God is Able - Truth - Part 2

After struggling through writing a post for this week on Sunday afternoon, I went to church Sunday night and knew that God was either speaking to me directly, or He was giving me more to share with you ladies! Either way, it brings us back to the WORD!!

The service started off with a word from a man who visits occasionally, and typically gives a testimony when he is there. He spoke about Ephesians 3:20!! That God is able to do exceeding and abundantly more than we could ask or think!! I thought to myself, wow, that is the Bible study we are doing right now!!

Then, a special was sung before the message. It was the song Beautiful, by Kari Jobe. One part of that song says:

Here in Your presence
I am not afraid of brokenness
To wash Your feet with humble tears
I would be poured out till nothing's left
And I just wanna wait on You, my God
I just wanna dwell on who You are

Those words were lingering with me as the message began...

The message Sunday night was (in a nut shell)... God can do anything, but sometimes He doesn't do it. Sometimes He makes us wait. Sometimes He does things differently than we hoped that He would. If you read chapter 3 of our book, then you know this sounds familiar!  "Whether or not God chooses to do something is a question of His sovereignty, not His ability. Whether or not He will do it is His business. But believing that He can - that's our business."

The scripture that was used Sunday night was the story of Lazarus in John chapter 11. Let's talk about it for a few minutes.

I have had many moments over the last year that this story has come up. It is one that God has continually kept before me. If you are like I was before God kept bringing me to this passage of scripture, the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead most likely for you, was always about just that...Jesus raising him from the dead! 

At first glance this appears to be a story of exceeding and abundantly above and beyond!! I mean, who would have ever imagined that Jesus would bring a person back to life?

Mary and Martha didn't... They knew that Jesus could heal. They believed that if Jesus had come sooner, than He could have prevented death for their brother. But to them death was final.

In fact, our Youth Pastor who was preaching Sunday night, pointed out even more that I didn't realize before. Lazarus wasn't just dead, he was 4 days dead! The significance of that is that day number 4 is when a body starts to decompose after death. So, not only was he dead, but parts of him were not even in existence anymore! So YES, Jesus raising him back to life WAS an exceeding and abundantly above and beyond moment!!!

But this story is about so much more than the miracle itself. It is a story about the process of the miracle...

It's a story about the moments when Gods timing isn't our timing. When Jesus heard that Lazarus was dying, the Bible says that He stayed two more days where He was at. He wasn't in a hurry!!

It's a story about our lack of faith in the hard times. Mary and Martha said, "If only you had been here, he would not have died." They said that more than once! Jesus even told them, "I am the resurrection and the life" and they still said, "Lord, if only you had been here..."

It's a story about how much God cares about the things that hurt us. This is the story in the Bible where the shortest verse is found. Two words with a huge impact. JESUS WEPT.

Why would Jesus cry over a man who had died when He knew that he was going to raise him back to life?? He wasn't crying for Lazarus. He was crying for His friends who were hurting. Scripture specifically says, "when He heard them crying" then He wept.

It is a story that reveals our tendency to bury our issues and to try as hard as we can to keep them buried. When Jesus asked Mary and Martha to take Him to Lazarus and to roll away the stone from the tomb, their response was, "Lord, he has been dead 4 days... he stinketh!!" It is like they were saying that this situation is too much to handle. It is impossible. We have covered up how badly it stinks and if we could, can we please just keep it hidden?

It's a story that shows us that we have to be willing to bring Jesus to our problems and to do what he tells us to do. If we invite Him in and are obedient to His commands, THEN He can work miracles. Jesus didn't roll the stone away Himself... He made them do it. 

So, when you are waiting on your miracle, think about Lazarus. God's timing, our faith, our willingness to bring Jesus into our situations (even when they are decomposing and stink... especially then!!), and our willingness to obey His instructions to us will all play a role in us seeing our miracle. 

And while we wait... in the middle of the struggle, in the middle of the hurt, in the middle of our brokenness, in the wee hours of the morning when we are crying tears over what we are going through... don't forget that Jesus is weeping with you!

