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| Beautiful graphic by Abby at Little Birdie Blessings |
Time for another Sunday Scripture lesson from Fix Your Focus!
This week's lesson was actually done by me the week of February 2. 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 -- phone calls, correspondence, blogging, Sunday School lesson preparation; teatime with friends on Wednesday.
2) Planning -- Preparation for our family's visit in March: planning, decluttering, cleaning, and freezer cooking.
3) Creativity -- finish the felt s'mores; work on other craft projects and Etsy listings.
[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.
Joys: Creating is joyful for me, and I get to do it so seldom. Anticipating a family visit is a joy. Friends for tea will be a joy. Blogging is a joy for me.
Worries: No real worries going into this week. A few concerns that I'm praying about.
Desires: To glorify God in all that is said and done this week. To accomplish some crafting and some serious decluttering and to get some good solid work done to prepare for our family's visit. To be an encouragement to those I am mentoring.
Stressors: Mostly just the usual time limitations of age, time, and energy. Frustrations with my hubby's hearing issues.
🌿 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 that it will hold. You are able to help me accomplish all that needs to be done. You are aware of all the stressors and can help me manage my limitations. You are so good to give me (and my hubby) so many opportunities to minister to others.
* Lord, I feel ... tired and a little overwhelmed this week. I feel blessed to be used in the lives of younger women. I feel a little sad that I haven't been needed as much at my volunteer job this winter, but realistically if I was there more, there would be things left undone here at home. I also feel a little discouraged at the end of each day that I haven't accomplished as much as I hoped to.
* Lord, help me with ... all that needs to happen this week. Help me have the necessary energy to do a lot of cooking and cleaning this week. Help me find the time and the appropriate words to write some overdue thank-you notes and a get-well card. Help me with wise management of time.
* Lord, forgive me for ... anytime when I act in my own strength or wisdom. Anytime when I am unwise in my use of time. Anytime when I fail to trust You as I should and fail to listen for Your prompting and guidance.
* Make a note of 4 or 5 people you are specifically praying for. I listed friends dealing with a cancer diagnosis; a granddaughter with physical issues; a young mom and her daughters dealing with a complicated family situation.
🌿 The next section in this helpful guide is SCRIPTURE MEDITATION. I chose to first meditate on this week's Scripture, Psalm 94:19, 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= "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul." (Psalm 94:19)
O= In the ESV this verse reads, "When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul."
The ESV Bible titles Psalm 94 this way: "The LORD will not forsake His people."
It's a blessing to consider verse 19 in its context:
Verse 14-18: "For the LORD will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance.
"But judgment shall return unto righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
"Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
"Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
"When I said, My foot slippeth, Thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
Verse 19: "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul.
Verse 22: "But the LORD is my defense, and my God is the rock of my refuge."
The thoughts that filled the psalmist's mind were many. Thee were a multitude of them, and it seems they were anxious thoughts concerning his enemies ... maybe even life-or-death concerns.
In the midst of these many anxious thoughts that filled his mind, the psalmist says that God's comforts delight his soul.
Surely some of these comforting thoughts are found in the surrounding verses:
🌿 God will not cast off His people.
🌿 God will not forsake His inheritance.
🌿 God was his help in the past
🌿 God's mercy held him up when his foot slipped.
🌿 The LORD was his defense.
🌿 God was the rock of his refuge.
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.
God has comforts that will delight the souls of His anxious children in the midst of their difficulties.
* Think about what this verse tells you about who you are.
I'm a person prone to anxious thoughts. The cares of my heart are many. Yet in the midst of those cares I have a heavenly Father who desires for His comforts to delight my soul.
* Throughout the week, consider how this verse should affect the way you live.
In the midst of difficulties and anxious thoughts, I should focus not on these things, but instead on the comfort that comes with being God's child, having Him as my Helper, knowing that His mercy will hold me up. He will be my defense and the rock of my refuge.
"What a treasure we have knowing in the midst of our anxieties, our soul can delight in the comforts God gives." -- Abby Hickey
Charles Bradley wrote in 1845, "A text of this kind shows us forcibly the power of divine grace in the human heart: how much it can do to sustain and cheer the heart. The world may afflict a believer, and pain him; but if the grace which God has given him is in active exercise in his soul, the world cannot make him unhappy."
"When I am tossed to and fro with various reasonings, distractions, questionings, and forebodings, I will fly to my true rest, for 'Thy comforts delight my soul'. From my sinful thoughts, my vain thoughts, my sorrowful thoughts, my griefs, my cares, my conflicts, I will hasten to the Lord; He has divine comforts, and these will not only console but actually delight me. How sweet are the comforts of the Spirit! Who can muse upon eternal love, immutable purposes, covenant promises, finished redemption, the risen Saviour, His union with His people, the coming glory, and such like themes, without feeling his heart leaping with joy?" -- Charles Spurgeon
P= "Lord, how I thank and praise You that even in the midst of scary and worrisome situations, Your comforts can delight my soul. What a blessing it is to remember that You are my Helper. Your mercy has held me up in the past and I can count on it doing the same in the future. I praise You that You will be my defense and the rock of my refuge.
"I pray that You will help me to always look to You and what I know to be true about You, rather than at my distressing circumstances or anxious thoughts. You are the God of all comfort who comforts me in all of life's troubling situations, and I am incredibly thankful for this. I thank You 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) Tea with friends on the Wednesday.
2) God's protection on a one-year-old who crept up our stairs unnoticed and into a bedroom closet, where she proceeded to invade my yarn stash! God kept her safe from several much more potentially dangerous areas, but there is a gate in place for her visits now!
3) Being able to host our Ladies of Grace meeting on the Saturday.
4) The fact that our Ladies of Grace group even exists! God put this on the hearts of two younger women who immediately followed through on what He was showing them. And what a blessing it has been.
5) Enjoying a challenging devotional about quietness, and an encouraging discussion about new year goals and edifying book recommendations.
🌿 SPIRITUAL GROWTH is the next prompt, and this week there's an emphasis on SERVING. We were to think about our available resources and how we could serve those in need this week. [And again, if you are following along, please think about this for yourself.]
My plan for serving:
I will spend a lot of time in intercessory prayer for those with serious needs. I plan to send cards or notes to those who need encouragement. I will expend the time, energy, and thoughtfulness it takes to open my home to others for teatime and to make an encouraging phone call to a faraway friend.
🌿 Lastly is a GOSPEL-CENTERED AFFIRMATION:
Even when I am overcome with concerns, I find joy in the nearness of God.
This
is surely a comforting, uplifting thought for the week ahead. Even in the darkness of our world today and the many concerns we have, our souls can be comforted and delighted by the truths of God's Word and His reassuring presence.
And there's the Sunday Scripture for this week!