The Blessing in the Wrestling

My heart hurts. My mind is tired. My spirit is crushed. My soul longs for relief. I have been wrestling with God.

This week our nation was rocked when the Supreme Court of the United States of America handed down a hugely controversial decision in support of gay marriage. I'm embarrassed at the way many Christians have handled themselves. Christians on both sides of the debate have said and done things that dishonor the name of Christ, fueling the fire of hatred and giving unbelievers even more reason to suspect that we are indeed hypocrites. And we are. I've come to the conclusion that it's not that we don't want to love our neighbors; it's that we genuinely don't know how. Practically speaking, we don't know what that kind of love looks like. It's time we find out before more damage is done.

The only way to find out how to truly love God with all of our hearts and to truly love our neighbors - yes, all of our sinful, homosexual, heterosexual, adulterous, lying, cheating, stealing, envious, slanderous, gossiping neighbors- is to wrestle with God. I've been studying Genesis 32:22-32, the story of Jacob wrestling with God through the night. Jacob had stolen Esau's birthright. Remember that story? When his mom, Rebekah, attached animal skins to Jacob's arms and Jacob posed as Esau and stole the blessing from his father, Isaac? Jacob was one messed up dude. He ran away, fearing for his life and along the way picked up not one, but two wives for himself. He worked seven years to marry his beloved Rachel, but then Laban gave him his daughter Leah instead. So he worked seven more years for Laban so that he could marry Rachel too. Jacob had a big fight with Laban and took off with all his wives and servants and children and animals. Then he heard Esau was around looking for him. Jacob had royally messed up, burned bridges and made a general mess of his life. And then one night out in the wilderness, in the middle of his mess, Jacob went off to be alone. And then Genesis 32:24 comes out of nowhere and says, "...and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day." This man was God himself.

We don't get to know many more details. What we do know is that "the man", who was not just any old man, but God, saw that Jacob was not to be defeated in this ultimate wrestling match. He touched his hip socket and from that point on, Jacob walked with a limp. Because when you wrestle with God, you don't walk away unscathed. God asked Jacob to stop wrestling with him and let him go, but Jacob said, "Not until you bless me" and in that moment, God changed Jacob's name to Israel because he said "you have striven with God and prevailed".

I don't know about you, but I've never physically wrestled with God. But boy, I sure can relate on a spiritual level. This week, I have been wrestling with God and I am begging him for his blessing. I have so many questions-

     How can some people interpret the Bible to say that homosexuality is not a sin?
     Can you really be a Christ-follower if sin doesn't grieve you? 
     Is homosexuality a worse sin than other sins?
     What does it look like to stand firm in the truth of God's Word while loving my neighbor?
     How can some Christians spew such hateful venom about this topic?
     What does it look like to love my homosexual friends like Jesus does?

   
These are just a few of the questions I have wrestled with God over this week. Sometimes we begin to wrestle with God, but in exhaustion or frustration, we give up. We don't prevail. We are defeated. But sometimes, when we stick with it, when we beg for his blessing, when we allow him to wreck who we used to be and create a new person in us, then he blesses us just like he did Jacob.

I still have lots of questions. I think that pleases Him. He could've spelled everything out for us in black and white. He could've told us all exactly what to do in this specific situation. Instead, he gave us some general guidelines in His Word and then He told us to Seek HIM. Not to seek answers to all of our questions or solutions to all of our problems. He told us in Matthew 6:33 to seek first His kingdom and then all of these things will be added to you.

He wrestles with us because He wants to give us His blessing in the wrestling.

Keep wrestling, my friend.

Five Important Things About Bible Reading

1. Just do it.
We want to make this more complicated than it is. Every day you wake up and you have a choice. Read the Bible. Don't read the Bible. There will always be a reason not to do it. ALWAYS. If you want God's Word to nourish your soul, make the choice to read the Bible. Remember in Matthew 4:4, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy when he says, "For it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." God's Word is where the Christ-follower finds daily nourishment. It is not enough to read the Bible in church on Sunday and expect it to sustain you until the next week. God's word is meant to be consumed daily! So just do it!

2. Don't approach it the wrong way.
Far too often we approach God's Word with a "what's in it for me?" mentality. We approach Scripture with our burdens and our baggage and hope to find answers to the big questions in our minds. We ask ourselves, "What does this passage say to me?" because we don't remember that the Bible is God's Word to all mankind for all of eternity. We are only interested in ourselves. While it is important to apply God's Word to our own lives, we should first approach it with a lens that is focused on Him and not ourselves because when we grow to know him more, everything else becomes clearer.

