The GT Weekend! ~ Worship X Week 1

May 14, 2022 by Rebecca 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) The idea of praising God in the midst of challenge or pain sounds impossible at first glance. But this reveals the humanity of our perspective and the depth (or shallowness) of our faith. On Monday, Lesley pointed to David’s decision to praise the Lord despite the prolonged difficulties he faced. She also challenged us to consider the justice of God as He acts on our behalf to protect and defend His people. It’s easy for us to view our pain or unjust treatment and determine God to be unfair and unjust because He has not resolved our pain on our timetable. This reveals how small our box is that holds our faith and our beliefs about God and His character. David’s songs stand out as often declaring the character of God, reminding himself of God’s promises, even in the mire of trials. Challenge yourself to keep a list on your phone over the next few days of God’s promises. Every time you read one in Scripture or remember one, write it down. Return to this list often and proclaim praise to the God who never fails!

2) The majority of our everyday moments are lived out in the tangible and experienced by our physical senses. Pause for 30 seconds and close your eyes; begin listing out the most recent experiences you’ve encountered with your senses. What were the last images you saw, items you tasted, sounds your heard, sensations you felt, and scents you’ve smelled. Reflect on your list, allowing yourself to relive those moments. Now ask yourself how many of those were connected to relating to God. We tend to relegate our experiences of God to the confines of the church building or spiritual retreats, but the Lord crafted each moment of our everyday to be pregnant with opportunities of knowing Him more fully. Creation testifies of His glory. His mercies are new every morning, waiting to be unwrapped in our days. He is in regular pursuit of our hearts. Ask the Lord to open your eyes and see Him in real, everyday life!

3) Name the things that have changed in your life in the last 24 hours. Maybe it was your plans. Maybe it was the nuances of an interaction you had with a friend. Perhaps you received new information. Unread emails, laundry to fold, meals to plan, change is constantly around us. Now name the things that have never once changed in the course of your entire life. You may be able to name some things that haven’t changed much, or perhaps people you’ve come to rely on fully over time. But, to assign an “always” statement to someone or something’s unchangeability isn’t very accurate. The Lord does not increase His love for us over time, and neither does it decrease. His justice and goodness does not ebb and flow depending on political standing or cultural trends. He is ceaselessly full of all that embodies His character. Never once has He changed. Ever. Which means He is endlessly trustworthy. What was true of Him at the dawn of time will be true of Him in the ages to come. None is more faithful and true than the Lord God. Given this reality, what are you holding back from entrusting to His care? Plans for your future? Relationship struggles? Finances? Fear? Wounds? Sister, there is none more able to love you, and none more worthy of your total surrender than the Lord Jesus Christ. Give it all over to the Unfailing One and worship Him for His faithfulness!

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 John 15:4-5 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

Prayer Journal
None is steadfast like You, O Lord! Your goodness never ceases, yet how easily I become “bored” with praising You because I forget Your benefits. I neglect to remember the constancy of your nearness and the immediacy of Your accessible Presence. Shift the focus of my heart to see with eyes of faith. Teach me to trust the good love of Your heart that has never abandoned me. Teach me to pause here, to rest in it, and then live it out in worship that speaks of Your glory!

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

Build Day 10 Building Restoration

February 25, 2022 by Jami Stroud Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Nehemiah 8
Romans 3:21-24
John 1:1-18

Build, Day 10

Before Nehemiah began his quest to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, his friend Ezra was on the scene to bring the Israelite community back together after years of exile in Babylon. (Ezra 7) Ezra gathered exiled Israelites from Babylon, uniting them with those already in Jerusalem to bring spiritual restoration as a community to the nation.

As Nehemiah governs God’s people in Jerusalem and works to rebuild the wall, he finds a partner in the spiritual leader, Ezra. When the wall is finally rebuilt, Ezra and Nehemiah join forces to point their people back to God. (Nehemiah 8) What a refreshing view of spiritual and governing leaders coming together for the benefit of their people and the glory of God!

