stress

Chase Day 15 The Rest Of The Story

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Matthew 12:38-42
Matthew 3:1-12
Acts 3:17-21
Jonah 4

You know, after studying the ins and outs of Jonah for this Journey… I feel for the guy. We know so little about him or his life, and what few snippets we do know are completely colored by his disobedience and anger. I can’t imagine that his whole life’s story is truly summed up by those four short chapters we’ve been digging through, but the Bible is completely silent about Jonah’s life, both leading up to and after the events outlined there.

Everybody has a rough week (or two…or three…yep, I’m raising my hand, too) now and then. Let’s try to put ourselves in his shoes for a moment.

Let’s imagine ourselves in a pretty awful spot, faith-wise. Let’s say…our relationship with our spouse is pretty stilted and we just haven’t been communicating very well. Maybe our children have really been testing their boundaries and our job is incredibly stressful on top of everything else. Then, maybe God tells us to give our life’s savings (everything we have worked so hard for!) to the homeless guy on the corner. And…we don’t do it. Instead, we book our family for a weekend getaway, because hello! Things are stressful and we need to reconnect! But then…everything goes haywire. The hotel is hit by a tornado and we find ourselves bunking in the basement with a bunch of other irritated guests. When we finally get out, we have a change of heart and decide to give what is left in our savings account to the homeless guy, but it is too little, too late. He’s gone.

This may be a stretch, but now imagine that a film crew was secretly documenting all of this to broadcast on television. Can you imagine the shame? The embarrassment?

Now imagine that no matter what else happened in your life leading up to that experience, no one would ever know about it. And afterward? You very well may have won a Nobel Peace Prize, but no one would ever know about that, either. You will always and forever only be recognized for that particular incident.

The Bible doesn’t tell us how Jonah lived out the rest of his life. He may very well have repented of his anger and chosen to live a life of humility and grace. He may have been so convicted by God’s mercy toward the Ninevites that he lived out the rest of his days showing great mercy to everyone he met, giving glory to God.

Or he may have chosen to walk in anger for the rest of his life.
We may never know.

Loves, is his story so very different from our own? Looking back at my week, there are three separate instances that make me ashamed to even remember them. I lost my temper. Raised my voice. Chose anger rather than peace. If those few scenarios were the defining moments of my whole life…let’s just say our friend Jonah would look pretty spiffy by comparison.

Maybe it’s the same for you. Maybe you have been making some choices and acting in ways that you know are wrong. Maybe you’d rather forget the way things have been going, but you feel stuck. Sister, we don’t have to be stuck! Even after all of Jonah’s disobedience and unrighteous anger, Jesus still used his story to point toward salvation. He can use us at our worst, but my heart longs for Him to use me at my best.

Doesn’t yours?

Jesus, we love you. We declare you the King of our hearts, minds, and lips. Show us how to love others and You better. We want to be available to tell Your story and to stop getting caught up in our own. Forgive us for our selfish attitudes and sinful choices. Grow mercy in our hearts and minds, and increase our capacity to love others as You do. We want to reflect You in everything we say and do. Bring Your Kingdom here in our hearts. Amen.

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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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Worship Day 9
It Is Well With My Soul: Digging Deeper

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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 It Is Well With My Soul!

Isaiah 40:27-31 English Standard Version (ESV)

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

The Questions

1) What does the statement made about God in verse 27 reveal about Israel’s beliefs?

2) What attributes of God are highlighted in this passage?

3) How does God use those attributes to build up His people?

4) What is the overall point of this passage?

The Findings for Intention

1) What does the statement made about God in verse 27 reveal about Israel’s beliefs?
“Jacob” and “Israel” refer to the nation of Israel, the recipient of Isaiah’s prophecy. This statement reveals that, as a nation, they felt overlooked by God—as if He couldn’t see their plight. They also felt as if God was denying them the justice that was due to them. In short, they were distressed, and they had lost hope.

2) What attributes of God are highlighted in this passage?
In verse 28, we see that God is everlasting (He will never die), creator (maker of all things, and therefore in control of all things), unable to become tired or weary (therefore He is powerful, and always at full-strength), and great in understanding (He knows the plight of His people and He knows the right time to intervene)
.
3) How does God use those attributes to build up His people?
God shares His power with those who are struggling. He will never run out of strength, so He is able to strengthen anyone who calls on Him when their hope grows weak.

4) What is the overall point of this passage?
God spoke through Isaiah to give hope back to His struggling people. He is reminding them who He is, and He is telling them that they are not forgotten. He will strengthen them as they wait for Him to intervene in their situation.

