Sisters, I want to take a second and encourage you all!! It is already Week 3!! Can you believe it? I don't know about you, but God is teaching me SO much already! I am excited to be sharing in this with each of you. Stay strong! As the initial excitement wears off, I pray God's Word will continue to light a fire in you that will keep you going strong for the remainder of this study! I praise God for each of you!!! Okay. Here we go.....
Day 1: The Freewill Offerings
"...we rarely discover anything monumental about God without discovering something momentous about ourselves. With every revelation comes an invitation to adjust our lives to what we have seen."
Did you discover anything about God today??... Let me share what I discovered.... Our God is one who gives because He is faithful, not because of anything I do. In that, He also invites us to give back to Him.... This might be a side note, but God has been laying this on my heart for several years now. Have you ever noticed how practical God is? When you read Scripture, do you see over and over and over just how well He knows us? I mean, a God who would instruct His people where to bury their excrement (Duet. 23: 12-13) is one who is quite practical in nature, don't you think?? Now, don't get me wrong, our God is wild in nature as well. But for now, I want to focus on the practicality of our God and His ways.
Matthew 6:19-21 talks about "storing up treasures in Heaven." v. 21 says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I believe this is a practical reason God gives us the opportunity to give--specifically money or "treasures." Verse 21 of Matthew 6 spells it out, wherever you put your treasure ($), that's where your heart's going to be! How many of you own a house? Or pay rent to an apartment? Do you take care of that living space? Is your heart in it? How many of you own a car? Do you take care of it?.... The list could go on... God knows that where we put our treasure, our hearts are also involved. So, He gives us the opportunity to give those treasures to Him knowing that our hearts will follow! Other "treasures" of ours are time, things we own (our homes, cars, etc.)... If we will freely surrender these things over to Jesus, our hearts will follow! They must! If they don't, then stop giving of them!... It may be time to reevaluate....
And finally, I also believe this is very much a trust issue! When we give we have to trust that God will provide. I love the way Beth Moore said it, "How often we expect big things from God without preparing for big things from him!" This is it, ladies! When we give of ourselves, we are saying to God, "I expect YOU to take care of this! I trust you, Lord." What joy is found in resting in God's hands as He takes care of us. Whether it is God taking care of your personal needs from giving money, time and energy or trusting that He will provide for the Kingdom through what you give! Either way, He is more than capable! And how awesome to think, as Beth pointed out, that our hearts (since they follow our treasures) will be "woven into the fabric of the place God has chosen to manifest His presence!" Awesome!
What is your freewill offering to the construction of Christ's Kingdom? And what will you do with the revelation God has given you today?
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About Us
We are three ladies who are on the same journey to seek him. After all, the Lord is the one who united us together as friends. We have been through similar struggles and situations and have come to rely on each other. We now hope that you can join us on our journey towards walking with the Lord. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Ladies In Christ,
Sarah, Meghan, & Sara
Ladies In Christ,
Sarah, Meghan, & Sara
8 comments:
Sara-
Have I ever told how gifted I think you are at leading bible studies? Wow! Great job!
We are tithers, but it's interesting how I've always just looked at that as just something that we are "supposed" to do - just an act of obedience. God calls us to, so we do. I've never looked at or really given much thought to the heart aspect that should be involved when we do that. And I see that I've just been giving - but not joyfully giving or thankfully giving (how amazingly has He blessed us!) - and definitely NOT as an act of worship! For me, it's been most definitely just an "act of obedience" and sadly, not a "festival of opportunity"!
I was absolutely, totally, painfully convicted while doing today's study! I realized that I almost never give freewill offerings! I rarely offer anything out of the joy of offering! They are mostly offered out of compulsion. Because I feel like it's the "right" thing to do. I will be praying hard this week for God to change my heart regarding this - that he will show me what He desires my freewill offerings to be...and that I will be able to give up control and start trusting Him so that He can!
another thing that i find is hard in our day and age (and perhaps has always been a struggle for people) is how to draw the lines of freely giving and feeling guilty and doing things! i do think sometimes we just need to be obedient--even when we're not passionate about something! if we wait until our passion takes us, we may sit on our thumbs for the rest of our lives!! often our passions come as we DO things! however, i do think we begin to see what God has gifted us with and we see our situations and where we fit in to all that God is doing... sometimes we will be asked to do LOTS of things, and picking and choosing is not always easy--at least not for me! i have had a hard time saying "no" in the past, but i've actually said "no" a few times recently! sometimes it's hard to find the joy when we are doing things because we feel guilty! i truly believe the Spirit has to lead us with these things so we can discern the situations better!
as far as money goes... it's weird for me to say this, because of the whole modesty thing, but i actually really enjoy giving! in fact, there have been times when i've wanted to give even though we had NO money in the checking account! (and there have been times we've actually done that!) but even though that comes pretty easy for me, i can't say that i always have joy in doing it--what i mean by that is sometimes i kinda hold it up like "yeah, i got this one down." when really it should be something i find joy in doing for my Lord alone, NOT as something extra spiritual that i'm good at.. does that make sense??... just because we don't struggle with something doesn't mean we necessarily have the right attitude about it! in fact, sometimes i find myself being pretty legalistic about this very thing (easy since i don't struggle with it, right?)
"...we rarely discover anything monumental about God without discovering something momentous about ourselves. With every revelation comes an invitation to adjust our lives to what we have seen."