For seven days, Ezra and other spiritual leaders read the Torah and taught its meaning to the people.

And the people began responding.

After years of being unable to hear God’s word and celebrate their religious holidays, the Israelites began repenting. They listened and followed instructions to build the same festival shelters their forefathers had built; they began celebrating God through feasting together, and they began worshiping the Lord with JOY.

Joy was restored.

Can you imagine, after 70 years of slavery and exile, doing anything but grumbling and throwing yourself a pity party? I don’t know about you, but I’d be attending that pity party, table for one!

But this is the power of God’s Holy Word: to build back up what has been torn down, to transform us and restore us to the beautiful, joyful creation He intended us to be.

It’s easy to read this story on the other side, thousands of years later, and quickly pinpoint where the Israelites made mistakes. Yet, we are in need of the same restoration God graciously offered them in their renewed city, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23-24)

Just as the Israelites were exiled from Jerusalem, so in our sin, we were exiled from a relationship with our Creator and Father.

But then God’s Word was made flesh in the form of Jesus, and a whole new era of restoration began. (John 1:1-18) Just as Ezra and Nehemiah made space for the Word of God to be heard, taught, and practiced, Jesus was God’s Word incarnate, dwelling among us, teaching us how to live and turn back to God.

Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus was the way for restoration.

Now, as we live on the other side of restoration, in relationship with God, we wait for the second coming of Jesus and the restoration of the world as we know it.
Don’t we see it around us?
Don’t we see it in ourselves?
We’re living in “the now and the not yet” of restoration.

So, what do we do as we wait for our final restoration?
Where do we find our joy in the meantime?

We remember the dedication of Ezra and Nehemiah and we turn to God’s Word. We seek it, and we allow others to teach us. We learn and practice what it says. We gather together as brothers and sisters in Christ and we celebrate all God has done.

Here, we find joy.
We find daily renewal and restoration.
We find hope when it seems all is lost, and we feel like we’ve endured 70 years of exile.

Will you join me in continuing to dig into God’s word? (Look at you, doing that right now!)
Will you seek understanding?
Will you do what His Word says?
Will you gather your friends and family to delight in God together?
Will you remember to find Joy?

Because you, my friend, have been Restored.

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Calling Day 12 The Lens Of Truth: Digging Deeper

October 20, 2020 by Melodye Reeves 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 Lens Of Truth!

The Questions

1) Who are the disobedient mentioned in verse 6 and how are the saints to proactively stay connected?

2) How did the Ephesians, to whom Paul is writing, move from darkness to light? (verse 7)

3) Once a person is walking in the light, what is the public evidence? (verse 9)

Ephesians 5:6-14

6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. 7 Therefore, do not become their partners. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— 10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. 13 Everything exposed by the light is made visible, 14 for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Original Intent

1) Who are the disobedient mentioned in verse 6 and how are the saints to proactively stay connected?
At the beginning of Chapter 5, Paul continues his thought from Chapter 4. He wants his reader to understand the importance of their relationships with each other and with those outside the Church. Scripture makes it clear that those who consistently walk in disobedience (those living outside of God’s grace), have intentionally rejected God’s forgiveness. (Romans 1:18-28) Forgiveness is God’s answer to the impossible state of reality for all humanity, we are insufficient to save ourselves. We see from the creation story that God created humans with a freedom that allowed them to choose obedience or disobedience. That freedom sadly exposed mankind’s unwillingness to choose rightly. Adam and Eve found themselves deceived by an empty argument from the source of all disobedience, pride. (Genesis 1-3) In the Old Testament, the Psalmist reviewed the disobedience in Israel’s history. (Psalm 78) In the New Testament, the apostles reminded the people of their rebellion against God (Acts 3, Acts 7). Had the very first man and woman refrained from approaching the one tree God had forbidden, they could have continued their sweet fellowship with their Creator. In this section of his letter, Paul encourages the saints to remain distanced from the message and lifestyle of the rebellious. This intentional choice demonstrates, and promotes, obedience to Christ over self.

