Welcome back to the Womens Bible Study Cafe™. We’ve finished reading week eight of our study on the Fruit of the Spirit. This week in Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore, we focused our study on Faithfulness. We looked at the idea of believability as it relates to God, and Beth Moore gave an example of faithfulness through believing in a God we cannot see.
(Image: Unsplash)
We see our Lord in miracles and His Word. Believing is walking by our faith, not by our sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7) I watched a blind man walk through our city streets yesterday, and what I saw amazed me. This man had a huge smile on his face, a bounce in his step, and an attitude of confidence in something he could not see: the sidewalk before him. I saw his white walking stick tap and move across the sidewalk and I thought of our Scripture verse. This man walked with JOY and by FAITH that he COULD see.
The blind man was evidence of Hebrews 11:1 -sure of what he hoped for (not falling) and certain of what he could not see (where the sidewalk ends). Do you have as much faith as a blind man?
By faith, we know God loves and cares for us and stands on His promises.
We ended our week with a review of prophecies God said would come true, and evidence supported with facts. God has been faithful to us…unyielding in His love and patience with us. We bring Glory to Him when the fruit of the Holy Spirit reflects in us.
You may not always be aware of another person’s absence but you will quickly be aware of another person’s presence of faith.
And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6
Assignment For Next Week
- Read Week Nine in the workbook
- Listen to the Session Nine Audio (optional)
- OR…Listen to the Session Nine Video (optional)
1. God has shown me compassion by just putting up with me….I seem to be falling back in to old habits/sins….Satan is busy this week with me. ( doing spiritual warfare also). God shows me compassion by just knowing He is here and forgives our sins.
2. Faith to walk with God…I can not see Him but I know He is here with me. How scripture, his promises, love, faithfulness, having Jesus die for our sins…just to name a few.
3. Shield about me…When I have great doubt over the little things I have no control over, only God can control them for he is more powerful than I am. He lifts my head/heart above all doubt.
4. God is so faithful even in the small things.
Blessing to all and may the Lord keep you all safe under His mighthy wings.
I wonder how many people are still doing the study? I hope many still are; it’s quite powerful!
I have to say … I like what Sue Alice said … Can those be my comments? 🙂
I hope people got to listen to the audio that went with this week. I am saving it as my favorite.
Renne,
Thanks…..I just write what pops into my head with a lot of help from the Holy Spirit. You may use them if you like…I share. Blesings to you and yours. Thanks again for the kind words.
We have many women participating in the study. Some are behind in their reading so they do not post in the group discussion. This is an amazing study and each week I feel the renewal of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Fruit. For those women who dropped the study, I pray that they will pick up their books and resist the temptation to say “its too hard, it takes too much time or I don’t like the format….”
Christine,
I think people just do not spend enought time in the Word these days….for they are just too busy or some of them with the me-me attiude..what is in it for me? If I can fall behind due to my husband’s having a really bad day for a few days( heart problems/diabetic), and moving into an apartment from a three bedroom house….stuff…stuff!!! Why can not they keep up??? Look at all you do for your family and everyone else on here has things to, but we keep up. Okay off my band wagon.
I am happy and glad for the ones who have stuck with the study. I see names from past studies and it makes me happy knowing we a a small powerful community for God. Keep up all the hard work. As Beth Moore said in the DVD “We are in a powerful battle.”
1,400 people Christine, that is a lot of people each day!!!!! Praise be the Lord. Keep up the work and fight the good fight. Thanks for being here, my friend.
Blessing to all and may the Lord keep you all safe under His mighty wings.
The enemy does everything he can to get us not to read Scripture. One of the greatest benefits to Bible study for me has been the unexpected intimacy with God. I feel saddened for the women who choose to follow the voice of the enemy (its too hard, too much time, too boring) and ignore the loving voice of a Father who calls His children towards Him.
My grandmother was in hospice, She went to be with the Lord and I am helping my mother. That is why I haven’t posted..So glad God knows my heart
Praying for His closeness and a covering of His love over your family right now Joanna.
You’ll be in my prayers!!!
