Pages

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

YES to GOD study: Chapter 9

It's that time of the week again for
I was so touched by your responses of the last post. Most of you got the message God put on my heart to write about the election. I have never pretended to write from any one's heart but my own or attempted to walk in anyone else's shoes as I trip myself up enough in my own size 9's. I try to view things with my own eyes based on my own experiences with God. I don't even try to pretend to know what my kids experience in their life for I can't imagine being of two different races and dealing with all that comes with that beauty. When I see my kids have worries, my husband and I try to direct them to Christ because their hope must be in God. Role models in the flesh are necessary as God uses many people to shape us, but when it comes down to it Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace MUST be our only focus of hope and we must keep our eyes fixed on Him.


A few weeks ago I shared with you about Justin and what a great influence he has had on my son Aaron, but if I teach Aaron to put all of his hope in Justin then I have failed my son. Justin is a man and sooner or later he will fall, like we all have and do. My responsibility as a woman seeking God is to teach my children to keep their focus on the Almighty One. Period. This is not an idea I have come up with, rather God did...


Hebrews 12:1-3(The Message Bible)
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!


As we pray for President Bush whether you like the man or not we must also pray for President-elect Obama and his family, whether he was your choice or not.

May he lean on God to lead him.


Let's get started...


CHAPTER 9:

WE ARE COMPLETELY FLAWED AND YET FORGIVEN


Remember anything in blue is a quote from the book.

We women, as people and as followers of Christ, are completely flawed and yet forgiven completely.

We are flawed and forgiven all at the same time.


We are sinful, down to our very core, and we are sanctified, down to our very soul.


Starting on page 150, Lisa described what I would call a "morning from hell" that I would say if we were to be completely real with one another we have all had these. This morning maybe. But I loved what God showed Lisa through it...We are what I call perfectly imperfect. In other words, we were each born with a sin nature that often controls us and leads us to do things that go against what we really want to do.



One of the passages of Scripture that I can unfortunately relate to is the one that Lisa has in this chapter, Romans 7:15-18. Paul of all people could pen this with much passion. Our sin nature nudges us into doing things we crawl into bed at night and think...what just happened? If not careful we will find ourselves living a life that gives Beth Moore the material to write the study, "Why godly people do ungodly things".

If we do not allow ourselves to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, our sin nature takes over. And that's when things get really messy.


Lord knows I know this too well, but thank God my Redeemer lives and He tells me that I don't have to live a life controlled by my sin nature. He tells me that all things are possible with Him. He tells me that He will never give me more than I can handle. He tells me that He will use my past for His glory. So much different than the lies Satan tries to spoon feed me.



Being flawed is not the end of the story...we are not victims to our nature. The most beautiful part of this equation is how that flaw gives us the ability to be better. For if there were no flaw, there would be no reason for forgiveness. And then we wouldn't get to see the awesome power of God miraculously at work in our lives.

This reminds me of my sister's dog, Babe. When my sister moved out she left Babe behind at my parents' home. Mom and Dad's old house was on a corner of two very busy streets. Escaping from the confinement of the backyard was very costly to Babe as she was hit by a car. Michelle just happened to come over when the accident happened and scooped her up and took her to the vet. The advice given to Michelle was to put Babe down. Michelle sought a second opinion and today Babe trots around happily on 3 legs.



Babe was either going to be flawed or dead. If she was just flawed it meant she had more life to live. If Michelle would have agreed with the first animal doctor, Babe would be a memory.

Can't you just see this in our own lives? We mess up...we feel the shame and the enemy tells us that we are unusable and our life is over. He wants to just put us down and we believe the lies he feeds us instead of seeking God's opinion and listen to what He says about us...you are flawed child, but you are forgiven. Let me use your imperfections for my glory.


It is solely by the grace of God we can be forgiven.

While Satan would love for you to believe that you are too flawed and too unworthy of forgiveness, Jesus wants you to know that nothing could be farther from the truth.


