The GT Weekend! ~ Sketched X Week 2

July 23, 2022 by Carol Graft Leave a Comment

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

1) Giving us a bit of Joseph’s story from Genesis, Sarah pointed out how his story shares similarities with Moses’ life. Neither of these men felt ready to speak on the behalf of others, but God equipped them fulfill His plans in His way. I completely relate to feeling unequipped. As I write, I’m preparing for a conference where my words will be critiqued as part of a focus group. Impostor syndrome and fear rises up strong inside and I need truth to anchor me and the Spirit to equip me. I am comforted in knowing that long before I began penning these very words, God knew I would need the reminder of His constant presence through the narratives of Moses and Pharaoh. How wonderful to be so fully known by the God of the Universe! While Joseph may have felt he had no voice and was incapable and forgotten, He was given protection and favor from the Lord. Where have you seen the Lord give you favor and protection even if it didn’t come in the same way you expected? Even in the midst of struggle, Joseph grew in his awareness of being given Divine gifts to be used for God’s glory. What a great reminder! Even when we don’t see God working in our lives, we can choose to trust His work! What specific struggle are you facing that you need to lean into the truths God is specifically providing for you? How do you feel knowing He is providing for you with loving intentionality?

2) Pharaoh didn’t know the Lord God, but still, Yahweh gave him a dream in order to lead Pharaoh to know Him. Through someone outside the people God had chosen for Himself, God continued to build His plan of redemption. God’s invitation for wholeness and forgiveness is for all people. Everyone who is currently a believer in Jesus was, at one point, rebelling against the Lord. Every believer in Jesus who currently walks in deep faith with the Lord was, at one point, wading in the shallow waters of unbelief and wrestling with doubt. We each have a faith journey and the Lord is intent on pursuing every heart that we might turn to Him and experience the blessing of redemption and the abundance of life He offers. We only see a small portion of Pharaoh’s faith journey and we don’t know if he ever surrendered himself to Yahweh, but we do know the Lord used him and invited him to know Him more deeply. Where have you seen the Lord do the same in your life? Who has He used to get your attention? What has been your response? What would it look like for you to grow in trusting Him and His design for your life?

3) Rebekah provided us with another snapshot of Joseph’s life in yesterday’s Journey Study. Because of the Lord’s goodness, years of slavery and imprisonment eventually gave way to Joseph holding the position of Pharaoh’s right-hand man. Pharaoh trusted Joseph implicitly with nearly everything in his kingdom. Even when it came to interpreting Pharaoh’s own dreams, he trusted Joseph and his faith in the One True God. While Pharaoh may not have ultimately worshipped Jehovah, Pharaoh knew Joseph’s faith to be genuine and he trusted his relationship with God and he proved it by believing Joseph’s interpretations. Through all the betrayal and harsh realities in his life Joseph kept his eyes on God, even if he wrestled with doubt along the way. How often do we question God’s plans for our lives or even His active presence? When have you felt forgotten by God? Whether we are in a pit or a prison, whether our suffering is the result of another’s actions or our own, we still have the option to choose God’s steadfast character or reject Him. Joseph’s long wait as slave and prisoner grew his faith and prepared him to save an entire nation through his reliance on the Lord. If we choose to surrender to the Lord, He will use our suffering to prepare, refine, and redeem us for His future work. Only God knows those plans and we must trust even when we can’t see Him.

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 Psalm 105:10-12 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

When they were few in number,
very few indeed,
and resident aliens in Canaan
wandering from nation to nation
and from one kingdom to another,
he allowed no one to oppress them;
he rebuked kings on their behalf:
“Do not touch my anointed ones,
or harm my prophets.”

Prayer Journal
Lord, Your word shows us that throughout history, it didn’t matter whether Your people were large or small in number, Your love and protection held fast. We know too, that we don’t need to be one of Your prophets, have an extra special anointing, or a particular platform to earn Your attention; You lovingly pursue each of us.

We are surrounded by armies we can’t see and are protected from our enemies by Your hand of love. You still hold us despite our erring ways. You still walk beside and before us even in hard times, desiring to show us more of Your heart and love for us in our everyday lives. We know that without You in our lives our situations would be impossible. Because You are present with us and call us Your own children, You have equipped us by Your Spirit to extend your love and faithfulness to others. Make us effective in this work of reflecting Your love to others! We praise You for being kind and good at all times!

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

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Share how God spoke to you today!
Comment Here or in our Facebook Community Group!

Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

Whole Day 14 The Hope Of Wholeness: Digging Deeper

July 7, 2022 by Lisa Marcelina Leave a Comment

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 The Hope Of Wholeness!

The Questions

1) What do the terms corruption, incorruption, corruptible and incorruptible mean in this context? (verses 50-53)

2) How has death been swallowed up in victory? (verses 54-55)

3) What is to be learned from Paul’s exhortation to be steadfast, immovable, and excel in the Lord’s work because their labour is not in vain? (verse 58)

I Corinthians 15:50-58

50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. 54 When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place:
Death has been swallowed up in victory.
55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Original Intent

1) What do the terms corruption, incorruption, corruptible and incorruptible mean in this context? (verses 50-53)

Corruption and corruptible share the same meaning. In Greek, corruption, phthora, means perishable or perishing. Contrarily, incorruption and incorruptible both imply immortality and lack of decay. Paul focuses on the reality that our present mortal bodies, which are subject to decay at death, cannot enter God’s Kingdom in eternity in their current form, but must be transformed. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption.” (verse 50) The necessary pre-cursor for this transformation is found in John 3:5, “Jesus answered, ‘Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” To enter eternity, a person must be born of water and spirit, meaning once they’ve accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, they receive a spiritual re-birth through the Holy Spirit, becoming new for their old life has died. To be raised with incorruptible physical bodies that will be equipped to live in eternity, our souls must first have been reborn from death to life by God’s Spirit. Paul taught in Philippians 3:18-20, “…many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things, our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” There is a distinction between those who are enemies of Christ and those already counted as citizens of Heaven; faith in Jesus. For those who are no longer enemies of Christ, when our physical bodies have died, for they are corruptible, they require a second transformation by Christ, “He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.” (Philippians 3:21)

2) How has death been swallowed up in victory? (verses 54-55)
Paul’s pronouncement, “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (verse 54) quotes the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah. (Isaiah 25:8) His follow-on quote, “Where, Death, is your victory? Where, Death, is your sting?” (verse 55) pulls from another Old Testament prophet, Hosea. (Hosea 13:14) Both of these spoke of a promised coming day when Death would no longer rule; Death itself would die as it was consumed by the Victor, God Himself. Death is inevitable for all of us (Psalm 89:48), but we should be aware there are three types of death, physical, spiritual, and eternal. Physical death is experienced by everyone when our lungs stop breathing and our hearts stop beating. (Hebrews 9:27) Physical death results from sin which infiltrated the world via Adam. Spiritual death is eternal separation from God, which is also caused by sin. These two deadly outcomes are the default position for every human being. All of us are destined to experience both of these if we trust ourselves to be “good enough” for God. His justice has no room for less than perfect, and each of us are far, far from perfect. (Romans 3:23) The Spiritually dead are those who choose to remain worldly and have no desire to serve or worship God as their personal Lord and Savior from sin. (Ephesians 2:1-3) Eternal Death is the just reward reserved for the unrepentant spiritually dead. Those who reject Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, also choose to remain locked-in to their default destination of eternal separation from God as a result of their sin; this is referred to as the second death. (Revelation 21:8) The devil initially held power over death (Hebrews 2:14), but Jesus defeated Satan when He rose from the dead. Victory over death resulted from Jesus’ resurrection, making Him the firstborn from the dead. (Colossians 1:18)

3) What is to be learned from Paul’s exhortation to be steadfast, immovable, and excel in the Lord’s work because their labour is not in vain? (verse 58)
Labour is usually associated with hard work which is not always pleasant, but from the beginning, God created work. When God made the earth, mankind was not yet around to work the ground. (Genesis 2:5) However, when He planted the Garden of Eden, He placed Adam there to work it and be its caretaker, all before sin had entered the world. (verse 15) Tending the garden before sin must have been pleasant and enjoyable, even relaxing, but when Adam sinned, part of God’s judgment was to curse the land and labour. Work became painful and laborious. (Genesis 3:17-18) Humanity now would labour hard to earn a living. Imagine how much more creative and artistic and purposeful our work would be if it wasn’t tainted by sin and tediousness! Paul’s words in verse 58 serve as strong encouragement to the believers regarding their difficult work for the Lord, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Working for the Lord is full of challenges and persecutions, BUT Christ has won our victory, so we can be assured our labours for Him are not in vain for the Lord wastes nothing! The work Paul speaks of is more than just for earning a living, it refers to an active help in building the kingdom of God, which is accomplished in many ways throughout our everyday lives. In Romans 16, Paul commended some women who worked hard for the Lord. Paul also worked hard to build up the Church (I Corinthians 15:10). His encouragement is for all the Corinthian believers to do the same and work hard for the Lord for their reward would come in eternal life. (Revelation 14:13)

