Sunday Scripture

 Yes, it's time for another Sunday Scripture!  I'm currently 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 May 26, 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) Time with friends and family on Memorial Day 

2) Gifts for friends and family -- finish Abigail's blanket; send check to Dawn; order Jim's gift card

3) Time at home -- homemaking, Etsy shop, getting some extra rest.

🌿 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..  Continued concerns for my hubby's skin condition, though there's been some slight improvement.

Joys: Looking forward to fellowship with friends, time at our cottage, just the joy of time at home, too.

Worries: A worrisome situation or two that I'm seeking to leave with the Lord..

Desires: My main desire for this week is that God will be glorified in its events.  I also desire to finish a handmade baby gift and to find time for listing items in my Etsy shop.

Stressors: My hubby's health needs and how best to address them.  Also the many flakes of skin that must be vacuumed up daily.  Extended family dynamics are also stressful.

🌿 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 ... fully aware of all of my concerns and stressors going into this week. You are in control of and sovereign over each one.  You are the great Physician who is more than able to heal this skin condition.  You are wisdom and will give me wisdom for each situation I face.

* Lord, I feel ... still tired from the busyness of recent weeks and as if I'm not quite caught up from all of that.  I feel as if I'm still moving quite slowly and still need to pace myself.  I do feel optimistic about the week ahead, though.

* Lord, help me with ... everything that's on my plate this week.  Help me with my attitudes and with eating right and exercising to maintain my energy levels.  Help me too with getting enough sleep.

* Lord, forgive me for ...  wrong attitudes and laziness, and for failing to trust You at times.

Make a note of four or five people you are praying for.  I listed a wayward grandson, a family with sickness in the house, a young couple seeking God's direction, and an older friend who has just returned home from rehab.

🌿 The next section in this helpful guide is SCRIPTURE MEDITATION.  I chose to first meditate on this week's Scripture, Psalm 34:19, 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= "Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivereth him out of them all." (Psalms 34:19)

O= The biblical heading for this psalm is "A Psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed." Concerning this, Charles Spurgeon wrote: 

"Although the gratitude of the psalmist prompted him thankfully to record the goodness of the Lord in vouchsafing an undeserved deliverance, yet he weaves none of the incidents of the escape into the narrative, but dwells only on the grand fact of his being heard in the hour of peril".

That is interesting, I think!

 C.I. Scofield titles Psalm 34 "The LORD delivers His own".

We could simply reword the verse this way: Righteous people will have many afflictions, but the LORD will deliver them out of each one.

Back in verse 17 of Psalm 34 David says, "The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth; and delivereth them out of all their troubles."

Cross-reference for "many are the afflictions ..." -- "Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me.  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,"  (2 Timothy 3:11-12)

Cross-references for "but the LORD delivereth" -- "This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and delivered him out of all his troubles."  (Psalm 34:6

"And when Peter was come to himself, he said, now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent His angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews."  (Acts 12:11)

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

He is all-knowing and knows every affliction that His people are dealing with.  He is all-powerful and is able to deliver His people out of each trial.  He hears the prayer of the righteous when they call to Him, and He will deliver them. 

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

As one of God's people ("the righteous") I can know that I will have many afflictions throughout life.  Being a Christian does not guarantee a trouble-free life.  Trials are a fact of life and will come to all of us.

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

I should never be surprised by trials.  Most believers are either experiencing a trial, just coming out of a trial, or just about to enter a trial.  I should remember that God has a purpose in each trial and, when His purposes have been served, He will deliver me out of each trial in His perfect timing.  I should concentrate on navigating each trial God's way, seeking to grow through it and asking for His purposes to be accomplished in it.

Warren Wiersbe says, "The psalmist does not say, 'I thought the Lord kept us out of afflictions. I thought that if I read my Bible every day and prayed and tried to obey His will, I would never have any afflictions.' Instead, he says that we will face many afflictions.

"Often, afflictions are God's tools for helping us grow. We don't really grow until we've been through the furnace, through the storm or through the battle. God is not raising hothouse plants that shrivel when the hot wind blows on them. No, He wants to raise mature sons and daughters, and that's why we have afflictions. 

"He doesn't keep us out of them. He delivers us from them. Sometimes He changes the circumstances. Sometimes He changes us. The real secret of deliverance is not the circumstance around you but the faith within you. Expect affliction, but trust God for deliverance."

P= Lord, I'm so thankful for the truths of Your Word!.  The Psalms have long been precious to me for many reasons, and this verse from Psalm 34 is an encouragement.  I know that afflictions and trials are a part of life and that You have a good purpose in each trial and affliction that You allow.  I'm thankful that You will deliver us from our afflictions and that we can trust in that promise.  I praise You for how You are working in my life, 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) Strength to serve at TWNE during a very busy time.

2) Wisdom in pacing myself both at my volunteer job and at home.  Without God's wisdom, I wouldn't think to do this..

3) A couple mornings of not setting an alarm.

4) Flexibility to make some dietary changes for my hubby's health.

5) Good quality time in God's Word each day.

🌿 SPIRITUAL GROWTH is the next prompt, and this week there's an emphasis on SERVING.  We were to think about resources available to us and to consider how we could serve those in need this week.

Here's what we did: A phone call with Jennifer; time at the park with my young friend R. and her kiddos; a financial donation to a gift card for a recent widow.

🌿 Lastly is a GOSPEL-CENTERED AFFIRMATION: 

I will face adversity, but the Lord will rescue me.

What a great challenge for all of us in the coming week!