Has God Called You To Wait?

This the main points were:

• Stay with the Lord (Abide/remain & produce much fruit)
• Entrust to Him whatever we have deemed valuable
• Trust that He is able to keep it safe until it's your turn
• Become the woman who is ready to be called  up
• Become & remain women of prayer
• Stand (as a display of the glory of God)

In John 15:1-11, Angela stresses how many times Jesus said "abide" or "remain"...it is said 11 times in just 10 verses.  Remain or abide, wait on the Lord, stay with him.  It's the Greek verb "Meno" meaning to cling to a relationship you have already begun.

Entrust your longings, the things you hold most valuable to the Lord.  And become the woman who is ready to be called up.  God won't call you up till you're ready.

It's a blessing to him when we live like He intends.

When you say I'm ready God, sometimes there will be a righteous wait.  He isn't messing with you...it's just not your turn.  He is preparing you.  Just obey, until you're ready.  trust his plan and prepare so when he calls your name you are ready to hit the ground running.

Once you are sure you're hearing God's call for you and you're sure of what he is calling you to, the hows and whats and whys will hash themselves out if and when you are willing to look.  Sometimes you go where you think you need to go when you are still waiting and it's just hard and it's doesn't quite fit, it' doesn't feel right.  maybe it's just a stop on the journey God has you on to prepare you for where he wants you.  For your next relationship, your next job, the calling he has for you.  Just trust that he is leading you along the way.

We don't like to wait.  It's something we see as uncomfortable and aggravating.  Our human tendancy is to want it now.  We live in a fast food, microwave, fully connected, cyber speed age where we have specifically invented things so we won't have to wait.  So when God tells us to wait, we are like...what?!  We take things into our own hands instead of waiting on God.  We might pray about it but then we don't wait to hear God's response before we make our decision.  Then we wonder why we are stuck in a bad financial situation or conflict or relationship.  We have to wait on God to bless our steps...our relationships...our jobs....our financial decisions...our life decisions....our callings.

We resist it, because we don't like to wait.  It starts out as kids, when our parents tell us "no", "not now", "maybe later" or "next time" and we would cry and throw a fit in the grocery store because we wanted whatever it was we had our heart set on.

Psalm 62:5-8 says

"My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him.  He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken.  Oh God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.  Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.  Selah."

So he is telling us to wait and depend on him for an answer, not ourselves.  Now that doesn't mean we do nothing while we wait.  Because how will we see where He is working in our lives or hear His voice and know when it's our turn if we aren't actively seeking?  So if it's a job, that's what interviews, networking and researching are for.  For a relationship, it's courting, dating and friendship building.  If it's a ministry, you can try volunteering in different areas.  If it's a financial decision, research, do your homework, test drive, do walk throughs, get referrals, samples, etc.  But ALWAYS...wait on God.  And when all else fails, keep doing the last thing you know he told you to do.

He knows exactly what we need and when we need it and how we need it.  He knows what's good for us and what's not.  he knows what will keep us focused and what distracts us.  This is why we have to stay in a relationship with him.  We have to know that he IS our rock and He will give us the strength to wait our turn if only we put our trust in Him.  He just wants us to trust Him completely. 

He's not gonna play games with you or try to make it difficult for you...it may be that it's just not your turn  yet.  Just get ready.  And become the woman who is ready to be called up so when he says HEY, you....NOW!  You will be ready!

Resisting Bitterness

The highlights of this lesson were:
Choose Freedom
Choose Wisdom
Choose Victory - We win...we just have to choose to live in it.

I think as women with so many things pulling us and responsibilities, we have all experienced hurt and heartache and disappointment whether it is in our jobs or families, friendships or just a situation in general, its so easy for bitterness to set in.  You might get frustrated or feel lonely or even angry with a situation.  This lesson was so timely for me. 

