Sunday Scripture

 

Time for another Sunday Scripture lesson from Fix Your Focus!

This week's lesson was actually done by me the week of January 19.  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) Ministry /friends--  phone calls, cards, and emails, blogging, Sunday School lesson preparation; time with friends on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday..

2)  Planning  -- Planning and freezer cooking for family visit in March.

3) Etsy  -- prepare and send orders; try to prepare 5 new listings, especially vintage date books and Valentines.  [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 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, but a few concerns.   

Joys: Spending time with friends is a true joy (and how good God is to bless us with such friendships!).  It's a joy to plan and prepare for our family's visit in March.  Even housework and Etsy  listings are a joy when I'm not crunched for time.

Worries: My intent is always not to worry, as Jesus instructed us not to and reminded us that worry achieves nothing.  I do have some concerns, but I can trust Him to take care of them.

Desires: That God would be glorified in the events of this week.  That the women I minister to would be encouraged and strengthened in their faith.  That our time with friends on Monday and Saturday would refresh all of our spirits.  To get some Etsy listings, freezer cooking, and simple craft projects done.

Stressors: The usual limitations of age and energy, as well as time constraints.  My hubby's health and hearing issues.  Loud and active children and the mess that goes with them (but they are worth it!).  The unpredictable winter weather.

🌿 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 this week and all of its events.  You are in control of the weather and You know what it will actually be.  You are able to give us wisdom for traveling and for everything else that we will be doing this week -- You promise to give wisdom when we ask.  You are so good to give us precious times of fellowship with like-minded friends.

* Lord, I feel ... really tired this week for whatever reason.  I feel so thankful for friends to fellowship with, and for so many opportunities for ministry.  Yet on the busy ministry days I often feel slightly overwhelmed.  I also feel, many days, as if life is somewhat out of balance.

* Lord, help me with ... my energy levels, with staying strong on the sugar fast.  Help me get more done in my Etsy shop, and with planning for a March visit from family.  Help me with decluttering and organizing, and with preparing well for our weekly "tea party" with friends.

* Lord, forgive me for ... any time when my thoughts, motives, words, or actions are not pleasing to You.

* Make a note of 4 or 5 people you are specifically praying for.  I listed friends dealing with a cancer diagnosis; a granddaughter taking some challenging college classes; a grandson taking a class in a neighboring state.

🌿 The next section in this helpful guide is SCRIPTURE MEDITATION.  I chose to first meditate on this week's Scripture, 1 Corinthians 16:13, 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= "Watch, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."  (1 Corinthians 16:13)

O= ESV reads: "Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong."

NKJV reads: "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong."

 This verse, near the end of the first letter to the Corinthians, is from a section titled in the Scofield study Bible as "Conclusion: Instructions and Personal Greetings."

Verse 13 surely falls into the "Instructions" category.  It contains four simple yet challenging directives:

🌿 Watch; be watchful
🌿 Stand fast, or firm, in the faith
🌿 Act like brave men
🌿 Be strong.

Cross-references for "watch" -- "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."  (1 Peter 5:8)

"Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."  (Matthew 24:42)

Cross-references for "stand fast in the faith" -- ""Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."  (Galatians 5:1)

"Only let your conduct be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the sake of the gospel."  (Philippians 1:27) 

"Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved."  (Philippians 4:1) 

"Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and  distress by your faith; for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord."  (1 Thessalonians 3:7-8)

"Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle."  (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

Cross-references for "quit you like men" -- ""Be strong, and acquit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: acquit yourselves like men, and fight."  (1 Samuel 4:9)

"Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people; and for the cities of our God; and the LORD do that which seemeth to Him good."  (2 Samuel 10:12)

"Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors."  (Isaiah 46:8)

Cross-references for "be strong" -- "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." (Ephesians 3:16)

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might."  (Ephesians 6:10) 

"Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness."  (Colossians 1:11)

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 a God who cares about how His people live, and who has given us instruction in His Word as to how we should live.  He is a God of detail.  He is a wise and loving Father who wants to equip His people to live lives that will bring honor and glory to Him.

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

I'm a person of limited understanding and finite wisdom, so I'm in need of God's instruction.  I'm a child of God who must listen to and heed His instruction and His Fatherly guidance.

* Throughout the week, consider how this verse should affect the way you live.

 I should be watchful for ways in which Satan would seek to influence me and trip me up.  I should be brave and courageous as I seek to live to God's glory and to walk out my faith before a lost and often hostile world.  I should stand fast in my faith.

Someone has said that these four instructions -- be watchful; stand fast in the faith; act like brave men; and be strong -- are a Christian "tetrad" for all of God's people.  (A tetrad is a group or set of four things.)

W.E. Vine says: "these four exhortations have a military tone; the believers must be as sentinels on guard, must maintain their position, must manifest courage, and must become strong. And the exhortations were evidently needed, against insensibility to spiritual dangers, against desertion from the truth, against moral weakening.."

"These four commands have a definite order and lead up to the last one – “Be strong.” The fulfilling of these four commands was, no doubt, the secret of Paul's strength." -- Stephen Olford

 Chuck Swindoll explains that these commands of Paul's "were not merely to be memorized or written down—they were meant to be put into practice immediately and lived out continually.”

 The phrase "quit ye like men" or "act like men" essentially means, "Grow up!"

Swindoll says, "They needed to set aside their fussiness, whining, and complaining and instead progress toward maturity in Christ, but they had failed to shed their dependence on the blankies, bottles, and binkies that had soothed them in their baby Christian days. These 'props' of comfort were closely connected to the secular world around them. How easy it was for them to slip back into the secular crib of their infancy rather than learn to walk on their own two feet by the grace of God and through the power of the Spirit!"

P= "Lord, I pray that You will help me to put this important verse into practice on a daily basis.  Help me to be watchful for Satan's wiles and stratagems and to actively fight against them.  Help me to be brave and courageous in an increasingly hostile world.  Help me to stand fast in my faith as the world around me becomes more and more unstable.

    "I thank You for the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health You will give me as I seek to live out this verse -- and  I pray 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) I had asked God to help me nurture creativity in my life.  Over the past couple weeks the ideas have been flowing thick and fast!

2) Strength to continue our sugar fast, and the spiritual growth I'm noting as a result.

3) I wanted to make a set of Scripture verse cards as an encouragement to friends.  I planned to design them and then cut them out of card stock, but God had a better plan.  At the thrift store He provided an unused pack of perforated card stock intended for recipes or postcards, with online help, templates and designs that was exactly what I needed, and for only $1.  We stopped in at this thrift store in the late afternoon, on impulse because we were walking downtown, and I had no intention of looking for a product like this as I didn't even know it existed.  What astounding attention to detail on God's part!

4) Being able to get out and walk nearly every day.  That is no small blessing in the winter.

5) God prompting me to send encouragement cards to a couple of young friends -- which turned out to be exactly what they needed at the time.

🌿 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 to make a plan to 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.]

My plan for fasting: I'm currently in the middle of a 40-day sugar fast.  One suggestion was that we let hunger pangs be like "church bells calling us to prayer".  I've found this idea so helpful.  When I feel hunger pangs, I will either pray for someone, or pick up my Fix Your Focus study, and work in that.

🌿 Lastly is a GOSPEL-CENTERED AFFIRMATION: 

I will stand strong in the truth of Scripture rather than being swept away by every whim.

This is surely a challenging but very uplifting thought for the week ahead.  There is so much out there in our world and culture that Satan could use to sweep us away with.  We want to be sure we are standing firm in all that we know of God and in the truths of His Word.

And there's the Sunday Scripture for this week!