3. Approach it the right way.
When we take the focus off of ourselves, we begin to see that God's Word is about so much more than ourselves. I can take a passage like John 3:16 and instead of thinking about how much God loves ME, I can focus on the attributes of HIM that are found in this verse. HE is full of love. HE gave his Son. HIS only son! Whoever believs in HIM will have eternal life. Do you see that it's absolutely, positively not about me? One of the reasons He gave us His Word is because He wants us to know Him more!

4. Use the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is unlike any other book ever written because as a believer, when you open the Bible, you are aided by the Holy Spirit. No other book has that kind of power source. If there is a passage you don't understand, just ask Him to give you wisdom to understand it and He will do it! The Holy Spirit enlightens us to the truth of God's Word. The Word of God is living and active! Read it!

5. Don't build a relationship by proxy. I didn't fall in love with Chris through someone else. I fell in love with him when he pursued me and I responded. We spent time together, talked, prayed, laughed, cried, shared, and waited together. Our relationship would not be strong today if one of us had been mostly absent from our marriage. Unfortunately, many "Christians" seem to think that going to church is good enough. Listening to podcasts, completing Bible study books, attending church, listening to sermons, reading Christian books- all of these are good things, but none will develop a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. When you read God's Word, do it with every intention of growing to know Him more.  He wants to be known by you!

Faith as our Foundation - Seamless Session Three

We've just spent two weeks (of a seven week study) studying Genesis. I figure old Angie Smith is gonna have to pick up the pace a wee bit if we're going to make it to Revelation in the next five weeks! I confess that I peeked ahead to this week's homework to see where we'd end up. I've had several people mention that they'd like to read the entire portion of Scripture that we're studying along with the book. So if you're one of those people who wants to read ALL of the Scripture, get ready, because this next week we're going to be studying Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth and part of 1 Samuel. I hope you read fast, friend! Here's the great news about that: This study really whets your appetite for MORE of Scripture. You may not be able to keep up with the pace we're about to set with the book, but the fact that this overview study of God's Word is leaving you hungry for more is a very good thing. You don't have to read any certain amount of Scripture as we study, but I do challenge you to read the Scripture! If you're able to do this study without cracking open your Bible, you're missing the point! The point is this: We grow to love God more when we grow in our knowledge of Him through His Word. We're using Seamless as a guide through the Bible because it grows our knowledge of His Word and in turn, it grows our knowledge of and love for Him.

Since we're all fired up to read more of His Word, crack open your Bible to Hebrews 11. If you studied with us in class this week, you heard me read this aloud. Whether or not you heard it this week, I want you to take a few minutes and read it yourself. Yes, the whole thing. And if you have a copy of the Message Bible, I'd love for you to read it from there. It's really neat.

Here's Hebrews 11:1 from the Message. "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living."

Over the past two weeks in Genesis, Angie has guided us through this firm foundation of faith. As we studied Adam and Eve and Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Rachel and Leah and Joseph and all the others in between, we've seen this amazing heritage of faith that we have as believers. Hebrews 11 gives us a great summary of what we've just covered and why it's so important.

Hebrews 11:13-16 says, "Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that - heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them."

When God told Abraham to go, Moses could've said no. When God told Noah to build, Noah could've said no. When God told Sarah to wait and trust, Sarah could've taken matters into her own hands and used her maidservant to have a baby for her. And actually, that's exactly what she did! Can you imagine how the story would've read if she had said "yes, Lord!" and then sat back and trusted and waited? Each of these people had a choice - follow or don't follow, obey or disobey. Some of them chose wisely and some didn't. Some reaped the benefits of obedience and others reaped the consequences of disobedience.

We're in the same boat with them. You're allowed to turn back to your old self. God will never make you come to Him. He will never force you into a relationship with him or demand that you obey. He always gives you a choice. You can look down that long hall at your old self, fearing the future, dwelling in the past. Or you can fix your eyes on Him, the one who is faithful and true, and your faith will open up a beautiful life of walking with the Lord.

Let me encourage you with this - If you haven't been able to come to Bible study on Wednesday mornings at 9 am, do your best to get there next week. We've had such precious times of worship, fellowship and Bible study together (not to mention Melissa's chocolate chip banana muffins!). I want you to put your excuses away. We've all got them. It doesn't matter if you've never been before. It doesn't matter if you came once and then haven't come back. It doesn't matter if you don't know anyone or you're in your grungy clothes or you haven't done your homework. We need you to come and walk this road through Scripture with us. Please come. And if you truly can't come because you're too far away or stuck at home, please feel free to comment here or send me an email with comments and questions. My email address is amberirving00@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you.

