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Sketched IV Day 10 Delilah

August 10, 2018 by Rebekah Hargraves Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Judges 16:3-20
Proverbs 14:1
Proverbs 22:14
John 8:3-11
2 Corinthians 5:16-6:1

Sketched IV, Day 10

If you ask me, people are too quick to judge.
If other people had been in the same shoes that, I, Delilah, found myself, perhaps they would’ve made the same choices.

Who’s to say?
All I know is that I did what I felt I had to.

I’ll never forget the infamous day I met Samson.
I knew he wasn’t from my area of town, the Valley of Sorek.
No, he was from the dreaded Israelite territories.

The valley I call home is centered directly between Israelite land and Philistine land, so one might imagine how torn I felt. I live in the midst of intense fighting and constant land disputes between the two dueling nations, but then Samson came along.

This strong, rugged, handsome man whose reputation (for……) went before him clearly loved me, and I him, I suppose.
But sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

Samson was Israel’s hero.
Judge and mighty conqueror, he was their rescuer and our feared enemy.
Philistine leaders approached me in order to trap him and win the upper hand politically.
They gave me an offer I felt I couldn’t refuse.
I went for it.

In exchange for thousands of pieces of silver, all I had to do was find out from whence came all of Samson’s strength. Easy, right?
And I needed the money!
Silver is hard to come by these days. The land is constantly being divided, lives are being lost, blood is being spilt, and the Israelites are taking land that doesn’t belong to them.
Why wouldn’t I cash in on this offer from the Philistines?

Cash in, I did.
I went to Samson to determine the cause of all his superhuman strength. The stubborn oaf didn’t answer me truthfully the first time. He made me look like an idiot in front of the Philistine leaders. He did this not once, not twice, but three times.
What was he holding on to?! And Why?!

Finally, I knew what would get to him. We women can be quite wily and manipulative when the situation calls for it. So, that’s what I did – I harnessed my immense power of influence as a woman, turned on the waterworks, and accused him of not truly loving me since he refused to tell me the truth. That worked, and the “strong” man caved.
I knew he would.
No man can resist the waterworks.

