I John 1 Who ya talkin' to?

Tonight was a good session. It was good to see everyone after all the bouts with sickness, hospitalizations,  24 hour work schedules, and homework. Topic tonight was, "Who is John talking to in I John 1?" After reading through it, we realized that it was "y'all" and "us", and John was talking to the Gnostics, hoping they'd come to their senses, admit their need for the savior, then join John and the other Christians in fellowship through Christ.

August 11th, 2011 Bible Study

In spite of this being broadcasted on the wrong channel, I have to admit, the study itself went pretty good. Understanding the purpose of the law is important to understanding why it is that we're not under the Law anymore. When a sincere believer first hears this, often the first reaction is one of indignation--I should know--that was me. "Oh! Well, then! Since we're not under the law, I guess we can go sin up a storm, huh? After all, we don't have to obey the Ten Commandments anymore!" Oh man--I had enough pride to choke a horse. See, the thing is, "not being under the law" isn't a license to sin. Quite frankly, when I was trying to keep the law, I sinned pretty good withOUT a license. What about you? "Being under the law" in no way kept me from sinning. Oh, I tried. I tried not to make God mad. I tried to make sure I was always a good little girl. Unfortunately, my motivation was often times either one of two things: Fear of punishment, or fear of being unloved. I didn't want either of those things. When we come out from under the Law, where do we go? We go into Christ. Now, let's be serious. If Jesus honestly lives in us--is He going to lead us to steal? What about killing? Or Coveting anything? No, He wouldn't. Nor would He stop at "Thou shalt not covet". He takes it a step further. Not only do we not covet (Not because it's one of the Ten commandments, but because it's not an act of love). We go beyond "not" doing something, and rejoice when our neighbors DO have something. What does rejoicing look like? Perhaps walking over and commenting what a lovely__________they have? Waving as they pass by with their ____________? And mean it...no inward seething because they got something you deserved. Rejoicing when the coworker gets the promotion that should have been yours? What would rejoicing with him look like? Hmmmm? Until next time!

April 28 Bible study

Tonight was a good reminder that God's grace is sufficient-- for the present. Too often, when we dwell on the past too long, that can send us into a depression. Either pastnmistakes that we beat ourselves up over, or the good times that are no longer here. To this I can attest to. Our boys are both semi-grown now, both with valid drivers license, and pretty independent of me. For a few weeks, I lamented the time that they were young, and the pain went to my very core. Watching home movies of when both boys were little, I often kicked myself for not appreciating their childhood more. When the holy spirit pricked me and nudge me back to the present, I realized I had allowed myself to wallow in stinking thinking.

Have you ever done this? Gone down memory lane and wound up in a depressed mood? In the words of Paul, forgetting the things that are behind me, I press on to what is ahead. (Philippians 3:13)

Press on, friend...press on.

Vicotry over Depression chpt 5

Wow--tonight was a good study! Glancing through the PDF's,  it was an 'in your face' kinda deal. I'd heard all of this before, but a good reminder never hurts. When we get wrapped up on ourselves, our circumstances, how folks are treating us... us, us, us... we wallow in self-pity, and next thing you know, our eyes are off of God, and onto poor me. It was right there, in black and white, scriptures and all. It didn't paint a very good picture of mankind, and our fleshly ways, but if I were honest, I'd have to say that if I took it to heart, that would be my first step to getting out of depression. Admitting that maybe my response to circumstances, and not my circumstances themselves, was the culprit to my move towards depression.

In the end, an attitude of gratitude will help the blues dispensate and move us towards God-thoughts, instead of me-thoughts.

April 14, 2011

Does it matter what we think, as long as we're 'acting' nice? If nobody sees our bad attitude inside, does it really matter?
Who was the guy in the Bible who's hair weighed 5 pounds and he only cut it about once a year? Hint: It's not Samson.
Who was the woman in the Bible that boiled her son and ate him, and wanted to eat another son the next day? Why?

These were just some of the questions asked in tonight's study. Since G had to work tonight, two of our younger family members shared what they had researched. After a little bit of discussion of "attitude" presented by Courtney and Chase, Pa brought up some questions about 'weird facts about Bible characters" interesting! The "little god doctrine' was inquired on, and since not everyone had heard of it, we researched it just a bit. We knew it wasn't for us, as we are Children of God, but not little gods. Creepy.

It was a very sweet night tonight, with food, fellowship and study. While we missed the folks that couldn't come, we very much enjoyed our family that did make it, and God who was in the midst of us all.
Until next week!

April 7, 2011

Tonight's study was a continuation of Victory Over Depression, this one happens to be the 4th segment.  Freedom in Dependence was the title, and we discussed how Jesus did nothing except what God told him to do.  This train of thought can be found in John 5:19, John 6:38,  John 8:28-29.

Sometimes we think we are free when we walk independently from God, but, being the imperfect human we are, that only leads to failure. To walk in total dependence in a Savior that loves us perfectly,  that's freedom from worry,  from stress,  and other negative dealings we have to deal with.

Too often, humanity tries to find satisfaction in beverage, food, relationships, or activities. Any of these are temporary satisfaction at best. If these things could permanently satisfy, we would partake of them once, then never have need for that 'thing' again. We try to find our self worth based on what others think of us, (who's opinions can change like the wind) and that puts us in bondage to them, sometimes even without their knowledge. Our self esteem can change like the wind, as well, and we become unstable.

Check out the slides on the PDF page!

March 31, 2011

Another good session.  Although I've heard these truths before, I needed to hear them again. In part 3 of "Victory Over Depression", we're faced with the truth that a lot of our 'stinkin' thinkin' can be traced back to misplaced dependencies. Our self worth is based on what others think of us at any given moment.  We desperately try to "Keep up with the Jones' " and when the "Joneses" don't appreciate our effort, we get depressed. If our significant other doesn't give us their approval, we can get depressed.

The proper dependency is to rely on God's "opinion" of us for our self worth. Fact: He loves us. Fact: He'll never leave us or forsake us. Fact: God knew us in our mother's womb. Fact: God doesn't love us based on our good works, skills, looks or personality. God loves us because of Him.

So the question is, then, will we continue to try to pull our self worth from other people (who, incidentally, may be trying to pull their self worth from someone else), or will we recognize Whose child we are, and allow His love to be enough for us?

March 24, 2011

Wow, tonight was fantastic! We continued in the studies of Victory over Depression, and several scriptures were brought up, one of which was found in Ephesians 1:13. We have been sealed with the promise Holy Spirit! We're going to stay sealed up to the day of redemption. Isn't that good news? What God seals, stays seals.
It was discussed that depression is often made up of the ingredients of misplaced dependencies; needing the approval or admiration of others, then when we don't get said approval or admiration, we start spiraling down hill.

Another ingredient of depression is unrealistic expectation. When others don't behave as we'd like, or expect, we become disappointed and that is also a downhill spiral. Let's face it, we've all been disappointed, and we've all disappointed other people. Right or wrong, it's happened.

So what can we do? Turn our eyes towards Jesus. He is the only person that will never let us down, we can totally depend on Him, and trust Him to love us as completely as he promises.

God's promises are beautiful!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Family Bible Study Blog. Some thoughts of past or present studies.  Hopefully more to come!