Monday, January 28, 2013

Week 1: Free at Last, Day 2: Pleasing God

Week 1, Day 2: Pleasing God

Today’s Treasure: Galatians 1:10 (NIV) – “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

My earnest desire is to please God. What an awesome freedom – to be free from pleasing man!

Paul lets us know that we cannot be a servant of God and still seek to please man. Paul is letting us know that approval and servanthood are connected. How? When you seek to please man, you become a slave to the person(s) from whom you seek approval. When we seek to please God, we find ourselves serving Him; being obedient to His call; following His direction. You never know, you may find that you have accidentally pleased others in the process.

We find in verse 10 that before Paul’s conversion, he was a man-pleaser. His conversion was not a change for the worse, but a change for the better. It was not that he had begun to be a man-pleaser since his conversion, but that he had ceased to be so. As a zealous Pharisee he was a man-pleaser. Had he not been converted, he would still be a man-pleaser.

Since your conversion, are you still trying to please man? I must be honest, YES, I am. At times, I find that I am more concerned about what others will think than I am about what God has called me to do. This is a daily struggle. I daily ask God to help me get over people. I do not want to be a slave to what others think of me, especially when it comes to doing the will of God for my life. As we grow in this study and cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, we must become totally free from pleasing man. We must seek to please the one who made us and knows all about us; the one who knows our end from our beginning; the one who knew when we would mess up, and yet gives us grace – we must please Christ!

For you, what would it mean to seek only God’s approval?

Friday, January 25, 2013

Living Beyond Yourself - Introduction

Good afternoon FAR,

What an honor and a privilege it is to share with you by way of this blog. As we embark upon another year of ministry, I want to encourage you to focus on the three (3) main Women's Ministry topics for this year: Prayer, Spiritual Maturity, and Leadership.

This year's book study is 'Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of Spirit' by Beth Moore. Each month, we will review one (1) week of study from the book. Our teacher, Evangelist Joyce Williams, is asking that we complete each week prior to our fellowships and be ready to review and discuss. This will also give us the time needed to view the companion DVDs.

Our first fellowship is Monday, February 18 @ 7:00 pm. Please have Week 1 and Week 2 completed.

I am so excited about where God is taking us this year! We are all on a journey that will teach us to...

(1) PRAY: for ourselves, our family, our friends, our co-workers, and all those in need of an intercessor.

(2) MATURE SPIRITUALLY: through this study and our fellowships we will come to know God in a more intimate way; by praying and reading God's Word daily, we will begin to see growth in various areas of our lives.

(3) LEAD: we are ALL called to lead. During this year, we will begin to develop and perfect the skills needed to become great leaders within the body of Christ.

Each day I will post a thought from our book study to this blog. Please feel free to comment. This is just another tool we can use to help one another remain focused on the task of LIVING BEYOND OURSELVES: EXPLORING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.

Be Blessed

Week 1: Free at Last, Day 1: Many Hardships

Today's Treasure: Acts 14:22 (NIV) -
Strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
I pray that everyone has started the journey through "Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit." If you haven't, I hope this will give you a little push. :)

Week 1, Day 1: Many Hardships Two themes standout this week - INFLUENCE and PERSECUTION

INFLUENCE - Women, we must be mindful of our power of influence so that it does not turn into manipulation. Lord, help us to use our influence for good and not evil. Help us to influence each other to move forward into spiritual maturity; help us to influence others to great works through you; help us to influence others to seek your face.

PERSECUTION - The missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas is an awesome example of the hardships we must endure as Christians. Acts 13:14-52, Paul and Barnabas travel to four Galatian cities to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Were they accepted without incident in these cities? No. Persecution was stirred up against them and they were expelled from the city. The disciples responded to their persecution 'filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.' In the city of Lystra, Paul was stoned and left for dead outside the city. How did Paul respond? He got up and went back into the city and continued to spread the gospel. Do you think you would have responded the way Paul and Barnabas did in Acts 14:2-3? My answer: NOPE! Once I realized they didn't want to listen, I would have turned around and went on my way. Forget you! From this lesson, I have had to examine myself in the area of patience - Lord, help me to be patient with people, even when they don't want to hear the good news (or any other news).

How does God want you to respond to what he showed you on Day 1?