2) How did the Ephesians, to whom Paul is writing, move from darkness to light? (verse 7)
Note the wording in verse 8. Paul not only says the saints were once in darkness, he says they were darkness. This “darkness” is not simply a place without light. It is the condition of all men apart from Christ. (studylight.org) Every heart not regenerated by the light of Christ is utterly dark. The prophet Isaiah said that everyone stumbles in their darkness. (Isaiah 59:9-10) Light necessarily shines on the rebellious and disobedient heart, revealing the need for forgiveness. As “dearly loved children of God” (Ephesians 5:1), the believers were to walk in the love and light of Christ. The only good thing about darkness is that light is seen so clearly! The letter to the Ephesians emphasizes Paul’s desire for them to recognize God’s “goodness, righteousness and truth.” (verse 9) When light and darkness are in the same space, light wins. The recipients of Paul’s letter had come into the light only though God’s gracious revelation to them. God’s light shone in and on their dark hearts. The exposure to sinfulness produces repentance that leads to “speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:19-20)

3) Once a person is walking in the light, what is the public evidence? (verse 9)
In the original Greek, the words that speak of the previous darkness reveal a forceful impact. As darkness itself, they were “utterly sunk in ignorance of Divine things, [and] wholly lost in the evils accompanying such ignorance.” (Expositor’s Greek Testament) But God! If two words were used to be the subtitle of Ephesians, it could be these! Though the English word “but” is supplied in Ephesians 2:4 for clarity, it perfectly translates the message of Paul in the letter. Multiple times, he compares who the saints at Ephesus previously were with who they now are. The God of light has shone His mercy in the darkness since the days of Noah. (Genesis 7:23-8:1)The urgency of Paul to proclaim this message of transformation from dark to light is found in his letters to the Romans and the Corinthians. (Romans 5:6-11, 1 Corinthians 1:26-27) How glorious and radical is the light that shines in, on, and through the darkness. “The completeness of the change [from dark to light] is evidenced in that they were so possessed and penetrated by that truth, that they could be described not simply as enlightened but as themselves now light.” (Expositor’s Greek Testament) Being light is evidenced through our obedience. Paul speaks in the remaining chapter (Ephesians 6:1-23) of how we are to shine our light in marriage, family life and in the church.

Everyday Application

1) Who are the disobedient mentioned in verse 6 and how are the saints to proactively stay connected?
Genesis pronounces that human beings were “hardwired to be good creatures who live in a good world created by a good God for the purpose of expanding this goodness to the ends of the earth.” (Terry Evans, upi.org) But Satan took advantage of the atmosphere of freedom in the Garden of Eden. It is in the very same environment of suspicion and skepticism that we are led to be disobedient rebels today. Just like the people Paul was writing to, we are prone to wander away from following God wholeheartedly. Even as believers in Jesus, our human nature is still fighting within us as the enemy uses it against us often. (Romans 6:12-16) If we keep ourselves too close to those who are recklessly denying God’s judgment to come, we may find ourselves listening to, and believing, their shameful lies. It is in these situations we are tempted to succumb to a wrong way of thinking about our obedience. We begin to believe those trapped in darkness who tell us that God’s way is restrictive or unnecessary. The forbidden fruit we read about in Genesis 3 becomes more desirable. If we continue to stand too close to the tree, we are setting ourselves up for disillusionment and ultimately disobedience.

