Siesta Summer Bible Study (Weeks 3 and 4) -Part 2 from LPV on Vimeo.
Okay, here are the four questions for us to discuss together. I hope that over the past 4 weeks, we've had a chance to get to know one another a bit and develop some trust with one another. Some of these questions are tough, and demand true honesty! Here are Beth's questions:
1. Look at the top of p.57 and note the track Jennifer gave us from emotions to thoughts to actions. Discuss its relevance and any recent examples. At the bottom of that same page, she refers to “THINKING WITH OUR FEELINGS.” Discuss this familiar female propensity as well.
2. Turn to p.65 where we studied the woman with the issue of blood. In the first full paragraph, Jennifer writes, “We often face one defining circumstance that becomes the headwater from which other issues flow.” Would some of you be willing to share what your “one defining circumstance” is and how it tends to affect a number of different areas?
OK, this is not a discussion question but I want to mention it because it was one of my very favorite things and I’ve thought about it a ton since I read it. Take a glance at p.73 where Jennifer shares the story about being stuck on a plane and the little girl near her saying to her daddy, “I spy something good.” Did that speak to you, too?
Now, from Week Four:
3. Based on p.81. where Jennifer discusses what we say to ourselves when we talk to ourselves about sin: What has been your most recurrent conviction lately and what are you doing about it? (If you’re not presently doing anything about it, admitting it to your group is a start!)
Discuss how she ties up the point on p.87 with these words: “Never let the Enemy be more aware of your weaknesses than you are.”
4. Review p.88. Do you have a framework set up in your life for consistent accountability? Do you have at least one person in your life who holds you accountable in your pursuit of God and godliness and doesn’t just help you stay comfortable in your strongholds? Look at Jennifer’s statement: “The Enemy goes after the solitary and the silent.”
Discuss the fears involved in opening up to accountability and the solutions to those fears. What holds us back? Is it time? Exposure? Fear of confidence being betrayed? Talk about fears, solutions, and the importance of taking the chance.
I (Judi) have one more question to add and would love to hear all your answers on:
5. From p. 73, what was your answer to the first question on the page: "How have you benefited from the Holy Spirit's teaching?"
Let's have some great interaction that will make us feel like we're sitting in someone's living room having coffee (decaf)!!
Posts
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI'm asking for your prayers. I'm now behind on the study because I have not been feeling well. This past weekend, ended up going to the ER then stayed for 24-hour observation due to high blood pressure (I'm only in my early 30s). I've been experiencing bad anxiety attacks, as well. Please pray for complete healing for me. Thank you!
Nightengale, thanks for sharing. I will be praying that the reality of God's presence and greatness will fill your thoughts and that His peace that is beyond our understanding will guard your heart and your mind.
ReplyDeleteJudi
Hmmm....is everyone behind? Or just busy?
ReplyDeleteWell, I will start things off then.
1) Oh man....thinking with my feelings...I am writing this just after finishing a huge bowl of ice cream. And my answer to the question on p 57 was that I think with my feelings when I feel like snacking or vegging in front of the TV. The feelings aren't wrong in themselves, but when I act on them out of habit, I become enslaved by my feelings.
2) I think my "one defining circumstance" right now has to be that I have been battling shingles for the past 3 months and because of the pain medication I feel like my whole is revolving around this issue -- I am still in pain, although not as much as at the beginning, I am sleeping a lot, I exercise less, I have less energy. It is also becoming easy to blame everything on The Issue.
I also highlighted the "I Spy something good" on p. 73, and have made Philippians my memory verse for this month. I am really enjoying meditating on all the different things I am to think about.