You asked, Sara, did I discover anything about God today ... well not just today, but especially the past 10+ days, have been a giant YES! I was wanting to check back in anyway, since didn't want to leave you all with the "unstable girl" of my Friday comment ... and now in reading your post with that opening quote, it all just makes sense now on SO MANY levels.
The final straw in my "oh my goodness can all this really be happening to me" past days, happened yesterday morning when the dog that we just adopted a few weeks ago ran out of the garage as I was getting ready to put her in the car. Now the stress level of that was compounded in the fact that I, the clean freak, have fought getting a dog for some time, but finally gave in knowing that my all too mature 12 year old "only child" son really deserved it. Well, back to the stress thing, I had been put in charge of watching her while he was out of town this weekend and now I have lost the dog!!! So there I was, already unstable and literally walking down the alleys of University City in a dress and heels just "crazy girl" crying and pleading to God to please don't do this to me ... how was I going to tell Tanner? Well, he heard me, because after 30 minutes of circling the streets of The Loop and an embarassing moment of crying to the policeman to help me, this dog that has only known our home for 2 weeks, arrived back on our street!!!
The reason I bring this up is because, did God hear me in the alley or did he hear me crying when I read the AMAZING support you wonderful girls offered on Friday or did he hear my prayers when I attended church on Sunday night (at this amazing place might I add) for the first time in months or did he hear as I joined a small group that starts meeting tonight???? So what did I discover about God? Exactly what I was yearning so hard to feel last week ... that he NEVER leaves us! Because as the Hour of Power said once "when you are down to nothing, God is up to something".
To answer your question of what is my freewill offering to the construction of Christ's Kingdom would almost feel like boasting at this point, because I am now bursting with hope and faith to go out and act on the various opportunities God has been presenting to me. That seems so strange to say considering the grain of salt being that I felt like just days ago. So thank you again for this study where we can just let it all out to seek ourselves .... and HIM.
tawnya, i'm SO grateful for your honesty and your the raw emotion and vulnerability you are sharing w/ us! also, i'm SO grateful God has been SO present in your life recently!!!... isn't it awesome when we can look at our situations, even when they're not so great--or maybe, especially when they're not so great--and see God's work in our lives!! do you know when the Church grows the most?? it's during persecution!! our brothers and sisters across the world, living in places that are opposed to the Gospel and being persecuted, are continually, faithfully and without reservation spreading the Gospel and growing immensely in the Lord! what is it about our human nature that needs to be brought to emptiness, loneliness, suffering and/or the "end of our rope" in order to turn to God and thrive in His faithfulness!!... today's lesson (day 2) speaks to this too! i can't wait to share!... i hope you understand, tawnya, what i mean when i say that i'm SO thankful you're at the end of your rope and that God has shown Himself faithful to you! SO many, including us, will benefit from your experience! and not to mention, the Lord will do (and is doing) a mighty work in YOU through this time!! thanks for sharing w/ us and being a part of our study!... i praise God for it!!!
Recently I would have to say my freewill offering to the construction of Christ's Kingdom would have to be my time. The Ladies Retreat at our church was 3 weekends ago & I put a lot of time & energy into the planning of it. It was very rewarding to see all the ladies that attended & how we all grew closer to Christ & each other throughout the weekend.
I love retreats & the closeness that I feel to God when I'm there. I think this bible study has been a great way to keep me in that mode. A lot of times it seems I leave a retreat all pumped up & then go home to every day things & fall out of my excitement. With this bible study I'm able to continue in my walk daily.
kristin, that is awesome!! i have felt similar. it's like doing this study and discussing via this blog is helping me stay committed to the study of God's Word and expressing it and growing with other sisters in Christ! it's so great!!! accountability is awesome!! community is awesome!!
Alright, I'm here ladies. I have to apologize, I have family in town and we have been spending a lot of time over at my in laws house, which put me a day behind on the study. So I'm catching up!
First of all, Sara, you did an amazing job - I felt like I was sitting right there with you!
Meghan, we are tithers too, and I'm right along with you on feeling like it's something we're supposed to do rather than something I can do joyfully!
As I said last week I constantly worry about money, so this study today made me feel so quilty and actually angry with myself. I tend to forget that I have what I have for one reason, and that's because God has blessed me! When money is tight and we still tithe, I have to pray for forgiveness on the selfishness that I hold in my heart. This is a very big struggle for me, but again, I know that he will always provide!
Tawnya - we did NOT think that your were the "struggling or crazy girl!" I'm very glad that you found the dog, and I can see how God is working in your life right now - and I'm loving it! I know we've told you this before, but I am SO glad that you are on this journey with us!
The one thing that Beth said that hit me pretty hard was, "How ofen we expect big things from God without preparing for big things from him!" This is so true in my life. I feel that this study is God's way into my heart right now, and everything it has touched on is speaking directly to me. Does anyone else feel that way right now?
Sara-I feel the same way! I feel like so far in this study EVERYTHING has been speaking to me directly! An interesting coincidence? I think not!
Tawnya- I'm glad the dog came back and you are such a nice mom! Your passion for cleanliness and order is one of the things I love most about you (I speak the same language!). I can sympathize with how hard a decision that must have been! Right now, my girls are going to have to love the neighbor lady's dogs all they can because the thought of owning a pet makes me cringe a little! Maybe that feeling will change in the future?? Thank goodness I don't have to think about it for a few years yet...And I'm SO glad you found a great church! I was going to suggest an awesome one that we attend occasionally - I think they have a campus near you, but it looks like you found one! Yeah! So exciting! How did the small group go?
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