Everyday Application

1) What do the terms corruption, incorruption, corruptible and incorruptible mean in this context? (verses 50-53)

I Corinthians 15 focuses on the resurrection from the dead of believers in Jesus. One day, their old, corruptible bodies will be transformed in preparation for their eternal dwelling with God. Many in the early church were influenced by false teachers like the Sadducees, who claimed there was no resurrection of the dead. Wanting the Church to be equipped with truth, Paul sought to clear the air on this misconception by providing resurrection facts from the Lord. Part of his explanation included what would happen to our bodies. When we die, our physical bodies experience decay, for they are corruptible. At the resurrection, all who have safeguarded their souls with Christ Jesus will receive new physical bodies that have been made perfectly incorruptible by His power. This truth encourages us because we can look forward to a day when there will be no more sickness, no more pain, and no more death. We will enjoy eternity with the Lord God in new, perfect physical bodies! Jesus even provided a sneak peek of these new bodies when He rose from the dead with His own incorruptible physical body. (Luke 24:36-43) If we have a loved one or know someone living with a disability, illness like cancer, or suffering of any kind, we can take heart knowing this is only temporary for those who trust Jesus as their Savior. My own mother has dementia, and it is heart-breaking knowing she was once a vibrant woman who loved to sing. But I take comfort knowing that one day, she will become whole again at the resurrection with a new spiritual body.

2) How has death been swallowed up in victory? (verses 54-55)

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead defeated Satan and death once and for all, but our bodies still die, even those who have trusted Jesus as their Savior. Just as the Old Testament prophets announced, there is still coming a day when Jesus will “swallow up death once and for all” (Isaiah 25:8) when He returns and transforms the corruptible into the incorruptible! Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, and when He returns to earth to transform us, all who have trusted Him as their Lord and Savior will come up out of their graves and meet him in the air! (I Thessalonians 4:16-17) Jesus’ resurrection has offered humanity a new birth and a living hope in victorious freedom from Death! (I Peter 1:3) We must remember, this freedom is an offer not our default. Eternal Death remains our default destination unless we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour, confessing our helpless reality as sinner, and receiving His forgiveness and eternal life as a gift. (John 3:16, Romans 6:23) For the believer, eternal LIFE is our hope and confident expectation. This Sure Hope is why death is nothing to be feared for those who come to Jesus in genuine faith. Death is something we can welcome for it is nothing more than sleep until Christ makes us incorruptible. (verses 51-52, Matthew 9:24) Mother Theresa had some interesting quotes about death, but my favourite is, “People ask me about death and whether I look forward to it and I answer, ‘Of course’ because I am going home.” Death merely means going home to Jesus.

3) What is to be learned from Paul’s exhortation to be steadfast, immovable, and excel in the Lord’s work because their labour is not in vain? (verse 58)
Work, which can be arduous most times, but our difficulties can be redeemed because of Christ. When we submit our work to the Lord, doing it for Him instead of mankind (Colossians 3:22-24), we are blessed because of His victory over the curse. This doesn’t mean believers aren’t to engage in work that isn’t technically “ministry related” like work in the church; Paul stresses we must work to eat and live and not be lazy. (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12) God’s vision for work that honors Him encompasses every aspect of life and our heart-attitude while we labour. Are we working for the Lord? Are we praying over our work? Are we using our jobs to further God’s kingdom by teaching others about Him, loving others, and using opportunities with coworkers to share about the Hope of Jesus? These labors build up the Church (I Corinthians 3:10-15) and are not done in vain. I enjoy working for the Lord! I gave my life to Jesus at the age of seventeen, and while life has been challenging, at the age of fifty-three, I can say God has been with me and blessed me as I surrendered myself to Him. Living for Jesus and serving Him is what makes life abundant. (John 10:10) At the end of my physical life and when Jesus exchanges the corruptible for incorruptible, all believers will become truly Whole.

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

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!
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Our Current Study Theme!

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Why Dig Deeper?

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Study Tools

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Memorize It!

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Whole Day 8 Identifying The Oppression

June 29, 2022 by Rebecca 2 Comments

Read His Words Before Ours!

