulfilled?
God was faithful to do what He told Habakkuk He would. The appointed time for the destruction of the enemies came. But in another way, it hasn’t yet come completely. In the New Testament book of John, Christ says on several occasions that His time “has not yet come.” He was referring to the first part of His coming to earth. The time when He would die and be raised again. But there’s a second part to the story. And God will be faithful to see it to the very end. The final fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the judgment and redemption of Lord will come at the end of history when Christ will return to claim His Bride, the Church. God will punish evil and fulfill all His promises. To make it clear, the writer of Hebrews points us to Jesus: “For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. But my righteous one, will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him. But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.”
Christ has come and will come. It is in Him we have a working faith, believing in what is not yet fully known. He is our living Hope!

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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!
Join us in the GT Facebook Community!

Our Current Study Theme!

This is Glimmers Week Two!
Don’t miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to receive every GT Journey Study!

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!

Download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!
Tap and hold on your mobile device to save.

Glimmers Day 8 Hope; It’s Coming!

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Read His Words Before Ours!

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Habakkuk 2:2-3
Jeremiah 29:11-13

Glimmers, Day 8

Throughout the last few years, I have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with hope.

There were times when hope was the water level that buoyed me up and allowed me to keep moving forward. Other times hope felt like the very anchor that kept my head just barely above the crashing waves.
Those were the moments when hoping that better was coming
hurt more than enduring the pain of the season.

Yet, hope is a powerful resource, and truly without it I would have given up on the plans the Lord has for me long, long ago.
So, from where does my hope come?

First and foremost, the Lord as He speaks through the Bible and the Holy Spirit’s voice (Matthew 4:4). Beyond that, hope may rise from the encouragement of fellow sojourners, reflection on previous hopes fulfilled, and the decision to live life with a hope-filled mindset. What increases your hope?

For me, the words of the Old Testament prophets bring me hope.
Several times throughout my life, the Lord has brought verses to mind that come directly from the books of the Bible that are named after these prophets.

In Scripture, there are 17 books categorized as prophetic (written by prophets).
Five of those are called major and 12 are minor. This is due to the length of the books rather than the importance of the content. The five major prophet books are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The 12 minor prophet books are the last books of the Old Testament beginning with Hosea and ending with Malachi.

I find myself visiting these books frequently, receiving encouragement from the men who obeyed the Lord in announcing His will so many years ago.
The basic definition of a prophet is a person who declares the will of God.

Believers today have something those living during Old Testament times didn’t have: the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the role of the prophet was incredibly important as through these voices, lives, and written words, God’s people could know the Lord’s direction and desire. Without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, His will had to be vocalized from an external source rather than an internal one.

The lives these prophets lived and the words they spoke are captured in those 17 books at the end of the Old Testament. Throughout them you will find deep wisdom and truth applicable for today just as much as it did then. These prophets spoke the words the Lord’s Spirit gave them without knowing the big picture, but they obeyed regardless. The Lord challenged them to obey in ways that guaranteed social norms were at the minimum bent and in some cases shattered.

The examples of faith and obedience the prophets displayed is one way
hope grows in me.

The backbone of my faith is strengthened when reading their stories and, in turn, my hope rises.

I don’t know the full pictures of my life,
but just like the prophets of old,
I am to obey regardless.

I can discover the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living
as I follow Him,
even if He asks me to move outside my comfort zone.

(Side note: The Lord will never direct me to do something that contradicts His character as proven in the Word.)

Hope rises as we witness the faithful obedience of these ancient prophets.
Hope rises through the words the prophets spoke.
The words God ordained to be preserved for us to take in.

Several verses tucked into the pages of prophecy have become lifelines in the dark and clear directives for my next steps.
Hope rises here, anchored in truth!

“The Lord your God is among you,
a warrior who saves.
He will rejoice over you with gladness.
He will be quiet in His love.
He will delight in you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17

“The Lord my Lord is my strength;
He makes my feet like those of a deer
and enables me to walk
on mountain heights.”
Habakkuk 3:19

“Mankind, He has told each of you what is good,
and what it is the Lord requires of you;
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly
with your God.”
Micah 6:8

Isaiah.
Jeremiah.
Lamentations.
Ezekiel.
Daniel.
Hosea.
Joel.
Amos.
Obadiah.
Jonah.
Micah.
Nahum.
Habakkuk.
Zephaniah.
Haggai.
Zechariah.
Malachi.

