Sunday Scripture

 

 Time for another Sunday Scripture!  As I explained several weeks ago, I've made some changes in  my Sunday posts,  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.  I truly hope that others are finding this as helpful as I am.

This week's lesson was actually done by me the week of June 9, 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 checklist first. 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've been finding it so helpful.  (The other three points are things that I'm consistently doing.) 

For this week, my top three priorities are:

1) Food prep-- for back-to-back events coming up at church on Saturday and Sunday.

2) Homemaking -- trying to catch up with home tasks and to do some decluttering

3) People --  phone calls and meet-ups, plus seeing old friends who are grieving and seeking to be a blessing to them.

[If you are following along with our study, this is the place to make a Week-at-a-Glance checklist and/or priority list for yourself!]

🌿 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 real fears going into this week.  

Joys: It will be a joy to fellowship with many old friends on Saturday at a memorial service.  Sad reason, but joyful fellowship.  It will also be a joy to celebrate our 3rd anniversary as a merged church with a wonderful choir of staff from TWNE.

Worries: Not really worries, just concerns for my husband's health.  Trying to be sure we're doing what's best for him.  Also that everything goes smoothly with the two events this weekend.

Desires: Certainly that God will be glorified in the events of this week.  Also that the family of a dear saint having a memorial service for her at our church will be encouraged, comforted and blessed by our ministry to them.  And that our church anniversary on Sunday might be a wonderful testimony that will draw many to the Lord and encourage believers.

Stressors: Time and energy constraints, limitations of aging, and my hubby's skin condition.

🌿 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 ... in full control of the events of this week.  You are able to provide the health, strength and energy I need for each activity.  You are even ale to expand my time and allow me to accomplish more than I think possible..

* Lord, I feel ...quite optimistic and energized for the week ahead.  I feel very thankful for this!

* Lord, help me with ... wise use of my time, especially with the food preparation I need to do and the household tasks I'd like to accomplish.

* Lord, forgive me for ... wrong, sinful or selfish attitudes that crop up from time to time.  Forgive me for wasting time occasionally, and help me to use each moment to its maximum potential.

Make a note of four or five people you are praying for.  I listed a dear friend whose wife's memorial service is this weekend; a young couple seeking God's direction; another young couple seeking to raise their family to God's glory.

🌿 The next section in this helpful guide is SCRIPTURE MEDITATION.  I chose to first meditate on this week's Scripture, Psalm 127:1, 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= "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."  (Psalm 127:1)

O= The ESV reads: "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.  Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."

Psalm 127 is one of fifteen "Songs of Ascents" -- Psalms that were sung by worshippers as they went up to Jerusalem for the great festivals -- OR possibly sung by pilgrims "on the ascending march from the Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem."  -- C.I. Scofield

One author wrote: "This Psalm  teaches us to depend in all our undertakings on the blessing of God. The Divine blessing is the only true source of prosperity. It should be sought on the threshold of every undertaking."

Cross-reference for "vain" -- "And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits."  (Leviticus 26:20)

Cross-reference for "except the LORD keep the city" -- "Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.  The LORD is thy keeper; the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand."  (Psalm 121:4-5)

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures says: "All help, all protection, and all blessing come from God; without Him all labor, care, and trouble are vain."

Several sources suggested looking at Proverbs 10:22 -- "The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it."

A= To help with my application of this verse, I answered the three questions from Fix your Focus:

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

He is sovereign over all the affairs of men.  He is the One who holds all things together.  He is our keeper.  He is the One who is to be the foundation on which we build our lives and homes.

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

I am a person who needs to build my life on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His Word.  I am inadequate to build my life myself and would be foolish to build it on any other foundation.  I am inadequate in myself to protect myself.  Ultimately it is the Lord who protects me.

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

I should seek to live my life as one whose life is built on the sure foundation of Christ and His Word.  My life outwardly should be consistent with my inward life.  Although I should be prudent and wise and be a good steward of my life, ultimately my protection comes from God.

One author noted that there is no prohibition here against our building or watching, but against our doing anything independently of God. If we are to succeed, we must be fellow workers with Him.

David Roper wrote in Our Daily Bread, "It’s useless to drive ourselves in anxious frenzy, “to rise up early, to sit up late” (127:2), as if success depended solely on our efforts. We must work hard and be faithful in all we do, but we must also realize that everything depends on God. He never stops working on our behalf."

Herbert Vander Lugt noted, "Some Bible scholars believe that in his later years Solomon wrote Psalm 127 out of his own bitter experience. He had discovered at last the futility of going his own way.

"Our way is the path of human wisdom and self-reliance. It leads to frustration and emptiness. God’s way involves trusting Him, obeying Him, and depending on Him. It leads to satisfaction and joy—in part on earth but fully in heaven. Each day let’s choose to live God’s way."

P= "Lord, I praise You for the wisdom to be found it Your Word.   Truly You give wisdom for every aspect of life, and You give us clear direction for living our lives in a way that pleases You.  I pray that You will help me to trust and obey You, depending on You through every moment of life, realizing that I can do nothing of eternal value in my own strength.  Having built my life on the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that You will help me to work hard and do my best, living as one whose foundation is in Him.  It's in His name that I pray! 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) Breakfast out, at an iconic New Hampshire landmark, with friends on the Monday.

2) Taking some time on our own after breakfast that day to drive some scenic back roads in New Hampshire and Vermont.

3) Spending an hour with a dear friend along our route.

4) Seeing significant changes in my hubby's skin issues.

5) Getting to spend some time with dear young friends and their children on Saturday.

🌿 SPIRITUAL GROWTH is the next prompt, and this week there's an emphasis on FASTING. We were to make a plan concerning what we would fast from, and what would be the duration and frequency of our fast.  We were also to consider how we might replace our fasted item with the pursuit of God and His Word.  [And again, if you are following along, please think about this for yourself.]

  I do intermittent fasting daily, fasting approximately 16 to 18 hours each day.  This practice absolutely does free up time for spending in God's Word and in prayer, and I take full advantage of that!

🌿 Lastly is a GOSPEL-CENTERED AFFIRMATION: 

It is the Lord, not human effort, that makes any task successful.

We can take this encouraging thought into the coming week as we seek to serve God in His strength and not our own.

And there's the Sunday Scripture for this week!