The GT Weekend! ~ Nations Week 3
The GT Weekend!
At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”.
Use this time to invite the Almighty’s fullness into you life in a deeper way!
Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to
reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ.
Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with other women in prayer,
rest your soul in reflective journaling,
and spend time worshiping the Creator who
longs for intimacy with each of us!
Worship Through Journaling
Worship Through Journaling
1) On Monday, Laurie shared a beautiful analogy from Scripture about her work on mission in God’s kingdom akin to being poured out as the best perfume to Christ. Think about the ways you have been impacted in beautiful ways by those who, because of their love for Jesus, have loved you well. Be specific. Bring up their faces in your mind and write down their names in a note on your phone. There are many needs around us in our everyday lives whether it’s an empty pantry, kids’ transportation, dirty diapers to change, never ending errands, or long lists of “to do’s”. As you think through the ways you “pour out perfume” in your regular life rhythms, ask yourself if you are willing to make space for what or who the Lord wants you to pour into, at the expense of something or someone on your list. Return to the names on your phone of those who impacted you and decide to send them a thank you note for how they showed Jesus’ love to you. Then prayerfully, and humbly, bring your to do list to the Lord, asking Him to show you the most lovely way to pour out perfume to Him by loving others!
2) What were your experiences with church growing up? In what ways have those perceptions shifted over time? Rather than give a casual response, sit with the question for a few minutes, letting it simmer in your heart. Write down scenes or descriptive words you associated with God or church as you were younger; attach some ages that were pivotal in your formation. As you clarify your thoughts on paper, it becomes easier to see how we think differently from our current vantage point. What are some stark contrasts you notice? Janna shared yesterday how Church is defined as God’s people, but it’s often reduced to an experience. Share out loud your responses to this statement and why you feel this way. Consider how your everyday life choices reflect what you genuinely believe about Christ’s Church and the believer’s role. Ask the Lord to stretch your current view of His Bride, the Church, and expand it over time, teaching your heart to love and engage ever more deeply!
3) Make some space for special worship and prayer this weekend by planning just 15 minutes of time alone. Mark it on your calendar and do whatever necessary to keep this space set apart as sacred between you and God. Prepare your heart by thinking ahead to this time with Him, asking Him to make your heart ready to engage with His Spirit. When you’re ready, find a quiet place inside or outside, silence your phone, and open your Bible to Revelation 7:9-12. Read it several times through, slowly. I repeat, slowly, because we tend to rush things, don’t we? What words or phrases stick out to you? Bring those to the Lord, asking Him to stir your heart and speak to You through His Word. After soaking in His Words, close your eyes and let yourself imagine the scene described in these four verses. What do you see? What do you hear? What is radically different than your everyday life experience today? Consider your answer to this last question as you think through the prayer of Jesus, “Let Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, emphasis mine) How can you actively take what the Lord has been speaking with you about into actionable steps in your everyday life?
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 Revelation 7:9-10 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!
“After this, I looked and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language which no one could number, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the Throne, and to the Lamb!’”
Prayer Journal
Father, I confess my view of You and Your work around the world is much too small. I fall into my regular daily chaos or monotony, and because I don’t see it, I forget that Your work continues. Lord God, please keep prying my hands off myself, lift my gaze to see beyond my borders, and be reminded that I have an important role to play in Your Body, the Church. Give me opportunities to explore how believers are spreading the gospel in other countries and right here in my own city. Stir me in deeper ways to actively participate in the work You are already doing around me. Prod me to seek out people who are different than me, expand my horizons so I can love others better. Give me a kingdom perspective that spans all nations, peoples, and languages, then show me how You have created me to participate in building Your kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven!
Worship Through Community
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Worship Through Prayer
