Okay, yes I went a little camera happy with this group. :-) I had already viewed the video 2 times so I was more free to run around and take photos. :-) I love the many shots that I was able to capture of our wonderful time together. The photos of the caregivers and the kids are priceless - are they not?? I missed the ladies that couldn't join us this morning - 13 women were missing of the ones that had originally signed up for this study. There were 28 ladies that had registered and bought books.
I sure enjoyed the sharing by a few of the ladies in church on Sunday morning. I know hearts were touched, and seeds were planted and gave a hunger for God's Word and a fellowship like we shared. Thank you to you ladies who shared.
I've posted the writeups from the paragraphs that you wrote up and shared with us in the comment section below. Please be sure to click on it and read them for yourselves. It's such a blessing to see how God has spoken to each one of you.
I thank God for you! I love you all! I live for these studies - they are a HUGE part of my life. God has brought so many women through my life over the past 15 years through Bible studies and I thank Him for each and every one - they have all taught me something. I can't wait for that great big reunion in heaven someday we're we'll all be together for eternity. :-) Amen?? Praise God!
8 comments:
The study – the getting together with young enthusiastic women – mothers – singles has been a wow!! However, I felt lost in the conversation because of a hearing loss which I had not realized until I joined this group. The lessons – the homework – all inspiring – most helpful in my personal life which is in turmoil at this time. Thank you so much.
Genevieve Ens
The Believing God Bible study has taught me a lot. It has touched on a lot of areas where I wasn’t sure how to perceive it spiritually and then strengthen those spots. My faith of God (Rom. 10:17) and what He can do has given me more hope in believing in my promised land, that He has a place for me here a spot in heaven forever. I need to keep putting my faith in action everyday so I can keep seeing what God says He can do!
I now believe that I am who God says I am. Of course every day I have to keep believing His promises but I know that I have been chosen even before I was made. I am Blessed, Adopted, Accepted, Redeemed and Forgiven. Satan is not going to take that from me. Through Christ I can do all things – Praise God! I thank God the He is so powerful and I will never be like Him or even have to understand things He does sometimes. I know He has a perfect will and I believe it’s for the best. I want to keep believing, stay strong in faith and keep active in His Word forever. I want my walk with the Lord to leave my family, children, friends, and strangers a heritage of faith and a passion for Christ that will keep them Believing in God. Thus far the Lord has helped me!
Scripture motivations for Believing God: Incomparable power Eph. 1:19, the pleasure of God Heb. 11:6, reward Heb. 11:6b, God often acts according to our faith Matt. 9:20.
Fran Larochelle
I found this Bible study to be very encouraging! I felt a real desire to grow. I really appreciated the author’s honesty. She was being so real. I am going through the process of adopting a little boy. This has given me much anxiety as I am not going the usual route of adoption. Which I also realized is how God works! As this study progressed I found myself growing in my faith. Looking to God and truly trusting Him. Believing He is who He says He is and also He can do what He says He can do!! I am Believing God!! This was really a great study!!
Edna Teichroeb
What has this study done for me? That is an excellent question. I would like to say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Basically in a nutshell it has restored a hope in me and an expectation that is beyond my understanding. I will not let the Pharisee’s rob me anymore from my hope and that Good Lord knows they surround me. I just have to quite arguing with them about it and get down and start praying effectively and wisely. My own prayer life has become more aggressive.
The true beauty of all of this is that it was taught to me about eight years ago in a concept introduced by a woman from Alaska who came to speak in Saskatoon at the Pentecostal Church and at one of the meetings she picked me out of a huge crowd of people and looked me in the eye and told me, girl you are headed for the promised land. I did not particularly like being singled out like that. At that time, I was not exactly sure about what that meant, I thought it meant my life after death. I now know and believe that it means my life on earth not my life after death.
This study has clearly helped me with many things, the bride of Christ and what that really is, the shield of faith and sword and how to use them, how to get radically delivered from our bondages, that’s a big one and how to move forward believing and receiving instead of wishing and whining.
