📖 Why I Created This Bible Study Companion Guide — A Resource to Help You Know and Love God Through His Word
There’s a quiet joy that comes from sitting with an open Bible, heart ready, pen in hand—seeking not just knowledge, but God Himself. For years, I’ve have strived to study the Bible more deeply and faithfully, to see not just verses, but truth—God’s character, His promises, His purposes for the world and for me.
But let’s be honest: studying the Bible can feel overwhelming. Where do I begin? How do I know I’m interpreting this correctly? What does this actually mean? And how does it apply to my life?
These are the questions I’ve asked countless times. And they’re exactly why I created this printable Bible Study Companion Guide—a simple, clear set of questions and reminders that I’ve personally found helpful every time I open Scripture.
After reading two books that have deeply impacted the way I approach the Bible—
Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin, which offers a clear, accessible method rooted in knowing God first,
And 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible by Robert Plummer, a seminary-level book I first encountered during my theological studies—
—I found myself wanting something concise and practical that I could return to regularly. Not just for me, but for my kids, and a few friends who had also expressed a desire to study Scripture with more confidence and depth.
I asked ChatGPT to help me take the heart and wisdom of these two resources and distill them into a brief guide—something printable, simple, and rooted in sound interpretation principles.
💡 Why This Guide Matters
Every passage of Scripture is part of a bigger story—and when we understand that story, we begin to see God more clearly. This guide is not a rigid formula but a compass—something to reorient our hearts and minds as we read.
You’ll find thoughtful questions like:
“What does this reveal about God?”
“What’s the historical or literary context here?”
“How does this passage fit into the big picture of the Bible?”
By asking these questions, we begin to slow down. We move beyond quick devotionals or isolated verses, and we step into real study. We let the Word shape us, instead of shaping it to fit us.
📄 What’s Inside the PDF
The guide is designed to be printable, shareable, and easy to use—perfect for individuals, families, and small groups. Whether you’re a seminary grad or just starting out, this tool can meet you where you are.
Inside, you’ll find:
Core principles to keep in mind before you begin
Key interpretive questions for every passage
Practical study reminders to avoid common mistakes
A short closing prayer to center your heart on God
It’s the kind of tool you can use every time you open your Bible—and one I hope my own kids will carry with them for years to come.
🤝 A Gift
I created this because I needed it. I still need it. And I wanted to share it because the Word of God is for all of us—not just pastors, not just scholars, but every single follower of Jesus.
If it helps you or someone you love see God more clearly, love Him more deeply, and obey Him more joyfully, then it’s done its job.
So feel free to print it. Share it. Use it with your small group, your kids, your journal, your church. Let it serve you the way it’s served me.
May we be people who study the Word not to master it, but to be mastered by the God who speaks through it.
Please tell me you pronounced that title like it was said on “The Princess Bride”!? In all actuality I was wanting to stay in my horse world with horse thoughts, but I’m doing a zoom Bible study with a group of women about combatting lies we have believed with the truth found in the Word of God. This week was about???? You guessed it MAWAGE, or in case you haven’t seen “The Princess Bride”, (shame on you! LOL) marriage.
Coming from a broken home in a society where divorce is the norm I really never understood the symbolism of marriage. I understood that it was an important commitment to be taken seriously and except in cases of extreme exceptions, marriage is lifelong. I didn’t start to truly grasp the Biblical imagery of marriage until well over a decade into my marriage. Additionally, I carried and still catch myself carrying some unhealthy or incorrect thoughts, fears, and ideas about marriage. It is always when I come to the Word of God that I am able to see those imperfections and allow His Word to correct them and then act on them.
We understand the concepts of monogamy, and faithfulness that are true of a marriage, in Genesis 2:24 “husband and wife are joined together and become one flesh.” We even see the Old Testament prophets (specifically Hosea)compare God’s people to a wife cheating on her husband, God.
Often, we incorrectly think marriage means one or the other spouse loses their individuality. This was especially true in my case when well-intentioned people taught me what is required of me to be a Godly wife and explained the expectation of submissiveness citing Ephesians 5:22. Under their tutelage my life would now revolve around my husband and I would care for his every need, clean the house, wash the clothes, raise the children, make myself available to him and serve him. Under instruction like that, I was basically walking rebellion looking for a place to happen. If you look at that entire passage and unpack the rest of it and back up to Ephesians 4:15-16 as well, you understand that “as husbands are to be the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything,” we are really talking about leadership and so much more. Unpack that whole passage from Eph 5:22 down to verse 33 and sprinkle in Eph 4!
Ephesians 5:22-33New American Standard Bible 1995
Marriage Like Christ and the Church
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church [a]in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she [b]respects her husband.
Understanding God’s attributes also helps us to better understand the relationship between husband and wife as we submit to the authority of God. We know that God is needless, and is not served by human hands according to Acts 17:25. We also know that according to Psalm 145:8-9 that He is gracious, merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and good to all. In the passage in Ephesians 5 above, we see evidence of the husband’s responsibility to exhibit characteristics of these attributes, and trust me, a man like that is easy to follow! The body of Christ has Christ as the head, the leader. So a wife should be inclined to follow the husband’s leadership. John Piper uses “the inclination to yield or a disposition to follow because no subjection to another human is absolute. The husband does not replace Christ as the woman’s supreme authority.” Humans, including our husbands, are sinful and we should never follow them into sin. This is certainly building the picture of a relationship between husband and wife that because I love and trust him, I want to follow him while understanding we are both in subjection to God as we together follow Him.
Interesting, now we’re getting somewhere I’m on board with going. This is painting a picture of God’s relationship with His people, the church, believers in Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord. Just as God allowed the use of the different individual writing styles of the men who penned the 66 books of the Bible as the Holy Spirit led, being in submission to God or our husband’s doesn’t mean we lose our individuality nor are we becoming their nanny as if they aren’t capable of doing anything for themselves. We are all members of one body, but all do not have the same function, yet all are needed for the body to be complete and effective. Just as members of the body are gifted with certain spiritual giftings to be used to serve and make the body of Christ stronger and more effective, I also have individual and specific traits that when paired with my husband make our partnership better, capable of more than we could each achieve separately. The hand may bring food to the mouth, and the mouth may chew, but the nutrients never get used in the body without the digestive system. All of these parts are needed to work in their individual ways collectively to accomplish a main goal. While I have had the great privilege of being able to stay home with our kids and start my own business while my hubby works outside the home, I do end up doing most of the housework, childcare, and a lot of the cooking, but make no mistake, my hubby is capable of doing all of those things too and does as do our kids. He doesn’t do them to “help me out,” he does them because he lives here too, and we together had children and we all collectively make the messes so we all collectively clean them up.
