Promise Keeper

By: Jenifer Metzger

If you are following along with the Woman to Woman one year Bible plan, this week we have been in Joshua. We followed along as Moses was at the end of his life and passed the baton of leadership to Joshua and watched as Joshua led the Israelites in a seven day march around the walls of Jericho. Now the people were in the land God had promised to them.

So the Lord gave Israel all the land He had

sworn to give their ancestors, and they took

possession of it and settled there. The Lord

gave them rest on every side according to

all He had sworn to their ancestors. None

of their enemies were able to stand against

them, for the Lord handed over all their

enemies to them. None of the good promises

the Lord had made to the house of Israel

failed. Everything was fulfilled.

Joshua 21:43-45 CSB

God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham in Genesis 12 when He said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” Many years later when it was time to take over the land, the Israelites had to go through some hardships -and some miracles- to get there. But fast forward to Joshua and we see they finally made it.

God is a promise keeper. He made a covenant, a promise, and He kept His word. It didn't happen in Abraham's timing. It didn't happen on Moses' timeline. But it did happen.

We see many examples throughout Scripture of God keeping His promise. He promised Abraham and Sarah a son; promised kept. He promised to rescue the Israelites from Egypt; promise kept. He promised to never destroy the entire earth by flood again; promise kept. He promised a Savior; promised kept. And that is just a couple.

What has God promised you that you are waiting on fulfillment of? Maybe that He will never leave you {Hebrews 13:5}. He hasn't. If you feel distant from Him, turn around. He is right there waiting with open arms. Maybe that He will supply all your needs {Philippians 4:19}. He does. Now our wants are a little different. But He promises to supply our needs according to His riches in glory. Maybe you are waiting for that prodigal to come home {Proverbs 22:6}. Keep the faith, never stop praying, live by example. It will come to pass.

When we are waiting on the promises of God, we need to think back to all He has done so far. All He has kept us from, all He has brought us out of. Recently a gentleman at our church said we have "spiritual amnesia," we tend to forget all God has done for us. When we are waiting on the promises of God to come to pass, we need to go back and remember what He has already done. We need to remember His faithfulness to know that we can continue to trust Him.

We can trust the word and promises of God because time and time again He has proven Himself faithful. His promises are always fulfilled because He is a promise keeper.

Discussion:
1. Pause and think of something you have faced in the past and how God worked in that situation. It's important to do this regularly, to think on what God has done.
2. What situation are you facing right now where you are waiting on the promise of God to be fulfilled? Does thinking to His past fulfillments help grow your faith?

Names of God Series: Looking to the Holy One of Israel

 By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy of: chris liu

"For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.
I have given Egypt as a ransom for you,
Cush and Seba in your place."

~Isaiah 43:3

In our series on the names of God, we come now to the name "The Righteous One", showing us that God is perfectly holy and set apart. We all probably know this in our heads, at least in theory. Many of us probably even take this truth for granted. So, today, I want to encourage all of us to see and understand just how important and life-changing this truth really is! 

This passage from Isaiah doesn't just show us that our God is the Holy One of Israel. It doesn't just show us that He is set apart and righteous. It pairs that truth with the ramifications of it. Because our God is the Holy One of Israel, we can trust Him to also be our Savior. We can believe that He is a God of redemption and that He Himself is the ransom in our place. 

Because of this, we can then trust Him, put saving faith in Him, and rely on Him all our days. We can't trust a God we don't know to be holy, sinless, and righteous through and through. We can't rely on a God for salvation who is harboring evil intent or who changes from day to day or who has a reputation for turning His back on His children. No. We can trust in Him for eternal salvation as well as rely on and trust in Him for our day to day issues of life, as well, specifically because He is altogether righteous and holy, because He is sinless and perfect and set apart, because He does not change and does not lie. 

That, my friends, is what is so life-changing and important about this truth that our God is the Holy One of Israel! May you be encouraged by this name of God today.

Reflection Questions:

1) What stands out to you about this name of God?

2) Have you ever made this connection before between Him being holy and Him being able to be our trustworthy Savior?

3) Do you feel better able to trust God as a result of today's study?

Know Your Enemy

 By: Joanne Viola

 

Last week I shared about the spiritual battle we are engaged in, and the armor we have been provided. You can read that post HERE.

As the week went on, more thoughts regarding our spiritual battles came into perspective.

The story of David and Goliath is a familiar one to many of us. Goliath, the giant everyone was afraid to fight.

David, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, was sent to bring food to his brothers who were on the battle field. They were in need of sustenance as the battle had been going on for forty days and nights.

While delivering the food, David hears the usual taunting which would send the men running in fear. It is the question David then asks the soldiers which grabbed my attention:

“Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?” 
(1 Samuel 17:26b, NLT)

Basically David was asking for a description of the enemy. David wanted to better understand who he was engaging with should he go into the battle.

We need to do the same.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, 
but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, 
against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” 
(Ephesians 6:12, NASB) 

Paul, in writing Ephesians, wants to be sure we all know who we are battling. Satan is a strong enemy and we need the power of God, we need the armor God has provided, to stand firm against him.