...the flaws suddenly felt really important to the process.
Amen Lisagirl...amen!

When we begin to serve God and our past is used to glorify Him rather than shame us, that is when we get it. All of us who are flawed and forgiven if we ask for His forgiveness are so usable to Him.

Please sign up under Mr. Linky if you have more about this chapter to share on your own blog.


Next week...Chapter 10...The Truth Heals.
This will wrap up this book study and I can't wait to hear what God has done in your life between chapters 1 and 10.


Check back on Thursday to see what book we are doing for our next YES to GOD Tuesday study and when it will start.


You know I love you.
~Many Blessings~



21 comments:

Amy L Brooke said...

Hey Lelia.

I posted, but I think you forgot to set up Mr. Linky.....

Hope you are having a great day. I would right more, but I need to eat and get to the bookstore.

Jill Beran said...

Good words and I love what you say about Justin and the influence he has on your son!! So very true as a high schooler I put some on a pedestal, not a good thing, but I'm so thankful I have Him there now!! And isn't it great to find value in our flaws.
Blessings, Jill

Paula V said...

Hey Lelia. I too loved this chapter. I think I needed the revelation of the necessity of my flaws to allow me to be forgiven and the opportunity to be/do better. I think I beat myself up too much. Yet, I don't want to let myself off the hook by saying it's just my sin nature. But, it brings comfort to know I will never be flawless and will also have failures, mistakes, flaws, imperfections.

I posted on my blog that I've never been perfect so I proudly wear my perfectly imperfect button.

Hope you are doing well. I know you don't have much time on the internet. If you get a chance, email me ANYTIME.

Heart you much, girlfriend.
Paula

Laura said...

My sister had a three-legged dog too! Sparky got around just fine after she lost her fourth. Even had a couple litters of pups!

Couldn't you just imagine if God wanted to "put us down" because of our flaws? Yikes!

Loved reading your thoughts, Lelia, as always!

Love,
Laura

Cindy said...

You said: "While Satan would love for you to believe that you are too flawed and too unworthy of forgiveness, Jesus wants you to know that nothing could be farther from the truth."

That is so true and is probably the biggest way the enemy trips us up. If he can make us feel unworthy then we will second-guess everything God promises.

Pamela (His maidservant) said...

Oh my gosh!! Your going to make us wait until Thursday for the new book in your blog Bible study?!?!?

I love reading your post, I love your insight, I love your heart. You are a creative writer and knowing you as I do, I find you do be so real and a perfect example of God's goodness. Love you friend!!

In His Graces~Pamela

Amy said...

This statement~ "..the flaws suddenly felt really important to the process."~ made me think of a post where I shared about a similar situation in my marriage.

Here is the link~ http://amahoney-amy.blogspot.com/2008/10/this-is-my-corn.html ~

God used my mistakes as well as the mistakes of my husband to bless both of us in our marriage. He uses us despite ourselves time and time again, amen? Thank goodness.;)

God Bless,
Amy:)

{darlene} said...

This is such a beautiful post, Lelia. I love your analogy of the sweet doggy Babe, and how Satan wants to "put us down." He desires nothing short of eternal DEATH for us.
But God in His lovingkindness says, let me use your imperfections for my glory.

Beautiful!

So blessed to be on this journey with you!
Darlene

Lisa said...

Lelia...
Got your messages, girlfriend. Thank you so much for wanting to connect with me! I am so sorry I have been out of the loop, but know that I love you and will be talking to you soon!

Awesome thoughts here, Lelia. I loved the dog analogy...God gives you so many relatable stories, and they are always right on. I know you aren't trying to seek them out...He's just giving you things as you stay open to Him. That is the way to live, girl!

Love you!
Lisa :)

Runner Mom said...

Hey, girlfriend!
Great comments! I really liked the analogy of your sister's dog as well! This was a powerful chapter--much insight.