For years I compared myself to women I held on a pedestal of being the perfect submissive wives with their clean houses and washed folded, and put away laundry, their organizing gadgets, and their calm, gentle and quiet ways with everyone. I tend to be a little louder, and sometimes too opinionated, I don’t think mating socks should ever have been a thing, and I like tidy, but I also prefer our home look like we live there, and you can feel comfortable relaxing there too. I have always been what others previously called a tomboy, I prefer the outside to the inside and when I am inside, I like to bring the outside in with me, so it doesn’t feel quite so inside. I love so many of the things the boys love, hunting, fishing, muscle cars and tough trucks, baseball, shooting, and don’t mind competing with them to prove it, since birth ya’ll. All of these things together made me feel like I’d never be the perfect organized, decorative, clean freak, soft-spoken, timid, servant and prayer warrior of wife that I thought I had to be. All I can say now is, THANK GOD I’M NOT what I thought I was supposed to be. Those women are absolutely what THEIR husbands need, and they are slaying what God called them to do inside THEIR giftings for THEIR families.
My husband needed all of the things I thought were wrong about me as well as being a servant of Christ and prayer warrior! He’s needed an actual warrior at times to stand beside him and wield a sword and he’s needed me to stand in front and shield him when he’s needed to catch a breath. My kids, all believers, have been made Holy through the blood of Christ, but they are also a little hood! So sometimes I have to break out my hood side and set things straight! We’re a little hood and holy! I honestly think if I was less Jael and more Esther or Naomi like, that I wouldn’t have been capable of being up to the task of being Shaun’s help mate! The way God made me wasn’t a mistake and I’m not some rebellious jezebel, which I have actually been called, bless her heart, I know she meant well. I’m definitely a sinner who needed a Savior and I’m in definite need of staying in the Word of God and asking forgiveness when I realize I have behaved in a way that is contrary to God’s will, but I was uniquely made by Him for MY race and MY family so I have different strengths and talents than other women who need what God gifted THEM with for THEIR families and THEIR RACE.
You may be feeling some of these same things too. I’ve talked with many a woman who doesn’t understand why she was made a certain way instead of like some other lady whom she clearly admires. I can assure you; I’ve been there, and comparison is a joy thief and, in this case, a great way the enemy attacks and whoops up on us or lets us whoop up on ourselves! I can also assure you that God does not make mistakes, He is perfect the Bible says so in Matthew 5:48. As long as you are following Him and yielding to His leadership your fierceness, timidity, or insert any adjective that obviously does not contradict the word of God, meaning it is not sinful. Those qualities about you are exactly the way you are supposed to be for YOUR race as you pursue Christ and use your uniqueness to help both the body of Christ be more effective as well as your marriage while you use them in your role as wife and bondservant of Christ!
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Have you ever walked around in the dark behind someone who had a flashlight but you didn’t? I remember this one time, in Texas of course, we were hog hunting. I can’t remember if Shaun and I were dating or had just gotten married but we were hog hunting with dogs with Shaun’s dad. I was new to hog hunting and had not run in and caught my first hog at that point. At that time I was the one who ran in after the dogs had caught and the guys had reached the hog and needed someone to pull the catch dogs off and secure them. Anyway, the bay dogs bayed in a pine thicket and we were fairly close, Shaun and his dad took off running with the catch dogs pausing to let them go as soon as they were close enough. You could hear the rally of hogs when they ran in. You could also hear the moment the catch dogs caught. I was not as brave, courageous, crazy at that time and didn’t run in as fast as the guys but I was headed that way. I was jogging in the pitch black of night without a flash light or a head light on my cap while hogs of various sizes were running out right past me and away! I remember being terrified but knowing I had to show up and do my part on our team. Depending on the size of the hog or if they had two separate hogs rather than one, they could use my help. I literally started saying out loud over and over, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” from Philippians 4 verse 13. Granted, I was taking it wildly out of context because I didn’t know any better at that time but in retrospect even then, in my belief I realized where strength and power came from. I realized that to go on in difficult or terrifying situations I would have to rely on God.
Fast forward 22 years, more hog hunts than I can count although now we don’t have any dogs to enjoy chasing around the woods and we do our night hunting with thermals, a whole other level of disorienting and not being able to decipher what you’re seeing with your naked eyes when switching back and forth for a while walking around. I was meeting the hubs for dinner, but needed to get diesel because I’m one of those people who likes to let it get dangerously low. In my defense the light had not even come on this time! Now that I’m in my forties I find it difficult to read things without my glasses, this is a fun little thing that is apparently gifted to you pretty much on your 40th birthday. Anyhow, I couldn’t really read the sign to tell how much diesel was from that distance but the closer I got the more clearly I could see it. I was reflecting on the fact that I can actually see long distances well and it is usually only reading and computer work I struggle with. Then I reminisced about hog hunting experiences when I didn’t have a light or a thermal and just trusted following along behind Shaun or Daddy (Shaun’s Dad).
I thought about how much that describes my faith, realizing that when Paul wrote that we “walk by faith and not by sight” in 2nd Corinthians 5:7 he was talking about believing in the gospel and works of God when we have not seen it as Jesus mentioned in John 20:29. The Old Testament Jews witnessed the power of God in mighty ways and many of the New Testament Jews and Gentiles, witnessed Jesus Himself. For me it’s always easier to trust something I’ve seen with my own eyes, but that’s not faith, you have indisputable proof and answers, you don’t have to have faith. To me, I do have indisputable proof of the truths of the Bible, both historical and experiential, but I don’t have all of the answers or understand everything, that’s why walking by faith is necessary.