I will be taking more time to go through this study again and again until I have mastered it. I must admit I am behind in the study guide as I guess it is taking me more time to absorb it, but I don’t want to miss a single thing in it that God is going to minister to my heart. I literally feel at times that I have won the lottery. Could this be!!! I believe it is. Beth Moore obviously has a prophetic anointing on her to have delivered this study so effectively. It is with pride and sincerity that I offer my full recommendation of this study to everyone, it is worth the time and effort.
In conclusion, what has this study given me? It has changed some of my beliefs and answered many unanswered questions I have had. It has restored hope and it has been empowering. My number one goal right now is faith building not only in myself but also the people I love. With God’s help this is all possible. It also means putting my faith into action more often and being God led. I am really learning to appreciate being continually in God’s Hands and fully dependent on such a great Holy God. I love Him so much some days I think I am just going to bust. God has become huge. I wake up in the morning talking to God and in expectation of what the day will bring! Expectation! I go to bed remembering Him as my head first hits the pillow. I am thankful no matter what the day has brought. Psalm 74:11 has been a pivotal scripture “ Thank you.
Rita Schmid
Probably the biggest thing I got out of this study was the practice of looking for ways God acts in my life and then writing them down. During the study I could often find ways God answered my prayers and ways he worked in my life even without my asking. I've always known He was involved in my life, but the practice of looking for His action and writing it down showed me He's WAY more involved than I ever thought! It has caused me to believe Him more and believe that He is interested in working miracles in our lives!
Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. Hab. 3:2
Janet Gieck
One thing, it surprised my husband how involved I've been in homework! It made me take a good look at where I stand with God. I must say in my thoughts I made Him much smaller then I should. I expect to realize more and more how big our God is. For me it was more "believing in God" as of now, after this study, it changed to "Believing God". I can see how much He cared about me even from the beginning and He has been certainly there when I thought I fought difficult battles on my own. And for this I am deeply humbled and grateful. God brought me out of my "Egypt and guided me miraculously to my Gilgal. I love the passage where Beth Moore says, we all have God's cell phone, it is Jeremiah 33:3, where it says: " Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." My love for God grew, my love for the word too and in my prayers I have a more intimate relationship with our LORD. I am so glad I had the chance to take this study and got to know great sisters in Christ and to see we all have different struggles and are all so needy of a merciful God. I am thankful to be His child.
Lydia Eyman
I’ve been believing in God since I was five and I don’t ever remember not believing In God. I thought my faith was strong, yet I couldn’t help feeling like I wasn’t making a difference. What has happened in my life to prove that I believe in God? I guess I just felt like I was bearing no fruit so what is wrong with my relationship with God?
This Bible study has forever impacted and changed me in ways I never thought possible. I have learned things that I should’ve known already…I just can’t help but wonder…why didn’t I know this before? Now, I see God differently, my relationship with Him differently and myself through Christ differently but not only different…completely revived, hopeful and I’m so excited because my life is going to start bearing much fruit!
Some of the key things I learned:
- Instead of believing in God, I need to Believe God. Believe that God is who He says He is. That He can do what He says He can do. I am who God says I am. I can do all things through Christ. AND that God’s Word is Alive and Active in me!!
- My faith has to be active! God CAN still do miracles and would do miracles if I believed he could and gave Him the credit for it and not just sluff it off like a coincidence or luck.
- The most important thing I learned is that I can do anything!! God gave me His Spirit and He wants me to utilize Him. So, I have nothing to fear and God’s Power is at my fingertips to do great amazing things for Him!
- I believe therefore I speak!!
Too many times we see God the way we see ourselves, but God is not like us!! Sometimes we focus on how God loves all of us that we forget that God loves each of us like we’re His one and only love.
Beth Moore, the author of this study, has gone through verse after verse of promises for His people. Almost every verse we’ve gone through I see in a new way and still wonder why didn’t I see this before? Now, I BELIEVE God!! I am going where He wants and I’m going to trust God and receive the Promised Land He wants me to have.