Let's embrace those moments as opportunities to welcome His presence into wherever we happen to be at. To bask in his presence. To open up to Him in brokenness and tears,  and to just wait in Him...

Here in Your presence
I am not afraid of brokenness
To wash Your feet with humble tears
I would be poured out till nothing's left 
And I just wanna wait on You, my God
I just wanna dwell on who You are

God is Able - Truth

What to read this week:

• Chapter 3 of God is Able

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Straight off the bat this week, it's confession time... I don't believe in being someone I am not and I think the only way any of this works is if we are all being real!! So here is my "real" this week...

The last couple of weeks have been tough for me. I have felt disconnected and I have not been looking near enough at Jesus! I have been focused way too much on the situations I have been dealing with and not nearly enough on the Lord. (Yes, I know... even though we have been talking about that very thing!!)

I have put off working on this Bible study until the very last minute because I just haven't felt like I had any knowledge or wisdom to share. I have been pretty empty...

So, here I am, at 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, still trying to come up with something to post for you amazing ladies this week. My goal is to have this done by Saturdays so that when I am at church on Sunday I can use the WiFi and just get it posted and shared in a matter of minutes. Instead, I am sitting here, still thinking... still praying... feeling pretty inadequate for this task.

You know how distracted you get when you aren't sure about the thing you are working on?? Yeah, well at least I get easily distracted... So I picked up my phone, and checked my Timehop! I know, I know... not much Jesus in that!! If you don't know what Timehop is, it is an app that gathers your social media posts for the same date over the past few years. So you see each day what you posted on Facebook, Twitter, etc... on this date last year, two years ago, three years ago, etc...

Here was my Timehop for today:

I don't generally remember details, especially from several years back, but I know exactly why and when I wrote this Facebook post. I had traveled with Angelia to Conway for a Section 15 Women's Rally. The night of the rally was really one of the greatest nights of my life. It was a challenging and hard night, because me and God got real about some things that were going on in my life, but it was the beginning of me trusting God to take care of the mess that I was living, a mess that I didn't even know HOW messy it was on that night... (And it was also the beginning of a beautiful friendship, but I won't get all mushy about that today!!) :)

Angelia preached that night about seasons of life. It was a tough message to hear because of where I was, but it was also tough because it was only three months after the wreck for her. She didn't really talk about that until it got closer to the end of the service, but I knew... I cried almost the entire service. Some moments because I was really angry at my situation. I was angry with God and thought that He had brought me to that service to convince me that my life was about to drastically change in a way that I wasn't ready for. I was angry that He wasn't stepping in and fixing my situation. 

But in the middle of all of this anger and hurt... I was watching Angelia talk about how good God is. I was listening to her say that we all go through seasons in life. Some are bright and cheery, those spring and summer moments... while some are dark and dreary and there are no signs of life. All the leaves have fallen off our trees and everything seems dead like the trees in the winter. But underneath it all, down deep in the roots, there is still life there... it is just waiting for the season to change so it can come back to the surface.

In my anger and hurt (toward God at the moment) I cried for me, but I also cried for her. I thought, "God, how can this woman (who I didn't know very well yet at that time) stand up in front of all of these women, three months after loosing her son and mother in law in a car accident, and say, it's just a season, the dark and dreary is just a season and some day it is going to end... How can she sit here and say that we were created for change and it is all a part of life. It just didn't make sense to me. I knew that if I had to walk in her shoes, I wouldn't be anywhere close to being able to say those things and even if the words came out of my mouth it would be with nowhere near the same amount of grace that she had.

Well, I didn't know her very well then, but I do now. The reason that she could say that, is because she knew deep down, without a shadow of a doubt, that even though her life had drastically changed, her God had NOT!! 

Our, frail, human life goes through constant changes... but our God NEVER changes. His ability to do the impossible in our lives today is no different from His ability to part the red sea for the Israelites. His ability to go above and beyond on our behalf, is no different from His ability to heal the people that He did through Jesus all throughout the new testament. 