Not having needed the therapy session of writing in a while I was able to dwell on what the Lord has brought me through and assured me of in this new season. If he had allowed me to see the big picture in fine detail like I can when I put my reading glasses on, I wouldn’t have learned as much, grown as much, tasted humble pie that I didn’t want to eat but definitely needed a piece of, and I wouldn’t be as grateful for the goodness and faithfulness of God as I am right now. As I drove towards those gas stations last night continuing to move forward but not knowing which one I was going to pull into until I could clearly see the prices, I thought that’s exactly what this last season looked like. We knew the direction we were supposed to walk obediently in but we couldn’t see the picture clearly. My focus is so much clearer now and God and an amazing group of Bible study ladies, have helped me to untether from needing to walk by sight and tether myself to walking by faith even when I can’t see clearly.
We joke sometimes in Bible study, especially when studying Revelation, when we struggle with something we are reading that we always just go back to the attributes of God and think about what we KNOW about his character revealed to us plainly in His word, and then think about how what we are struggling with aligns with His attributes and the metanarrative of the Bible. If it isn’t for our good and His glory and to win people to the Lord or help them walk in obedience then it’s stinking thinking. Walking in faith means I don’t always understand, but just like my relationship with my husband…and our dogs…I trust him, even when it’s scary, or I’m hurting, I walk forward in obedience, sometimes having to drag my feelings along behind me, and just as they are now, eventually the picture becomes clearer and more of God’s amazing character is revealed and my feelings align with my obedience. I see God continuing to work on me just as He promised! If I had seen it clearly in the beginning it wouldn’t have caused me to grow or stand more in awe and worship giving God the glory and trusting Him even more. I’m so grateful He’s not finished with me yet, even if moving forward isn’t always easy!
You Lead, I’ll Follow (If you know that Jamie Grace song, you’re welcome for it now being stuck on repeat in your head!)
With all of the end of the year banquets, and graduation announcements flooding the mail and social media it’s hard not to think about the high school graduates right now. This is true for us especially as our own daughter has just graduated and started her official first year as a full-time college sophomore, but also because we were the Directors of Students at Frist Baptist Grapeland and were with our oldest son’s group since they were freshman, actually 8th graders! OH the memories! Thirteen of them graduated and saw one season of their lives change into a new exciting, and for some, possibly a scary or intimidating season, just as Grace embarks on now. Shaun and I have an anchor verse that we generally write on personalized messages to them, Proverbs 3:5-6, it will be our text for today and it’s not only applicable to graduates in this new season, but to us as well and especially to me as I have shared about entering a new season of my life.
One of my very favorite things about Scripture is that Scripture Interprets Scripture. Scripture is internally consistent, other verses can help interpret other verses, we’ve even talked some about the “big ideas” or metanarratives, and themes throughout Scripture with loads of Scriptures that tie together to bring a full understanding of the theme or metanarrative. In both of these situations, the author is God, so there’s no room for human error of interpretation. Why am I saying all of this? The previous piece on “Hinds Feet” can help us to better understand today’s “direction of our path”!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
Whatever we go through in life, we are to trust in the Lord and not lean on our understanding and let God direct our path. What do we know about our understanding? It’s a tough pill to swallow, but
Proverbs 21:2 tells us “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.”
So what about our hearts?
Jeremiah 17:9 tells us “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”
BUT GOD! I’m SO thankful for his love and mercy, for loving us while we were still sinners(Rom 5:8) and sending his Son to reconcile us to himself through his atoning sacrifice and defeat of death (2 Corinth 5:18, 1John 2:2)! When we trust God with all of our heart and we acknowledge Him in all of our ways, HE directs our paths, He’s the captain of our ship, the trail guide, the pilot, the driver! Does that change the terrain? Does that mean there won’t be potholes, storms, turbulence, or sheer rocky cliffs? We learned previously that those are some of the exact places God has already equipped us with “hinds feet” to trod, that when we trust God and are in pursuit of Him and understand that He gives us “hinds feet” to handle the terrain HE sets us on, regardless of our circumstance, we don’t have to be fearful, and we aren’t alone because He is with us wherever we go! HOW COMFORTING IS THAT!? Isn’t it awesome how all of these Scriptures connect together to help us deepen our understanding of the love of God and how He in His divine wisdom which is incomparable (Psalm 40:5, Isa 46:5) to anything, has spared no details! As we traverse these next few days, weeks, years, and for some, a new season of life, let’s be sure that we are being intentional about untethering ourselves from our way, and trusting God and acknowledging Him to direct our paths!
Long time no type. Well, it hasn’t really been that long but much longer than normal. Why? I’ve been in a funk, not a writing funk, a “what do I do with myself funk”. It’s crazy how this happens and the things that seem to pull me out of them. Almost every time, it’s digging into God’s word, and connection. This time is no different. Gracie is finishing up 2 classes before she gets a spring break and starts two more. She’s taking a theology class and one of her assignments was to write an essay on a term associated with the doctrine of salvation. She was struggling a little to understand why defining terms such as adoption, conversion, regeneration, redemption, reconciliation, justification, election, sanctification, or glorification were important if you understood the big picture. We broke it down and began to talk it out anyway.
One of the things we practiced when the kids were younger before they started dual credit classes was what we called “fast writing story starts.” Sometimes we would take a random prompt and be given 30 minutes to write a story or part of a story that started with that prompt. Other times we did a 30 minute who, what, where, when, why on a particular person or event. I usually participated in these too and we read them out loud to each other afterwards. She chose the word justification, and we worked together to dig it out of Scripture and see at what point someone is justified in Christ.
As Grace rightly pointed out, justification isn’t a new concept, people have been justifying their actions for centuries, usually it’s when they have done something they weren’t supposed to do and they want to rationalize it to make the actions appear, right or justified, in right alignment with something……and cue fast writing story start on justification!
It is difficult to single out one aspect of the doctrine of salvation and analyze it’s relationship to sin and to a believer’s personal life. Perhaps one of the most interesting and visually appealing aspects of salvation is that of justification. A quick google search of the word justification reveals the definition to be “the action of showing something to be right or reasonable,” “good reason that something exists or has been done”, theologically speaking, “the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God,” or when typing a document, “the action of justifying a line of type or piece of text.” The last one paints the best picture although it’s difficult to understand since the word being defined is used in the definition. Simply put, justification is to put into right or correct alignment. Sin in the lives of humanity takes humans out of correct alignment with God the Father. Similar to beginning a paper with the heading in the center of the paper and then continuing to type the body of the paper while still aligned in the center. The body of a paper belongs on the left side of the paper and is out of alignment. When the left alignment or justification tab is selected the body of the paper is put into proper alignment.
