Tag: God's Will

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless Land, Quiet Time

The Potter and the Clay

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Living Faithful in a Faithless World / w1d1

Scripture, Our Road Map for the Journey: Jeremiah 18:1-12 / SOAP verse 6

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over…

“O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.” –

Jeremiaah 18:1-6. NLT

God is the potter, and we are the clay. He will mold us and make us according to His will.

Observation and Application from the Journey

I love it when God uses memories from our past to highlight the present lessons He is teaching us. When I was a little girl – still in elementary school, my best friend was Penny. Penny’s dad had a workshop in their basement where he worked on ceramics, using molds, paints, and other tools to create works of art that he would place in a kiln, which would eventually reveal their beauty. Penny and I loved going down to the basement when he was working because he would occasionally let us help him create. While I know the process of ceramics doesn’t quite compare to the beautiful picture of the potter and his clay, the memory of Mr. Tucker’s detail and attention to his creations flooded my mind as I began to journal my observations of today’s Scripture about the potter.

I also could not help but think of my life verse, the verse that gave a name to this blog site, mefromtheinsideout, from 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ Jesus the new creation has come, the old has gone the new is here. 🦋

In fact, the old version of a Christian, who they were before they were “in Christ,” is not recoverable. The old is gone, Paul writes. The new has come. All the old dreams and ideas and agendas and purposes have ceased to exist and have been replaced by Christ’s ideas and agendas and purposes in an entirely new creature called “Christian.”

– read more @Bibleref.com

Friends, this truth and challenge/question are from the LGG study journal today and are too good and necessary for the study not to share. I pray you will read them and give them thought and prayerful consideration. After all, we waste our time with these studies, or any others for that matter, if we only read them and walk away, ignoring or quickly forgetting what God has made known.

  • TRUTH:
    • “We all like to hear the positive things people say about us. We enjoy being reminded that God loves us, just as we are. But we can be less keen to hear truths such as God detesting our sin. He wants more for us, or He wants us to grow to be more like Jesus.”
  • CHALLENGE:
    • Look again at the SOAP verse (Jer. 18:6) . Read it aloud, but replace “nation of Israel/O Israel” with your name
    • How teachable are you? We are often more focused on the temporary things of this world. God wants to develop your relationship with Him and your character because He is interested in molding us into His likeness. Are you willing to be molded?
Prayer of Response from the Journey

Father, how blessed we are to know Your grace and mercy. How heart-wrenching it is to recall some of the days of my past, but oh, how sweet it is to know Your transforming power! The old has gone, and the new has come! Because of You, I am forever changed, a new creation in Christ Jesus!

As we begin this new study/journey on “Living Faithful in a Faithless Land,” please help us to be teachable, to hear Your Word, and to put it into practice. Guard us from being focused on the temporary things of this world. Help us to grow in our relationship with You, and please develop more of Your character in us. Let us be yielded to You as You mold us and make us according to Your will. – In the Name of Jesus, this is my prayer – Amen and Amen!

Responding in Worship to the Journey (borrowed/Shared from YouTube)
The More We Know

For further reading/understanding: Jeremiah 18:18; 25:1-3, 11

Dear reader, have you known/experienced the life-changing power of God’s mercy and grace? If not, I invite you to read Know These Truths and/or message me so I can share with you the way to a new life in Christ 🦋

https://atomic-temporary-62140760.wpcomstaging.com/2023/03/14/know-these-truths/

Connect with me on Facebook or via email. @mryelnb@aol.com (subject line: Journey through the Word

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Quiet Time, The Armor of God

The Transformer

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, The Armor of God / w5d3

Scripture: Romans 12:1-2 / SOAP: verse 2

 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2 NLT

It may seem odd to hear Paul – or anyone for that matter – encourage the believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, but Paul was teaching, as Bibleref.com explains, “as the Jewish people offered killed animals as sacrifices to God, Christians should instead offer ourselves, our bodies, to Him as living sacrifices.”

For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory. All glory to Him forever! Amen.”

Romans 11:36

Paul’s point is that God is worthy, or as he says – “It is your reasonable act of service” to know and live out the will of God. Paul understood as we saw in our journey yesterday, that when we keep on thinking about the things of God – all He is and has done or promised to do – then our minds will be transformed and our will aligned with God’s. His desires become ours and we will be able to better distinguish what is good and pleasing to Him.

When we keep our mind on earthly things we will be influenced by those things, or people, or cultural norms which is the natural bent of humans. The sinful nature leads us to follow after our own desires rather than God’s, however, we are told throughout the letters of Paul to “put on the new nature – and be renewed.”