These are prophets who faithfully obeyed the Lord, despite great cost to themselves.
Prophets who allowed the Lord’s hope to rise through their surrender.
Prophets who pointed, directly and indirectly,
to the Eternal Hope of the coming Messiah.

Challenge yourself to read through some of these hope writings in the coming weeks. Take note of the verses that bring you hope.
Who inspires you in your faith journey?
Is it Daniel in his obedience and faith as he stands amidst the lions?
Is it Hosea marrying a harlot as a representation of the Lord’s love for us?

May hope rise as you read of events declared before they would happen and then their fulfillment. Look for the glimmers that point to a coming Savior and take comfort in knowing that exactly what God declares, He brings to pass.
Hope; it’s coming!

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
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Join the GT Community and share your thoughts!

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 Glimmers Week Two! 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 Glimmers!

The GT Weekend – Glimmers 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) The enemy wooed Eve away from truth by questioning her view of God. Satan wanted Eve to think God wasn’t as true to His character as she had believed, he wanted her to think God was ‘holding out on her’. Think about some recent circumstances when you’ve been tempted question similarly. Consider the thought processes you go through when you are being led to believe a lie rather than truth. Pray over those areas and ask the Spirit to root your heart deep into truth as you prepare for future battles.

2) Do the words ‘hope’ and ‘surrender’ seem incompatible? When has your life situation appeared utterly hopeless while at the same time you felt incredibly powerless to make anything different? These are sweet spot for the Savior to do a mighty work! Read through Abraham’s ‘impossible’ and ‘heartbreaking’ situation in Genesis 22. Go slowly and put yourself in his shoes. Finish your time by taking your own impossibilities and surrendering them to the Lord of Hope!

3) What do you think about the Ten Commandments? What emotions rise up when you think about a lawmaking God? Remembering that how we feel and what we think of God is the most important thing about us. Take a few minutes to write down the honest adjectives on how you view God. Only honest answers count!

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 2:6-8 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be exploited.
Instead he emptied himself
by assuming the form of a servant,
taking on the likeness of humanity.
And when he had come as a man,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.

Prayer Journal
You, the Lord of ALL, God of all, Creator of all, Master, Ruler, Almighty God.
You, who owe no one anything.
You, who need nothing.
You, chose to empty yourself, become a servant, take on flesh like mine, become frail, tired, emotional, and hungry.
You chose death.
That I might live.
Oh Christ! How glorious You are!
If I have nothing else, oh King, if family is lost, if tragedy wraps me up, if my finances fail, and my health is lost, You Are Still Worthy of my praise.

So, here my Jesus, accept my uplifted hands.
I come to worship You for You.

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

Glimmers Day 5 Hope Of A New Covenant

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Read His Words Before Ours!

John 15:12-17
Exodus 20:1-21
James 2:8-13
1 Peter 1:14-21
Matthew 26:26-28

Glimmers, Day 5

What comes to mind when you think of the Ten Commandments?
Laws?
A list of do’s and don’ts?
What about considering them in terms of a covenant?
A bond between God and His people.

The Ten Commandments are God’s covenant in the form of a gift given to a prince-turned-shepherd (Moses) for a people (Israel) He called to Himself.
Although we don’t typically think of a connection between these Ten and Christmas,
the link is one we should rejoice in, especially during Christmas.

The commandments were intended to draw the hearts of the children of Israel back to their God. After hundreds of years of slavery, the people had forgotten Yahweh and His covenant with their ancestor Abraham. The commandments served as a legal “contract” between them and God by giving the boundaries within which they would live as His children in the new land He had already promised them. The covenant God had made with Abraham, which was sealed by God’s Word and acted upon by Abraham’s faith, not his performance, was fleshed out by these ten laws.

The Ten Commandments provided the boundaries for Israel’s pattern of living.
They would distinguish God’s people, identifying them by how they lived according to God’s Laws. Israel would be markedly set apart from pagan nations around them.
Through their obedience and adherence to the laws of God, the children of Israel were to be a living, breathing witness of the character of God to these nations; nations that had long ago rejected God through choice or tradition.