I really could go on and on! Every single day God revealed more of Himself to me and I’m so full and so excited! A final verse to sum up from Eph. 1:18-23 “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be give, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Sharla Guenther
In this study I have been challenged with “Do I just believe in God or do I believe God? There is a distinct difference.
To begin, I want to share an overview of my faith journey with you because I think a lot of you will be able to relate. I grew up in a Christian home, and therefore a knowledge of God has been a part of my life all along. I have always thought myself to have a steady, unwavering belief that God is real. Because of this I have always wanted to do what is right and to please God with my life. I have been aware of God guiding me many times in my life but I wouldn’t say I’ve committed every day, moment by moment to him. Looking back now, I developed a false sense of pride over good decisions, and judgement of others for the opposite.
This is where the problem started. My life this far had me constantly pulled in all directions, because of my desire to please, and at many times I found myself overrun by my church involvement. My only real fulfillment was, if I was honest, that people thought I was really doing something good. And that affirmation falsely secured me that I was doing what was right. Somehow, I always knew there should be something more, but I interpreted this feeling as “I am not doing enough” for God. I have often been frustrated by those that I could just “see” were living something more, and seemed fulfilled, and I found myself asking “why can’t I have that?” I concluded that I was just not cut out to be passionate. I just thought, “I have a solid faith that is just simply practical”.
I am so excited to say that through this study and circumstances in my life surrounding this time that this was absolutely not true. We are all intended to be passionate for God and we are intended to be fulfilled. This has hit me so hard, and I love it. I have been wanting this for so long.
Ephesians 1:11-13 says that we are chosen for his purpose, promised the Holy Spirit, we are promised great power and an inheritance of blessing, but we have to believe that. Wow! Our life will only reflect who we really think God is. We just simply think too little of what God can do.
As the scriptures say, Do I really believe that God can do anything? That he can do miracles? That God really has a specific purpose for me? That I don’t have to be perfect but just available? Can God really speak to me?
So, I prayed! God, open my eyes to the false beliefs that I have about you and about who I am in you. Speak to me. Tell me what I am supposed to do.
This is what it means to have Faith in what is unseen. These are God’s promises according to scripture. They are absolutely true. And a scripture I know that was so powerful for all the women in the study is Rom 4:20-22. It says that it was Abraham’s faith that was “credited to him as righteousness, not by what he did but his faith made him righteous in God’s eyes. This alone is how we truly please God.
This is where I again prayed and continue to pray because my faith is small. God forgive me for not believing. Give me faith, give me such a strong desire for you that I just can’t not pursue you.
Fortunately, I can ask God to increase my faith, I can confess my unbelief. I need to study scripture myself in order to find out God’s heart before I decide for myself what he really wants. And having faith takes practice. I need to practice, and I am going to have some failures.
So, on the application side of things, I’ve started small but this is where God is leading me right now. I don’t take what pops into my head as coincidence anymore. I don’t pass it off. If someone or a circumstance enters my mind, I try, right in that moment, to pray for them, and ask God if there is anything I need to do. It is still a discipline of the mind for me because it is not something I have done always in the past. This is how God is revealing himself to me.
When my heart aches for something, I don’t take that for granted either. I tuck that in my heart and ask God if he wants me to do something. I am just learning this true “walking in faith” thing so I ask God for a lot of confirmation because I don’t always know. But you know it takes the pressure off. I don’t have to do everything if there is a need. I am only intended to do what God guides me to. I don’t even know how that all works yet but I am practicing hearing God’s voice and acting when I feel I should.
You know, I know that God is going to fulfill scripture and there will be revival and you know, I don’t want to miss it, because it starts in each individual heart. I want to leave a heritage of faith, not just a list of good works and accomplishments. I want my kids to see such a strong faith and such a deep love and dependence of on God that they just can’t imagine living life any other way than with Christ. Because it’s hard out there.
And yikes, it’s going to be hard work, and I’m scared because I don’t know what God will ask of me, but I can’t go back. I feel like I finally get what believing is God is all about and going back would be meaningless.
Krisinda Waugh
Post a Comment