wednesdays with luke

last night we continued onto luke 8 in our study.  

luke 8: 1-15 is Jesus' parable of the sower.  if you aren't familiar with this parable. click here to read.

after our listening to our lesson & discussing, the Lord really laid a few simple truths on my heart to ponder this week.  as i've been studying luke & learning more about Jesus' time here on earth, i've come to learn that i need to continuously ask myself & seek the answers to,  

"who is this Man & how am i going to respond to Him?"

after reading the parable of the sower & discussing the different "soils" in our study last night, our teacher talked about how the soil is the essence of any garden.  well folks, the garden i'm concerned about in this time of study is mine... my personal garden... my heart garden... the garden of my soul.

the simple truth that i took away from last night's study is this...

i must continuously be asking myself,

"how do i prepare the soil of my heart to receive & retain the Word & through perseverance bear fruit to the Glory of God?"

this is a daily must.  how am i preparing my heart to receive & retain God's Word, the God I proclaim to believe in & follow?  am i making it a priority in my life to spend time reading the Word? am i obediently applying what i learn from the Word to my life?  these are questions as a follower of Christ, that i MUST ask myself.  it's a lifelong journey that ultimately & continuously brings me closer to knowing Him more.

Eugene Peterson said the Christian life is "a long obedience in the same direction." 

if you are a believer or aren't sure or are completely against it, know this...

the Christian life doesn't mean it's always going to be easy. it's a lifelong journey. a journey of highs & lows, a journey of struggles & times of happiness, a journey of everything life throws at you... all with the God of the universe by your side.

it's a life of preparing & cultivating the soil of our hearts, so that throughout this ongoing journey of life, we can bear fruit to the Glory of God.   & the fruit my friends... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control... the fruit we bear from this perseverance to honor God is amazing & will affect you in a way that can't be described.  

the message puts it this way.

"but what happens when we live God's way?  He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way the fruit appears in an orchard - things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.  we develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, & a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things & people.  we find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our wa in life, able to marshal & direct our energies wisely." - galatians 5:22-23 (the message)

p.s. -- if you've recently joined me, feel free to click here to read all of my wednesdays with luke entries.

have a wonderful evening!!!

-aw

wednesdays...umm, thursday with luke : )

this week has a been a whirlwind of politics. on tuesday evening, election night, i was able to have a lovely dinner with the women of my bible study at church & we discussed luke 7.

luke 7:18-33 recounts a story of John the Baptist who dedicated his ministry to proclaiming Christ's arrival. John was ministering during the same time that Jesus was traveling, healing & teaching the good news of God's kingdom.

At one point John hears of Jesus' healings & he sends his disciples/messengers to find Jesus where he is teaching & tell him that John has sent them to ask him directly, "are you the one that is to come or shall we look for another?" now mind you John has dedicated his life to telling the people that a Savior is coming, but helloooo... this man is healing the cripled & raising the dead right in front of your face & he's basically asking. "should we be looking for someone else?" man if i were Jesus, i'd be pissed. ha! i'd want to smack john upside the head & be like "is raising the dead not enough man? that stuff just doesn't happen everyday" but i'm not jesus (thank goodness) & i love how he responds to john's disbelief...

he doesn't scold him, he doesn't rebuke his messengers, he simply goes about his business of "healing many of diseases, plagues, evil spirits, & many who were blind he bestowed sight. & he answered them, "go & tell john what you have seen & heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, & the deaf hear, the deaf are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. & blessed is the one who is not offended by me."

jesus basically reiterated to john's messengers what they already knew of the Savior that had been prophesied by Isaiah. all these things were what the Savior would do, how we would know, but yet... john questioned what he knew so well. questioned if this was the Savior that he had devoted his life telling the people about. john ultimately had his moment of weakness, his doubt of who Jesus was consumed him & he wavered in his faith.

john was a great man in his time, but he had his weaknesses. even great men have their own weaknesses... even our presidents have their weaknesses. in fact all great men & women have their weaknesses.

we have to take them off the pedestals we have put them on & extend grace & mercy to them to allow them to be on a journey of their own... just as Jesus did.

wednesdays with luke

sorry i've been missing the last 2 weeks on these posts. 2 weeks ago i went to the shawn mcdonald concert & missed our study & last week i was sick. those are just excuses, so i apologize.

here is today's post on what we discussed in luke

this week that i think we call can take from.

________________________

in Luke 6, Jesus addresses the hearts of the pharisees of his day.

by definition, pharisees were a powerful branch of the Jewish religious community during Jesus' time. considered to be religious experts, this group believed that the oral law of the Jewish faith was as equally authoritative & inspired by God as the written law. consequently, they strictly obeyed God's laws & all the tradition of interpretation they had established. Jesus reserved some of his harshest criticism for them.

in luke 6 two examples are given where Jesus was found doing something on the Sabbath, a day that was to be kept holy, that in his day was not following the laws.

luke 6:6-11 states

6 on another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was

teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.