The Everyday Application

 

1) What does the statement made about God in verse 27 reveal about Israel’s beliefs?
How easily we forget God when we are struggling! Israel had turned their eyes away from God and His promises and focused on their problems, losing hope. When you are struggling or suffering, do you neglect the God who strengthens you? Or do you fix your eyes on Him, your source of hope?

2) What attributes of God are highlighted in this passage?
Meditating on the attributes of God increases our view of Him, which increases our faith in Him. Spend some time this week exploring other passages that talk about God’s power, His understanding, His eternal nature, and others.

3) How does God use those attributes to build up His people?
Praise God for His everlasting strength! Praise You, God, that You never grow tired, even as we struggle. And praise You for sharing your power and strength with us as we seek to serve you in difficult times.

4) What is the overall point of this passage?
It is easy for us to lean on our own understanding and wonder what God is doing in our difficult circumstances. But “His understanding is unsearchable,” and He is always at work to refine us and to bring Himself glory. Wait for the LORD, sisters, and be strengthened by His almighty power.

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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 Worship Week Two!
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 Worship!

Resting Day 8
Anchored Emotions

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Philippians 4:4-9
Colossians 3:15-17
Proverbs 3:5-6 

I am full of emotions.
But aren’t we all?
I have always been one of those people to feel on top of the world.
Very ecstatic about everything.
But there’s one emotion I feel deeply.
It’s been a part of who I am, how I function, and even how I view things.
Stress.
It takes hold of my life and makes me feel strangled.
I’ve struggled with this feeling for a long time. It truly does come in waves of overbearing anxiety even over the smallest of things.
But I always thought God didn’t have much to say about this.
I just thought it was MY issue.
But that’s a lie the Enemy uses! He does!

Emotions themselves aren’t a negative thing at all. They are real and they are present, and it’s 100% normal to feel the extreme of some of those feelings. Not to get all science-y on you, but our limbic system is the emotional hub of our body and the home of our personality. God created this in our bodies on purpose.
Feelings are healthy. Jesus even experienced emotions.
He felt joy, sadness, anger, denial, grief, stress, and temptation, to name a few.
He knows the depths of those feelings.
It’s easy to think He doesn’t understand, but He does!

The key to controlling these emotions is realizing who the keeper of them is.
God wants to anchor our emotions because He  CREATED them, so of course He wants us to run to Him with all of our feelings!
He wants to hear that you failed that math test.
He wants to hear that you feel like you can’t get a handle on your marriage.
He wants to hear how painful it is to watch your children make the wrong decisions.
He wants to hear that you never feel equipped or good enough.
He wants all of us, all of the time.
Not just the predetermined, preselected part of us that we choose to share with Him.
He wants every part of our lives.

Philippians 4:4-9 is something I have been meditating on recently. In verse 7 it says,
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
This verse speaks of taking our worries to the God who is infinitely more.
Knowing that God cares deeply about what we feel is so powerful!

He knows that the peace He provides is bigger than any other filler we might be able to find to keep us sane.
I mean – I know that a night at home, eating pizza and watching your favorite movie is a good de-stresser.
But, what if instead, we dove into the Word after a chaotic week?
Numbing is really easy.
But God wants us to deal with our emotions, not push them aside.
He gives us a guide of how to react and respond to the happenings in our lives.
He calls us in everything we do, in all we feel, to glorify His name.
And that means when you can’t even begin to understand how angry you are, or when there is no other word than disappointment, you STILL continue to shine a light on Him, even if that looks like falling at His feet and putting every emotion you have into His hands.

I have learned something recently. I have to look at my life as things I can control, and things I can’t, most of which I can’t.
I have to catch myself in those moments of time that I can’t control anything except the choice to run to Christ.
This pressure to be enough and be all things is so self-induced.
I think it’s my job to fix everything and everyone.
But not every little thing is my fault.

Don’t let the things you feel overtake you. Instead fill your mind with truth from the Lord. He has so much to say about our emotions.
He is here to guide us in those things and let us know He cares.
I encourage you to rekindle a new emotion,
and intentionally make an effort to think about it often.
Peace.
Let’s work on this together: to know that…
1) Our emotions aren’t bad. They come from Him. He feels them too!
2) We have to learn how to control them and take them to Him first.
3) Let God’s love and strength wash over you as you feel what can only come from Him, Pure peace.

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Can we pray for you?
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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!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Resting 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 Resting!