Here are some silly photos of our family trip and some sweet memories of my time serving on the event team for Living Proof Live in Biloxi with my LifeWay buddies!
How ironic that much of chapter five is about how God cares about the routine everyday details as well as the supernatural big things! I've come back to this quote from chapter 5 so much in the last few days:
"So don't think the concerns that pop up in today's nitty-gritty are meant for you to bear alone, off grid, as if they're somehow exempt from His spiritual protections, not covered under your fire insurance policy. The same God who is saving you from hell is also willing and able to save what's left of your nerves and your workweek."
Lord, save my nerves!
Chapter 5 is all about totality! We are up to the part in Ephesian 3:20 that I often love the most!
Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think...
That part is easy to love but hard to grasp. It includes it all! The little things, the huge things, and everything in between!
After reading chapter 5 and continuing to memorize Ephesians 3:20-21, consider these questions. I'd sure love for you to comment!
1. Don't you just love the stories of Priscilla losing things and asking God to help her find them? Does that seem shallow to you? How does Job 28:24 hit you in light of her stories or even your own experience? Have you ever lost something and know that God Himself showed it to you? Describe that feeling once the item has been found! Are you currently trying to find something? Could we pray with you about finding something?
From Gayla: Every time we have to find our children's birth certificates I panic! I can't tell you how many times in our moves we've lost an adoption paper or a birth certificate or a social security card! Please don't judge or provide the obvious encouragement to have a special place for them...I know that! I'm not making excuses, I'm just saying it happens! And boy does my prayer life become rich every time! The feeling of relief when we find it (or when the new one we had to order comes in the mail) is a pretty sweet feeling!
2. Too often we limit our view of God! This part of Ephesians 3:20 is really a challenge not to limit Him! Priscilla writes (on page 103):
"...sometimes our problem is not that we won't believe Him for the supernatural and amazing but that we don't believe He cares about the routine and everyday."
Do you struggle with this? If so, how do you often limit God? How does Matthew 10:29-31 expand your vision of Him and His willingness and His ability?
3. On pages 105 and 106, we are reminded of many verses that speak of the totality of God's ability? Which of those speak volumes to you today?
From Gayla: Matthew 6:33 is such a great reminder to me that when I seek Him first "all these things" are added! All means all! I spend so much time seeking all the things, but I'm supposed to be seeking Him, then He adds all these things. ALL!
4. Another way we often limit God is by assuming He works like people! Priscilla says:
"We often limit our expectations of Him to what we've experienced within our human interaction."
How does numbers 23:19 blow that limitation out of the water?
5. Toward the end of the chapter, Priscilla discusses the fact that God invites us to be involved with Him through prayer. In the last 4 years I've been overwhelmed by this blessing...that God involves us in His blessing as we pray. She writes:
"Asking of God doesn't make us pushy, not according to the Bible. Nor, of course, does it mean He'll give us whatever we want. But when we take Him up on His invitation to ask for what we need - both the big things and the small things - one of the greatest things He gives us is the opportunity to recognize exactly where our help is coming from. When we request and He answers, we are enabled to know beyond any doubt that He was the One working in our experience...By inviting us to ask, He is continually connecting His life with ours. Every blessing becomes another noticeable expression of His loving care..."
I've often said that prayer is like playing "I Spy" with God because when we are diligently praying for something, we will see Him working in ways that we would not have noticed otherwise. We also will then be ruined for anything less!
What are you diligently praying about? Where are you spying God at work? How is He working it out in a way that is beyond all you have asked or imagined?
How ironic that much of chapter five is about how God cares about the routine everyday details as well as the supernatural big things! I've come back to this quote from chapter 5 so much in the last few days:
"So don't think the concerns that pop up in today's nitty-gritty are meant for you to bear alone, off grid, as if they're somehow exempt from His spiritual protections, not covered under your fire insurance policy. The same God who is saving you from hell is also willing and able to save what's left of your nerves and your workweek."
Lord, save my nerves!
Chapter 5 is all about totality! We are up to the part in Ephesian 3:20 that I often love the most!
Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think...
That part is easy to love but hard to grasp. It includes it all! The little things, the huge things, and everything in between!
After reading chapter 5 and continuing to memorize Ephesians 3:20-21, consider these questions. I'd sure love for you to comment!
1. Don't you just love the stories of Priscilla losing things and asking God to help her find them? Does that seem shallow to you? How does Job 28:24 hit you in light of her stories or even your own experience? Have you ever lost something and know that God Himself showed it to you? Describe that feeling once the item has been found! Are you currently trying to find something? Could we pray with you about finding something?
From Gayla: Every time we have to find our children's birth certificates I panic! I can't tell you how many times in our moves we've lost an adoption paper or a birth certificate or a social security card! Please don't judge or provide the obvious encouragement to have a special place for them...I know that! I'm not making excuses, I'm just saying it happens! And boy does my prayer life become rich every time! The feeling of relief when we find it (or when the new one we had to order comes in the mail) is a pretty sweet feeling!
2. Too often we limit our view of God! This part of Ephesians 3:20 is really a challenge not to limit Him! Priscilla writes (on page 103):
"...sometimes our problem is not that we won't believe Him for the supernatural and amazing but that we don't believe He cares about the routine and everyday."
Do you struggle with this? If so, how do you often limit God? How does Matthew 10:29-31 expand your vision of Him and His willingness and His ability?
3. On pages 105 and 106, we are reminded of many verses that speak of the totality of God's ability? Which of those speak volumes to you today?
From Gayla: Matthew 6:33 is such a great reminder to me that when I seek Him first "all these things" are added! All means all! I spend so much time seeking all the things, but I'm supposed to be seeking Him, then He adds all these things. ALL!
4. Another way we often limit God is by assuming He works like people! Priscilla says:
"We often limit our expectations of Him to what we've experienced within our human interaction."
How does numbers 23:19 blow that limitation out of the water?
5. Toward the end of the chapter, Priscilla discusses the fact that God invites us to be involved with Him through prayer. In the last 4 years I've been overwhelmed by this blessing...that God involves us in His blessing as we pray. She writes:
"Asking of God doesn't make us pushy, not according to the Bible. Nor, of course, does it mean He'll give us whatever we want. But when we take Him up on His invitation to ask for what we need - both the big things and the small things - one of the greatest things He gives us is the opportunity to recognize exactly where our help is coming from. When we request and He answers, we are enabled to know beyond any doubt that He was the One working in our experience...By inviting us to ask, He is continually connecting His life with ours. Every blessing becomes another noticeable expression of His loving care..."
I've often said that prayer is like playing "I Spy" with God because when we are diligently praying for something, we will see Him working in ways that we would not have noticed otherwise. We also will then be ruined for anything less!
What are you diligently praying about? Where are you spying God at work? How is He working it out in a way that is beyond all you have asked or imagined?