7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him,

to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath,

so that they might find a reason to accuse him.

8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said

to the man with the withered hand,

"Come and stand here." And he rose and stood there.

9 And Jesus said to them, "I ask you,

is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good

or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?"

10 And after looking around at them

all he said to him, "Stretch out your hand."

And he did so, and his hand was restored.

11 But they were filled with fury and discussed

with one another what they might do to Jesus.

now the pharisees weren't some crazed group of people. these were Gods people. they valued God's word & studied and knew their religion well, but they had let their pride in following every detailed law, that they missed the point.

simply put, the pharisees' pride made them miss the Saviour. their pride made them miss His healing. Jesus was living & right in front of them healing a man's hand, working miracles, all the while questioning the pharisees hearts, not their actions, but their motives... & they missed it all. they questioned this man who worked these miracles & were to the point of "fury" at Jesus at his opposition to the law they knew & followed so well. he turned their world upside down.

how many times do we as christians get so prideful & self righteous in our "religion" that we miss Jesus' heart behind it all? how many day are we so stubborn to what we believe, our traditions, man made laws, our legalism, that we miss the miracle of Jesus?

i'm going to start looking at my inner pharisee more often.

i don't want to miss the miracle or

healing that Jesus has to offer me.

do you?

really late wednesday night with luke : )

**so apparently when i informed you that i would be writing wednesdays with luke, i didn't even think about my schedule on wednesdays.  my free time to really stop & think on wednesdays is only from when i leave work ... which usually ends up being at about 5:30... until i have to be at dance at 6:30... & i apologize for no early morning posts, but with dance from 6:30 - 9:15, i need as much sleep as i can get wednesday mornings!!  now mind you, my commute to dance consists of 2 stop lights & maybe a quarter of a mile from home, but seriously people... what was i thinking???  all i have is barely an hour.  i really hate that i'm posting this late, but honestly over the last few weeks, it's starting to be a great unwinding routine after dance -- maybe in a few weeks though, i'll shoot for my blogging on tuesday nights & share with you wednesday mornings... we shall see!**

so please forgive me for now if wednesdays with luke are really late wednesday night posts : )

** another tangent, before i get into the actual reason i'm posting -- i just want to state a few things that are probably pretty obvious, but i just want to clarify : )  i hope that maybe it's apparent if you've been reading my blog (if you're just joining me, WELCOME!!) that i am a Christian.  i believe in God & that Jesus is the son of God.  & please, oh please don't let that run you away!!  my blog is a place that i've created to place my thoughts/findings as i learn to live the life i love & i welcome everyone to it!  so as i present to you my thoughts on the bible, just be aware that as a Christian, a woman, a human, a sinner... these are my thoughts as i study the Word (the bible) to understand the truths of what i believe better.  this is me trying to wade through the learning waters of what i believe and a way for me to share some thoughts on it.  

--wednesdays with luke--

this past week we read luke 3 in our study.  in luke 3 we find john the baptist (remember me mentioning him?) preaching to a crowd who was going to be baptized by him.  in reading john's speaking to the crowd, our teacher pointed out these 4 simple truths that can be taken from john's words.

*reality - risk - repentance - results*

REALITY - if i truly believe what i believe, i've got to realize the reality of my sin. romans 3:23 says "all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God." i have to realize that i have a problem.  it's sin... & that's my reality.

RISK - john also points out in this chapter, the risk of avoiding the reality of my sin.  i can't just deny it's there.  i can't act like my sin isn't active daily, hourly.  i have to realize the reality of my sin & do something about it.  there's great risk in just ignoring your sin.  

REPENTANCE - God calls me to repent of my sins & turn from them.  true repentance calls for a change of heart, a change of mind, & a change of my ways.  repentance is about doing a complete 180 & turning from your sin.  it's not enough just knowing your going the in the wrong direction, we are called to change our ways.

RESULTS - oh friends, results.  man that's good news.  yes, once you start realizing the sin in your life & dealing with it, turning from it, there are amazing results.  i find my relationship with the Lord is growing, i'm loving better, living better, giving better, & enjoying this amazing life that God has blessed me with... with whatever may come my way.

wednesdays with luke

so my apologies.  i started this post last night & realized after dance, that i had left my luke study at work so this post is more like thursday with luke, but i'm glad that i didn't write it last night because i was completely exhausted & needed a night to relax... well after dance that is.

so there are a few things i want to mention about luke this week.  we read Luke 2 last week. 

the first part of Luke addresses the birth of Jesus.  Jesus, as you know was born of the virgin mary, who was basically "engaged" to Joseph.  Luke 2:1 - 7 states this...