Concerning salvation, the cause of our improper alignment is sin.
Romans 3:21-26, “21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 but it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished; 26 for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Romans 3:21-26 NASB
Jesus is the “control “a” (select all) control “L” (left align or justify) buttons of our life! The only thing that will align us rightly is repentance, which includes expressing sorrow over sin, turning from sin, and turning to God and faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Both of the words Savior and Lord need unpacking as well however, we will stick with justification. A wage is given as payment for sin, according to Romans 6:23, this wage is spiritual death. When repentance and faith in Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for that sin occurs, Jesus pays with His death as the only worthy, sinless sacrifice and we are then justified (aligned rightly) with God the Father because of Jesus. He pays your tab!
Galatians 2:16 states, “16 nevertheless, knowing that a person is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law; since by works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”
Galatians 2:16 NASB
Humanity cannot align itself rightly with God the Father. Humans cannot work for their salvation. The only way to be justified is by faith in Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9 reiterates this same theological concept that we are saved by faith through grace not of our own works.
As a believer, while I am now aligned rightly with the Father through Jesus and sealed with the deposit of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13-14), I still am in need of sanctification, a process in which I become more and more like Christ throughout my life as a result of making decisions that reflect correct alignment with God. This means there are things I do and don’t participate in, things I do say and things I do not say regardless of where I am work, home, school, grocery store etc. as a result of my desire to follow Jesus’ teachings and become more Christ like. Sanctification is a process that will continue until my physical death or Jesus comes back as Philippians 1:6 indicates.
Justification is immediate when I repent and believe and occurs at the moment of Salvation “for if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10) It is at that moment a person becomes a believer and is put into correct alignment, justified, and righteous.
ANNNND TIME! I love how connection to and with others, especially studying the word of God together always aligns my thoughts rightly and untethers me from whatever funk I’m in! It’s almost as if we were created to live in relationship/community with one another (she typed sarcastically), because we were absolutely created this way!
Do you ever have days you just want to make a blanket fort and hide inside it with your coloring books and crayons? My Bestie and I joke about that a lot, although I think if I legit made a blanket fort she’d probably bring the crayons and join me! Recently, it seems there’s been no shortage of trials in our lives. It seems like just when we get through something and start to breathe and think of enjoying a moment the phone rings and BAM another wave of difficulty, or BAM something breaks down, or tragedy strikes, you get the idea.
The other night Shaun and I both woke up at 2am with 1.53 million thoughts running through our heads and couldn’t go back to sleep. He had different stressors than I did, and his brain was trying to prepare how to have difficult but intentional conversations the next day that would help rather than isolate and lead to unity and team building, among 1.52 million other things. I was laying there questioning every decision I’ve made in the last 2 years and reflecting on the will of God and praying about whether I was following Him or me. We are definitely two different people, when Shaun frets with things, he comes up with workable solutions mid fret and lets the Holy Spirit lead him. I tend to initially act like Chicken Little running around screaming that the sky is falling, and then finally manage to yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him comfort and guide me through things. It takes me a minute to capture my thoughts and beat them into submission. Shaun and I talked until 3 that night before we finally managed to drift back to sleep, I fell asleep mid prayer, this happens so much. I saw a cartoon on Facebook posted by a friend today that is the literal picture of what happens to me when I focus on my problems and stressors and when I focus on the problem solver, rather than counting sheep, focus on the Shepherd!
This reminds me of the passage in Matthew 14:22-33 when Peter has the bright idea to walk to Jesus on the water while wind was causing the boat to be buffeted (beaten) by waves, and Jesus tells him to “Come”. Bro was doing fine the whole time he kept his eyes on Jesus but when he started to focus on the wind around him, he started sinking. Literally my life!
On Tuesdays I do a zoom Bible study with a group of ladies from all over, I’m new to the group, this is my first study with them, but they readily embraced me and made me feel like we’ve been doing life together for years. We are studying Revelation which can certainly make you focus on calamity, especially with the wrong perspective! Nancy Guthrie’s accompaniment book “Blessed” has been tremendously helpful in focusing on Jesus throughout all of the confusing and heavy passages. We were discussing interpretations of some of those passages yesterday and discovered it really kind of depends on where you stand eschatologically. Which is a big word that just means study of the end times. I used to be a “pan theologist” meaning Revelation is tough, just trust Jesus and it will all “pan out”, but then I listened to one pastor talk and I decided that I believed that believers would likely have to face the tribulation or at least part of it, this is known as post-tribulation, or mid-tribulation. Then I listened to another teacher who I affectionally call Professor, because he’s literally one of the smartest most humble people on this planet! Anyhow, after his class I decided I was a pre-tribulation believer. Then I went to seminary and just became more confused, I think! There are still even more viewpoints of the end times because technically those labels are just in regard to a specific event in the Bible concerning the end times. Check out this simple chart and then I’ll try not to confuse myself anymore and know that there are still scholars studying and debating and they don’t even have it all figure out yet.
So, when I say pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, I’m also stating what I believe inside one of the above categories. The trib refers to the great tribulation and the pre, post, or mid refer to the timing of all believers (the church) being raptured (gathering together of believers in clouds with Jesus and taken from Earth) 1Thessalonians 4:13-18. See why pan-theology is starting to sound nice right about now! How you view these will be impacted by your Covenant Theology (your study and belief of God’s Covenants). Cue Raychel beginning to run around like Chicken Little! Truthfully, I really have and do sort all of this out by reading Scripture and allowing it to inform and instruct me, I just do it like one would eat an elephant…one small bite at a time…Not that I encourage the eating of elephants or would eat one, it’s just a colloquial saying about doing something that seems impossible!
As we discussed a touch of this in our study our leader reminded us that the whole purpose of Nancy’s study was more of a zoomed-out view of Revelation, rather than trying to nail down every single answer to every single thing we are trying to understand (which isn’t possible), to look at it through the perspective of what it reveals about Jesus and how that impacts how we are exhorted to live our lives as it unfolds.Literally, focus on the Shepherd!We were reminded too, that what we believe about how the end times will specifically play out does not affect our salvation or the commission we all have to go and make disciples. Two believers can believe the end times and the rapture will occur differently and because they have trusted Jesus for their wage of death for their sin through His death burial and resurrection on the cross, (repentance and faith), they’ll still end up in the same place at the end! We don’t have to have all the answers, that’s not faith, and we aren’t God, that doesn’t mean we don’t study, the Bible literally tells us to do that in 2Timothy 2:15.