3) Siestas, I am confessing to you that my most recurring conviction is that I do not give other people the benefit of the doubt and believe that they have good intentions. I try to find their hidden motive or their agenda. I'm asking the Holy Spirit to break me of this habit, and I'm hoping that memorizing Phil 4:8 will help me with this! I also affirm what Jennifer said on pg 87 "Knowing is part of staying spiritually alert, tuning in. Never let the enemy be more aware of your weaknesses than you are"
4) No I do not have an accountability partner. There have been a couple of times in my life when I had an accountability partner at the same time that I was caught up in horrible sin. My life was so full of lies and deceit that I was able to lie to my partner and convince her that everything was going great.
Even though I've confessed that sin and been restored to the Father, I probably have some fears about being vulnerable with someone and sharing hidden thoughts & fears. I'm interested to hear some of your answers & solutions on this one.
5) I have experienced over and over that the Holy Spirit has led me into truth. He did a HUGE work on my heart 5 years ago as He led me into the truth of who I am in Christ, and who I am as a wife to my husband.
1. Thinking w/ my feelings..A while back, after a series of unexpected and unpleasant circumstances, I started feeling sorry for myself and the pity party just got bigger and bigger untile I finally convinced myself that this world would be better if God would just take me home. (no suicidal thoughts just asking God to end my life). I then told my husband and of course freaked him out completely.
ReplyDelete2)This is hard for me to put into words. Low self esteem is the result and I am praying the Holy Spirit will reveal to me the root of that so I can deal with it. Are some people just born confident and others not?
3.) My most recurring conviction is to forgive myself. If I have the confessed my sin and sought God's forgiveness who do i thinks I am to not forgive myself? AND stop thinking and talking to myself about it.
4) I do have a prayer partner and trusted Godly friend and over the last couple of years we are slowly building it to where we can say to one another WHOA I am seeing or hearing things from you that we need to talk about because it isnt honoring God. I dont trust easily so this has been very hard for me. I still fight the fear of rejection at being that vulnerable with someone.
5. The benefits are bunches but one of the mains ones is how He has taught me to listen to His still small voice. I am always on the go, my days are planned out in advanced, and He has done a work in my life to STOP and listen!!
Hi, Siestas!
ReplyDelete1. I do this so much less than I used to (thank you Lord for renewing my mind by Your Word!) but my emotion that would run away with me was fear. I would dream or get this thought in my head that my husband was killed (he was missionary aircraft mechanic, then military, and he's had a motorcycle -- all things that can be higher risk) and I was left a young widow. If I entertained the thought, let it "cook a while" I would become afraid, then emotionally needy and clingy. It was a tragic cycle and caused lots of strife in our marriage. It also just demolished my trust in God's provision and goodness.
2. my "one defining circumstance" is my physical health. I had to learn forgiveness all over again (a Dr. mistake caused the vocal cord injury which led to the heart problems and lung issues which led to the breakdown of my energy and fatigue and pain). When I harbored resentment, and felt my "rights" had been violated, it led to depression, despair, anger, and a horrible life of strife and unhappiness.
"I spy something good" -- actually it was the reading again of the book "Pollyanna" which spoke to me. I can choose how I will respond to situations in my life. I can choose to look for the good in people, in situations.
3. My most recurrent "conviction" has been cynicism. Sometimes it's really hard to be optimistic when my pain levels are high and my energy is low. It's so easy for me to think my problems are so much more dramatic than others. However, I still don't have the right to feel entitled to whine and complain. God is worthy of my trust; He does accomplish His purposes for me.
4. I do have a great network of accountability. It's been such a tremendous gift!
5. How have I benefited from the Holy Spirit's teaching? Several years ago I started purposely committing Scripture to memory. I knew that I needed to "renew my mind" and there was no other way to do it than to replace the lying tapes with the truth of God's Word. The Holy Spirit has used His Word, His Truth, so often to encourage me, to challenge me to repent, to stop me dead in my tracks from going on a wrong road. I am so grateful!
I am so loving this study!