That night in Conway, my life changed. Not because my circumstances changed, but because God met me where I was at... in the middle of my hurt, in the middle of my anger... in the middle of my questions about what tomorrow was gonna be like for me and my family. He met me there and He reassured me that no matter what my life threw at me, He was never going to leave me. He was always going to be there for me to provide, comfort, protect, and love me. Whether any other person or thing in my life stayed consistent, He was always going to be consistent. I was never going to have to wonder if God was there. Even when I didn't feel like He was, I could rest assured, that He was there, that He cared about me and my life, and that He was for me!

For me, that season of life that I was in three years ago, I want to say has changed... but some days I feel like my life is full of Arkansas seasons... you know, where there isn't a definite end, because the weather warms up for a few days and then goes right back down into the 30's!! God did not fix all my problems, no matter how many times I cried and begged!! 3 years later, God is still working in my season... But I know that He is doing, in His time, everything that He chooses to do in my life. My season is far warmer and much brighter than it was that night three years ago... and it is only by the grace of God. 

Through it all... He never changed...

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Discussion Starters:

1. What part of this chapter in the book jumped off the page at you this week?
2. Share some of your favorite stories from the Word of God where He showed up for His people!! Share your thoughts on some of the verses or stories that Priscilla shared in this chapter.
3. Is there a time in your life where you have had to lean on the truth that God was still God and He was still working and moving on your behalf, even if you couldn't see Him in your circumstances... even if He chose not to answer your prayers the way you had hoped?

God is Able - Turning

What to read this week:

• Chapter 2 of God is Able
• Numbers 13
• John 20:11-18

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This week we are reading Chapter 2...Turning...

In this chapter there are two stories from the Bible about people who fixed their eyes on the Lord. One was from Numbers chapter 13 and the other from John 20. I do want us to read those directly from the Bible (not just the summary that is given in the book) and I do want us to discuss them in the Facebook group this week, but I am not going to comment much on those now, I will let you guys get that conversation going over on Facebook.

While I was reading this chapter, an old hymn came to my mind. Standing on the Promises... Here are the lyrics to that hymn in case you aren't familiar with it.

Standing on the Promises

Written by Russell K. Carter

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,

Through eternal ages let His praises ring,

Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,

Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain:

Standing, standing,

Standing on the promises of God my Savior;

Standing, standing,

I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,

When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,

By the living Word of God I shall prevail,

Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I now can see

Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;

Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,

Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,

Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,

Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,

Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,

Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call,

Resting in my Savior as my all in all,

Standing on the promises of God.

What an amazing hymn!! It is even more amazing when you know the story behind it. When Russell Carter was 30 years old, he was diagnosed with a fatal heart condition and doctors told him that he would not live much longer. He knelt down before the Lord and prayed. He told God that no matter what happened, from that moment on, whether he was healed or not, he would live the rest of his life wholeheartedly serving the Lord.

Carter had been a professing Christian most of his life, but had never until this time in his life really believed the promises of the Word of God. When diagnosed with his heart condition, he turned to Christ and leaned on the promises in His Word like never before. When he was 37 years old he wrote this hymn.

Carter lived to be 79 years old!! If you need me to do the math for you, that is about 49 years longer than doctors anticipated!!

What a testimony! What a blessing this hymn has been for so many years to so many people. I sort of wish we were all together in one room, just so we could sing it together. Here is a clip of Selah singing it (in a medley with a few other great old hymns)!!



My greatest hope for this week, as a community of believers, a community of sisters in Christ, is that we can come together to really, truly, wholeheartedly, help our fellow sisters in Christ find the promises that they need to stand on for their life.

Everyone's situation is different, and the Word of God is full of so many great promises. Sometimes we are so focused on our issues that we struggle to find the scriptures that we need to focus on instead, so let's help a sister out!!

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Discussion Starters:

1. What part of this chapter in the book or in the story in Numbers 13 or John 20 jumped off the page at you this week?
2. The Chapter talks about three places that we turn to instead of to God, to others, to ourselves, and to our "junk". What happens when we turn to these things and why is each one of them not the answer?
3. Why is turning to Jesus so important in any situation? What are practical ways that we can focus our attention on Jesus??
4. ***Group Project***
   As a group this week, I want us to come up with a good sized list of promises from the Word of God that we as believers can stand on. That we can memorize, write, post on our mirrors and refrigerator doors, to help us get through trying times. Comment here with your promises (be sure to include the scripture reference) and I will create a master list to share.

