Week 4: YES to GOD Tuesday study

Okay, one would think I just gave birth a week ago instead of my daughter. I tell you, this whole experience of helping Mommy out in the middle of the night is really taking its toll on me. For some reason 37 doesn't take well to getting her sleep interrupted. She wakes up in such a state of confusion. No telling what lullaby comes out of my mouth at 2am.
Oh well, my little Amiyah is so worth any loss of sleep.


Here is a button if you'd like to add it to your blog, compliments of the wonderful Karla! Isn't it just so pretty? Please go visit Karla. She has an awesome blog and she was the winner of the She Speaks scholarship P31 held a few months ago. Her blog will be worth your time. Thanks for blessing me Karla! xoxo

Okay, YES to GOD, let's go...as we dive into Lysa TerKeurst's awesome book

"What Happens When Women Say Yes to God".

CHAPTER 4: You never know how God will use you until you let Him.

First of all, don't you just love the title of this chapter?? How true it is.

"In following the path of radical obedience, I have tasted the mystery of the sacred fellowship that comes when two or more are gathered in His name, and it has added a richness to my life that I would never again want to live without. "

Sacred fellowship. I love the times I have with God that is only between me and Him. I love those moments with God that you just bawl for no reason except for the fact that He invaded a new area of your heart.

Further down on page 59, Lysa says this, "Radical obedience is not just following a list of right things to do. Nonbelievers can do that and call it "good." Radical obedience is choosing to exchange what is "right" for God's righteousness. Only the pursuit of God's righteousness lead to His best. "

Choice. Everyday we're faced with the choice of following God. Exchanging what is right for God's righteousness. Isn't that just strong? Exchanging what we think is good or right and saying here God, now give me your best. Pursuing God leads to His best. That last sentence just gets me. How many times do we throw our hands up in frustration because we didn't get the "best" when we thought we were due to have it? I don't even want to think about all the "best of God's" I've missed out on due to selfishness and impatience.

On page 60 Lysa boldly tells us that Jesus Christ is our source and should be the ONLY object of our pursuit.

"When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord of our life, we exchange our worthless sin for the immeasurable worth of His righteousness."

OH I loved how God had Lysa word that truth for us!!! As my husband would say, "Go on girl!" Think about that sentence of honesty. When we give up the meaningless, worthless things in our lives that we think we can't live without, we are exchanging it for God's righteousness that cannot even begin to be measured!

I love jewelry. Let's say I wore a cubic zirconia ring on my ring finger and when Gene proposed to me and tried exchanging my fake diamond for the real stuff I said, "no thanks, I'd rather wear this". There is no way I would've done that. So why do we do that with God?

We are so quick to settle for stuff that we'll look back on and say "OH my goodness that was so meaningless, what was I thinking?" instead of exchanging it for a testimony of God's presence in our lives.

So how do we get started in becoming a woman who pursues obedience? Lysa tells us that "becoming women who say yes to God starts with Jesus, and it is His amazing love that compels us."

Okay, so Christ's love drives us to obey. Lysa teaches us that an obedient heart isn't our way of earning God's favor; nor it is the path to prosperity. God's favor is with those who love His Son, and our promise of prosperity lies in what we have waiting for us in our eternal home. At the end of this section on page 61 Lysa asks us a few questions:

Do we really want to be interrupted in the middle of our busy lives to see God, hear God, and pursue God? Do we really want to be compelled by the love of Christ? Do we really want a Lord of all of our life?

She answers exactly what my heart desires but so often the flesh part of me defies:

YES, JESUS, WE DO.

I don't know about you, but sometimes this pursuit of God is just down right tiring. I want things now instead of later...my kids are doing things that they shouldn't be...some days I just want to be single and kid less...finances are choking us. I mean really, don't you sometimes feel like you have had enough??

I KNOW I'm not alone here. I just need to stay focused on Him because He is so worth any discomfort during the journey.

I get just tired and there are many times that I've experienced the unfortunate consequences of acting like a spoiled brat and doing things my way instead of just keeping my mouth shut and keeping my face buried in His Word. I know He has plans for me, but so often I choose to do it my way.

SO...

1.) Christ is the source of our radical obedience

2.) His love is what motivates us

THEN

3.) His power enables us to do what we're called to do.

I love Beth Moore's statement: "He's developing the character the calling requires."

Sometimes God asks us to do some things that we just know we can't do. Things that we can only do through His power. I believe those are the moments His glory shines the brightest is when the impossible is made possible through Him. There's nothing more beautiful then when He takes a woman that is so uncapable and does what He knows she can't until she cooperates.

Listen to this warning Lysa gives us about Satan:

"Know this: Satan will do everything he can to convince you to say no to God...He wants you to deny Christ's power in you. He wants to distract you from God's radical purpose for you."

This past week when my daughter gave birth she asked her nurse for an epidural when her pain passed her line of tolerance. Before the pain reached it's height, she was distracted from her contractions because of what was running through her IV. She was so comfortable that she even slept between some contractions. We even had to tell her when to push by watching the contraction monitor. How often does that happen in real life? The minute we start to feel discomfort we opt to have the enemy's epidural. Now in my daughter's case, she still got a beautiful baby girl at the end, but in real life, we miss out on the beauty of what God has for us when we allow the enemy to come in and distract our hearts. Sometimes we need to experience those pains in order to grow. We just have to bear down through life's hard contractions because when we get through it we'll be met with a Father who values our obedience.

Lysa asked us if we want to chase after the world's emptiness instead of God's fullness over on page 64. I once heard a pastor from Atlanta, Rick Snow, put it this way:

"When we don't listen to God, it's as if we're running on an indoor track and God is on the sideline telling us to 'take another lap'".

I hated track growing up, but somehow I have become a marathon runner as God is motioning for me to keep going until I get it.

Oh Lelia...

I leave you with this statement of Lysa's found on page 70.

"I remind myself often that people don't care to meet my Jesus until they meet the reality of Jesus in my life."

Let's learn to be real women of God who aren't just talking, saying or writing what sounds good. Let's allow God to do what He wants when the word YES rolls off of our lips.

Let's let people meet the reality of Jesus in our lives. Everyday. Every hour. Every second. He needs to be evident for others to see and hear.

For when they see Him in us they too will want to say YES to GOD!

There is so much more in this chapter that I could share, but the floor is yours. Please leave a comment and share what God is doing in your life. I love reading what you share and I learn so much from all of you. If you have something on your blog you want others to come read...please sign up below so we can come visit.

God Bless you all and I promise next Tuesday this will be posted before noon central time.

Thank you all for your sweet comments to Alyssa and about Amiyah.

Life is just so much better with her in it and it's only been 6 days!

Love ya,

Lelia