Good morning, Sweet Sisters!
We are beginning week 3 of our fall study in the book of Job. This past week, we have listened in on conversations between Job and his friends. All the while, they are each trying to rationalize Job's suffering. As I read God's Word this week, one verse stood out to me above the rest. With all of Job's suffering, sorrow and pain, he still did not deny God. What a testimony! Sure, he questioned why he was even born, and he himself induced that God caused the suffering before him, but he never denied the Holy One. "At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One." ~ Job 6:10 Here is our reading plan for this week: Monday - Job 11 Tuesday - Job 12 Wednesday - Job 13 Thursday - Job 14 Friday - Job 15 I'm praying for each of you this week. May you feel God's presence in every moment, no matter what your circumstances are. May your eyes, ears and heart be open to Him, and may you trust Him completely. Keep reading! Joyfully His, Andrea
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Good morning, Sweet Sisters!
We are heading into our second week of our fall study, and we are already knee-deep in Job's suffering. My prayer for each of us, is that God is opening our hearts and minds to His Word. Oh, the treasure He has for us in Scripture! I will leave this post short and simple so we can jump right into week 2! Here is this week's reading plan: Monday - Job 6 Tuesday - Job 7 Wednesday - Job 8 Thursday - Job 9 Friday - Job 10 Check back here throughout the week for encouragement and study notes and please feel free to leave prayer requests and any notes of study you may have in the comments section below. I would love to hear how God is speaking to you through His Word. Keep reading! Joyfully His, Andrea The first two chapters of Job gives us a glance at heaven. We find ourselves smack dab in the middle of a meeting of the heavenly court and God. In each of these meetings, Satan rears his ugly head and God allows Satan to test His servant Job. In the first meeting God does not allow Job to be harmed physically (Job 1:12), but in the second meeting His restriction is to spare Job's life. Job's health can be taken, but he must live. (Job 2:6) Now, not only had Job lost all that he had and loved but now he was physically miserable, covered with sores from head to toe.
These two heavenly meetings give us an unexpected answer to the question: Why do bad things happen? We don't know what goes on in heaven. We don't know the mind of God. We couldn't comprehend it with our human minds if we wanted to. Some things are not meant to be known by us. We can only rest in assurance knowing that God is in control. Yes, God allowed these horrible events to happen to Job, but take note, God was in control the WHOLE time. Satan could do nothing, without God's permission. As we continue to read the book of Job, we are going to see many explanations given as to why Job may have suffered so. But.... no one knew of the heavenly meeting. Just because we are believers, does not mean we won't walk through pain and suffering. Yes, sometimes our suffering is a direct result of our own sin. Every choice we make has consequences, but sometimes the answer to our suffering isn't that simple. Maybe our suffering is allowed to strengthen us, our faith and our testimony. Maybe it's to give opportunity to reveal God's love, comfort, mercy and grace. But according to God's Word in the book of Job, sometimes our suffering is for unknown heavenly reasons that we can't discern. I will never be able to answer the question: why do bad things happen to good people. But.... I will always trust my God, my Creator, my Savior, because I know that He is in control, and nothing that comes my way will come without His allowance. There are things here on earth that I will never know or understand, but I know my God is with me, will never leave me, and I can trust Him no matter what. Father, I pray that you will open my heart and mind to trust You even when things look grim. When I can find no answer, no relief, help me to focus on You and trust You to take care of me, Your child. I love you, Lord! In the sweet name of Jesus, amen. Keep reading, Sweet Sisters! Joyfully His, Andrea Job was a blameless man full of integrity. He feared the Lord and steered from evil. He had seven sons ad three daughters and was the richest man in his area. He was a good father, offering sacrifices and prayers to the Lord on behalf of his children. (Job 1:1-5) The enemy knew all of this, and so did God.
"Then the Lord asked Satan, 'Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless- a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.' " ~ Job 1:8 Satan blamed Job's integrity on the bountiful blessings that God had bestowed upon him, but God knew Job's heart. He allowed the enemy to test Job, with one condition: he could not harm Job physically. Satan wasted no time and stripped Job of all his blessings. He lost all of his wealth, livestock and each of his children. He was left with nothing but his wife and life. (Job 1:9-19) Can you imagine what that would be like? To lose everything that meant something to you within seconds of each other. How would you respond? What would your reaction be after the initial shock, denial and disbelief? Take a moment to think this through. What would you do? What would be your first words? Who would you blame? I can't imagine the depth of the sorrow that Job felt, and honestly, I pray that I never do, but ....when trials, suffering and pain do present themselves in my life, I can only hope that I will respond like Job. "Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, 'I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!' In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God. ~ Job 1:20-22 Job is a hard book to read. I'm praying that God reveals Himself to us through this book in mighty ways. May we see God's grace and mercy through the sorrow of Job's journey. Keep reading! Joyfully His, Andrea Good morning, Sweet Sisters!