This week we're studying Week Three. It starts on page 60. If you'd like to download Angie's video from today's session (Session Three), you can do that here for $2.99. Thanks for coming, studying and reading with us.

A Passionate Pursuit - Seamless Session Two

I have so enjoyed studying Genesis along with you over the past few weeks. I'll admit I'm wondering how Angie is going to take us all the way through Scripture when so far we're only about 11 chapters into Genesis (Plus a bit of Job too!). I love digging deep into Scripture like we did with 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon in the spring. But catching an overview of the whole Bible is a pretty neat thing too! I love how I'm already seeing how there's a beautiful thread woven through God's Word!

Last week I told you about The Jesus Storybook Bible. This week in class, I read the chapter called "The Terrible Lie" aloud. It's the story of Adam and Eve and the trouble they got into. We studied it this week in our homework and it's probably a story you've heard a million times. But take seven minutes and watch this: The Terrible Lie. 

Don't you just love how even in the very beginning, it all points to JESUS?

In Genesis 3:9, after Adam and Eve had tasted the forbidden fruit, God asks his children, “Where are you?” Angie Smith points us to the idea that God wasn’t asking them to identify their physical location, but to identify the condition of their hearts. I want to propose another theory.

God’s first question, “Where are you?” is so much more than three little words. The entirety of  Scripture rests on God’s passionate pursuit of his children, even when they are entrenched in sin. He pursued Adam and Eve after that first bite of forbidden fruit and He pursues us in the middle of our mess. Before they had even heard of the concept of repentance, God pursued them. Before they knew their need for a Savior, God pursued them. Centuries before God would offer Jesus as the propitiation for the sins of mankind, God would pursue Adam and Eve in their sin. They didn’t have to be perfect. They didn’t have to clean up first. They were naked and afraid and God wanted to know, “Where are you?” It wasn’t that He didn’t know where they were. He wanted to show us that he wanted them back.

Another important point to note is the importance of confession in our relationship with God. God, being all-knowing, knew exactly where Adam and Eve had been and exactly what they had done. He wasn't asking them because he needed them to tell him. He asked them because they needed to confess their sin. In the same way that a mother asks her child, "What have you done?" when she sees chocolate cake all over his face, God asked his children, "What have you done?" when their sin was all over their faces. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God doesn't need us to tell him anything he doesn't know - He knows it all! Confession of sin is necessary to restore our relationship with him. Sin gets in the way. Confession clears it up. We confess our sins to Him so that we can walk in right relationship with Him. You see? God really wanted them back!

God’s passionate pursuit of his children is a beautiful theme that we will see run throughout Scripture. He chases us even when we have no intention of being caught. He chases us when we are enjoying our sin. He chases us when we don’t even know of our need for a Savior. He chases us when we have turned our hearts toward idols. He passionately pursues us, even to the point of coming to earth as a man, as God in the flesh, to live and die as a ransom for us all. Oh, how he loves us. How he pursues us! How he longs for us to turn to him!

Adam and Eve didn’t have that chance because God had not yet put into place a system of sacrifice as payment for sin. But soon we will see that everything is being set into motion to pave the way for Jesus to offer himself as the ultimate sacrifice. It all points to HIM.

This week we'll continue our study through the Patriarchs, Abraham's clan, Joseph and more! It's gonna be great! Thanks so much for studying with us!

If you'd like to purchase the video we watched over session 2 by Angie Smith, you can do that here. Or you can just continue to read the blog and do the homework in the book. If you don't have a book, we have plenty available for pick-up in the church office. Books are a suggested donation of $15. 

Seamless Session One

Turn to Obadiah.

How many of you became paralyzed with fear just now? When your Bible Study teacher or pastor tells you to turn to a book and you have no idea where that book is, you might think, "Where is Obadiah?" "Will I look stupid if I turn to the table of contents?" "I’ll just act like I know where it is." "I’ll just watch her and see where she turns!" The Bible can feel like an intimidating book sometimes, especially if you’re new to reading it! This is a place where you can ask questions and find answers. Don't be afraid to admit you don't know something!

            Now turn to Hebrews 4:12 – really this time! 

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

            

In the past God spoke to humans through dreams, angels and miracles. He does still use those methods today, but our primary contact with God is through the love letter he wrote for us, His Word, The Bible.

1.     God’s Word is LIVING. He can speak to us through His word one way when we are 21 and a completely different way when we’re 51. Every time we open His Word, we can read something for the hundredth time and it will be as fresh as if we’d just read it for the first time. It is this way because God is a living God!

