So let's get into our questions..... The study on the Mercy Seat was so wonderful and poignant. On page 183 Beth Moore writes: "The mercy seat was the focal point of God's manifested glory to His people!" How awesome is it to know that Christ is our Mercy Seat?!! This is so appropriate as we are entering the Easter Season. Question 1: Knowing Christ died for me, knowing all that I would do, knowing how I would sin, knowing what a dissapointment I would be at times..........knowing, He came......dying, He saved me. I love the song by Sidewalk Prophets, "You Love Me Anyway", especially the part that says: "I am the thorn in Your crown, but You love me anyway.... I am the sweat on Your brow, but You love me anyway..... I am the nails in Your wrist, but You love me anyway..... I am Judas' kiss, but You love me anyway...... It reminds me of just how much we are loved by our Jesus. Right here is the link to that song...it is a powerful video as well..... On page 185 BMoore states: "Even at our best, our salvation rests only on God's great mercy. It rests between two cherubim on a golden throne called the mercy seat." Also on that page to the right is a quesion with a heart on it, lets answer that one. Question 2: I am a believer in absolutes. I believe that God is absolutely God and never changes and loves us always. I love what she says on page 192: "With all my heart I beilieve that human nature cries out to be stopped, to be saved from itself, to be confronted by a standard, to discover pure black and white, to realize the importance of absolutes." Dak and I had a similar conversation coming back from one of his college visits. Raising teenagers is hard work....just sayin' and we have to stand in a way that our children KNOW what we believe and stand for. This world is pulling them in a million different ways and trying to drag them down every.single.day. Satan is using whatever means he can to get into the minds of our children. Dak was saying "well, whoever's up there. I know He knows me and loves me just the way I am." Well you know this mama about pulled the car over and hyperventilated (that was what I was doing on the inside), but on the outside I was one cool customer. But I told Dak that there was something that I wanted him to know, God was the One "up there", not "whoever" and there were absolutes in this world with the biggest One being God. So he asked me what I meant by absolutes, (oh girls, you know I was about to come out of my seat.........I LOVE to talk about my God with my boy......and yes he is saved, and yes he is struggling......he is 18.....it has been a VERY hard season.....anyway.....) I told Him that absolutes were things you could count on in this world. Things that NEVER change, and God was the number one absolute in this life. I firmly believe that this is where Satan is getting to our kids. He is getting them to believe that God changes, or that God isn't really as real as we parents say He is. It completely makes me burn with a Holy anger. But I know that God is on the scene. He was with us in the car that day, and He was talking through me, to my beautiful son. We are a work in progress =) So tell me a little about what you think about absolutes. And have any of you read Ryan Dobson's book: "Be Intolerant: Because Somethings are just Stupid"? It's been a long time since I've read it, but he talks in this book about absolutes. This book started a HUGE discussion on this topic in the Christian world several years ago. Question 3: I am so glad on page 199 that Beth Moore has this question/statement on the sidebar. She asks us to share our salvation experience and describe our excitement in knowing that He is present with you. LOVE hearing others salvation experiences and how God has worked and moved in their lives. So this is a little testimony time to tell of the greatness of our God (another great song right now =) Question 4: On the top of page 206 Beth Moore talks about how the trek in the dessert should not have taken anywhere near 40 years, but it did. Why do you think this was? I mean we know that so much of it was caused by disobedience, but do you think that also that disobedience was spurred on by fear? Just a thought God is laying on my heart as I review this day. On the side bar she asks: "Has fear ever kept you from walking through a door God obviously opened for you? What have you learned to help you the next time God opens a door?" What thought-provoking questions. We know that God has NOT given us a Spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind, so why do we fear so much sometimes? Question 5: Page 211: "The Word became flesh and [tabernacled] among us." John 1:14 Did you not just love the fact that the word for dwelled in this verse is actually tabernacled? I LOVED this so much!!! He tabernacled here on earth in human flesh for us. He left the limitless space of heaven to come to a place with such limitations, but He did that for us. He was, is and will always be the ONLY way!! I just absolutely love this!! "What does it mean to you that Jesus had the power to escape His circumstances but chose to endure suffering for our sake?" Just a side note: I absolutely LOVED going back through the fulfillment of the tabernacle in Christ on page 212. LOVED IT!!!!! Great part!! Question 6: Christ was the fulfillment of God's promise to the Israelites. He came and conquered sin, death, hell and the grave, and He left with us His Spirit as the Promise. At the time of Salvation, the Holy Spirit took up residence in our hearts, so we are now the temple of God, the dwelling place of His Spirit, I Corinthians 3:16. Beth Moore states on page 214: "You are now the way He dwells among the people of this world. He dwells there in your tent!" Was anybody else convicted by this? I was like, ummm wow, I have GOT to do a better job!!!!!!!!!!! We are made up of three components, Spirit, Soul and Body. Each work to make the whole of the person that we are as we journey through this life. Our bodies are the temple that house the Holy Spirit of God, so I believe that it is vitally important that we take care of them, but it just can't be the most important thing. There is a balance to be struck. I was once very, very overweight and unhealthy. About 14 years ago I lost a lot of weight, and since that time, I have been trying to find the balance. It is hard and something that I talk to God about. I struggle physically in many areas, but I am no spring chicken anymore either (okay I'm 44, I know not old, but no longer young), but that balance must still be struck. There have been times when I've spent way to much time worrying about weight, and times when I haven't spent enough time thinking about it. But as I grow in the Lord, He is helping me to find that balance. It is having all three, body, soul and Spirit, completely committed to whatever God wants me to do. I must be present. Do ya know what I mean? In all areas, present, not just letting things happen. So have you found it hard to balance sometimes, and what have you found helps you in this area? *********************************** Ladies, It has been a complete joy and priviledge to serve you in this capacity over the past several weeks. Thank you for your commitment. God's Word does NOT return void. You will get a HUGE return on your investment to study His Word and to learn more about Him and how He loves you. I will be filling you in on my next phase of this journey that God has me on, tomorrow night. Thank you SO MUCH for your commitment and love. I love you so ~~ Dawn ~~ See you tomorrow evening at Chatzy.....
Dawn, I follow a writing blog, as wellas yours and it struck me that in today's blog for you both, the idea of going in too many directions was detrimental to accomplishing what we want. In her world it was writing in yours it is doing what God wants. Do ya think He is trying to tell me something? Thanks for all your wisdom.
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