God is Able - Time

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What to read this week:

• Chapter 1 of God is Able
• John 5:1-14

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If you have been a part of previous online Bible studies, be warned… this one is going to be a little bit different!! Books that we have used in the past had Bible Studies written into them, but this one does not. So, hang in there with me and I promise that we will relate everything back to the chapter in the book by the end of this post!!

This week, let’s look at the story of the man who was healed at the pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5. If you haven’t read the scripture text yet, take a few minutes and do that before you read on here!!

This story took place during the time of a Jewish Feast. During these times of Jewish feasts the location that the feast was held in would have been very crowded. Some Jewish Feasts required that all Jewish males attend, so you can imagine how many people were staying in Jerusalem during this time.

The man’s healing took place at Bethesda which means "Place of Outpouring" or "House of Grace". The pool of Bethesda was a place where sick people would gather and wait. There was a belief that when the water started moving that the first person into the pool would be healed.

There was a man who was sick and he had been that way for 38 years. Now, we don’t know exactly what was wrong with him. We do know that he couldn’t walk on his own, so we know he had a physical problem, but the scripture just uses the word “infirmity” when it tells us about the man.

Now, the scriptures tell us in verse 13 that this man did not know who Jesus was. So, when Jesus walked by him and stopped to talk to him, the man had no idea that he was talking to Jesus. He did not see Jesus walking and called out to Him to get His attention, knowing that He could heal him.

The man was minding his own business, oblivious to the fact that his miracle was walking by. Jesus walked up to him and asked him, "Do you want to be healed"?

Let me take just a brief pause here in the story to say this. Jesus was God in the flesh. When He asked someone a question, it wasn’t because He didn’t know the answer! It wasn’t because He was gathering needed information. It was because the person He asked the question to needed to answer the question. Sometimes as we read through scripture, WE need to answer the questions that Jesus asked too!!

Ok, back to the story. Think for a minute about what your response would be if you were this man. I think I would have said, “YES!!!” But that isn’t what the man said. Instead of answering Jesus with a yes or no, he began to tell Jesus all the reasons (excuses) why he couldn’t get into the pool to receive his healing.

He threw a pity party for himself!! He blamed the fact that there was no one to help him into the pool for why he had not been healed in 38 years. What he was saying was that the reason he wasn’t healed was not his fault. He pointed a finger at someone else.

He also says that while he is trying to get into the pool, someone always gets in before he can. What he was really saying was, “This healing pool isn’t going to work for me. It works for other people, but it will never work for me because I will never be able to get in first.”

Let’s start looking at our own situations, at our own “its”. Are we spending our time throwing ourselves a pity party? Are we pointing our finger at someone else? Listen; even if your problems in life are because of what someone else has done to you, you are the only one who can determine the destiny of your life. No matter what anyone else has done to you, you get to choose how you live your life.

Now, before you think that I am being all preachy here, if I had the liberty to tell my greatest “God is Able and He did it for me” testimony of my own life, you would understand that I am saying this out of experience, not out of pointing a finger at you! My greatest God is Able story involves someone else who hasn’t given me the permission to share it yet, so I just need you to trust me here for now!! Sometimes the greatest hurts in our lives come from what other people have done to us, but that doesn’t determine what we choose to do in return.

Are we saying that it just won’t work for us?
“God, I know that you can heal marriages, but just not mine”.
“God, I know that you can heal people from cancer, but not me”.
“God, I know that you can provide for the financial situations of others, oh, and thank you by the way for providing for that need that I prayed about for my friend, but… you can’t do it for me”.

Both of these excuses are lies of the enemy. Friends, let’s stand against these lies. Stop believing them and stop repeating them (even to yourself)!!