2.     God’s Word is ACTIVE. God’s Word is not something you passively hear and then ignore. It actively works in our lives, changes us, and sends us into action for God.

3.     God’s Word penetrates the SOUL and SPIRIT.  It goes deep into places in us that we didn’t even know existed. It penetrates our hearts in a way nothing else can.

4.     God’s Word judges the THOUGHTS and ACTIONS of the heart. We may think we have a secret, but God knows all. And His Word reveals those secret places to us.

His Word is LIFE! This study is going to guide us on a journey to see the thread that holds all of Scripture together. Have you ever read the Jesus Storybook Bible? It’s a fantastic, EASY, read that shows how Jesus makes an appearance in ALL of Scripture. It shows how every story points to him! I love to read it to my kids, but I love to hear it for myself! I encourage you to find a copy for your family.

            I want to tell you a little bit about how this Bible Study Group came to be. God has been working in my heart over the last year especially, giving me a desire to teach his word more and more.  He’s shown me that many of our preachers and teachers today are failing at preaching His Word. As I led a group of ladies through a study of 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus (you can find those studies here on the blog!), I saw over and over that Paul warned us about false teachers. False teachers don’t often come declaring blatantly evil messages. Rather, they sneak in and twist the truth just enough to make us confused. It was a big problem in Paul’s day and it’s a big problem today!

Turn to 2 Timothy 4:2. Paul tells Timothy, 

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

So let me tell you what this Bible study is NOT going to be:

1.                    Entertainment. I hate to disappoint you, but I’m not here to entertain you. I’m going to take Paul’s advice and preach the Word!

2.                    Sharing. We are going to have some great discussion. But if all we do is read the Seamless book and talk about our feelings, we have MISSED the point. When we do share, it will be about God’s Word.

3.                    Recruiting. I’m not going to try to get you to change from your church to my church. I love my church, but I’m not trying to recruit you. I want to encourage you to go to a Bible believing church with a pastor who preaches the Word. If you have a church like that already, I want to encourage you to keep going! If you don’t have a church right now, we’d love to have you here.

4.                    Counseling. We do want to discuss, but this isn’t the place for you to air your dirty laundry. If you need to speak with a counselor, I’m happy to point you in the right direction. We are here to discuss God’s Word.

So as God was laying all of this on my heart, a group of ladies from the Shiner/Gonzales area began to meet together to pray about beginning a Community Bible Study in Gonzales. I’ve heard so many ladies tell me that they long to see a unified BODY of believers in Gonzales- believers from churches all over our surrounding area that could come together to worship and study God’s Word together.  We’re focusing hard on starting a group in the fall, complete with a structured children’s program and solid Biblical teaching. I had several ladies ask me to teach something this summer, so I put the word out and I’ve been BLOWN AWAY by the response. The women of Gonzales are obviously hungry for God’s Word and hungry for fellowship with other believing women. (If you'd like to be involved in a leadership capacity with the group that is praying about starting a Bible Study group this fall, please see me privately!) 

This is an OPEN group with an open invitation to anyone who wants to come and learn more about the Bible. Please invite your friends! If you'd like to purchase a book from the church, they are $15 and can be picked up in the church office or from me. Please don't let cost stand in the way of you participating. We'd be happy to help you with the cost if you need help.

Each week we'll be watching a short 15 minute video by Angie Smith to accompany our study. If you'd like to download the video for today's session, click here and select Session One to see what we watched in class. Each downloaded video is $2.99. You can absolutely participate fully in this study without watching the video, but I want you to have the option of watching it if you'd like.

These questions were discussed in Bible Study this morning from page 10 and 11 of your study book:

What drew you to this study?

How did Angie’s experience of feeling lost or stupid trying to study the Bible resonate with you? What have been your own challenges in studying the Bible?

What do you hope to gain as you study and participate with this group in the coming weeks?

How as a group can you help one another avoid discouragement and feeling overwhelmed and stay accountable to stick it out for the whole study?

What are some steps you will take this week to devote yourself to the work of this study?

What is one thing you want your group to know about you?

Big Words in Titus 3

We wrapped up our study of Titus last week and I was amazed (again!) at what God did. First of all, we didn't have room around our 4 tables for all the women that came. God is moving in the hearts of women in our church and in our town and I am amazed to see what He is doing! I'm seeing women seeking Him more and studying His Word more and attending church more and getting more and more excited about their walk with the Lord!  I hope that describes you, dear reader of my blog. If not, ask Him to give you MORE of what He has for you and He surely will do it! Matthew 7:7 says, "Ask and it will be given to you! Seek and you will find!" So go ahead, ask Him for more.