I had had a particularly difficult time with a couple situations this week that just left me feeling bitter.  Not with a person but just with situations in general.   I just felt a sort of grumpy, bitter spirit about myself.  So as I opened my workbook to work on the lesson this week with my grumpy little attitude you can imagine that this was not the topic I wanted to see.  I was like, REALLY, GOD?!  This was the quote that stared back at me..."The bitter wallflower can only focus on the life she's never known and the parties she missed.  The woman who resists bitterness and believes God is finally ready to dance."  In the book, Angela goes on to say "I think we give up because we can't see God working all things together for good."  Bitterness becomes more attractive the more empty we become, it comes from our turning away from God.  Bitterness is characterized by feelings of hatred, envy and resentment.  It's a distraction, it occurs when we lose our focus, when we turn our gaze inward and away from God.  Proverbs 14:10 says "The heart knows it's own bitterness; and a stranger does not share it's joy."  This was particularly meaningful for me because in the middle of my bitterness this week, I was blessed to be able to share in the joy of a couple of close friends and that helped to pull me out of some of that bitterness. 

As important as those godly relationships are, staying in community as we have discussed in previous lessons can have some negative results that you have to be on your guard about as well.  I think we have all run into situations where it jus seems like some folks would just rather you become and STAY bitter.  They just like you that way and they encourage the resentment and feed your pity-party.  They have become consumed with bitterness and they want you to join them...they want you to get angry, take revenge.  You start to hear things like "I wouldn't just let that go", "You gonna let them get away with that?!", "I'd still be mad if I were you.",  or "Oh, I'd get back at them!".  They fuel the situation instead of helping.  The fact is, its so easy to get caught off guard and give in to bitterness and just sulk in your failures and pout about it.  Angela talks about how she has been misrepresented and unheard and how she had easily given up on some days but you just have to come to a point where you taste the root of bitterness and regard its comfort as poison.  We do not want to remain inward focused on our grievances.  We can not stay that way and go forward with God.

It goes back to our choice to believe.  We have to choose to believe.  Every time we allow ourselves to fall into bitterness and disappointment we are listening to Satan's promptings, inclining our ear toward his directives...forgetting to live what we believe. 

When preparing for this lesson I was reminded of the study we did some time ago.  James 3:11 says, "Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?"

Sometimes we don't even realize we have that bitterness inside us until it comes flowing out of our mouths.  But in Matthew 12:34, Jesus tells us "The mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart." so whatever is going on in there will come out one way or another.  But if we just believe God and relinquish that bitterness, we are free from that.

A perfect example was Moses in Exodus.  (Exodus 15:22-25)  Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea and then into the wilderness of Shur where they were for three days with no water.  then they came to Marah and tried to drink the water but it was too bitter to drink.  So the people complained to Moses asking, "What shall we drink?"  So Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree.  when he threw it into the water it became sweet and they were able to drink it.  But it wasn't until Moses refocused and called upon God did the bitterness go away.  God showed him how.  We have to remember...we win.  We just have to choose victory.

A Clean Life

This study is really speaking to my heart.  In the videos Angela keeps making reference to God taking us to "the next high place" and I just love that.  This week she tells us that because you're living a clean life, you will have a spirit of power and God will take you to the next high place.  When we decide to choose to live a clean life, God loves to bless that.


And I love that he knows us so well that he knew this would be hard for us but he loved us so much that he still made a way for us.  He knew we needed a savior and He said I will make you clean and you know what, you just gotta talk to me about it and I ain't mad at ya.


He even tells us in 1 John 1:19 -
"If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."


He pretty much says I knew this would happen...just choose me and not all that other stuff. 


Another important thing was to protect your home and keep it clean.  So when your kids find themselves outside of a holy and clean place they know it and they are uncomfortable and wanna get outta there. 


Angela talked about how she didn't even allow her kid's friends to bring games that were rated anything other than "E" for "everyone" because she didn't want the unclean images and material that her kids didn't need to be exposed to even enter her home.


And while I agree with that, she also said something else I don't particularly agree with.  She said she didn't care what those kids thought about her and she didn't car about those lost little hearts as long as she was keeping her kids she is entrusted to clean.  Well I do care.  I care because I would hope and pray that those kinds of decisions and morals we have in our home would cause our children's friends to wonder why we choose to live this clean life so then they can see that it all points back to our God and being holy for Him.