Jesus response to what he said was, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk”. Jesus didn’t say, “ok, your healed now”. He said, rise, take up your bed, and walk. What would have happened if the man had not gotten up? He had been sitting there for 38 years! He had gotten comfortable on his bed. He was used to sitting there. It would have been easy for him to continue making excuses. It would have been easy for him to question Jesus. Remember, he didn’t know who Jesus was!!

But, scripture says, “immediately” he was made well, took up his bed, and walked. He had to do something though. He had to get up!! He had to get out of his comfort zone (his bed) and put one foot in front of the other and walk.

I feel like we need to put ourselves and our “its” in this mans "shoes" for a few minutes...

• We know that his "IT" was that he was in need of physical healing.
• We know that he believed enough in the promise of healing to be hanging out at the pool of Bethesda.
• We know that he had been waiting a long time for healing (38 years).

I wonder if some of our "ITS" have us in the same place?? I wonder if some of our “its” are such heavy burdens that they have crippled us? We have been waiting on answers, relief, healing, for a VERY LONG time. We know enough to know that God can restore, redeem, and make us completely whole. We are hanging out by the pool…

I can't guarantee that God won't make you wait a while to get an answer for your "IT". But here is where we have a benefit....

We know who Jesus is!! We know that he can step right into the middle of our circumstances and change them in an instant! We have the advantage of knowledge that the man didn't have.

What we do with that information is crucial!!! If we keep that information sitting with us waiting around for a sign that our time has come to be whole (the stirring of the water) we may be left waiting.

But what would happen if we embraced what we know? What will happen if we WALK in victory now even if our victory hasn't come yet?

My very favorite point that Priscilla made in chapter one, was that we don't have to wait for a new season of life to live the abundant life. We can live the abundant life that God promised us right in the middle of our current circumstances. Because the abundant life isn't a life without trials and problems, it is a life with Jesus right in the middle of our trials and problems.

Why would this man instantly get up and walk when he didn't even know who Jesus was??

Could it be that encountering Christ, face to face, right where we are at (on the side of the pool, not in the pool) gives us everything we need to walk in victory?  Whether our "it" is taken care of today or not, we can live the abundant life in the middle of our situations if we invite God into the mix and truly believe that our time is now. That He can do it now! Not tomorrow or in the next season of life, but our God is Able to do it NOW!

Not only is He able to do it now, He wants to do it!! Here is this man who didn’t even know who Jesus was, but in the midst of masses of people flooding the city for the feast, Jesus still found this man. This man would have NEVER asked Jesus to heal him, because he didn’t know that Jesus could heal him. How much more will Jesus heal us, restore us, work in the midst of our situations, when we know that He can and we know to ask??!!

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Discussion Starters:

1. What part of this chapter in the book or in the story in John chapter 5 jumped off the page at you this week?
2. In light of your “it”, what excuses have you been making? What lies of the enemy have you been believing? How can you turn those lies around? What does the Word say about it?
3. Sometimes I think God is ready to move on our behalf, but we may be hindering it. Jesus’ command to “rise, take up your bed, and walk” shows us that we have to actually do something too!! What do you think about this? What do you think keeps you (or just people in general) “stuck”?
4. In light of your “it”, Do you want to be healed?? You can just answer this question to yourself if you would like, but feel free to share your answers if you would like to also.

God Is Able - Welcome and Introduction

It's time!! Time to dive into a new adventure with the Lord and each other!! I am looking forward to believing God like never before with and for each and every one of you!!!

First of all, if you haven't signed up for the study, please do that if you would like to receive email updates!! You can sign up by filling out this super quick form!!

Now, with that out of the way... Are you ready?? Are you really ready??? Let's go!!!

This week, our "post" is a video message from our Women's Director, Angelia Carpenter!!

After you watch the video, hop on over to our Facebook group, and let's get going!!





Discussion Starters!!

1. Would you share a piece of your story? Share a time in your life when God did "exceeding and abundantly more" for you in your life!!

2. What is your current "it" in life?? If you are willing to share, even in limited detail, please do that so we can believe with you throughout this study!! We may be in various locations, but "where two are three are gathered" can still apply!! We can from our individual locations agree with you for God to truly SHOW UP on YOUR behalf during the next 10 weeks!!