Thank You
I found your site at about week 6 of the Living Beyond study and was so disappointed that I hadn’t found it earlier because I have been wanting to do this study. I am currently in the Spiritual Warfare study and also want to do the Jesus, the One and Only study that starts on November 30th. Decisions, decisions! How long do the blog posts remain on the site? I thought after the holidays I might try to do the Living Beyond as well although I’m not sure I can focus on 2 different studies at the same time. Thank you.
We do not remove the blog posts, they are always here. The page may move into archives ad we place the current studies on the front page.
Oh, that’s good because I really want to do Breaking Free next. I think I will read the old comments, and just sneak peek at the comments for the next study that I’m not participating in. This way I can do the Breaking Free (I have the materials, so will do that study, but not feel like I have actually exited the group … You’ll still be there! Now to get off line and open my Bible!
It takes faith to walk by God because we cant always see him in front of us. There can be many things that come up along the path that can distract us from God if we arent careful.
God has been a shield for me many times in my life, I think of him as always being there in difficult times. Not always completely shielding me from the blow but there to soften it. When we put all of our faith in God we will have difficult times, but God will be there to shield us and protect us.
God shows me compassion each and every day. Recently my husband and I have been struggling with deciding, whether to keep our home or let it go. The position we now find ourselves in is because of poor choices made on both persons behalf by one person (I was not aware of what was taking place until it was to late). It has been a difficult season and even though I know God is in control and that He works to bring good to those who believe and love Him it is still difficult. This post could be place under our spiritual attacks study, as well, because it has caused me at times to lose my temper, which is not norm for me. My recent emotions are not always something I am proud of and the Lord forgives and shows compassion by bringing someone along side me who relates and encourages me. He does not allow me to walk this road alone. He is there and He has surrounded me with others that understand. He has also provided the funds to keep the house if, after much prayer that is what we decide to do. He loves His children and he has demonstrated this to me time and again by the compassion he has given to me and shown to our family during this difficult decision making time.
Praying for God’s will for your home.
1. I can see compassion renewed daily; God shows His love and compassion just by letting me get up and go about my day to day life. I am so unworthy, complain, yet God just keeps blessing me. He shows me His love every day by a song on hte radio, a kind word from a friend or stranger, or peace in situations out of my control.
2. We don’t understand the “whys” of things, and to be intimate with God, to accept and not to question, we must have faith.
3. There have been many times when God has been a shield for me, when I was afraid and felt God’s presence in the situation. One such example is driving in bad weather. I live in the mountains and we often get ice. I am terrified, which makes it worse. So many times on my way to work or home I have prayed and felt God’s presence as I drove. So many times he has protected me from injury physically. ONe time I can think of was when I was 4 years old and in a vehicle by myself. I knocked the car out of gear and it rolled over a huge mountain. The driver’s door was open and I crawled out of the back window with only a small scrape. God’s protection was definitely over me then!
4. Faith isn’t easy to come by… we have to work at it. Only through reading the Bible, praying, and drawing near to God are we able to have faith in Him and His promises. Those promises are always true! Thank you, Lord!
1. Has God shown compassion to you recently? (page 158)
Even in my early life, living without him, he has lead me to himself and blessed me with a wonderful husband and kids.
2. Why does it take faith to walk with God? (page 162)
Because some things are beyond our human comprehension, or explanation , what we see many times is the result of FAITH.
3. Describe a time when God has been a shield about you. (page 169)
When my first husband got mixed up in drugs, and encouraged me, desired me to join him. I had strength to stand against him , God protected me against my “husband’s” wrath. God lead me to a safe place when I had nothing left in me to go on. I didn’t go to church but I knew of God and every night I prayed, God got me through those very hard times.
4. Share something from this week’s lesson that was valuable to you
What struck me the most this week was having our “eyes open” , like it describes in Elisha, and the army of angels. I thank God my eyes where open to him my whole life and WIDE open now. And I pray others will open their eyes to GOD. Doesn’t it say somewhere in the Bible that “eyes were covered with scales” they couldn’t see. I believe Paul was blinded that was but there are other references to eyes being covered. I don’t’ recall many references to angels in the new testament, other than Revelation . But I do believe God’s army of angels are here today. My garden tool for faith, this is always a challenge. The first thing that comes to mind my hands. Hard to use other tools without them, just like our spiritual gifts without faith.