As we wrapped up our study and shared with each other some of the things we each have going on in our lives, I began to have the thought that adulting seems unnecessarily hard sometimes. But we could look to James chapter one and know that these trials are purposeful, and they produce perseverance which leads to maturity. Trials mean He’s still working on me and are actually a comfort because I know that I am in Him and He’s working on me (Phil 1:6), granted, some of my trials are a result of my own stupid or poor decisions, but I still learn something and grow! All of this to say that life does seem really tough sometimes, and when I focus on how hard and difficult things can be, when I focus on the problems, I get depressed and, in the dumps, and feel like it’s all unnecessary, definitely thoughts I need to Untether from. But when I tether myself to Jesus and force my eyes to look at Him and His Word, I find verses like John 16:33 and I have peace and hope in Him!
If this encouraged you at all, please consider liking, commenting, and or sharing with someone else to encourage them!
I was having a conversation with my oldest son the other day about a quote the late Kobe Bryant made that Wes retorted to his sister while in a verbal sparring match. They were discussing teamwork and Gracie, not so gently, chided Wesley that there was no “I” in team, to which he replied, “well, in the words of my man Kobe, there is an “M-E”!
I began to think about that statement and apply a Biblical filter to it, you can’t find that filter on snap, or insta, trust me, I’ve looked!
When you are part of a team, there is a ME in team, but those two letters don’t make up the whole team and neither do you. However, your role is important, and your contribution is to bring your very best at what you are good at! Teamwork isn’t a Major League sports idea or concept. In fact, God had Paul write about it WAY before anyone ever became famous playing any sort of team sport on a league as he talked about how each person uses their spiritual gifts in 1Corinthians 12 as part of the Body of Christ.
The Bible tells us that plenty of things were written on our hearts by our Creator that we have “gut” feelings about but don’t always understand because someone hasn’t helped us see through a Biblical lens. This is evidenced in Romans 1:18-20 where God through Paul says,
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because that which is made known about God is evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so they are without excuse.”
Romans 1:18-20
This is general revelation; we can observe nature and see that it bears the mark of an intelligent designer when we observe its uniqueness and complexities. We understand that creation did not just haphazardly boom into place or evolve from pond scum at its own will into what we see now. Creation screams there is a Divine Creator.
People for centuries have understood that “instinctively” but needed further revelation, special revelation, to understand who that creator is. This is also evidenced by the progression of the book of Romans where by chapter 10, Paul writes starting in verse 14,
“How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? But how are they to preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things.”
Romans 10:14-15
When we hear the word preacher, you may be thinking the dude that stands in the pulpit, but this word could also be translated proclaimer. This is special revelation that we are all tasked by Jesus in Matt 28:19-20 to go and tell, not just making converts but disciples, meaning not only sharing the gospel but also teaching those we have had the opportunity to evangelize to, to obey everything Jesus has commanded, or at the very least, making sure someone will be able to build that discipleship relationship with them.
As a personal aside, I am missing the big toenail off of my left foot, it fell casualty to multiple incidents, the first involving me having to drag a deer that I had harvested across a too full and FREEZING creek whereby I took my shoes and coveralls off so they wouldn’t get wet and stumped my toe on an underwater log creating a 90-degree angle between my toe and said toenail. The coups de gras was not nearly as exciting of a tale, I again created a 90-degree angle with this same toenail and toe by catching the end of it while lifting an unplugged chop saw to move it while in sandals. All of this was to illustrate that due to that missing toenail, my feet are anything but beautiful by worldly standards but according to the Bible, as I am obedient to the commission to share the gospel they just look better and better!
As you read through 1Corinthians chapter 12, spend some time meditating on what you are gifted at, what others in your spiritual circle have affirmed you’re gifted at and brainstorm ways you can use your talents to bring special revelation (the truth about Christ) to the table in your local congregation, at your workplace or school, in your home and community! My youngest son, Tristan, often uses his unique skills doing card tricks to gain an audience and build relationships so he can share the gospel! What unique and creative ideas do you have? Are you simply just a kid magnet, orator, athlete, organizer, etc. bring it!
As Christians according to what we read 1Corinthians 12, we understand that we are gifted with spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit when we are saved. In what is likely a poor attempt to pull of this together, is it possible that the idea of teamwork and desire to play on a team and in sports is a manifestation of that instinctive need written upon our hearts by God to not only recognize Him as creator and place our faith in King Jesus as Savior and Lord so that we are reconciled to God, but as we take on our roles in the body of Christ and live out our calling, utilizing our gifting(s) to strengthen the body, we are fulfilling that desire by playing our part on Team Jesus?
A couple of years ago, I came across one of the best illustrations, particularly as a southerner who loves a good potluck, I have ever seen in relating how we each are to use our spiritual gifts to bring our very best to the table of ministry in the body of Christ. Check out the excerpt below!
BRING YOUR BEST
I like to eat. I travel a lot for my work, so I get to eat out regularly. As much as possible, I frequent local dives rather than franchises. But no matter the restaurant, the chef, the city, or the ambiance, nothing replaces a good covered-dish meal.
In the church culture I grew up in, periodically after the Sunday worship service, everyone would make their way to the fellowship hall, pull out their food dishes, and we would feast.
Each person had his or her specialty. Mrs. Polly cooked macaroni and cheese, while Mrs. Smith baked pecan pie with the pecans she’d picked and cracked from her own yard. Mr. Thompson made homemade vanilla-bean ice cream (that topped off the pie) better than any ice cream parlor you have been to.
We had sugar-cured ham with a drizzle of honey, green-bean casserole, peach cobbler, fried okra, mini ham sandwiches on poppy-seed sweet rolls, buttermilk fried chicken, and every other assortment of mouthwatering food you can imagine.
The key to this covered-dish dinner is that everyone knew what they made well, spent time putting their contribution together, and brought to the table the best they had to offer. No one tried to make better fried okra than Mrs. White. They brought their own specialty.
The covered-dish feast is an important illustration in the life of the church. God has given each of us our own specialty that He specifically designed us to have and use. That includes you.
