Motivate Me Monday

For my Tuesday morning Bible Study, we are currently going through another Women of Faith study. The title of the study is, "Experience Spiritual Intimacy". Ooh....the title just makes me excited to open the pages and dive right in!

Each chapter is set up the same way. There is a part called "Clearing the Cobwebs", in which the reader is challenged to think about a specific time in her own life that would apply to the chapter. There is a short story/illustration to read through. Then you get into the Word! There are usually about 10 questions that require you to look up scripture and reflect upon what the Lord is revealing to you. There are little quotes in the margins from the Women of Faith that will encourage and challenge the reader. About halfway through the questions, there is another short story/illustration, and then more questions. After you've gone through all of the questions, there is another section called Digging Deeper. This section gets you back in the Word, and really thinking about how all of what you have learned and read can, will, and should apply to your own life. After that is the "Ponder and Pray", which gives you specific instructions on what you could pray about for the week, and what you could ask the Lord to reveal to you. The last part is the "Trinket to Treasure". If you've ever been to a Women of Faith Conference, then you know that at the end of each conference, the ladies "give" you an imaginary gift that you are to "hold" in your heart so that you will remember what lesson they shared with you.

I've only gone through one chapter, but the "Digging Deeper" really got me.

Do you think you can know God and not have it change your life? There are two sides to this. What is Paul's criticism of those who say they know God but don't show any evidence of it in Titus 1:16? And how does David describe a life lived in the pursuit of knowing God in 1 Chronicles 28:9? How has knowing God changed your life?

WHOA!!!

My first instinct was to turn right to Titus 1:16.

16They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

I then read the commentary from my Bible.

THEY CLAIM...THEY DENY HIM. One of the greatest abominations in God's eyes is to profess faith in Christ and the hope of eternal life (v. 2), while at the same time to live in disobedience to him and his Word. (The Full Life Study Bible, Donald C. Stamps)

This led me to a few more scriptures.

Luke 6:46

46"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?

John 14:12

12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

John 15:10-14

10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command.

1 John 2:4

4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Then I went back into the Titus scripture and looked up the scriptures that relate to what Paul says to Titus.

Jeremiah 5:2

2 Although they say, 'As surely as the LORD lives,'
still they are swearing falsely."

Jeremiah 12:2

2 You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.

1 John 2:4 (again)

4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Hosea 8:2-3

2 Israel cries out to me,
'O our God, we acknowledge you!'

3 But Israel has rejected what is good;
an enemy will pursue him.

I also thought about Matthew 6:24.

24"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

I know this scripture ends with God and Money, but I really feel you could put anything in the place of Money that is causing you to be torn between God and the other thing. Because, by trying to serve two masters, you are living in disobedience to God's word, Exodus 20:3:

3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

I then looked up 1 Chronicles 28:9

9 "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.

As I suspected they would, all of these scriptures only validated my initial thoughts.

I think that once you have made a decision to allow Christ to dwell in your heart, you want to change. I know for me, as soon as I made that decision to accept Christ as my Lord and Savior, I wanted Him to be a part of my life. Often times I think the Spirit moves fast, and reveals sin in your life that you need to repent of. I remember that I changed really fast, and it shocked some of my family and some of my friends. My language changed, my priorities changed, and my group of friends changed. I knew that if I continued in my current pattern of life, that I wasn't serving the Lord.

However, that was 12 years ago. In these past 12 years I have experienced extreme highs with my Lord, and He has walked me through extreme lows. Apathy can creep into our hearts so easily. With apathy comes sin, and often times we are so apathetic that we don't even notice our sin, or even deny that it is sin. Legalism and judgment cloud our hearts.

But then who are we serving? Certainly not God. Probably just ourselves.

1 John 1 talks about sin in our life, and if there is sin, if we are not changing, then Christ can't live in us. There will be darkness where there should be light.

Knowing where I was headed before I found Jesus, my life has changed dramatically! If I had not changed, if I had not allowed the Lord to work in me, mold and shape me, if I were not "bendy" for God to use me, then I would not be able to serve Him. I know that I could not live that life and consider myself a servant of the Lord.

I am not perfect by any means. I sin every single day. But, the difference is that I ask the Spirit to search my heart and reveal my sins to me. Repentance is a big, fancy, church word. If you are truly repentant, then you have asked the Spirit to disclose any sin in your life. You acknowledge that this is sin, and confess you sin to the Lord. You seek and accept forgiveness from God. Then, you pray for the strength to turn away from that sin. You ask God to help you fight the temptation and its hold on your life. This is the hardest part about repenting. It might be a daily battle, but with the Lord's strength, you will prevail!

I am so excited to see how my life will continue to change as I eagerly seek my Lord with my whole heart - everyday!

You too can conquer your sins, and truly change your life!

For more Motivate Me Mondays, check out Like a Warm Cup of Coffee!