The way to escape conformation to the world is through transformation by God, which is the renewing of your mind -🦋

Me🦋 FromtheNsideoutt

It is important to understand that we cannot transform ourselves. Paul says to, “Let God transform You into a new person by changing the way you think.” In other words, we do not – actually we cannot – transform ourselves. Notice with me, while in many of his writings Paul tells us that we need to put off the old and put on the new, he does not tell them here to change they way they live, look, or even act but instead he tells them to “Let God change the way they think.” Paul is teaching them the same thing he taught the Colossians, the mind greatly influences our decisions. When we allow God to transform our minds from the old nature to the new one we have been given in Christ we will live in a way that is pleasing and acceptable to Him.

One way I have found to let God change the way I think is through His Word. Whether it is reading it, listening to it in sermons, memorizing it, singing it, or discussing it with others, God’s Word will bring real and lasting transformation of our minds which will lead to a life-changing transformation from the inside-out 🦋 affecting not just us but all those around us.

 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:14
Prayer of Response to the Word

Father, please help us to faithfully stay in Your Word and to live by it. Let us be women of faith who dwell in the Word so that Your Word may dwell in us – so that we may be forever changed – living lives that are pleasing and acceptable to You and igniting change in others! In Jesus’ Name I pray – Amen!

Going Further in the journey

Be sure and read today’s LGG Blog Post

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, In His Image, Quiet Time, The Attributes of God

Knowing God’s Character

Posted on by

As I was praying about and looking for something to keep us in the Word between studies – The next one begins March 6 – I found a “Loved Bible Project” update in my inbox which included the attributes of God. The problem was there were thirty-one attributes on the list and I only had fourteen days to work with – but I came up with a plan and began to put it into motion trusting God had led me in this direction. As I began studying the various attributes on the list I found a nugget of gold in a book by Jen Wilkin, called “In His Image”. The book is described as “an invitation to become like the God we worship, to see His characteristics become true of us -” Exactly what I was looking for and I knew God was leading. Within five minutes the book was loaded on my Kindle and I was devouring every word.

A. W. Tozer famously said that “what we think about God is the most important and most formative thing about us.” However, C. S. Lewis begged to differ, making this statement, “How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how He thinks of us.” These are two distinct perspectives for sure, yet, as I read and reread the content, it appeared to me that they merge into one important truth, that being, what we know about and thus think about God does indeed form our choice of living a life for self or for Him. Likewise, it is in knowing how God thinks of us that will play the biggest part in how and what we think of Him. Knowing that we will one day “stand before Him and be inspected,” as Lewis wrote, will greatly “impact all the formative years of our lives”, as well as how our lives will impact all those we come in contact with.

what we know about and thus think about God does indeed form our choice of living a life for self or for Him. Likewise, it is in knowing how God thinks of us that will play the biggest part in how and what we think of Him.

MEfromtheinsideout

I think we would all agree that someone who is unkind or a liar or unfaithful will have a vastly different impact than one who is kind and marked by truth and faithfulness. When we know who God is, the God of grace, the One who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son to die in our place – we not only realize the utter importance of what He thinks of us but we cannot help but be moved to stand in awe of Him, thinking highly and reverently of Him and undoubtedly wanting to please Him in every way. If our thoughts and attitudes are not so moved, then I would venture to say – we have not truly understood, believed, or appreciated who God is, who we are, and what He thinks of us.

When our lives are shaped by knowing what God thinks of us and thus wanting to please Him we will no doubt find ourselves, as Jen points out, wanting to know God’s will for our life. This is a good thing – but the premise of her book and the purpose of me pursing this study isn’t to ask, “What should I do?” While this is the question that typically accompanies the desire to know His will, the better question, Jen points out, is “Who should I be?” As we will see moving forward through each of the attributes, the right and true answer to this necessary question is found only in knowing – really knowing – who God is, what He thinks of you, and what He desires from and for You.

With this is mind I hope and pray you will join me in this study and to know and understand these ten attributes of God. You might be wondering why just ten and not the original thirty-one I mentioned. The answer is this, there are certain attributes that only belong to God, such as His omniscience (all-knowing power), omnipotence (all-powerful), and omnipresent (always-present) attributes. The attributes we will look at are “those that describe the abundant life Jesus came to give us.” Jen explains that these are called “God’s communicable attributes, those of his traits that can become true of us, as well. God is holy, loving just, good, merciful, gracious, faithful, truthful, patient, and wise. When we talk about being ‘conformed to the image of Christ,’ this is the list we are describing.” There is much to be gained in the study of all of God’s attributes but I believe these ten attributes will teach us what it means to truly reflect God. Which according to Scripture is exactly what we were meant to do, Genesis 1:26, Genesis 2:7, Genesis 1:28, and more.