2) How did the Ephesians, to whom Paul is writing, move from darkness to light? (verse 7)
Darkness is uncomfortable, dangerous, and scary. So, why are so many people staying there? Because they have been convinced by the prince of darkness (Ephesians 2:1-2), the father of lies (John 8:43-44), that obedience to God is keeping us from something. The devil is continuing to use his stealth against humanity. He thrives in bringing confusion and chaos. (2 Corinthians 2:9-11) God is good and does good. Satan is evil and does evil. God is light and brings light. Satan is darkness and brings darkness. This is why we feast on God’s words. That is why we avoid those who desire to cause us to doubt the goodness and mercy of God. It is in the light that we see so clearly who God is and who we are! “This is the message we have heard from Him: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. If we say, ‘We have fellowship with Him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5-7)

3) Once a person is walking in the light, what is the public evidence? (verse 9)
The evidence that we are walking in the light is our witness. We give witness to our transformed heart and life by our words, our obedience, and our love for others. Once we have been transformed from darkness to light, we are to shine in the dark places everywhere we go. There is just something about a woman who consistently walks with Jesus through prayer and Bible study. She lights up a room like no one else can! Oh sister, I encourage you to study the Word so you deeply know Jesus, that you might become an ever-brighter reflection in this scary, dark world. The way to be the light is to wake from apathy and drudgery and celebrate the Light!
“There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” (John 1:6-9) It’s not Christmas yet, but let’s worship Him and share the good news:
Noel, Noel!
Come and see what God has done.
Noel, Noel!
The story of amazing love!
The light of the world, given for us.
Noel.
(Lyrics by Chris Tomlin & Matt Redman)

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
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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!

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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 :-))

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The GT Weekend ~ Blessed Week 2

July 25, 2020 by Rebecca 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) Hungry and happy. Lord, teach me, please, to long for this state of being. Keep before my eyes how little I know, and have experienced with You, compared to all You are and all You have for me. Keep my heart hungry to feast upon You with insatiable longing. Turn my eyes from lesser loves; let me love them less and less until they no longer pull me in with their lucrative cravings. Make space this weekend to slow down to a place of complete stillness. Maybe a dark closet. Maybe a walk outside with no other distractions. Or maybe it’s just closing the bathroom door on yourself and b r e a t h i n g. In and out, slowing yourself, and praying, asking the Spirit to create a deep craving hunger inside you for Him. Beg Him to show you His glory and speak truth over you. Be hungry and happy.

2) The mercy Jesus spoke of in the beatitudes goes much deeper than loving compassion for someone or their situation. His mercy moves in to another’s circumstance, holds their hand, weeps while they weep, grieves while they grieve, and sits beside them in their suffering. The sweetest gift is given to those who are merciful to others, they are shown mercy. Tears fill my eyes just thinking of the vast kindness offered to us by our Savior in this! As we live out His merciful love to others, our God promises to show us the beauty of His deep mercy to us. Who is the Lord leading you to be merciful towards? Don’t close your box in and only consider those who you naturally love; where is the Father stretching you to be merciful? Know that, as you do, the Lord will shower His mercy upon you!

3) When I was a younger student of the Bible, I would read many passages with similar ideas to this one from Psalm 24:3-5, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord…stand in His holy place? Only those with clean hands and a pure heart…who has no deceit…He will receive blessings from the Lord and…salvation.” I would leave God’s Word feeling sick to my stomach, because I knew I could never be “one of those” who ascended the mountain to be with the Lord. No deceit? A pure heart? Clean hands? Shame would flood me with sharp realization of how deeply I was stained with my own sin. BUT GOOD NEWS! Jesus came to take ALL my sin and shame and do the miraculous, DECLARE ME RIGHTEOUS! Because of Jesus, I can ascend to be with the Lord. I have clean hands. I have a pure heart, because of Jesus Christ, my Mighty Rescuer! What sin and shame have you been carrying for far too long? Turn to the One who died to free you and elevate you with His righteousness when you humbly admit your need for a Savior!