The greatest meals are the ones where everyone brings their best. The table is not a table for one. It’s an enormous banquet table where God Himself invites all to come and dine. Your “covered dish” is the particular gifts God has given you, no matter what they may be. Paul tells us that since we have “gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:”
Excerpt from: “Life in Community: Joining Together to Display the Gospel” by Dustin Willis.
As we continue to seek the Lord and serve Him, let’s BRING OUR BEST! Seek the Lord in prayer and through His word asking Him to reveal ways that He has uniquely created, prepared, and equipped you to serve in the Body of Christ, see these opportunities in your everyday life at home, work, school, doctors’ offices and public. Remember, that he promises to be with us wherever we go, our role is to be obedient to go and tell (Matt 28:19-20), and the Holy Spirit will guide and convict into truth (John 16:8), that’s teamwork! Untether yourself from thinking you don’t have something someone else has to give, bring what YOU have to give, that what’s needed!!
When I was in Junior High and early high school I didn’t really like working in groups, I was always nervous to have to rely on someone else’s work for MY grade. Usually, I would just do all of the work and turn it in for us to ensure an A. I’m not sure if I would have come out then and said that I thought I was smarter or just that I had trust issues. When I was in the last couple of years in high school, the group I interacted with academically often challenged me. I’ll never forget the first time I got to choose my own group and came out with Prem, Alan, and Amanda and we sat down to talk about the project and what needed to be done. These 3 actually graduated valedictorian, salutatorian, and high honors of our class. Prem and Alan were literally the smartest people I knew at the time and Amanda was probably the most creative when it came to meshing ideas together and making them flow. We each pulled our weight and brought something different to the team. We each taught each other new things. This challenged my early idea of group work. I realized I didn’t have to be the smartest person in the room, our grades together were actually better than when I took over and did it all myself. Sure, the work was done but it could have been so much better. I realized that I just needed to be able to locate the people who were gifted in the areas I was not, or who were just smarter than me all together. I don’t have to be the smartest person in the room or on the team, I need people who know more than me!
This strategy worked well for me all through college, sometimes I got to choose my groups and sometimes I was assigned them. EVERYONE has something contribute, so everyone can contribute somehow in a way that someone else wouldn’t. It just takes getting to know your team, and figuring out what that is!
In the last two weeks I have encountered two situations, one involving a new Christian and the other a non-believer. In both of these situations, they were conversing in a group of people they felt like were definitely “smarter” than them where the Bible was concerned. One conversation was over translations of the Bible among what was clearly seminary trained or well-studied adults. The new believer described this experience like “friendly fire” as they each made their case for their favorite Bible translation and why. The new believer was just happy to have a Bible and be able to understand it finally. She didn’t really understand why a group of Christians was essentially arguing with each other over reading the Bible!
When I was younger the only translation, we had in the house was a King James translation and I used to try to read it but then always ended up acting like an actor in a Shakespeare play and heralding what I was reading rather than actually comprehending it. Then, when I was 13, I received a Youth Walk devotional Bible which was probably an NIV translation, maybe ESV but my money is on NIV (I lost it in a wreck in my 20’s). Anyhow, I remember thinking, “OMG, this is in English!” It was the first Bible I had actually been able to read and understand.
I’ve seen that scenario play out plenty of times teaching youth over the past 10 years. When I went to seminary and was taking Hermeneutics, I learned about the different Bible translations, but my professor equated them not only with how they were translated, word for word, literal, or thought for thought, etc. He also explained them with reading and comprehension in mind and gave us suggestions when understanding who we were providing the Bible to.
While I do have a favorite translation I personally read from, I read from my paper NASB 77 but my electronic NASB 95, because I prefer a word for word translation of the original text, but that’s not usually my “go to” recommendation for kids! Really the biggest one I absolutely stay away from is “The Message” translation and others that are thought for thought translations because that means the passage has been interpreted by a human and translated into what they believe the thought of the writer was. Now, my husband can be thinking and say something to me, and I react in a way that makes me want to throat chop him, as we talk it out, what I heard and what he was thinking when he articulated were two very different things and I end up not being upset at all. I’m fallible, I make mistakes and misunderstand. Because we understand that the Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit guiding the human men’s hands along that physically penned the words (2Peter 1:21), we understand the author to be God. We know that God is perfect, does not make mistakes, and never fails. So, I prefer to leave someone else’s thought process out of the translation process into my language when it comes to interpretation. I prefer the most literal word for word translation I can read. This doesn’t mean I never pick up an NIV or ESV or even a CSB, I actually have a CSB apologetic out now, because I sometimes get to a difficult passage and need to hear some of the other translations as I began a word study.
All of this to say, the smartest people in the room that day, who have a valid point about Bible translations, participated in a conversation among people that left at least one new believer for sure, feeling overwhelmed and like she was reading an inferior translation to what “the scholars” read but not being able to understand them fully, they ended up detracting from her discipleship rather than encouraging her. Fortunately, this time, I didn’t participate in this particular conversation, but unfortunately, I can recall times I’ve discussed something similar and probably did make someone feel this way.
The other scenario was a conversation in front of and with a non-believer about questions he had but that lead to different denominational practices. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit swooped in an arrested my thoughts and tongue and directed me to focus on what I would call “Primary Doctrine,” that of how it is we come to faith in Jesus as Savior and King. In this instance, two of us having the conversation believed rightly the same thing about Jesus and had already repented of sin and believed the gospel of Christ, placing our faith in Jesus. The discussion was beginning to take a turn towards certain ways we practice our faith, such as speaking in tongues and if that means a language of a tribe or nation of peoples or a spiritual language that also requires a spiritual interpreter. There are people who are on both sides of the fence on this one. This wasn’t a discussion that was going to be helpful at the moment to a non-believer who wasn’t the one who asked that question but had asked other questions trying to understand a basic Biblical metanarrative (big idea of the Bible). The Holy Spirit steered us away from having a debate and towards talking about Jesus’ death burial and resurrection and that He is the answer to all the brokenness and hurting in the world. God has done something about it, He sent Jesus, and in His grace and mercy we are given time to come to repentance and faith!
