Proverbs 3:5-6 Inductive Bible Study 5/5/15

Proverbs 3:5-6,”Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all you ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Ok so these are verses that I have had memorized for as long as I can remember. My mom had a CD that put it to music and I think it was the theme verse for a VBS that I was a part of. But do I actually ever think about what these words mean? These verses hold amazing promises but when I get caught up in the chaos of life, I forget to hold on to these promises.

1) I can trust God with my heart. I need to trust Him with everything(my thoughts, my plans, my dreams, etc.) and I can because He is trustworthy. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” He has known me and has had a plan for me since before the beginning of time. He knew the sin I would choose; He knew that I would know Him and still walk away from Him. But He has saved me and has a plan and good works that He wants me to walk in. He knows things that I don't because He can see the full picture at once. This tells me that I can trust Him with everything. I am His masterpiece. He loves me and He is taking care of me.

2) He will give me His understanding. If I'm not supposed to lean on my own understanding than this tells me that He is going to give me His understanding. I don't have to depend on what I know. I can give my weakness to Him and ask for His wisdom. This takes so much pressure off of me. I don't have to know what I'm doing on my own, I just need to look to the Creator of the universe and He will give me understanding.

3) He will be my guide. In everything I do, everywhere I go, every thought that I think, everything, I need to look to God. I need to look to what He says as important and ask Him to show me what to do every time that I need to make a decision. It's amazing to me that I get the privilege of walking with the Creator of the universe and that I can ask Him what I need to do. He will direct my paths. Like I already said, He has a plan for me. But I have free will and can choose to walk away from the good works that He has for me. But if I will trust in Him, lean on Him for understanding, and let Him direct my paths, He will guide me in the plan that He has for me.

It's amazing to have these promises in the midst of a hectic and ever-changing life. There is no need to worry no matter what is happening as long as I am trusting in Him because He is guiding me and I don't have to depend on myself.

Application:

I'm going to put these verses in the front of my school notebook so that I see it just about every day and when I get overwhelmed with what God has me doing right now(teaching English and the Bible in public schools in Guatemala) I will remember these promises.

Hosea 2:23 Inductive Bible Study

Hosea 2:23 says, “Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not my people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!'”

So in continuing with my study in Hosea, I found this verse. This is beautiful because, as I mentioned in my last IBS post, God told Hosea to name two of his children Lo-Ruhamah (not having obtained mercy) and Lo-Ammi (not my people). This verse is saying that He will basically renew them back to how they were supposed to be. The whole beginning of the book of Hosea is about God's judgment towards Israel and the consequences that they are going to receive for their disobedience. But starting at 2:14, we see that God's judgment won't last forever. 2:14 says,”I will allure her(Israel), will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her.” How beautiful this picture is! God's people have been disobedient, rejected Him, and run after other gods too many times to count, yet He still loves them. He is judging them and giving them consequences, but that will end eventually. The punishment has a purpose. He wants to remind them that He is the one who has always provided for them and taken care of them and that without Him, they have nothing. But He wants to allure them; to captivate them and draw them back to Himself. In verse 16, the Lord talks about how, when that day comes, His people will no longer call Him Master but Husband. The word Baal(the name of one of their false gods) can mean Master. So this would help them to disassociate the one true God with the false gods that they are used to worshiping.  He says that He will betroth them to Him forever, in righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, faithfulness and mercy. These are the people that left God after all He did for them. The ones who blatantly pursued other gods. And He is saying that they will be committed to each other forever.

This just blows me away. And then I realize that this is exactly what He has done for us! We are His and we have strayed from Him and yet He is bringing us back. He is alluring me to Himself. He has provided for me and I have blatantly turned away from Him. Yet, knowing the choices that I would make beforehand, He still loves me enough to sacrifice Himself for my sin and change my name. My name was Fallen and now it's Forgiven. I was Captive but now I am Free. He does not hold against me the sins of my past. They are gone and forgotten. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12) He has given me mercy and grace when I least deserved it. The Creator of the universe has called me His. I can't even explain how blessed I feel by knowing this.

Application:

Today, I am going to memorize this verse and post it on my wall so that I can remember who and Whose I am.

Inductive Bible Study Hosea 2:8 4/20/15

Hosea 2:8 says, ”For she did not know that I gave her new grain, new wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold- which they prepared for Baal.”