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 Isaiah 29:14-16 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

Therefore, I will again confound these people
with wonder after wonder.
The wisdom of their wise will vanish,
and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.
15 Woe to those who go to great lengths
to hide their plans from the Lord.
They do their works in the dark,
and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
“He didn’t make me”?
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

Prayer Journal
Lord God, let me not be found mocking your gift of lavish grace and love. What an indescribable gift to be given. Genuine, true, constant, intimate relationship with You, the Living God! And not a single work I could do to either earn it or keep it; only You have that mighty strength. Yet, Lord, I take this unsurpassed kindness, and I still choose to serve myself, withhold mercy to others, and choose my ways over yours. I still struggle trusting You. I still find myself doubting Your goodness. Spirit, remind me how You lovingly take me as I am, bind me up in Your love, and remake me to love and live in a way that brilliantly reflects Your own glory. Oh, Lord, I’m in awe of Your ways and Your working!

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

The GT Weekend! ~ Focus Week 2

August 31, 2019 by Rebecca 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) Whose voice do you most commonly find yourself listening to? Yours? Hers? (the one you love to compare yourself to) Hers? (the one who frustrates and annoys and constantly gets under your skin) His? (the spouse you always try to please but never feel you can) Or HIS? (the Lord who calls you beloved. The Lord who delights over you. The Lord who has wisdom by the truckload to generously lavish on you, even in the middle of the chaos of your everyday.) Take a minute or two to write down the voices you most often gravitate towards and how they make you feel. Then spend some time listening to the Voice of the Lord by getting away for a few quiet moments with Scripture. Write down what you hear from Him!

2) Who in your life has been a peacemaker as opposed to a peacekeeper? What qualities do they exhibit and how do they treat people? What do you think is at their core that makes them effective at creating an environment for peace to grow? How would you define the difference between making peace and keeping it? Consider your relationships and pray about some specific ways the Lord is calling you to boldly and lovingly be a peacemaker!

3) It’s much easier to choose our way over God’s way, isn’t it? Take stock from only the last few hours, mentally noting how often you chose, or were faced with a choice, to choose your way or God’s way. Which struggles were the most difficult? Which ones were easier? Consider how many of the battles you faced did you intentionally ask the Lord to empower you to make the wise, righteous choice over the one that would feed your own power or desire. Even for committed Christ-followers, we often overlook the Source of our power to live a life that honors and reflects God’s good, kind, loving heart. This weekend, intentionally remember that we can do nothing in our own power or strength, certainly not winning spiritual battles. Only through the power of Christ and His Spirit can we live for Jesus! Submit your will to His and celebrate when you do!

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 Proverbs 6:20-22 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

My son, keep your father’s command,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.
Always bind them to your heart;
tie them around your neck.
When you walk here and there, they will guide you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
when you wake up, they will talk to you.

Prayer Journal
The desire to follow my own ways and take in the tempting lies of the enemy of my heart is strong. When I am at my weakest moments physically or emotionally, the desire to give in to the enemy feels nearly impossible to overcome. Lord, increase my hunger for righteousness! Especially during the times when I think I would rather satiate my desires with enemy food. Speak your wisdom aloud, call out to my heart, reminding me that only when my feet are planted in Your truth can I clearly see the spiritual battles in front of me.

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

Focus Day 3 Wisdom’s Way

August 21, 2019 by Merry Ohler Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Psalms 119:140-145
Proverbs 21:19-23
Isaiah 32:17-20
Ephesians 6:10-17
James 1:19-27

Focus, Day 3

“Stop shouting at each other RIGHT this MINUTE!”
The words forced their way across my lips, piercing the air over our dining room table before I even realized I was shouting. Three sets of wide eyes stared at me, and one toddler mouth hung open in surprise.

I expelled the mouthful of air I didn’t realize I’d been holding in one great whoosh.
Perfect, I thought. I did it, AGAIN. Shouting at your children to stop them from shouting at each other…way to effectively parent. Lord, HELP. My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak.