Jeremiah 22:3-5
Proverbs 31:8-9
Zechariah 7:9-10
John 1:1-16

Whole, Day 8

The snarls of a sinister enemy snaked through the goodness of Eden, deviously plotting the downfall of the Almighty who had cast him from His glorious presence.
How the enemy loved himself. How he loathed the Almighty.

Humanity would pay the price of the enemy’s sickening self-love by carrying his pride in their hearts, grooming it, making it their own, then calling it righteousness by justifying their selfish pride to the Almighty. Perfectly mimicking the enemy’s craft which had earned him ejection from The Presence.

“I’ll make it appealing”, the enemy drooled with demonic delight darkening his eerie eyes. Love for self, hatred for others. His breathing slowed as his shadow fell across Eve’s innocent face as she delighted in the husband she’d been lovingly given by the Maker. “I’ll make them murderers of one another as they feast frenetically upon the lusts of their flesh”, his callous thoughts crept through him as quickly as the greed glowed in his belly. “Almighty will not have the final word. I will make His beautiful creation suffer. In killing them, I will kill Him”.

Then, adorning his luscious invitation with a lethal portion of deception, the enemy lured Eve with a single question meant to draw her into his grasp and under his oppression. “Did God really say…” (Genesis 3:1) For if you question God and His goodness, you question everything.

We know the rest of the story. Innocent Adam and Eve ensconced in Eden’s luscious beauty, wide eyes curious at the heavy fruit in hand.

One.
Single.
Sin.
Death had snatched Life away.

Perfection had now fallen under the monstrosity of ominous oppression.
Corruption held the scepter and the enemy laughed, sure of his venomous victory.
The world wouldn’t need to learn to hate, kill, lust, thieve, gossip, eye-roll, bicker, and mock for oppression was now written into their DNA.

Natural man would take after their new father and sin’s self-love would spread like an uncontrollable wildfire, ravaging, killing, destroying everything from atoms to earthworms to bodies with earthquakes, poison, divorce, genocide, slavery, abortion, addiction, and the like. Nothing was untouched by oppression’s insidious sickness.

How do we identify oppression?
We look for the darkness.
We look for the absence of Light.

On the grand scale and the small ones. As we look at the nations and inside the isolated islands of our homes, oppression rages on. Cancer, mental illness, abuse, tragedy, complaining, bitterness, anger, slander, murder. It hides its snarling sickness in rage and rape and behind the gruesome masks of bigotry, prejudice, pretentious piety, and chauvinism. Oppression’s enslavement marks us all; it’s meant to kill, demean, and destroy for Sin and Death are its father.

The enemy hates the Almighty and oppresses His people.
The Almighty hates the work of the Father of Lies and every single act of oppression.
But lest we walk away with the ludicrous assumption the enemy and the Almighty are equal in force, hear the Word of the Lord.
Then the earth shook and quaked;
the foundations of the mountains trembled;
they shook because he burned with anger.
Smoke rose from his nostrils,
and consuming fire came from his mouth;
coals were set ablaze by it.
He bent the heavens and came down,
total darkness beneath his feet.
He rode on a cherub and flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his hiding place,
dark storm clouds his canopy around him.
From the radiance of his presence,
his clouds swept onward with hail and blazing coals.
The Lord thundered from heaven;
the Most High made his voice heard.
He shot his arrows and scattered them;
he hurled lightning bolts and routed them.
The depths of the sea became visible,
the foundations of the world were exposed,
at your rebuke, Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
He reached down from on high
and took hold of me;
he pulled me out of deep water.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out to a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
For you rescue an oppressed people,
but you humble those with haughty eyes.
(Psalm 18:7-19, 27)

Long before the crafty serpent had even considered the plot of his disastrous deceit in Eden, the Almighty already knew of Satan’s vile plan, and He’d already decided to sacrifice Himself for His people.

Yes, Satan plotted to slay humanity pressing them farther and farther from the Father who lovingly crafted them to enjoy relationship with Him.
But in a radical act of unfathomable humble love, the Almighty allowed Himself to be slain by the sinners, then rise again to conquer sin and death forever. Death had been swallowed whole by Life! (1 Corinthians 15:54)

Yes, oppression’s foul stench is everywhere in our world, but the Light of the Victor shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5) As Christ-followers run toward the broken, the battered, the lonely, the fearful, and yes, even the angry and abusive, we bring with us, the victorious light of the One who has conquered Sin and Death forever.

Oppression’s power is vanquished by One Name, The Lord Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 2:10-11)

See the oppression, surrender your own rebellion, and fearlessly carry the Light of Love by the power of Jesus into the world around you for nothing can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5)

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