So during my quiet time, I've been studying in the book of Hosea. Hosea was a prophet during a time where Israel was totally rebelling and pursuing other gods. God told Hosea to marry a harlot because He was making a symbol for His people. Hosea and his wife, Gomer, had a daughter and God told them to name her Lo-Ruhamah which means “not loved” or “no mercy”. And God told them to name one of their sons Lo-Ammi which means “not my people”. Most of the first two chapters of Hosea are God talking to His people through Hosea, telling them how they will be destroyed and He will turn away from them because of their adulterous sin.

In the verses surrounding this verse, God is talking about how He is going to take everything that they have from them so that they will turn back to Him. When they realize that the life they are choosing is fruitless and full of famine, He says that they will return to Him because they see that life was better for them then(2:7). In 2:8, He's saying that they didn't even realize that everything that they had came from Him. Aren't we like this so often? Everything that we have is from God. This isn't our world, and these aren't our bodies; nothing here belongs to us. God created everything and gives to us everything that we have. But I take all of this for granted. I forget that I wouldn't have anything if God didn't give it to me. So then when we make bad choices and turn from God, we get frustrated when opportunities don't work out or we lose the things that we had. Nothing I have is mine, so what makes me think that I can do whatever I want and still have all the blessings that I had when I was walking with God and trusting Him for everything?

Something else that I find interesting in this verse is when it says, ”which they prepared for Baal.” They took what God had given them and used them to worship other gods. This is something that I also tend to do. I use the talents and opportunities and other things that God has blessed me with and use them to pursue the things that I put above God.

Application:

So today, I will write “All I have is Yours” and post it on the wall above my bed so that I am reminded daily not to take the things that God has given me for granted.

Updated Blog April 2015

So I'm in the airport right now traveling back to the States for my 10 day break before I start my field time in Guatemala. I currently have a 5 hour layover so I thought I would use some of this time to let you know how the last 3 months have been and what I will be doing when I go back to Guatemala.

God has used these last 3 months to radically transform me into a completely different person. When I first arrived in Guatemala, I was insincere, hard-hearted and really just thought that there was no way God even wanted to use me. I felt irredeemable and empty. Within the first few weeks, a genuine desire for God was growing in my heart but my past was getting in the way. I felt like I couldn't talk to God; like He didn't actually want to hear from me. And then all of a sudden it was like His Word started breaking through my hard heart. I realized that I didn't have to be held captive to my sin anymore. I asked God for forgiveness and was set free. When I had doubts, His sweet voice would remind me that whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Sometimes I still had a hard time forgiving myself but I realized that if God had forgotten about it, what right did I have to bring it up?

Besides freeing me from the bondage of sin that I had put myself in, God gave me an amazing family. He brought eleven young adults and a family of five, all with vastly different backgrounds and personalities, together to Guatemala to become a family in His name. As we grow closer to God, we have grown closer to each other. Every week, we have a Potter’s Field Kid’s Club, where a bunch of sweet kids from all over Antigua come to play together, eat lunch, sing songs and hear about the love of Jesus. I have fallen so deeply in love with these kids. We have learned so much through the variety of classes that we have been taking every day. I’ve learned about how to better defend my faith, share the Gospel, be a humble servant, and so many more important lessons. Yesterday was a hard day as I said goodbye to half of my new family for six months as they leave to pursue God's plan for them in different parts of the world(i.e. Cambodia, Kenya…) I am going to miss them so much but I so incredibly excited to see what God does in and through them, in the next six months. I have been so encouraged by them and I know that others will be as well.

When I return to Guatemala in 10 days, the rest of my team and I will be going into 4 different public schools in Antigua and teaching English using the Bible as our curriculum.  We will also be leading PF Kid’s Club each week, have opportunities to serve at our local Calvary Chapel, have outreaches in town where we share mimes or skits that share the Gospel message, ministering at the local hospital and so much more. I’m so excited for what God is going to do in the next six months. I can’t wait to see the opportunities that He gives me and the situations that will help me grow and become more like Him. Please be praying for me to have flexibility. Also, please just keep IGNITE Class 8 in prayer as we start our field times all over the world.

Thank you so much for your prayers!