Hi everyone, I am back from my trip with my granddaughters and we had a great time. I posted a few pictures on my blog. I also spent the last couple days with my cousin in Calgary and had a great time with her as well. Friday I go back to work and don't look forward to that:(
ReplyDelete1. I am most often not an emotional thinker but the one thing that I deal with is fear. Even fear doesn't control me like it did because my greatest fear, was that I would lose my husband, I did and God carried me through it. I also deal with thinking I am right and judging others because of that. Not a very nice thing to admit! God took me through some really hard times and really changed me in this area so I don't feel it defines me anymore but it is still an area the enemy can grab and tell me lies about.
2. I'm not sure I have one defining circumstance. I had a very rare illness when I was in my 40s and it was at that time that God broke through my 'needing to keep it altogether on the outside no matter what' way of living. I guess that has defined me in a positive way since then.
3.My recent conviction about my sin is that I don't recognize my own sin a lot of times. I don't believe God wants us to dwell on our sin but at the same time I need to recognize and confess it more often than I do.
I love the I Spy something good game, what a great reminder to look at the blessings I have rather than the negatives.
4.I am so blessed to have 3 women that I can share with for accountability. They would all challenge me if they saw me going "off track" in my walk with the Lord. They are a huge blessing to me. I had to learn the hard way not to try and make it look like I had things in my life "altogether" and that it was OK to be vulnerable. It is a huge blessing not to try and hide my struggles. I think it was in this study that I read, Satan can only harm you with things you keep secret. Actually being real and open deflates the things he can use against us. That was a huge lesson for me to learn and VERY freeing.
5. I think that what I shared about being real and vulnerable is probably the greatest benefit I have had from the Holy Spirit's teaching. It changed who I am and was a huge part of living out the freedom we have in Christ. I was judgemental, maybe even self-righteous at times prior to this teaching in my life.
Nightengale I just want to let you know I am praying for you that you will trust in God and allow Him to set your mind at rest. He loves you more than you can imagine and longs to bless you. I just pray that you will feel His presence surround you in a way that makes you feel safe & secure and that you will feel His peace that passes all understanding.
Judi, I love the idea of interaction over coffee, sorry mine needs to be full power not decaf!!lol Jill when I read your response about the pity party I can relate to that for sure. Things in my life have not gone the way I ever thought they would. It's hard for me to be alone and see my couple friends doing the things I thought Jim & I would be doing at this time in our lives. I certainly didn't figure a brain tumor into my life plan! Sometimes I get so lonely it is an actual physical pain, not often, but at those times I really need to speak truth to myself or I can go into a pity party real fast. Sometimes I actually just cry it out and maybe have a day of just feeling the pain, I find that then I am good for several months. I guess at some level I am still grieving my losses but time does heal and those times are less often than they were. Even today as I think of going back to work tomorrow I realize again how different my life is than I thought it would be. We ranched for close to 30 years and so I was my own boss!! There were of course very busy times where we worked long hours but we set our own pace. In the non crucial time if I wanted to work 16 hrs. one day and 2hrs. the next that was my choice. Setting my clock to someone else's time has been a HUGE adjustment for me. I'll be fine but I'm not excited to go to work tomorrow! I have no choice because financially I have to work full time, so I'll suck it up and do what I need to do but oh how I have loved being home and just enjoying my days!!
ReplyDeleteMamma Bev I am so sorry about the mistake that changed your health. That is a huge adjustment as well as all the emotion that comes with it. I am so glad you were able to forgive because you are not living in bitterness, which just eats us up if we let it, as well as dealing with your health issues. I pray you will have a great day today! Judi how are things going with the sale of your home? I have our prayer requests from the first post on my frig, has anyone had answers yet? I hope some of you will share more of your daily lives so we can get to know each other better!! Enjoy your day, I plan to sit out on the swing on my patio for awhile today and just enjoy the summer that has finally found us!! Blessings to all of you!
Bev, I am also loving how purposefully memorizing scripture has helped to renew my mind!!
ReplyDeleteLynn, I promise I would not force decaf on you - I only mentionef decaf because of what Beth said about caffeine in the video!! LOL.
