Blog Bible Study #1

A Woman After God’s Own Heart-Chapter 1/Luke 10:38-42 

This week is the first link-up for the ‘Woman after God’s Own Heart’ Blog Bible Study. Each week we’re reading a chapter together and answering questions on our blogs and linking up with each other via Rebekah’s.

I really liked the first chapter of the book – it was a great introduction. I’ve been especially challenged by the three ways Elizabeth George suggests we nurture a heart devoted to God.

Observing the contrast between Mary and Martha
I’ve heard the story of Mary and Martha hundreds of times but it never stops striking a chord with me.

I think that I’m Martha.

Martha was too distracted and busy by all the meal preparations to stop, and sit and listen to Jesus. That’s me quite a lot of the time. I’m a doer. I love to get my sleeves rolled up and achieve.
This morning I was reading Psalm 127 – ‘Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labour in vain’, and I think it sums up this point well. When I hear Jesus’ words to Martha I often indignantly think ‘well what about the meal? What were people going to eat if everyone sat around chatting all day?!’…but it’s all about getting our priorities right. If I’m just bulldozing forward with my ideas and plans and not listening and learning from Jesus then it’s all in vain anyway. The most important thing we can do is follow his leading and teaching. Without that our plans will fail and we’ll just burn out.

Mary wanted to hear what Jesus said, and she had a desire to learn from him. I want to be more like that.

List 5 actions I can take to put worship at the top of my to-do list:
1. Put more time aside to pray – especially listening to God
2. Get up earlier to spend quality time reading the bible instead of doing it on the go!
3. Choose to wait before I act, speak and make decisions so that I can hear from him
4.  Listen to more worship music and sermons as I go about doing daily things
5. Learn more scripture off by heart for prayer and praise

Write out what I will do daily-just for this week-to… cease my busyness, stop all activity, set aside secondary things….  This week I will I take time to make sure I’m up earlier every day to spend time reading God’s word. I try to do this anyway, but too often I stay in bed too long and then I’m rushing my devotional time.

Look up the word “priority” and write it out simply here: Giving something specific attention over other things

Look up the word “worship” and write out the definition simply here: Expressing feelings of love and adoration

Can I think of an area where I’m consciously settling for good when I know that a better and a best choice are available?  Being patient and waiting on him. I so often expect things to happen straight away and in my way, but I know that’s not the way God works!

The main thing I was challenged by this chapter was in the two points E. George makes about committing yourself to God daily and cultivating a hot heart. I’ve recently been reading the Psalms and have been struck by how passionately they speak about their love for God. I want to be like that, so in love and in awe that I can’t help but speak to others about him. But it’s occurred to me that the Psalmists often speak from a place of suffering, or a place where they are waiting on God. Things aren’t easy for them, but by trusting God they are eventually be able to see how he is working things out for the best. Although life can sometimes be really hard and I have to be patient, I’d rather go through that if it helps me to draw closer, and trust God more.

A Heartfelt Prayer-Lord, just for today, help me to cultivate a hot heart by…choosing to be patient.  Listening to God and trusting his best for us.

In 100 words or less, write out one instance when I was aware that I actively chose God as a priority over something or someone this week. 
I long to be the type of person that trusts in God’s plan and takes joy from serving him all the time. Going out to NightLight at 11pm when I wish I could be snuggled in bed is always a battle of choosing to serve God – but the blessings we get from being out on the streets and serving God are always immense! 

What are some of the things that keep me from having a daily quiet time?  Busyness, laziness and tiredness are my main excuses.

What do I think are the key ingredients to a quality quiet time? It’s going to be different for everyone, and different throughout their lives depending what season they’re in. You’ve got to be delving into the bible and being challenged by God’s word, and spending decent time listening to God as well as pouring your heart out to him.

Head over to Rebekah’s to link up!

Will you pray with us?

In just over a week Josh will have his final interview for becoming an Ordinand in the Church of Wales. Cutting the jargon, that basically means if he gets through he’ll be going to Cardiff to study in college to be a vicar within the Anglican Church in Wales. After three years he’ll be sent as a curate somewhere to work with a church for another three years for his ‘practical’ training. After that he’ll get his own church and he’ll be a fully fledged Vicar. And I’ll be a vicar’s wife [can you hear my hysterical laugh from here!?].

This three day interview will be the climax of two and-a-bit years of praying, contemplating, learning, trusting, impatience, joy and disappointment.

God has been teaching/reminding me of two things recently, and they have been a comfort to me as we’ve been waiting for this interview to come around:

1. God’s love is extravagant.
So often I underestimate how awesome our God is, and so often I forget that he loves me. Psalm 147 says that God delights in those that love and honour him. Delights. God wants to love us, wants to bless us, wants to have a relationship with us…so much so that Jesus was willing to die so that we could know God personally.

That doesn’t always mean that things will always turn out as I expect, but it gives me the reassurance that whichever way we end up turning God will be right there guiding us through.

2. God is teaching us faith all the time.
How do we know we can trust something? By hearing it advertised? Or by hearing it recommended my friends? It’s more likely that a real trust will be built by experiencing something that gives us a positive results again and again over time.

It’s the same with God. He promises in his word that he has a plan for each one of us, and that he will provide for us.
We’ve experienced time and time again God’s goodness to us. Sometimes it’s been great and easy, but sometimes we’ve had to go through disappointment or pain in order to learn to trust God more, and see him work through us. But whatever has happened [sometimes in hindsight!] God has always been there, and we’ve always come through loving and trusting him more.

We know it will be the same with this. We’re pushing a door and we’ll praise God whatever the result.

 

So, will you pray for us as this week, and as we wait for the result of the interview?

• For Josh. I’m so proud at how hard he is working. Doing lots of sleep-ins at work, NightLight, writing sermons, leading services [some in Welsh too] and preparing for his interview. Please pray he gets rest coming up to the interview and that his prep. goes well.
• For his interview. It’s going to be three days of constant writing and group work, along with several one-to-one interviews. Some of the people there are likely to be quite liberal too so I know that Josh really wants to keep his integrity while not coming across as too opinionated. He needs lots of Spirit guidance!
• For me! I find it hard at times [despite what’s written above!] that my future is being decided but I have no say into it. Pray that I can be supportive of Josh and that I will have peace about the situation.

Sorry for the long post folks, but I just wanted to keep you updated on what’s going on. We appreciate you all, friends 🙂