Hello,
This week there was a situation at my church and due to some miscommunication an invoice was mishandled. In week eight of our study it spoke about our faith in God. In day two Beth asked, “Do you base your faith on what God does or who He is? This really resonated with me, so I wrote this parable in hopes that someone might understand how sometimes we as Christians can even miss the big picture. After you read the story, tell me what you think God would want us to learn from this parable. Are you one of those that trust God only when things go your way? Lets call the story, Where is your Faith?:
There once was an old man who had been a long time member of his church. He had many talents, therefore had lived a good life. In his latter years, he gave his life to Christ and promised to use his talents for the up building of God’s kingdom. So whenever there were any things that needed fixing at the church, he would volunteer his services. He soon became known as the handyman whom the church would often call on to fix various things. This pleased him for he was able to fulfill his promise to God that he would use his talents for the kingdom. Years passed and the old man got sick and fell upon hard times. The economy was bad and he could hardly find any work. The church was in need of a paint job and was searching out estimates to get the work done. He overheard from the Pastor that indeed they were looking for a painter. He volunteered his services and told the Pastor that he would do it for much less than the previous bids that they had received. There was never really a contract drawn up with him, after all he was a member and had often did work for them in the past. So first thing that next Monday, he started the paint job.
Upon arriving to work that morning the church secretary noticed him on the ladder, but assumed that as always he must have found something broken that needed fixing. On Tuesday when she arrived he had completed the front of the sanctuary, but she was running late and did not even notice. By Wednesday, he had completed the other side. Upon arrival to church that afternoon, the secretary noticed how beautiful everything looked. She complemented him on doing such a wonderful job. He proceeded to give her his invoice that was later placed in the pile along with all the other proposals to get the church painted. The deacons came across the invoice and questioned the secretary as to its purpose. She implied that the handy man had given it to her for the new paint job. “Who authorized it?” the deacons said. She expressed that she did not know, but think that he and the pastor must have had a discussion about it.
By the end of the week the old man was in need of his medication and money for his family. He called the secretary who then told him that she had given the invoice to the deacons and that they would present it to the church for payment. Yet, by the time church conference came around no one had bothered to communicate with each other about the invoice and it was once again pushed aside. Should the old man have made sure that he was going to be paid before he did the work? Should the secretary, who had noticed the good work, had made sure that the invoice was presented properly? Or should the deacons, who handled all the business for the church, went and searched out the old man and inquired about the invoice? Last but not least, should the Pastor whom had had the discussion with the old man been the one to insure that the invoice was addressed? Suddenly, it had become a shift of responsibility. The truly sad thing was that no one had bothered to see what God had done with blessing the church to receive a paint job for hundreds of dollars less than any of the bids. Also, no one had even noticed that the old man was indeed sick and had fallen on hard times. It was more important to shift around the responsibility and the invoice remained unpaid. The old man had to tell his wife that he did not have the money for their bills. She too, began to question him as to why he had done the job without getting a contract first. He reminded her of his conversation with God a few years earlier and made this reply to her question.
“I promised God I would give my talents for the up-building of His kingdom. When I made that choice it was sincere. I trust God not because of what He does for me, but because He is God. He promises to take care of us and we must trust that He will do just that.” They kneeled together before God and prayed for His guidance. What is the moral of this story? Where was the old man’s Faith?
I am still behind but here! This is an amazing study!
1. God has showed us compassion for several months- With my husband in a state of “lack of work” God has been providing for us. Just when we need it! He also makes it known it is him too!
2.Why does it take faith to walk with God?- Because it is impossible to please him.
3. God’s shield?- Again financially, we are not late on any bills which in my opinion is a miracle.
4. Most valuable?- That God is faithful even when it doesn’t look like it? We must trust and if it doesn’t turn out the way we think it is supposed to…look again it is better than what we only could imagine!
I admire you for finishing Carin! This study is so valuable and the lessons are life-lasting.
4. Share something from this week’s lesson that was valuable to you. The page is 166 in the middle; the section is Truths learned from Paul’s shipwreck account.