By His Grace,

MaKayla <3 :)

Matthew 5:20 Inductive Bible Study: Purpose and Righteousness 4/3

Matthew 5:20 says, "For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

Can I just say that this statement probably blew the Pharisees away. "What in the world does this blasphemer mean? No one could ever be more righteous than us!" This probably also freaked out the disciples because they knew that their righteousness didn't exceed the Pharisees. But the Pharisees "righteousness" was their external following of every Law. They condemned others who weren't as righteous as they were. Jesus' point here is not that we're to try to be like the Pharisees but that our own righteousness is never going to be enough. Even theirs wasn't enough; He said it had to exceed it. Jesus is the only one who is truly righteous. We can only have true righteousness through Him. He died and rose again so that we could be set free from the sin that enslaves us and be made righteous.

Something that I have always had a hard time understanding and living out is that when I believe on Jesus Christ and repent, I am righteous in God's sight. I would read verses in the Bible that talk about the righteous and what God does for the righteous(especially in the Psalms) and I would automatically think, "Well, that one doesn't apply to me, I'm not there yet." I always felt like I was too far from the place that I needed to be at to go to Jesus. I felt like had to work harder and follow the rules better and maybe I might get there one day. But I don't have to work for righteousness. I can't earn it. I will never be good enough no matter how hard I try. The Pharisees followed every Law to a "t"(or so they thought) and still weren't good enough in and of themselves. The only choice that I have is to fall into Jesus' arms in surrender, repent and ask Him to wash me and then clothe me in His righteousness.

Application:
Today, I will write "clothed in His righteousness" on my arm so that I remember that it's not my own righteousness that I have to work for but Jesus' righteousness that gets me into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:19 Inductive Bible Study: Purpose and Righteousness 4/2

Matthew 5:19 says, "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

So during these last 3 months, our class has been IBSing the book of Jude. Jude is all about false prophets in the church and how to discern them and not listen to them and not be like them. I just finished with this assignment over the weekend so naturally, seeing this verse made me think of Jude. I think this is pretty straight forward but so many people get go against this. Also during training, we've been studying books and watching documentaries about knowing what we believe but also knowing what others believe so that we can understand their views better when we talk to them.

This makes me think of one documentary that we watched about evolutionists and how they are stopping even the mentioning of an Intelligent Designer from being allowed to be mentioned in universities and elsewhere. I used to think that these people knew the truth but they were just trying to hide it from everyone else and brainwash everyone so that no one can know God and the hope that is found in Him. But I have now realized that sadly these people are really just lost. They don't realize how astray they are leading everyone. They were probably hurt in their past by a Christian or something happened that they blamed God for so they are just grasping for anything else that they can hold onto that doesn't point them to God. And they want everyone to believe it too so it validates them. It's really sad but it's reality.

So my job is not to condemn or rebuke them but to leave that to God. Even Michael the archangel didn't rebuke Satan but said, "Let the Lord rebuke you!" (Jude). My purpose is to show them love and compassion so that they'll actually want to hear what I have to say. I need to know what I believe and make sure that it is so grounded in the Word so that when I talk to them, I actually have a strong defense for the Word. I need to make sure that I am following the commandments completely to the best of my ability so that I am an example to nonbelievers because if I don't even follow what I am teaching then why should they? It doesn't matter what it is, how "small" of a sin I think that it is. Every commandment carries the same power.

Application:

Today, I will memorize this verse.

Matthew 5:18 Inductive Bible Study: Purpose and Righteousness 4/1

Matthew 5:18 says, "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled."

So I learned from my team/roommates Katie and Brooke that "jot and tittle" are the names for the writing characters in the Hebrew language. So the point that Jesus is making here is that until the heaven and earth pass away, not even a mark in God's Word will change until everything has been fulfilled. All of the prophecies will come to pass. His Word stands firm until the end of the age.

So I think that this is also solidifying what I talked about yesterday. "Hey guys, My Word stands until the heavens and earth aren't around anymore. I'm not taking away the Law. It still has to be fulfilled. And that's what I'm here to do." I think it's not only referring to the prophecies and things that Jesus fulfilled in His lifetime and in His death and resurrection but also to all of the future prophecies that have not come to pass yet, even now.

Ok so, what does this mean for me? Nothing is going to change in God's Word until everything is fulfilled. Every commandment still stands. And I, as His follower am to follow every single one and not just fall back on grace.  Grace and forgiveness aren't there as a convenience to take advantage of whenever I want because I know it will always be there, yet so often I treat them as that. Romans 6:1 says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!"  I should be doing what I can to follow the commandments and repent and receive God's grace and forgiveness when I fail because I am human and I will fail.

Application:
Today, I will pray that I depend on God to follow His commands out of love and not sin just because I know that there is grace.