Sunday Scripture

 

Yes, it's time for another Sunday Scripture!  As I explained several weeks ago, I'm making some changes to  my Sunday posts ... stepping away from the study of Psalms for awhile.  This is something God has placed on my heart to do, and I hope others are finding it as helpful as I am.

I am using the Daily Grace Co. book Fix Your Focus, which is really not a Bible study as such, but more of a guide to help you fix your focus on God, His Word, prayer, gratitude, and spiritual growth, every week for 52 weeks.  I encourage you to follow along with us as we journal, look at Scripture, pray, and face the challenges of our weeks with our focus on Him.

This week's lesson was actually done by me the week of April 14, but I will be working ahead of you readers.  So here goes!

🌿 WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE CHECKLIST is further on in each week's section. But since I am working on Fix Your Focus all week long, I find it works best for me to do this week-at-a-glance checklist first.  [Maybe you would like to use this same checklist if you are following along with us.]

This checklist offers us four points;  

* To make a plan for reading our Bibles and praying.

* To add any upcoming events to our calendars.

* To jot down a to-do list of tasks that must be completed this week.

* To make a note of our top three priorities for this week.

This last point is one that I need to pay special attention to every week.  I think it would be so helpful.  (The other three points are things that I'm consistently doing.) 

For this week, my top three priorities are:

1) Ministry to my church family -- prepping food for Easter breakfast; cleaning the church; praying for them.

2) Ministry to my actual family in preparing food for Easter dinner and in praying for them.

3) Ministry at my volunteer job as I spend two days cleaning.

🌿 The first actual prompt for each week is JOURNAL.  We are encouraged to take a few minutes to journal about our fears, joys, worries, desires and stressors concerning the week ahead.  [If you are following along with us, take a moment in a journal or notebook to do just that.]. Here's what I wrote on Monday, breaking it down into the suggested categories:

Fears: No fears going into this week so far..

Joys: It will be joyous indeed to celebrate Easter with our church family!  We also plan to celebrate Easter with local family, Lord willing.  Another joy this week is having some warmer, sunny days.

Worries: :A couple of family members have colds, so there is the concern that may impact our Easter celebrations.  Of course, it can never dampen our reason for celebrating!

Desires: My main desire for this week is that God will be glorified in every aspect and that it will be a joyous celebratory time.

Stressors: I think most stressors this week are just the time constraints and the limitations of aging.

🌿 The next prompt is PRAYER. It was suggested that we use several prayer prompts to have a conversation with God about the week ahead.  [You can do the same.  Use the very same prompts for your own prayer.]

* Lord, You are ... so good, so kind, so merciful to send Your Son into this world to die for us.

* Lord, I feel ... so grateful to be Your child.  So thankful that You drew me to Yourself with lovingkindness.  Thankful for how Your name is being proclaimed in our nation now, and thankful too for the volunteer work You've directed us to..

* Lord, help me with ... the tasks on my plate this week.  Help me too with my attitudes and also with my tendency toward emotional eating.

* Lord, forgive me for ...  times when I have bad attitudes and when I fall so quickly into emotional eating or complaining about circumstances. 

Make a note of four or five people you are praying for.  I listed two young couples, a dear friend who has just lost his wife; a prodigal grandson; and old friends dealing with serious health issues.

🌿 The next section in this helpful guide is SCRIPTURE MEDITATION.  I chose to first meditate on this week's Scripture, Luke 6:36, using the SOAP method, and then answered several suggested questions.   [You can use your own preferred method to meditate on this verse, and answer the questions below for yourself.]

S= "Be ye, therefore, merciful, as your Father also is merciful." (Luke 6:36)

O= "Therefore" -- What is it "there for"?  We must look back to verse 35:

"But love ye your enemies, and do good: and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great; and ye shall be the sons of the Highest; for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."

Therefore -- because God is kind to even the unthankful and the evil -- we are to be merciful, as He is merciful.

"Jesus continues to describe actions of sons of the Most High.  In the previous passage He describes sons are to be kind  (to give to meet a need) and here to  be merciful, meaning to withhold judgment that others deserve even as God withholds judgment that we as sinners deserve,  Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve.  How can we, as beneficiaries of His great mercy, not show mercy to others?" -- Precept Austin

Commentators tell us that "Be merciful" is in the present imperative which calls for continual exhibition of mercy (especially to those who do not deserve it) which in turn is possible only by being continually filled with and dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit to pour into (and through) our hearts this great grace of mercy.

Cross-references for "be ye merciful" -- "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."  (Matthew 5:7)

"Be ye, therefore, followers of God, as dear children;

"And walk in love, as Christ slso hath loved us, and hath  given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor."  (Ephesians 5:1-2)

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy,"  (James 3:17)

Cross-reference for "your Father is merciful" -- "Behold, we count them happy who endure,  Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy."  (James 5:11)

A= The Precept Austin online commentary titles this section:

"Disciples practice a lifestyle of mercy."

Obviously, we can't show perfect mercy as our Heavenly Father does.  We are imperfect, finite humans.  But we should strive to imitate Him in showing mercy, learning to rely on Him and walk by the Spirit.  As we do we will find a supernatural desire and power to be merciful as He is merciful, and to show the lost world what God's mercy looks like.

"We are to be an audiovisual of Him." -- Darrell Bock

To help with my application for this verse, I did the assignments suggested in Fix Your Focus for Luke 6:36.

* Reflect on what this verse tells you about who God is.

He is my Heavenly Father.  He is merciful.  

* Think about what this verse tells you about who you are.

By virtue of Christ's sacrifice on my behalf, I am a child of my Heavenly Father and a beneficiary of His mercy.

* Throughout the week, consider how these verses should affect the way you live.

I should be merciful toward others, as God has been (and is) merciful to me.

P= Lord, I thank You for Your great mercy with which You have loved me.  I praise You that because of Jesus' sacrifice of Himself, I have been adopted into Your family and am now Your child.  I pray that You will help me to show a "family resemblance" and to be merciful as You are merciful.  Help me to walk by the Spirit and to show my not-yet-believing friends an accurate picture of You and Your mercy.  I praise You for all You will do, in Jesus' name, Amen."

🌿 GRATITUDE is the next prompt.  We were to reflect on the way God has shown His faithfulness to you over the past week and list five things we are thankful for.  [If you are following along with us, be sure to make your own list of five things!]. Here is my list:

1) A wonderful meet-up with friends last Tuesday.  God is so good to give us iron-sharpening-iron friends!

2) Strength and stamina to plan menus and to cook for my volunteer job, not to mention cleaning the church on Saturday.

3) The Christian fellowship around the table at mealtimes with the work crew.

4) Our LOG meeting last Saturday -- safety traveling in a spring snowstorm and a very encouraging time of fellowship and prayer.

5) The blessing of having a young family join us for lunch and fellowship at our camp..

🌿 SPIRITUAL GROWTH is the next prompt, and this week there's an emphasis on FASTING. We were to think about what we could fast from, and what could be the duration and frequency of our fast.  We were to make a plan for how we would replace our fasted item with the pursuit of God and His Word.

I decided to fast from sweets Tuesday into Saturday that week, and to take extra time in my study of Luke 6:36.

🌿 Lastly is a GOSPEL-CENTERED AFFIRMATION: 

God has been merciful to me, and He wants me to be merciful toward others.

Let's all pray for opportunities to show an accurate picture of God's love and mercy in the coming week!