Did I feel bad when I saw the subsequent treatment he endured at the hand of the Philistines as a result of what I had done?
I admit I did for a time.
But I don’t see how the treatment he suffered was any worse than the treatment he had dished out to the Philistines.
Turn-about is fair play, I say.
Meanwhile, I’m enjoying the look of all this silver in my home!
No more wondering where the next meal will come from for me!

~~~~
It’s so easy for me to look at people like Delilah, in the Bible or otherwise,
and instantly jump to judge them.
Perhaps you can relate?
But wait, put yourself in her shoes and consider why she may have done what she did.
Not to say the actions were right, simply that sometimes, they are at least understandable.
Realizing this helps us to approach others
with humility and grace,
even when dealing with outright sin that must be addressed.

In the story of Samson and Delilah from Judges 16,
Samson, the strongest man of his time,
became a weakling in the hands of a woman,
and as he surrendered his vows to the Lord.

We see this happen all the time, even today.
Proverbs 14:1 explains,
“The wisest of women builds her house,
but folly with her own hands tears it down.”

As women, we carry with us incredible power of influence, either for good or evil.
Proverbs 22:14 says,
“The mouth of a forbidden women is a deep pit;
he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.”

Delilah was a forbidden woman to the Israelite Samson, because God had set apart the Israelites for the purpose of declaring His glory to the nations around them and not becoming like them, worshipping false gods.
Israel was to be holy as God was holy (Leviticus 19:2),
putting the Lord on display.

Samson chose to honor and please himself, forsaking the Lord,
and we see what became of him.

Throughout the Word we are given examples of sinful women who destroyed the men who pursued them. On the flip side, however, we also see wonderful examples of godly women who influenced the men around them for good.

In the Garden of Eden, the serpent went to Eve, knowing that if he could seduce her, turning her eyes from the fullness of God, Adam would come tumbling down as well with her power of influence.
Sure enough, he did. They both did.

So, today, I ask you sweet sisters, how are you wielding your power of influence?
For good? Or for evil?
How are your words and actions impacting the spouse, child, friend, co-worker, boss, neighbor, parent, or grandparent near you?
Are you building up the Kingdom with your own hands?
Or are you, perhaps inadvertently, working to tear it down?

The good news of the Gospel is that even if you have used your power in ungodly ways in the past, by coming to Christ, you are “...a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Cling to that truth and rejoice in it; harnessing it to spur you on to faith and good works!

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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!

A Note About Sketched
In this series, we are stepping into the shoes of various characters throughout history. Some are biblical, some are well-known in modern day times, and some are people our writers know personally. We do our best to research the culture and times surrounding these individuals to give an accurate representation of their first-person perspectives on life and the world, but we can’t be 100% accurate. “Sketched” is our best interpretation of how these characters view(ed) God, themselves, and the world around them. Our hope is that by stepping into their everyday, we will see our own lives a little differently!
Enjoy!
And keep watching for Sketched Themes to pop up throughout the year!

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 Sketched IV Week Two! 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 Sketched IV!

Posted in: Beauty, Broken, Character, Desperate, Dignity, Emptiness, Enemies, Excuses, Flawless, Help, Hope, Redemption, Relationship, Shame Tagged: consequence, death, delilah, future, grace, healing, hope, Jesus, past, Sin, sketched

Grow 2018 Day 3 True Identity

January 3, 2018 by Guest Writer Leave a Comment

Welcome to “Grow”! These stories are from the hearts of regular, everyday women just like you in the GT Community. They are boldly sharing how God has grown them, met with them, strengthened them, and taught them solid truth as they have discovered anew that Jesus is our everyday Savior! Today’s story is shared from the heart of Nicole Reilley.

At the start of last year,
the realization that I was still hurting from childhood wounds,
and that these emotional scars were affecting my parenting
was almost crippling.

Grow, Day 3

But then I consulted with the best surgeon I know, Jesus.

In the last fifteen years of following Jesus, He has proven Himself to be good and faithful.
Though it’s taken me a long time to get to this place of faith,
I now know and can trust God that His ways are best for me.

We know that all things work together  for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Romans 8:28-29

He has never let me down.
Ever.

Even with that being said, I had been holding back pieces of me from God.
Wounds.
Scars.
Some of my deepest hurts.

I was limping around, carrying all of this heavy baggage thinking,
“This is just who I am. This is how difficult it’s always going to be.”
I knew fear of giving everything over to God was holding me back.
Fear of surrender is a powerful tool the Enemy uses against us to keep us from experiencing freedom!

When I finally pushed past fear and gave God permission to do “surgery” on my emotional scars, I was afraid He was going to “re-break” the “bone” in order for my wounds to heal properly.
The “bone” was my heart, and I knew I had to give it all over to Him to have a chance of living whole and healthy.

What followed in the next six months was a lot of emotional pain.
Everything hurt and the pain was intense as I began the difficult work of processing my pain, but I clung fiercely to the truth that God was good and faithful.
I trusted He would bring me into a better place.
He brought me out to a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Psalm 18:19

I made a commitment to God to allow Him to work, whatever it took, and I started journaling to help me actually deal with issues from the past as they came up.
After about six months, things came to a head and, honestly,
my marriage was really suffering.
During this time, God showed me that I had been putting my kids first, my marriage second, myself third, and God last.
I needed to flip it.

For me a very practical way to begin to do this was to read the Word in morning
with the kids awake, chaos and all.
Around that time, I had gotten connected with Gracefully Truthful and started reading the Journey Studies. The Freedom Journey Theme really had an impact on me, my identity, and my sense of worth. Through the truth of God’s Word, I was reminded that I will never measure up. And that’s okay. Because of the cross I don’t have to.
You have to “preach the gospel to yourself daily” was another truth God used to anchor my identity in Him as He has continued making me free.

Healing is hard, but worth it because our God is faithful and true!
The more I discover about who I am in Him,
the more I realize how sweet it is to be known and loved by God!

Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse.
Its rider is called Faithful and True,
and he judges and makes war with justice.
Revelation 19:11

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
Can we pray for you?