I have to admit I haven’t always yielded to the Holy Spirit in these matters. I mean it’s not like it’s wrong to talk these things out with others and have a spiritual conversation, right? TIME AND PLACE! When that conversation takes place in front of a person or people who are new to the faith or unbelievers, and they see it as more of a debate, it can actually detract rather than build. Unfortunately, I’ve been guilty of this before, and I’ve also seen it happen. When I was in seminary, I got comfortable around my “bubble” of “little theologians”, and we were made to discuss these things regularly amongst each other. The same “debates” shouldn’t take place in all settings. Especially if you’re just trying to prove that you are as smart as the guy next to you. Those “bubbles” can be dangerous, especially for people in leadership positions in a local congregation, there’s a difference in educating and equipping the people you have the privilege to encounter and making them feel like you’re the smartest person in the room and the only one capable of rightly sharing the gospel to lead someone to Christ or for continued discipleship. Jesus commissioned all believers to do that, not just the seminary educated ones, pastors, scholars, or other church staff. “If you know enough to be saved, you know enough to lead someone else to Christ,” after that you can learn together! We ALL have something to contribute, don’t let someone make you feel inferior or uncapable to share the gospel and disciple! We are all “little theologians” whether we do it in seminary or home, or church, we are all studying God and His Word! Your pastor may have more experience speaking to groups or people due to his “job” and his “professional training,” but the same Holy Spirit that lives in him lives in you and you are completely capable of learning and sharing!
If you are usually the smartest person in the room, and especially if you feel the need to prove you’re the smartest person in the room, find a new room! Recognize how that may make others feel especially if your end goal is to participate in study or conversation that equips and grows both you and the people around you. Recognize you can learn something from everyone. I might spell or write better than my hubby, but he can outperform and outthink me mechanically, physically, and leadership wise, honestly, he’s better at loving me than I am him too! We are smart in different ways, together we are better! When we are with people, lets untether ourselves from the worldly idea of competition and seek to learn from each other and bring our best to build and grow together regardless of our experience or education levels!
I previously saved the “Love Is” cartoons from the Dallas Morning News which always featured a couple drawn in a precious moments style and a cute saying, like, “love is always kissing her goodnight.” One very aptly read “Love is letting her warm her feet!” This one makes me laugh because my husband HATES cold things touching his skin and he’s always incredibly warm, my feet….not so much…..and I KNOW it’s an act of true love when he sticks his legs up to the bottom of my feet and let’s me warm them! There are a million other things that love is and a million and one that the world will tell you it is.
That’s vulnerability!
My vote is to always look to the word of God to discern what things are because He’s the reason it exists anyway! 1 John 4:8, NIV: Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. Jesus tells us the greatest command is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart soul and mind, and the second greatest is like it, to love our neighbors as ourself in Matthew 22:37-39. He wasn’t talking about the house next to you, He was talking about everyone you see. Every person you come into contact with is your neighbor. We could go deeper into that, but let’s follow the “love trail” for today. There’s an entire chapter in 1 Corinthians dedicated to love!
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. 6Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.
11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. 12Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians literally the whole chapter 13
Did you catch that? Bc it was a lot! Let’s look at an excerpt.
Not only is God all of those things because he is love, as we follow Him and demonstrate His love to others as He has asked us to do this should characterize how we love others.
In youth we had a sign that we would hold across our chests with our hands when we needed to encourage someone to remember how to be loving which consisted of a 1 and a 3 to remind ourselves of this chapter. We also liked to do “Live it outs,” which were practical ways that we would apply Scriptural knowledge and live it out in our daily lives. I mentioned a personal example of Shaun and my cold feet! There are so many others.
Sometimes loving others makes us nervous, AWKWARD, vulnerable, and look weird…ok a lot of times it can do that. It can be not coming back with that zinger while verbally sparring with someone that is sure to win you popularity points with the class or crowd and get a good laugh but humiliate the other person. Love may look like sitting beside a friend who’s lost a loved one and not saying a word just being present so they know they aren’t alone because nothing you can say would make a difference in that moment anyway. Love may look like a text to say you were thinking about them. It may look like showing up with dinner for a family after they’ve received rough news or been through something or have been sick. It may look like a shift at the hospital with a friend who’s fighting for their life or healing from an injury or surgery, it may look like walking in and doing the dishes or laundry for a friend after the loss of a loved one or even when they have children and just need a break. It may look like walking in and holding the baby for a friend so she can shower or nap for a bit. It may look like an invitation to literally anything. It sounds a whole lot like doing life together, even when it’s awkward and you don’t know what to say! It’s certainly always sharing the gospel because that is the greatest demonstration of love ever and it shows you care about them spiritually, not just physically and if you’ve ever done that it can be real awkward. Sometimes love is speaking the truth IN LOVE saying the hard things in the softest of ways. Love only looks like things that glorify God the Father because He is love. Let’s untether from our worldly, hallmark, and other awful movie depictions of love and tether ourselves to the Father who will show us how we can love each other sacrificially in Him and by His power!
Every day I open some platform of social media and I see a news article or shared post for prayer because someone has committed suicide. I’ve attended funerals for people, loved ones, who have succumbed to the heaviness in their mind and taken their own lives. It’s heartbreaking and something that Christians especially, should be doing more to offer hope and help about. Unfortunately, too often the evangelical community inadvertently, due to a lack of understanding, particularly with personal experience, perpetuates a taboo sort of stigma in regard to depression.
My husband, who loves me and loves the Lord, who has been to seminary and has studied Biblical counseling and even completed a certificate program, who has served alongside me in ministry for years, doesn’t and has never struggled with depression. I who also love him and love the Lord, have also been to seminary and studied alongside Shaun in the same Biblical counseling classes, sometimes struggle with both anxiety and depression. Shaun cannot relate to me exactly because he doesn’t struggle in the same ways that I do, but because he loves me and he lives with me and sees me daily, tries very hard to minister to me and support me, especially on the rough days. He sees all of my Bible study books scattered about the house, he receives my random texts about something exciting I connected in my daily reading or a new study, he receives my texts about prayer for him, our kids, friends, family, and his teammates. He has witnessed, once even in the last week, me sharing the gospel and attempting to help a person I had just met understand the pain and suffering of this world.