The image of God (Latin, imago dei) refers to the immaterial part of humanity. It sets human beings apart from the animal world, fits them for the dominion God intended them to have over the earth (Genesis 1:28), and enables them to commune with their Maker. It is a likeness mentally, morally, and socially.

For the full explanation visit https://www.gotquestions.org/image-of-God.html

So, who is it you should be? Want to find out? Then grab your Bible, a pen and paper, and join me tomorrow as we begin this ten-day journey to uncover not just who He is – but His will for your life and who He wants you to be.

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, LGG Study

Praying According to His Will

Posted on by
Inspired by The Importance of Prayer, a LGG Study, w3d2
Today’s Scripture Reading: 1 John 5:13-15; SOAP: 1 John 5:14

I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.  And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.  And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

1 John 5:13-15

Once upon a time …. God lived in a temple built by human hands. His presence was behind a curtain and accessible only through an earthly priest. God’s people would come to the temple to worship as they had been instructed and to offer sacrifices of the blood of animals. Their sacrifices were atonements to pay for all the ways they had broken the laws that God had given them – no matter how hard they might try to keep the law as God desired – it was an impossible feat. The earthly priest, who was allowed to pass behind the curtain once a year, would make sacrifices on behalf of himself and the people year after year because their’s was not an everlasting atonement.

“The veil in the temple was a constant reminder that sin renders humanity unfit for the presence of God. The fact that the sin offering was offered annually and countless other sacrifices repeated daily showed graphically that sin could not truly be atoned for or erased by mere animal sacrifices. Jesus Christ, through His death, has removed the barriers between God and man, and now we may approach Him with confidence and boldness (Hebrews 4:14-16).”

Gotquestions.org

However, in time, God sent forth His only “begotten son” to become an atonement that would forever cover the sins of all those who believed in him. The atonement did not come easy, not only did God give up His one and only son, the son had to be born as a human and dwell among men. He took on the form of a servant and He loved like no one had loved before. He called others to follow him and performed miraculous acts of compassion through healing. He walked among the pious, devoutly religious, and sinners. He was questioned, ridiculed, and eventually sentenced to death – though no wrong could be proved against him.

Though he had faced all the temptations known to man – he was a man without sin. He was hung upon a criminal’s cross and He was crucified. A crown of thorns was used to mock his claim to be ‘king of the Jews’. He was stripped of his clothes, spit upon, and tortured beyond our understanding – all so that God’s plan would be accomplished. This plan, His plan, was born out of His love and His desire to dwell among men. It was a plan to save people from their sins – not through the sacrifices of animals over and over again but through His son who met all the requirements of a perfect sacrifice, a once and for all sacrifice. He was the true and spotless ‘Lamb of God’.

Remember the curtain… the one that stood between man and God … the one that was a constant reminder of sins that separated man from God? Well, when the son died, he proved to be the true and spotless lamb, for when he died the curtain in the temple, where God lived, was torn in two. It was not torn by human hands but miraculously from the top to the bottom – torn as a symbol that the wall between God and man was forever removed.

The size and thickness of the veil make the events occurring at the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross so much more momentous. “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:50-51a). … So, what do we make of this? What significance does this torn veil have for us today? Above all, the tearing of the veil at the moment of Jesus’ death dramatically symbolized that His sacrifice, the shedding of His own blood, was a sufficient atonement for sins. It signified that now the way into the Holy of Holies was open for all people, for all time, both Jew and Gentile.

Gotquestions.org

From that time forward, even to this day, the son’s blood covers all the sins of every man, woman, and child – from every tribe, nation, and tongue who believes in him, the son of God. Believers are adopted into God’s family and given the full rights of sons and daughters of God. As such, they are no longer separated by a curtain but are invited to approach God – to come before Him – with confidence that when they ask anything according to His will He will hear them and answer accordingly.

This isn’t the end of the story …. The son’s death was followed by a miraculous resurrection and ascension into Heaven where He sits at His Father’s right hand interceding on the behalf of all who have believed – with the promise to one day return again … Are you ready? If not and you would like to know how to be please contact me – I would love to share more of the Son’s story with you and introduce you to The Way. https://www.gotquestions.org/gospel-message.html