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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 Grow 2018! 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 stories in Grow 2018!

Posted in: Accepted, Courage, Faith, Fear, Forgiven, Freedom, Generous, God, Healing, Help, Hope Tagged: fear, forgiven, future, grow, healing, hope, past, Truth

Remade Day 12
No Going Back: Digging Deeper

January 17, 2017 by Dr. Leslie Umstattd Leave a Comment

Digging Deeper Days...are a pretty big deal at GT!

We search God's Word together, ask questions as we read, dig around to find the original intentions at the time of writing, and then make some applications to our everyday lives.
Along the way, we hope you'll pick up some new tools to study Scripture and you'll see truth in a new and accessible way!
Dig In!

The Passage

Looking for yesterday’s Journey Post? Check out No Going Back!

Colossians 3:1-17 English Standard Version (ESV)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self[d]with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The Questions

1) Paul starts this passage with an “if then” statement, what is he referring to?

2) In this chapter, Paul says that we have died, what does he mean by this?

3) All throughout this passage Paul is discriminating between two different mindsets. What are we to put to death and what are we to put on?

4) What do the words “put on” mean?

The Findings for Intention

1) Paul starts this passage with an “if then” statement, what is he referring to?
Chapter 3 starts with “if then” or some translations start chapter 3 with “therefore”. We have to remember this is a letter written to a group of people and it did not have chapter breaks in its original form. Paul is simply making the case all throughout Colossians that, if you say you are a believer, then live like it. He ended chapter 2 arguing for an authentic faith from people claiming to be followers. The start of this chapter is no different, if you are a believer, “if you have been raised with Christ…” then your life should reflect that truth. You are free stop living like you are still enslaved!

2) In this chapter, Paul says that we have died, what does he mean by this?
Paul is reminding these Colossian believers of the truth of their salvation. They are dead to earthly things, they are dead to things of the flesh, but the second part of that is their life is hidden in Christ. Yes, they are dead, but their life is now under Christ’s authority and rule, which radically changes the way they live, which Paul explains in the following verses.

3) All throughout this passage Paul is discriminating between two different mindsets. What are we to put to death and what are we to put on?
Paul draws a line in the sand between what believers are dead to and are no longer obligated to have in their life and what believers are to put on and foster while living out their faith. Put to death evil things, idolatry, slander, malice, immorality, etc. These are things we can tangibly put a finger on in life. Put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, forgiveness, and God’s peace to name a few. This is a Biblical description of a believer imitating Christ and putting self aside.

4) What do the words “put on” mean?
In the original language, the implication for the words “put on” is like putting on clothing. It also refers to sinking into your clothing. Not that we would use those terms to get dressed in the morning but you get the idea. It is not only something that is visible, but it is also something that permeates the entire self.

The Everyday Application

1) Paul starts this passage with an “if then” statement, what is he referring to?Paul is encouraging the Colossian church through this letter and we get the privilege of reading it and finding encouragement today. Paul is saying, “Don’t go back…don’t go back to your former ways or think for a second you are still that person or still caught in that old self…you are free…so live like it!” The start to this chapter helps us understand what Paul is trying to say and where he is going with this letter. He wants us to know the capital T truth of our salvation. Our life is hidden in Christ and nothing can change that, so live out your salvation with that knowledge.

2) In this chapter, Paul says that we have died, what does he mean by this?
You are dead to your former things and former ways of life. Sisters, you are free in Christ! All of those moments during the day or maybe even seasons of life where we question and wonder about who we are and find ourselves grasping for answers, be encouraged! Stay focused on the truth of your inheritance and do all things to His glory (Col 3:16-17) Let His Word be your dictionary for defining who you are and whose you are!

3) All throughout this passage Paul is discriminating between two different mindsets. What are we to put to death and what are we to put on?
I challenge to you to take this passage and make a list with two columns. The heading on column one-Take Off (put to death) and the heading on column two- Put On (Bring Life). Read this passage again and write down what belongs in each column then ask yourself-where am I living? Am I stuck in the past, attached and grasping for things leading to death, or am I clinging and sinking into the things of life? God is a good God even on days when our past stops us in our tracks or a situation cements our feet. Be reminded of who you are and live like it!

4) What do the words “put on” mean?
As we read the list of things to “put on” or “sink into” there is an opportunity for us as believers to evaluate our own lives. Paul was asking the Colossians to wake up to the truth of who they were in Christ and realize that they are not entangled in this world. Remember that today this world has no hold on you because you are His. Let Him who began a good work in your complete it! (Phil 1:6)

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
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I Can Do That!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read through it (always more than a verse or two).
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!

The Community!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Remade Week Three!
Don’t miss out on the discussion – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

The Tools!

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources.  Just type in the verse you’re looking at and Boom! It’s right in front of you in English and Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament), which are the original languages the Bible was written in.

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. Find super awesome stuff like “origin”, “definition”, and even all the different ways that single word has been translated into English! If you want to be geeky, you can even click the word and hear its original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want to get more background on a word or phrasing or passage? 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 :-))

The Why!

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.

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

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
See all past studies in Remade!

Posted in: Accepted, Believe, Clothed, Design, Digging Deeper, Faith, Fear, Freedom, Fullness, God, Gospel, Hope, Love, Made New, Power, Purpose, Transformation, Truth Tagged: fear, freedom, goodness, gospel, grace, past, Sin, slave

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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14