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world... And everyone went to his own town to register.  So Joseph went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house & line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him & was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, & she gave birth to her firstborn, a son."

now it would seem here that caesar was behind all this.  he issued the actual decree, he was in control, he was causing joseph & mary to go to bethlehem.  caesar was physically "in control" but, it had been prophesied in Micah 5:2 that "out of you (Bethlehem) will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."  this is referring directly to the messiah, the savior, Jesus.  God knew what he was doing.  He knew that mary & joseph would go to bethlehem.  He knew that Jesus was going to be born in a manger, in a stable, in the little town of bethlehem.  even though at the time, no one else could see his plan.

how does this make you feel about the upcoming election?  are we in control of where this nation is going?  will one president's actions decide the fate of our country? or should we have faith that God will use whatever systems we put in place to still do His work, work through His plan, not ours.  whether the human outcome is good or bad.  how will the Lord use this to grow our faith?  will we trust that He still loves us & is still Lord over all?

the second part of Luke that i really took from was Luke's description of mary, Jesus' mother. mary was probably an important woman. (insert a little sarcasm)  i mean the Lord did choose her to be the mother of Jesus.  yeahhh... i'd say she's probably a good picture of a woman.  don't you think?  i'm sure we could probably learn a little by looking into the mother of our Savior.

we learn through luke that mary was a thinker, a ponderer, careful reflector.  even when the shepards arrived after Jesus' birth & told them about the angel Gabriel & all he had told them about Jesus, Luke stated "mary treasured up all these things & treasured them in her heart."  luke choses to include this important information in regards to mary's character.  she chose introspection.  she was a woman who would carefully reflect on all she knew.  she knew the scriptures well & she was in check with her heart... careful reflection.

we live in a culture that doesn't encourage introspection.  we are way too busy.  not many of us  are encouraged to really challenge ourselves, our hearts, to look inward as to who we are, to contemplate our motives behind our actions... daily... or monthly for that matter.  we are too busy on a day to day basis from going to point A, B, to C & making sure our "to do" list is checked completed. we are distracted by finances, elections, work, families, friendships, duties, & the list goes on.

we rarely take the time to stop & ponder anything.  i'm sure mary took the time to really marinate in the scriptures she knew, to ask God to reveal to her His truths & how those should be applied to her life, her heart.  

our teacher this week brought a psalm to light where the writer really asks the Lord to help with introspection.  Psalm 139 has been on my mind this week. i've also included a few of the last verses 23-24 & 2 translations to help see it in a few different lights.

"search me, o God, & know my heart. test me & know my anxious thoughts.  see if there is any offensive way in me, & lead me in the way everlasting." - new international version

"investigate my life o God, find out everything about me; cross examine & test me, get a clear picture of what i'm about; see for yourself if i've done anything wrong - then guide me on the road to eternal life" - the message

i'm challenging myself & anyone else to thing about careful reflection & what that looks like for you.

happy thursday

-aw

wednesdays with luke

this post is a tad late in the day, but it's still here all the same.

we started out with a really good 1st week of luke last night. it was a sweet time with all the girls back together at our friend b's house.

our study this covered quite a few things, but the one i want to focus on is in luke 1:5-25

which describes the story of zechariah & elizabeth.

many of you i'm sure know the story, but for those of you that don't... a brief summary... zechariah was a priest in the time of king herod of judea & elizabeth was his wife. they were an elderly couple, "well along in years", & as the scripture states, they were "upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments & regulations blamelessly," but they had no children because elizabeth was barren.

last night while discussing this i was struck by one thing. elizabeth was very old & in her time it was very rare for a woman to not have any children. i'm sure elizabeth's heart longed for children. can you imagine the heartache both elizabeth & zechariah went through with not having any children, YET they still were "upright in the sight of God"... they were blameless. i'm sure it would have been easy for them to have been really angry & upset with God for not blessing them with children, but instead they chose to believe in him. they held to their steadfast faith & sought after what the Lord was calling them to do.

this was a lesson i needed to hear.

just because something in my life that i SOOOO long for doesn't happen, doesn't give me any right to not focus on the Lord & what he wants me to focus on. i should follow his commands faithfully without question & what the Lord wills will happen in His time, not mine.

i'm sure zechariah & elizabeth probably thought there was absolutely NO WAY on earth they would ever have a child. God thought otherwise. he had extraordinary plans for the two of them. he blessed them, even in their old age, with a son... john. john the baptist to be exact.

pretty neat, huh? God's kinda cool like that : )

check back next week with more from luke!