God is Able - Tribute

What to read this week:

• Chapter 7 and "Finally: Tell It" of God is Able

---

Isaiah 43:7 (NLT)

Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.

This last chapter of this book is all about "to God be the glory"!! There are many places in scripture where it is clear that we were created for God. We were created for His glory.

When you hear that, what do you think about? Do you think about praising and worshiping Him? Do you think about telling others about Him? Do you think about declaring His power to the wolrd, telling everyone of all the amazing things He has done for you?

A lot of times, I think we do. We think of all the awesome things and we want to share them with everyone!! We should!! We should declare the amazing works of the Lord to those around us!!

What about when things are hard, before the amazing comes, before the awesome?? We often times forget that even in those times that seem the darkest, our purpose in life is still unchanged. Whether times are good or bad, we are still here to give glory to God.

It is through our darkest times that God's glory is able to shine the brightest. If we were never sick, we would never need God to heal us. If we were never broke, we wouldn't need Him to provide.  If we never had relationship problems, we wouldn't need Him to restore and repair our relationships.  If we were always living in the awesome and amazing, would we even recognize God's power and ability at all?

If after you have read and applied this book and the Word to your "it" you still are bearing the weight of it, do not leave this Bible study feeling defeated or as if nothing will ever change. Please know that God is setting you up to see the fulness of His glory in your life! Know that you are in the perfect position to see His glory shine brightest! 

Ephesians 3:21 says to Him be the glory in the church... Ladies, we are the church. For those of you who are still waiting for God to show His glory in your "it", we are here to wait with you, to pray with you, to laugh and cry with you. Keep posting in our Facebook group. Keep sharing with us how God is working and how we can keep praying with you!!

Now, some of you have seen some progress during this study. Some of you have seen God show up!  We want to hear about it!! Please share!!

Some of you may have had "its" that you didn't share with our group in the beginning,  but you named them for yourself.  God has been working in those also. If that is where you are at and would like to share them, please do.

No matter where we are at, lets finish this study, giving God glory!! Don't skip this!! Even if you don't feel like anything has changed, find one thing about your situation that you can publicly give God the glory for! Let's flood our Facebook group this week with "Glory in the Church"!!!

"to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:21

God Is Able - Turbo

What to Read this Week:
Chapter 6
Ephesians...
Throughout this chapter, Priscilla refers to scripture throughout every chapter of Ephesians. Take a few minutes and skim through Ephesians. Instead of giving you a set scripture reading this week (if I did, it would be the entire book of Ephesians) when you get to a verse listed in the book, look it up and read it out of your Bible so that you can see it in context!!

Chapter 6, in my opinion, is the most important chapter in this book. The main topic in this chapter is the Holy Spirit. Wow, that's a broad topic!! More specifically, it is the Power of the Holy Spirit and the fact that we, as Christians, have full access to that power all the time! We sometimes forget that and we sometimes leave that power untapped and under wraps.

Priscilla does a fantastic job expounding on this topic, so don't skip over reading the chapter! I am only gonna speak to one of the things that she mentioned. We can discuss it all on facebook throughout the rest of the week!!

After the illustration with the Mustang, the first thing she reminds us is that we have power, if we are a believer. That Ephesians 1:13 says, "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,"...

When we accept the gift of salvation and believe, we are given a measure of the Holy Spirit! From the moment we accept Christ, we have the power of the Holy Spirit available to us, ready and waiting for us to tap into it!!

There are an infinite number of situations that come our way. A great deal of them are more than we can handle on our own. Sometimes all the things in life just pile up and we can at times become overwhelmed and weary.

One of the quotes that stood out to me this week was: "God's power doesn't negate weariness; it just enables us to press through it with an uncommon persistence. No matter how tall our challenges are, His power in us is greater still."

I am more grateful every single day to know that on those days, in those moments, when life is hard and I am weary, that His power in me is greater!

Last week we talked about the "God Boxes" that we put God in. There is a section of this chapter called Fill'er Up that reminds us again, that we can limit the work of God in our lives by how we perceive Him.

