Suggestion: Share Scripture that is ‘hard’ for you right now.
Week 9
I am pleading for your help, O Lord; for I have been honest and have done what is right, and you must listen to my earnest cry! Publicly acquit me, Lord, for you are always fair. You have tested me and seen that I am good. You have come even in the night and found nothing amiss and know that I have told the truth…
Protect me as you would the pupil of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings as you hover over me. My enemies encircle me with murder in their eyes..
Lord, arise and stand against them. Push them back! Come and save me from these men of the world whose only concern is earthly gain – these men whom you have filled with your treasures so that their children and grandchildren are rich and prosperous.
But as for me, my contentment is not in wealth but in seeing you and knowing all is well between us. And when I awake in heaven, I will be fully satisfied, for I will see you fact to face. Psalm 17:1-3, 8-9, 13-15 (TLB)
Have you ever wanted vindication? I can raise my hand on that! Whether it’s “winning” a discussion with my husband or seeing MY baseball team annihilate a rival, I have desired vindication.
Validation is a close cousin to vindication. Many times they travel together. When I am vindicated, my worth, my integrity, I might even say, my name, is validated.
David, or this psalm writer, humbly cries out to God because He knows THAT is where His vindication will come! Linda Smith, a woman of God who has mentored youth for many years, tells the young people, “What God says about you is the most true thing about you”.
Who I am, what I am worth is not defined by my job, my boss, my family, parents, the people I call friends, or even the church that I attend. So anything that they might say against me – what do I care? If God didn’t say it – it isn’t totally true!
What God says about me – now those are defining words:
For I am God – I only – and there is no other like me who can tell you what is going to happen. All I say will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. I will call that swift bird of prey from the east – that man Cyrus from far away. And he will come and do my bidding. I have said I would do it and I will. Isaiah 46:10-11 (TLB)
Dear friends, let us practice loving each other, for love comes from God and those who are loving and kind show that they are getting to know him better. But if a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that he doesn’t know God – for God is love.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death. In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God, but his love for us when he sent his Son to satisfy God’s anger against our sins. 1 John 4:7-12 (TLB)
Questions: Who does God say I am?
What does He say about me in Scripture?
Week 10
What is a friend? A friendship is truly an ‘open’ relationship. Unlike marriage, there is no legal binding or separating of the relationship. But like marriage, it will last a long time and produce wondrous fruit if I allow God to make the choices, set the standards, and be the binding that causes it to grow for many years. Let’s see what God says about friends. Proverbs is a good place to start.
Gossip is no good! It causes hard feelings and comes between friends. Proverbs 16:28 (CEV)
Sounds like I need to be careful whom I listen to! Does the one that I call ‘friend’ speak constructively of other people or does he/she constantly find fault with everyone? If she is a faultfinder – it will sure makes me wonder what she may say about me when I’m not around! Also, is there a spirit of loyalty to the friends that God has given me? I need to remember that what God says about me or about my friends is the truest thing – not the ‘gossip’ that is spoken by others!
A friend is always a friend, and relatives are born to share our troubles. Proverbs 17:17 (CEV)
In good times and tough times, the friend that God has brought into my life loves me in spite of myself. That person sees me as a ‘work in progress’ and rejoices when I repent and grow in faith. They take their cue from God and forgive and forget!
Some friends don’t help, but a true friend is closer than your own family. Proverbs 18:24 (CEV)
This is a ‘hard Word’ from the Lord. It tells me that God is sending me friends that will walk as Jesus did. I remember when I came to realize that while I would always care about my friends, those that I had known for many years, even from childhood, but that there were some that I was going to have to ‘cut loose’. Jesus was not a #1 priority in their life and they led a life that was MY ‘old life’ and I couldn’t sit on the fence anymore. I could care about them and pray for them but I couldn’t hang with them anymore. Many of them couldn’t accept the ‘new Jody’. It was a very painful time. Some have remained in touch and we can ‘agree…to disagree’ about many things. Others decided that the change was too much and so they have left.
You can trust a friend who corrects you, but kisses from an enemy are nothing but lies. Proverbs 27:6 (CEV)
This might be translated that the truth from a friend is always better than flattery from an enemy. An arrow from God, ‘shot’, so to speak, through a friend can bring about a painful truth but the Holy Spirit will confirm God’s truth to me and I will be glad and rejoice in that friend who was obedient to speak what the Lord gave them…speaking always in love.
I’m going to stop right now and pray for my God-given friends. I am going to pray that God will bless them with all that they need to come closer to Him and know Him more intimately.
Questions: What makes a friend more than an acquaintance or neighbor?
Week 11
You had my mother give birth to me. You made me trust you while I was just a baby. I have leaned on you since the day I was born; you have been my God since my mother gave me birth. Psalm 22:9-10 (NCV)
I have been reading a book, Experiencing the Father’s Embrace by Jack Frost. He and his wife minister to pastors and leadership, having a vision that we would all ‘see’ the total love that our Father has for us. One of the anonymous stories he relates was when a couple came for prayer with two small sons. The woman wept as she confessed that she did not know how to love. She had never experienced the unconditional love of a father and so she had no point of reference to give the same to her children. Her five-year-old son innocently turned to her and told her that he would show her how to love.
I am easily frustrated when I am asked to do something I don’t know how to do. I sense this mother was feeling that kind of frustration. Jesus knew I would have days like that and He spoke words just for those times.
At that time the followers came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Jesus called a little child to him and stood the child before his followers. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you must change and become like little children. Otherwise, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The greatest person in the kingdom of heaven is the one who makes himself humble like this child.” Matthew 18:1-4 (NCV)
When a child doesn’t know something, he/she will tug on your sleeve and ASK for help! It is a simple equation to them – I don’t know so I ask someone who does and then I’ll know. Period.
When I do not know how to receive the Father’s love, I can take my clue from someone who does, a child, and just hold my arms out and take