Have you been there, Love?
You try to juggle all the balls, and somehow you are almost completely unaware of how stressed you feel until the very moment your angry outburst bubbles up and over to scald the nearest person. Adding insult to injury? The person (or in my case, little persons) you scald, has absolutely nothing to do with whatever is your breaking point.
Oh, how the instant regret cuts deep.
And often, Regret is accompanied by her hovering little sister, Shame.

There’s an old saying, “There’s nothing new under the sun”, which is entirely true for the history of humans who struggle to refrain from angry outbursts. We can trace all the way back to the first set of brothers, Cain and Abel, and find the bitter, dangerous fruit that grows from unchecked anger.

In the New Testament, James provides sound advice for believers, gently admonishing us to both hear the Word (Scripture) and obey it. Isn’t it fascinating that as he expounds on this topic, his first instruction is:

“This you know, my brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” James 1:19b-20 NASB

Everyone who has ever lashed out in the heat of the moment knows that when anger begins rising, quelling it is incredibly difficult. Here’s where James’ divinely dictated instruction truly shines. We are challenged to do two things before we even reach his instruction to be slow to anger.

First, we are to be quick to hear.
James doesn’t mean merely listening to spoken words. He means listening with understanding of another’s heart behind their words, but James is also calling us to keep an ear tuned to Holy Spirit’s voice. What is God speaking to us in that very moment when what is happening in the natural, as well as what is happening in the spiritual, verges on angry explosions.

When we begin living and responding from a position of listening first to Holy Spirit’s truth, we will naturally follow the second instruction from James and find ourselves slow to speak. As we slow, we process what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears, as well as listen attentively to what Holy Spirit is showing us. As we test everything we think against Scripture, this slowing down practice will result in new pathways as our thought patterns shift to become more like the Lord’s.

As we continue through James’s instructions, a constant theme begins emerging:
we are called to more than knowledge; we are called to obedience.

For the people in the back, I’ll say it again.

Sister, we are called to more than knowledge.
Every one of us is called to obey.

We are called to hear what the Bible says, and then called to action.
We are called to humbly receive the Word, and then allow transformation to happen.
We are called to gaze at the perfect law of freedom, and then called to persevere in it.
We are called to stay in living relationship with the Lord, and remain unstained by sin.
We are called to recognize position, and then called to honor all.

So, how do we go about doing these actions which are counter-culture, stretching, and one hundred percent opposite of what we might naturally strive to attain. Further, we are talking about a shift in heart posture here.
This is not something we are capable of manufacturing on our own.

Proverbs 2 gives us rock-solid wise counsel that goes hand in hand with James’ words. When we accept and study Scripture, meditate on the Lord’s instructions and allow them to sink deep into our souls, the Lord responds with favor.
When we ask the Lord to speak; He will reveal Himself through the Bible.
Then, we listen.
We press in and place value on the wisdom He freely gives.
As we turn our hearts toward Him, Scripture says He draws near to us, protecting us and blessing us with wisdom, knowledge, discretion, and understanding.
He will guard us from paths leading to destruction and danger by setting our feet on Wisdom’s Way.

You might be thinking, “This all sounds great in theory…but if I were honest, the truth is I simply do not desire to study Scripture. I try. I read it. I want to know what it’s like to long to soak in it, to hear directly from Him. But He’s just not speaking to me.”

Sweet sister-friend. I’ve felt the same.
Can I encourage you to do something different today?
Something that might feel outside your comfort zone?
First, carve out a few moments and find a quiet space.
Talk to the Lord. Have a real conversation with Him.
Tell Him where you are and ask Him to help you, then trust He is faithful and will respond to His beloved daughter!

Lord, thank You for Your Word that brings life and light. Thank you for giving us a way we can hear directly from You. Forgive me for the times when I have not valued Your instruction. Father, I want to hunger for your Word; I want to be the kind of daughter who is transformed when I hear You speak. Show me any areas of my heart and life that aren’t in alignment with Your heart. I yield every part of my life, time, and schedule to You.
Teach me to be more like You.
In Jesus’s Name, 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!

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

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