Priscilla speaks of coming to the ocean of God's measureless power. What we bring with us to hold that power determines how much of His power we walk away with.
Bring a thimble,  fill a thimble...
Bring a bucket, fill a bucket...
Bring a wheelbarrow, fill a wheelbarrow...
Bring a two-ton tanker, fill a two-ton tanker...

This reminded me of something I have heard Angelia say frequently. When it comes to God, you can always have more!! There is no limit to how much of His Spirit that you have in you and at work in your life. Even if you feel like everything is going great, you can still approach the throne of God asking for more of Him. To be filled up with even more of His Spirit!!

"The more the Spirit's power is activated in your life, the more your capacity to experience God increases. He is faithful to fill that which you bring ready to receive."

God wants to fill us up to overflowing with His Holy Spirit. He wants us to use the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He gave us the Holy Spirit and He wants us to experience it in full!!

I know that in this group of ladies, there is a variety of levels of experience with the Holy Spirit.  Whether you are a new Christian and are just beginning to experience the Holy Spirit in your life, or you are a believer who is full of the Holy Spirit, baptized in it, speaking in tongues and operating in the gifts of the Spirit,  there is always more to be had.

This week, if you do nothing else... spend a little time, just asking God to give you more!! To fill you more!! He will!!

Discussion Starters:

1. My highlighter bled all over this chapter!! What about yours?? What is something from this chapter that stood out enough to you to highlight or underline it!! What caught your attention (even if you didn't actually highlight anything).

2. Starting on page 126 of the paperback book, in the Powered Up section of the chapter, Priscilla lists changes that occur in us when the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives. Which ones have you experienced? Share with us your story of that experience.

3. At the end of this chapter we are reminded that we are in a war, we are constantly at battle with the same enemy our entire lives. That with all that our enemy has against us, we still have the power to win the battle. What is the armor we have and what are the weapons we use to fight the enemy?

God is Able - Totality

What to read this week:

• Chapter 5 of God is Able
• The story of Creation in Genesis 1-2.

---

This week the majority of the post is in this video. After you watch it, head on over to Facebook and join the conversation!!

---

Discussion Starters:

1. Let's pretend that before God created the universe and everything in it, that we were there with Him. Let's pretend that He asked us to tell Him what it is that we wanted this world to look like; what we wanted it to be like. What would you have told God?? What would you tell Him if you knew that whatever your answer was, that was all He would create. Nothing more, and nothing less.

2. Can you identify a "God Box" that you may have put God in?? What are some things you can do to take Him out of the box??

3. Can you name something that you aren't asking God for that you should be?? What keeps you from asking Him??

God is Able - Transcendence

What to read this week:

• Chapter 4 of God is Able
• 1 Samuel 17

---

This week is going to be a little different...

Chapter 4 is the chapter that focuses on "exceeding abundantly beyond". Priscilla does a wonderful job of attempting to help us grasp just how above and beyond God's power is! But, in our humanity, I don't think there are words to truly make us understand it.

Go ahead and read chapter 4 and soak it in and see if you can gain a tiny glimpse of God's way past way past abilities. Then after you do that, come back here and watch the video on this page. It is close to an hour long so do it when you have time to sit down and really listen, I promise you, it will be worth it!!

Martha Tennison was the speaker at our Women's Fall Conference in 2012. If you were at that conference, the message she is preaching is not going to surprise you. She preached the same message at conference, but there are a few things that I think are different in this one. However, even if you have heard it before, I truly feel this week that we need to be reminded of it.

Not only should we know and believe that God CAN handle our battles, we need to realize that our battles are not ours, they are HIS!! And because we KNOW that He can do exceeding and abundantly above, we need to willingly and openly trust Him to fight those battles on our behalf.

One of the reasons that I enjoyed Sister Tennison so much (and still google to find messages to listen to that she has preached) is her countless stories of God doing exceeding and abundantly above and beyond. She is a woman who still believes unrelentingly in the power of the Holy Spirit, Miracles, and Signs and Wonders.

She is a pillar of the faith that I feel blessed to know about. We still serve a miracle working God!! Let's not forget that!! 

---

Discussion Starters:

This week, I am not going to post specific questions. Let's just reflect on the chapter and on Sister Tennison's message, "The Battle is the Lords".