I hope each of you enjoyed our long break and I pray that you are eager, excited and ready to jump back in God's Word! For the next 10 weeks we will be reading and studying the books of Job and I & II Thessalonians. Each Monday I will list the reading plan for the week and during the week, check back here for encouragement and study notes. You can also subscribe to the RSS Feed on the side bar to receive notice of new posts. Remember this study is not meant to be complicated. In fact, my prayer is that it is the exact opposite. We are just reading one chapter a day, and we have the weekends to catch up on anything we miss. That's it. I do encourage you to journal any verses that stand out to you or anything that God lays on your heart as you are reading His Word. The goal is to spend time with God each day, listening to Him and communicating with Him. Feel free to comment through the week on what God is revealing to you or any prayer requests that you may have. We would love to pray for you! So without further ado, let's begin our study! Monday - Job 1 Tuesday - Job 2 Wednesday - Job 3 Thursday -Job 4 Friday - Job 5 Soak up God's Word this week! I'm praying for each of you! Keep reading! Joyfully His, Andrea Have you ever asked God this question?
Why God? Why is this happening to me? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why am I or someone I love suffering? Why are You not taking this burden from me? Have any of these thoughts ever crossed your mind or even passed your lips? They have mine. God has never promised us that we wouldn't face trials, hardships and even suffering here on earth. In fact, the Bible is very clear that we will experience those things, however, God does promise that He is always with us and will never forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) The Bible doesn't give us clear answers of the questions above, but it does tell of God's mercy, grace and sovereignty. I hope you will join me for the next 10 weeks as we study God's Word. Monday, September 12th, we will begin reading Job. A righteous man who feared God, stayed away from evil, lived a blameless life and was full of integrity. A man who suffered great pain, loss and sorrow and never truly knew-this side of Heaven- why he suffered so. Then, we will finish our fall study with I and II Thessalonians. I would love to study God's Word with you! Share this with all your contacts, facebook and twitter friends, and meet me back here this Monday for our weekly reading plan! I'm excited to see what God has in store for us! I'm praying for each of you! Keep reading! Joyfully His, Andrea What does the Bible say about self-control? We know that it is a fruit produced by the Holy Spirit, but how do we, as believers, exert self-control in our everyday lives? Let's look at James, chapter 1.
"Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry." ~ James 1:19 Three simple tasks: be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. How often do we model this? When we are faced with confrontation, trials, inconvenience, stubbornness or even plain stupidity, this is how we are to act. "Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls." ~ James 1:20-21 So often, the result of our lack of self-control is anger. How can we overcome this anger and get rid of the filth that causes it? Humbly accept God's Word. God has given us a life manual. Everything we need to know is in the Bible. God's Word is His gift to us. He wants to communicate with us and have an intimate relationship with us. He tells us directly through His Word how to live a righteous life, we just have to choose to follow His leading. "But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the Word and don't obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it." ~ James 1:22-25 We can't just read God's Word, we have to act upon it. Let's purpose together to live God's Word out loud. It want always be easy, but it will bring forth blessings and most importantly, it will point back to Jesus. God Almighty, thank you for Your Word. Help me to be obedient to it. Teach me how to exert self-control in my life and how I respond to others. May I be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. I not only want to hear Your Word, Lord, but I want to live out what it says. In the sweet name of Jesus I pray, amen. Keep reading God's Word! Joyfully His, Andrea It wasn't planned, but it now seems very fitting that we studied James right before we plunge into the book of Job. Job is a tough book. Quite honestly, I am a little nervous about studying Job, but I know that God has something special for each of us in His Word. As we read the book of Job, we will see first hand the picture of patient endurance. Let's look at what James has to say about it.
"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it all joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." ~James 1:2-4 Trouble, trials and suffering affects us all. Each of us have experienced suffering in some way. We have either watched from the sidelines as someone we love walks through it or we have walked it ourselves. But have we counted it all joy? How do we find joy in the midst of suffering and pain? As Christians, no matter what awfulness we may face on this earth, we have something to be joyful about: Jesus. We have hope in every circumstance because we have Jesus. We know how our story ends, and right here in James, we see the outcome of our trials. When our faith is tested, our endurance grows, and as our endurance grows we become complete. Patient Endurance. "God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him." ~ James 1:12 Our endurance is also made stronger as we face testing and temptation. God blesses us through that endurance if we choose His ways over our fleshly ways. Temptation never comes from God, it comes from our own sinful desires. We have the choice to act upon our sinful desires or to say no to the temptation all together. (James 1:13-15) Patient Endurance. My prayer for each of us is that we will hold fast to the Lord in all trials, trouble, suffering and temptation. May we be women who can count it all joy as we patiently endure the pain and sorrow that may come our way. Remember, Sweet Sisters, our hope is in Jesus. No matter what happens, that never changes. Let's patiently endure! Keep reading! Joyfully His, Andrea |
For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. " AuthorHi! I'm Andrea, wife to my handsome hubby, homeschooling mama to my 7 amazing blessings, and daughter of the King of kings. I am so glad you have stopped by my little piece of the web. My prayer is that the Lord will use this blog to encourage you in your personal, daily walk with Christ. Archives
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