I want to wrap up our study by throwing some big words at you. We're gonna talk about salvation, justification, adoption and sanctification. Read Titus 3:3-7.

Paul starts in these verses by pointing out what the natural man looks like. Have you ever heard anyone declare that we're all "basically good"? NOPE. We're all basically awful sinners. Let's face it, even one little bitty sin will separate us from God for eternity. And most of us have a few more than one, right? Paul says in Titus 3:3, "We were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another." Does that sound like people are "basically good" to you?

So where's the good news? Here it comes in Titus 3:4-6. "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, HE SAVED US, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior..." Our salvation came because God our Savior appeared (think the Christmas story!) It wasn't because of anything we did, but only because of his mercy. Salvation.

Now this was "so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:7) What does it mean to be justified by his grace? It means that when we die (and we will ALL die) and we stand before the Father (and we'll ALL do that too), Jesus will say, "That one? I paid for her sin. She's mine." Justified.

And not only are we justified, but we become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Heirs. That makes me think of the royal family in England. Right now, the whole country is awaiting the birth of Prince William's heir. It's a thrilling position, full of royalty and privilege. And that's the position we hold with our Father God. We are heirs. Adopted.

The last big word is the trickiest. Sanctification. Merriam Webster makes it simple.

Sanctify: to make something holy.

Read Titus 3:8-10. It's a list of dos and don'ts for the believer. Do good works. Don't fight with each other. This process of sanctification is one that lasts from the moment we believe the good news of Jesus Christ until the moment we come face to face with Him in heaven. As we turn our backs on the things that displease the Father and we begin to do the good works He has for us, He makes us more holy, more like Him. Sanctification.

"And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful...Grace be with you all." (Titus 3:14-15) Salvation. Justification. Adoption. Sanctification. Aren't you glad you're HIS?

And God Provided a Ham

I LOVE to save money at the grocery store. Because we have so many mouths to feed and because we choose to be a one-income family, I look for every opportunity to save as much as I can. I coupon, I meal-plan, I budget, I scrimp and save, but one of our biggest monthly expenses is still groceries. I go for a "big load" of groceries once every two weeks and then I usually go back once or twice during that two week period for a refill of the necessities. You want my best advice for saving money at the grocery store? Stay out of the grocery store! The more often I go, the more money I spend. So my best advice is to cut down on the number of trips you make. That advice is yours absolutely free. You're welcome. 

Well, given my passion for saving money on groceries, you can imagine my shock the other day when my cashier gave me my total and it was nearly double what I normally spend. I had planned. I had used coupons. I hadn't bought anything unusual. I swallowed hard and swiped my card. By the time I pulled my Suburban into the driveway, I was near tears. I had spent all but a few dollars of my usual two-week budget, and that includes eating out money too. (We don't eat out much, but I like to have a few extra dollars for it in times of complete dinnertime chaos.) Time to go confess to the husband. He was (as usual) totally cool about it. "God will provide, Amber. He always does. Don't worry about it." But totally irrational me responded with, "But the hamburger meat was $17!" And of course, he says, "Babe, God will provide the meat."

Once I had calmed down and he had dried my tears, I told him, "We better make sure we write that tithe check on Sunday. I know he'll provide if we do that. If we don't, we're gonna be hurting by the end of the month." How did I know that? Well, it's one of His precious promises! Read on...

"Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need." Malachi 3:10 

That's a challenge from the Lord himself! "Test me in this," He says. 

Well before we ever even had a chance to test him, an unexpected and very generous check came in the mail for some work that Chris had done. I love it when that happens! I felt like God was showing us that he was going to provide for all of our needs, no matter what. This weekend, we had an opportunity to give generously. So much of us wanted to hold onto our money because we knew we were going to need it. But both of us could see that there was someone who needed this money more than we did. So we gave it away. 

So we gave and we trusted and we waited. (I can almost hear the music playing behind this scene. So far it's been kind of sad and dreary, but now it's building in anticipation. Can you hear it???)

Yesterday, I got a text from an old friend. "This is random and last minute, but I'm headed to your area to drop off some meat. We butchered 2 pigs and have 800 pounds of meat. If you can meet me, I will load you up!"

What?!? God provided meat? Actual MEAT! Yesterday, I loaded my freezer full of breakfast sausage, ground sausage, ribs, pork chops and two giant hams. God literally poured down a blessing until there was no more need. Such a precious promise and we got to see it FULFILLED. Thank you, Lord.