He has also seen, this week, me break down in tears, feeling unworthy, and undesirable because I’ve put multiple resumes out and job applications out with no fruitful results, to have been so active and passionate about serving the Lord in our previous church, only to not be able to find a place where we are currently located. To feel invisible, certainly humbled, nothing special, and apart from the fact that I have 3 amazing happy, healthy children who are well educated, one with a degree and a job positively contributing to society and doing the adult thing, one 15 hours from her first degree and she’s not even 18, the 3rd 24 hours into his first and just turning 16, and ALL 3 KNOWING and LOVING the Lord, their eternity secured through repentance and faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord……ok when you type that out its not nothing…….but other than that and a stack of degrees and certificates with a lot of non-traditional teaching and managing experience feeling like I have nothing else to show for my 41 years.
I’m the first to admit that just because someone has a degree doesn’t mean they get the job or should even be in that field, but I do have personal experience and the testimony of both clients, my kids/students, and of those I have served, but it feels like none of that counts. Your mind goes to crazy places and tells you that yes, those people supported, affirmed, helped, and loved you while you were giving them your time and resources but not now. You can rationally look and see that you have blessings piled up a mile high or more and have no reason to be sad, but there it is, and you even get frustrated with yourself because you know better, but you still feel this way.
The one place that you should feel safe coming to and having people put their arms around you and love you and walk through it with you doesn’t. Because for some reason, rather than being vulnerable with each other, we view vulnerability as a weakness and if you say these things even at church its taboo. You either are participating in unrepentant sin or you aren’t reading your Bible enough, or you aren’t praying enough, or you aren’t serving enough. Or you make people feel uncomfortable because you’re actually honest and transparent and are attempting real connection rather than hiding it. Never mind that we are supposed to “bear one another’s burdens”(Galatians 6:2) and that we are “competent to counsel”(Roamans 15:14) each other when we are in Christ studying and serving alongside each other. We are so worried that someone will think we don’t have it all together and because our worldy society has taught us the dog-eat-dog ideology, we synchronize that with church and keep on pretending there too.
Listen, I can tell you that I am completely praying and willing to allow Jesus’ “eyes like flaming fire”(Rev 1:14) to look down into my soul and burn out my impurities, I pray that he reveals areas of my life that I need to repent in and I do. I love the Lord, I want to serve Him, I want and do share Him with others. I do read my Bible and find more and more to love and worship Him for every day.
My struggle with depression isn’t because I don’t trust God enough, or have hidden sin in my life! Honestly, if I didn’t understand God’s word or His love for me and others, I would probably be one of the statistics. I “feel” Paul when he said, “for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” I know I have a perfect Heaven to look forward to with my perfect and loving Savior, I can’t even begin to imagine how wonderful it’s going to be because my human mind has not seen anything wonderful enough to relate it to. But I also know that unless we the church( the actual body of believers..not the building) don’t take the gospel message to this world and actually disciple people they won’t have the same hope and assurance we do. This means I will need to live in this fallen and broken world to live out my purpose under Jesus’ authority. Living in a fallen broken world dominated by Satan means I’m going to be exposed to things that cause me to suffer. My sufferings are nothing like what others have endured, even to the point of death, but they are still real. So that’s me, that’s my testimony about it but I’m not the only one.
Did you know one of the greatest preachers of all time suffered with depression as well? Charles Spurgeon prayed this in his autobiography,
“Thou art my Father, and I am Thy child, and thou as a father, art tender and full of mercy. I could not bear to see my child suffer as Thou makest me suffer; and if I saw him tormented as I am now, I would do what I could to help him, and put my arms under him to sustain him. Wilt thou hide thy face from me, my father? Wilt thou still lay on me thy heavy hand, and not give me a smile from thy countenance?”
Charles Spurgeon-from his autobiography
Clearly he knows and believes in the Lord and clearly he’s heavily vexed. In his sermon the saddest cry from the Cross,” he says;
“Quite involuntarily, unhappiness of mind, depression of spirit, and sorrow of heart will come upon you. You may be without any real reason for grief, and yet may become among the most unhappy of men.”
Charles Spurgeon from his sermon “The Saddest Cry of the Cross”
Spurgeon recognized there often isn’t any real reason for his depression but the grief just comes. Spurgeon’s life has already been analyzed by Biblical scholars and all agree he was a spiritual giant. His sermons are studied in seminaries world wide and they still counsel and lead and teach others about Christ after his death! Yet, he admits to struggling with depression and anxiety. Google it and read through his sermons! My intent is this, if you’re reading this and you’re struggling and thinking you can’t be a good Christian and participate in the work of the Kingdom, understand that’s false! That is exactly the kind of attack Satan would employ to take you out of the race so he doesn’t have to worry about you sharing the gospel or discipling. He wants to so cripple you in your mind so that you are useless for the Kingdom. Don’t let him. Show up even on the bad days! If you don’t struggle and you’re reading this, please issue grace toward us. I’m the first to admit that sometimes our (all humans) turmoil can be caused from sin, by poor decisions we make that we need to recognize, be broken hearted over, ask forgiveness for, and turn away from (repent). Sometimes other people’s sin affects us negatively causing sorrow, and sometimes just like Spurgeon, its sudden and seemingly unprovoked. We need you to hold space for us, and be with us, and keep our hands on the plow, encourage us in the Lord, and walk alongside us gently pointing to Him and the hope and assurance we have. We aren’t unfit, unreliable, or undependable, we are broken crayons that by the grace of God alone are totally capable of coloring! Let’s Untether from those thoughts as we battle to take our thoughts captive and focus them on the will of Christ,” (2 Corinth 10:5) and “focus on things that are true, pure, lovely, and Holy.” (Phil 4:8) Being vulnerable enough to admit where you struggle is perhaps the greatest display of bravery. I’ll close with a quote a friend shared this morning, coincidentally she has held space for me, and I have attempted to do the same for her. She too struggles in different ways, but she has a brilliant mind and a sold-out heart for the Lord too, and so, when given the opportunity, “we lean on each other, so we don’t have to sleep with our heads in the mud”-Bubba (Forest Gump).
Please don’t read this as a condoning of walking with someone in sin or participating in it. Don’t read this as enabling someone to sin either. As you hold space for someone you may find that the relationship that you build DOES IN FACT impact the outcome, hopefully in a positive and Jesus giving way!
What does it mean to hold space for someone else? It means we are willing to walk alongside another person in whatever journey they’re on without judging them, making them feel inadequate, trying to fix them, or trying to impact the outcome. When we hold space for other people, we open our hearts, offer unconditional support, and let go of judgement and control.
Raychel Writes 