God has always had a calling on His people.
In John 15:16 God the Son, Jesus, plainly states, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”
Before we even knew to choose God, He had already chosen and ordained us to bear fruit that would be lasting. This was one of the primary objectives for the Israelites living in the Promised Land, to restore the name and glory of God among those who didn’t Him.
They were to bear fruit in a spiritually desolate desert wasteland.

Although the commandments served as a standard by which to live (God’s holy standard), we as sinners are unable to keep the law perfectly. The Israelites broke the law immediately after receiving it.

“When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said,
“Come, make us gods who will go before us.
As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt,
we don’t know what has happened to him.”
{In brief, Aaron (Moses’ brother) says, okay! Bring me all the gold jewelry you can find. Aaron melted it down and fashioned a golden calf, presenting it to the people saying….}  
“These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
{Then Aaron announced…}
“Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”
So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.
They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’  (Exodus 32:1-8)

Friends, can you imagine the horror when Moses heard from God and reached the based of Mount Sinai to find this scene?
Can you imagine God’s horror?
To break even one of these commandments is to break the covenant with God in its entirety (James 2:10) and leads to death (Romans 6:23).
But God, full of gracious love and tender mercy, knew we needed hope.
Hope by giving us a Savior to kill death for us, and give us righteousness where we had earned death because we had broken His covenant.
Hope that would bring freedom; not just for Israel in the desert, but for all of us, lost in the desert of sin, who would enter into the new covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ for all eternity. (1 Peter 1:17-19, Matthew 26:28)

Jesus is the Redeemer that freed both Israel and us.
The commandments and subsequent Mosaic sacrificial system were an ever-present reminder of our need for a Rescuing Savior.
The commandments provided the Glimmer of Hope.
Hope personified through Jesus Christ, born as God wrapped in flesh.
Born to die as a substitutionary atonement for all sinners.
Born as the only solution to the wages of death brought on by breaking God’s law and covenant.
We are the breakers of this law. Not just Israel, us.
We are the ones in need of a Rescuing Savior. Not just Israel, us.

Christmas and the Ten Commandments?
Absolutely!
The baby in the manger is the Rescuer we desperately needed because we are incapable of keeping the law of God.
Praise God for being both Law-Giver and Law-Fulfiller!
Praise Him for being our Hope!

Ready for more? Dig Deeper!
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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 Glimmers 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 Glimmers!

Glimmers Day 2, Hope In The Darkness: 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 Hope In The Darkness!

The Questions

1) Who is the serpent and what is his tactic?

2) What does Eve’s response reveal about humanity?

3) God said they would die, the serpent said they wouldn’t, but no one died after eating the fruit. Who lied?

Genesis 3:1-6

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Original Intent

1) Who is the serpent and what is his tactic?
In reading the Bible, it’s crucial to correctly understanding it by remembering that the whole of it is one magnificent story. In verse 1, a cross-reference (the tiny hyper script letters) links the serpent reference to Revelation, the very last book of the Bible! Revelation is the apostle John’s record of his visions from God and His angels. In Revelation 12, John is recounting a war in Heaven (verse 7) between the angels. The angels are divided between Michael (and his angels) and the Dragon (and his angels). Michael’s angels win and the Dragon is cast out from Heaven forever. The serpent is here described as being “ancient” and “called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” Going all the way back to Garden, we now have a fuller picture of who this “serpent” is as Satan himself! Satan’s tactic was to ask a penetrating question of Eve, making her question what she thought she knew of God. “Did God really say…” (verse 1) Eve replied and then Satan prodded her farther, completely contradicting what God had told Eve, “No! You will not die…” (verse 4). Going in for the final move to win Eve over, Satan goes beyond contradicting God, to make himself appear superior by having greater insight, “In fact, God knows that when you eat it…” (verse 5).

2) What does Eve’s response reveal?
This was God’s original command to Adam and Eve regarding the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, “you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Here is Eve’s response when Satan questioned her as to what God had said, “God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” (Genesis 3:3) See the addition Eve made? “Or touch it”. Her words reveal that in her prideful humanity, Eve was willing to believe that God was more stringent and stingy than His character displayed. He had given a vast kingdom of beauty to Adam and Eve and showered them with delightful attention, generously providing them all of creation with only reasonable, loving boundaries. Yet in a moment of pressure, Eve willingly allowed her fear and pride to win over truth and God’s proven character.