Once David knew who the enemy was, he understood the battle was a spiritual one. He understood the enemy was bigger than he, but not bigger than the living God.

Paul does the same thing for us. He has defined the spiritual battle, identified the enemies we will face, and now tells us:

“Therefore, take up the full armor of God, 
so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, 
and having done everything, to stand firm.” 
(Ephesians 6:13, NASB) 

It is once we have this understanding of the battle and our enemy, that we can put on the armor and stand firm.

When we define the battle, understand who our enemy is
and put on our protective armor,
we will then be able to stand firm.

 

 

Reflection:
Are you facing a battle this week? Do you need to define the battle or understand who you are battling?

 

Image by Tep Ro from Pixabay

 

 

 

His Compassion to Comfort. His Compassion to Confront.

  By: Lauren Thomas 

We all like a tidy story, complete with conflict, climax, and conclusion. I think that’s why we largely ignore the final chapter of Jonah. But the fourth chapter of Jonah is where most of us live our lives.

I know you’re familiar with Jonah. He was called by God to go to Nineveh and warn them of God’s coming judgements. Instead, he fled in the opposite direction. Nineveh was in Assyria, and Assyria was Israel’s enemy after all. While on a boat, heading in the opposite direction of his God-given task, he was confronted by a storm. He knew the storm was his fault, and told the pagan sailors on board as much. They reluctantly threw him overboard. God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, then vomit him onto land. Jonah had a lot of time to contemplate during those three days in a fish. So, when God recommissioned him to go to Nineveh, Jonah complied. Jonah’s prophetic message to the Ninevites resulted in widespread repentance. And at this, God relented from the punishment he had planned for them. 

 

That covers chapters 1, 2, and 3. 

 

Now for chapter 4. Jonah didn’t like it. He got angry. Complained. He threw a pity party to rival the size of that great. He sat outside the city and waited, hoping that God would punish the city anyway. (Yeah, Jonah isn’t someone we should want to emulate). 

 

The whole book is about God’s great mercy and compassion. In addition to God showing compassion to Nineveh, God continued to exude compassion, even to undeserving Jonah, by appointing a plant to give Jonah’s pity party some pleasant shade. 

 

Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.

Jonah 4:6

 

We get this kind of compassion. In fact, this is how we generally define compassion: concern for the suffering of others. So that’s why we can miss God’s next act of compassion for Jonah: God appointed a worm to destroy Jonah’s shade plant, followed by a scorching east wind. This got Jonah’s attention. And the dialogue between God and Jonah that follows contains God confronting Jonah with his great compassion.

 

I mentioned earlier that this is where we live. By which I mean generally, that we are recipients of God’s great compassion through the work of Jesus Christ, our Savior. But specifically, I mean to encourage you by a redefinition of your circumstances. 

 

God often shows us his compassion by alleviating our discomfort. And sometimes God shows us his compassion by removing our comfort in order to confront us with his character. Read Jonah chapter 4 to see what I mean. God’s compassion for you doesn’t change based on your circumstances. Don’t be like Jonah who felt he had the right to get mad at God for the way things were going. It was God’s compassion to comfort Jonah and it was God’s compassion to confront Jonah. But God’s compassionate character is constant. 

 

Whatever you are facing today, hold on to the truth of God’s character: He is compassionate toward you.

 

Reflection:

Remember a time when you felt God’s compassion through comfort.

Remember a time when you were confronted by God’s character through a time of suffering.

How can you reframe your current circumstances in the light of God’s compassion?

Your Daily Portion

By: Jenifer Metzger

The Lord is my portion; I

have promised to keep Your words.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119:57‬ CSB

Each time we sit down with Jesus, He hands us a portion, a takeaway. He gives us what we need for that moment or that day or that situation or that season. We never walk away empty handed. If we do feel as though we’ve walked away without a portion, it is because of our own doing. Today let’s talk about how we can receive our portion every time.

Have open hands. If our hands are closed around what we think or what we want, we can’t receive what He has. We must release our grip and open our hands in worship. Then, He can fill them up.

Pray more than your requests. Sometimes we sit down with our Bible, we read a little, then we take our prayer requests to God. We forget that prayer is more than taking needs to God. Prayer is a conversation. Thank God, worship Him, tell Him how much you love Him, and listen quietly.

Repent so sin is not blocking us. Sin is like putting a black sheet in front of our face. We are blocked from seeing what is in front of us. Sin blocks us from God because He cannot be with sin. Repent of your sins so nothing is blocking you from God.

As you read, ask questions. Ask things like ”What is God teaching me right now?” and “What caused a stirring in my spirit?” If we pause long enough to ask and search the answer, we will likely find our portion.

Rid your time of distractions. I’m not talking about our kids playing. Sometimes our quiet time just includes the beautiful noise of children. I’m talking about things like our phones. Those dings and pings are very distracting. Put your phone, tablet, and other devices away so your attention isn’t pulled to them.

Let’s be women who seek and receive our daily portion every time we sit down with our Father.

Discussion:
1. Which of these do you struggle with and which do you find easier in this season of life?
2. What are other ways you can position yourself to receive your portion?

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