Our home has not sold yet, but I have peace about it - it's all in God's timing. A house that we had looked at in our new area and really loved just sold, and I have peace about that too. It means God has something even better for us!!
Jill, if you have a chance to watch the Session 4 video (I put the link to it on the Week 5 post) it has some great suggestions for being real with your accountability partner.
My dear sisters - thank you so much for praying for me. Your words encouraged me so much.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that the anxiety attacks were a side effect of blood pressure medication I took for a month.
Even though the attacks were the result of medication, the Lord has shown me what happens when if I don't start giving Him my concerns and allowing the concerns to become worry and anxiety. So, I'm really working on allowing God to have control. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! Please keep praying for me. I felt a bit of anxiety this morning, and I know it was the Enemy trying to trip me up again.
This study could not be more timely...
1. Anger and Fear - thoughts that overwhelm me and I act and say things I shouldn't do or say.
2. Insecurity
3. Forgiveness - I finally approached 2 people I had harbored resentment for a long time and asked their forgiveness.
Worry - actively giving those thoughts over to God
"Never let the Enemy be moare aware of your weaknesses than you are" - the whole experience for me with the anxiety attacks showed me that the Enemy definitely knows how to trigger my weaknesses. If I try to sweep it under the rug instead of allowing God to deal with it, the Enemy has ammunition.
4. Working on finding an accountability buddy. I have already approached a friend about it.
Hardest part is being vulnerable.
5. The Holy Spirit has showed me that there is much to change in me, and change is possible! He's reminded me of God's goodness, mercy, and healing!
Thank you again for your prayers.
I am up to date with my home work and have been reading, and encouraged by, all your comments – they have spurred me on in my homework and in growing through this study!!
ReplyDeleteHere I go with my answers...
1) One of my favourite scripture verses is Isaiah 26:3 – “You will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” I first memorized that verse about 19 years ago and every time I lack peace I say to myself “you are lacking peace because you are not keeping God in this equation!” I usually go to my knees asking Him to grant me wisdom and discernment in that situation. Sometimes it takes longer than other times, but usually He calms my heart and gives me clarity.
2) I really prayed about this one. After much thought and going back to a lot of the major events in my life (including being virtually orphaned at 15, losing a child at 25, losing my husband to death at 29, remarrying 7 years later and being divorced 7 years after that) I came to the ultimate conclusion that the “one defining circumstance” in my life was my salvation – the knowledge of who I am in Christ. This defines who I am and affects every aspect of my life –who I am as a mother, grandmother, employee and friend. It impacts my actions and my struggle to represent my Father in the marketplace.
3) I would have to say God has been on me about really believing who I am in Christ. The very top of page 78 says “So many people were saying...everyone cannot be wrong...Am I willing to receive what they are saying is truth”. This absolutely jumped off the page at me!! I am very willing to believe and receive negative things others say about me but am deaf to compliments. I find these hard to believe. There is a dear younger sister in my church who references me as her “spiritual mom”. That never fails to humble me and I have not been able to receive that. I am moving and will be changing churches. As the word has gotten out in my current church people have been saying some very special things to me. Before this study I would have brushed these comments aside with the thought “you really do not know me or you would not say that.” Because of this study I have been overwhelmed with what is being said to me just may be true. Even now it is reducing me to tears.
4) Years ago I experienced a Marriage Encounter (ME) weekend that taught me to trust others with my feelings. they explained that someone has to start first – the other person then feels more comfortable and shares in return. The thing I have learned is that there is not one person without skeletons in their closet. My first husband and I were part of a 6 couple ME support group that met weekly. My husband and I had something that we needed to share but just could not face them as a group. So, one by one we had these couples over to our home and shared with them. It was amazing and repeated with each couple – when we shared out story, they, in turn, trusted us and shared something that they had been struggling with. Through this whole situation the whole group grew closer. I am blessed to have 3 very close friends and a daughter who are quick to tell me the truth in love about anything.
Praising Him who saved me!
June