3) God said they would die, the serpent said they wouldn’t, but no one died after eating the fruit. Who lied?  
In Genesis 2:17 God says, “you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” In Genesis 3:4 Satan insists, “No! You will not die…” To help us understand this confusion, we first need to remember the truth of Scripture’s teaching that Satan is the Father of Lies (John 8:44) and no truth is in him. That is our first anchor. Secondly, we look to the context of the Garden originally. It was designed for life, flawless, perfect, eternal life existing in the context of a beautiful and intimate relationship with God. In the midst of Eden was the Tree of Life, of which there was no prohibition to eat from until after Sin.(3:22) The Garden’s design was for eternal enjoyment of life, but for it to continue, sin could have no place. Innocence of evil must be maintained in order to enjoy the pure delights of righteousness, so a boundary was placed and a command given to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In that moment, Death would occur, because eternal righteous life would no longer be possible. The life they had known would forever be gone. With even one drop of sin, perfect righteousness could no longer exist. Death would enter, their physical bodies would no longer be immortal, and the spiritual death would be the most severe as it would sever the sweet intimacy of union between God and humanity. Yes, Death would reign. Adam and Eve died that day, along with the rest of humanity to come after them.

Everyday Application

1) Who is the serpent and what is his tactic?
The serpent in the Garden, the Dragon in Revelation, the devil, and Satan the Deceiver, are all names for the archenemy of every believer. Revelation 12 also describes him as the “accuser” who accuses believers “night and day before God.” (verse 10) Peter says the devil is our adversary who “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) Don’t be deceived, this enemy is very much real and alive and seeking to steal, kill, and destroy us. (John 10:10) The more we know about Satan, the better we can be prepared for his attacks and the quicker we can recognize his schemes in our everyday lives. Knowing that he is an accuser, helps us notice the lies of accusation. Phrases like “not enough”, “God doesn’t want you”, “you’re unlovable”, and countless others point to the deception of an accuser, not the truths of the God who died to save you. The more familiar you are with truth, the easier it will be to discern the enemy’s lies when he attacks. Be on guard, just as he did with Eve, Satan’s goal is to get you to question the goodness and reliability of God and His Word. Cling to truth!

2) What does Eve’s response reveal?
How deeply do you cling to truth? I mean, not your own version of truth when you’re arguing with your spouse or coworker, but the actual truth. It’s one thing to mentally attest to a truth statement like “God is good”, but quite another when circumstances appear to cast doubt on that belief. When you lose a beloved one, when the marriage dissolves, when the gossiping lies spread, when the bank account runs low, the deceiver’s voice comes in low and haunting, “Did God really say….”? Every time, we have a choice in our response, be anchored in truth or grab for an easy lie. A.W. Tozer said, “What come into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” If Eve had chosen to stay anchored in truth, rather than doubt what she knew of the Lord, she would have been kept from sin and its damning affect. The amount of Scriptural truth we take in and cling to will keep us from sin too!

3) God said they would die, the serpent said they wouldn’t, but no one died after eating the fruit. Who lied?
As noted earlier, the Bible is the compilation of one grand story, woven beginning to end with one incredible theme: the redemption of mankind. It all began here, in the Garden of Eden where the heart of God created a space for mankind to enjoy Him for all eternity and for Him to endlessly delight over them. As goodness and kindness demand, God would not force their love, He was present to be enjoyed of their own choice, and so He gave the gift of choice by planting the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If His creation hungered to experience beyond what He, the Giver of Life, had given, they could choose to know the existence of Sin and the pain it would bring. And they chose it. What a tragedy it would have been for God to leave His treasures in that state of sin and separation from Him! But by His incredible grace, God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” (Genesis 3:22) The Lord could not bear the thought of His beloved ones living forever in sin. So He banished them, not because He hated them, but that they might be preserved and have the opportunity to choose Him again. See, Hope was coming. Jesus would one day be their Rescuer and bring them back home. Extravagant Love!

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with Hope In The Darkness!

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!
Join us in the GT Facebook Community!

Our Current Study Theme!

This is Glimmers Week One!
Don’t miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to receive every GT Journey Study!

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!

Download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!
Tap and hold on your mobile device to save.