Think about this, if you turned the TV off and looked at your spouse or your kids after supper and said ok, lets do some devotional time or read from our bibles...what would the reaction be?  Is it normal and accepted as a part of your life away from church?  This is that kind of choosing we are talking about.  Choose God like we talked about last week.  Choose to be clean.


Now this is not just for those of us with kids in the house.  This is for all of us.  We have to keep a clean holy environment for us too.  For our husbands.  For our friends that come to our home.  Our parents and brothers and sisters.  I think about that all the time.  you know I pray a friend or family member will come to know Christ but if that person comes to my home will they see Christ in my surroundings?  In my choices?


So what if it's not so clean?  What then?  Don't feel defeated.  Remember Paul?  The apostle Paul who wrote so much of the scriptures in the bible?


He started off as dirty as they come.  Destroying churches and imprisoning Christians.  But on the road to Damaskus, Jesus made him clean and Saul the Christian persecutor became Paul, the man Jesus called "brother"...he was made clean.


No we haven't done anything like Saul, but certainly we have done things to distance ourselves from God.  Sins or bad choices or prioritizing things over God or whatever and then things got weird and that's when we drew back a bit.


But we confess it to him.  He is a forgets it and we find peace.

Rejecting the Wallflower Life

This week Angela brought up these important points of things we need to choose and keep choosing in our lives.


1 Choose God
2 Choose to Stop the Chaos
3 Choose Community
4 Choose to Restore Order


So this week in the video, Angela was describing me.  I sat there as I prepared my notes just sobbing as she continued to describe...me.  I expected her to peg me as a teenager, I mean I knew I was a wallflower teenager.  But then she began to talk about what happens when life comes at you fast...she says how she began to retreat into the spirit of a wallflower where you show up and do all the things you're supposed to do, looking all cute like you're supposed to because you're supposed to but you look around and you feel lost.  Even though you are there, in your heart you feel like you are just dying.  Jobs didn't work out, friendships were broken, relationships are jacked up, kids just making you feel crazy and you keep putting yourself out there only to keep retreating back in, feeling hurt and you decide that it all hurts too much so you start separating from it.  Building up your walls.  Stepping back.  Separating from the heartache and rejection.  Finally hugging the wall.  So when you do show up, you are there and you look great but you are just a shell, on the outside looking in.  You have separated yourself so much for fear of rejection that you completely miss out on the very thing God has called us to do...to love each other.
John 13:34-35 tells us
"A new commandment I give you that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

If we are retreating, how can we do this.  If we are separating from each other, how can we love them?

We do become numb, in areas we used to be so confident and decisive in, we are just kinda...blah.

Ecclesiastes 7:10
"Say not 'Why were the former days better than these?' Fir it is not from wisdom that you ask this."
We tend to think back and see the memories of before the craziness of kids or before the horrible job or before the divorce or before the friend betrayal and think things were so good...how did I get here?  A lot of times we forget we left yesterday behind for a reason.  What the verse Ecclesiastes is trying to tell us is we do have options.  Even though we may not be able to change our circumstances, we can change the way we think about them.  It's not smart to compare between then and now.  Yesterday will always have an advantage because you tend to remember it selectively and it's kinda like griping when we do that.  Remembering fondly is good but remembering selectively in this negative manner with regret is not good.
We tend to moan and grown like Naomi in the book of Ruth.  If you recall, Naomi went through a big famine and lost her husband and two sons and then sent her two daughters in law away...although one of them did refuse to leave her. 
Ruth 1:20-21 tells us how she was feeling...
"They Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.  I went away full and the Lord had brought me back empty"
She was looking back remembering the good life and what did she do?  She retreated.  She pushed her daughters in law away.  She wasn't choosing community like Angela talked about in the video.  She didn't seem to be choosing God at the moment either.  She seemed pretty bitter towards God.

But in the end what did she do?  She did choose community.  She did what God wants us to do and God blessed that.  But doing so her family was redeemed through her daughter in law Ruth's marriage to Boaz.

Just like she made choices, we make our choices every day.  We make choices to do things that will connect us or disconnect us.  Bring us closer to God or further away.  Make us more godly women or not so much.

We don't just decide we are gonna follow Christ and then wake up the next morning and we're glorious godly women.  We have to choose to be that way and keep choosing it every single day.