Hope y'all are doing well!!
Hugs,
Susan

Anonymous said...

"Can't you just see this in our own lives? We mess up...we feel the shame and the enemy tells us that we are unusable and our life is over. He wants to just put us down and we believe the lies he feeds us instead of seeking God's opinion and listen to what He says about us...you are flawed child, but you are forgiven. Let me use your imperfections for my glory."

Wow Lelia, I really loved this! That is exactly where I was at a year ago... unusable, life is over, and I believed the enemy of my soul for so long.

This chapter was really hard, because, here, at the end of my counseling (yes I just said that... the end!!!!) I am coming back to the very beginning. The issue that I started dealing with right away in counseling, I have come back to it again, with the whole thing at the end that Lisa asked us to do. Pray for and forgive someone who has hurt us...

It showed me that though I worked through the pain of the memory quite a bit, there is still a bit root of bitterness there, that I didn't expect. But how like God to start me at one point, heal it enough that I could move on, heal me in other areas, and now bring me full circle back to the same thing, to finish me up there...

Thank you so much for doing this book, Lelia. I just know that God orchestrated it that I could be in this study... and that every chapter went right along with every thing I was dealing with in counseling. It either brought out things we needed to deal with. Or it piggy backed off of things I had already talked with Tricia about!
I love you!
Heather

Rachelle said...

Wow, I just LOVE the analogy with the dog. We would all have no hope, if we could not have any flaws. Thanks for the lesson.

Isabel said...

My dear friend Lelia,

It has been a while since I've made the rounds on the blogs. I hope we can catch up, at least in the bloggy world one of these days!

In the meantime, I have a BIG favor to ask you (and all your girlfriends) can you pop over to my blog and help us gather some answers for our new study (Esther by Beth Moore)....the question: What's the toughest thing about being a woman??

Thanks bunches!!

Liz said...

Lelia,
Great insight and I love the story of Babe. I am SO, SO glad that my flaws don't keep me from being loved, useful, and forgiven. I really needed the lesson in this chapter at this time in my life.
Blessings to you, my friend!
Liz

Leaon Mary said...

Hey Lelia,
I love what you wrote here:
Lord knows I know this too well, but thank God my Redeemer lives and He tells me that I don't have to live a life controlled by my sin nature. He tells me that all things are possible with Him. He tells me that He will never give me more than I can handle. He tells me that He will use my past for His glory. So much different than the lies Satan tries to spoon feed me.
And how God uses our past for His glory... sometimes I just can't even imagine that. Things I've wrong, mistakes, sins.. yet He truly does... for good for His glory.
I'm really grateful for this study because I'm seeing things I never saw before.
And I'm very grateful for you as well. The things you wrote about Hope and Freedom was powerful. I hope it was okay I shared the poem that has been on my heart.
Blessings to you,-
I loved the story of Babe
Lea

2nd Cup of Coffee said...

Love the three-legged dog analogy. Satan speaks death to us, and when we don't buy that, he speaks condemnation--death waiting in the wings. Even this morning on my way to work, I was seized by a horrible regret from my past and literally groaned out loud. Thanks for helping me to remember that I am flawed AND forgiven.

Tammy said...

Lelia,
After becoming a Christian,knowing that I had to make a choice to sin...freed me!

I had been under Satan's thumb for too long but now he's under mine because of Jesus!

Unknown said...

I will definitely go back and look at the previous chapter posts! I'm on ch.6 now so I'm catching up. Btw, I love your blog!

Pamela (His maidservant) said...

Thanks for informing that my comments section was closed. I have opened it. You take such good care of us!! Love you!!

In His Graces~Pamela

Unknown said...

I was blown away by this chapter. It just really hit home. God has done some real redecorating and fall cleaning this week. What a blessing this chapter was.

Anonymous said...

Lelia,

Loved this chapter! I will no longer look at my many flaws as a negative but only a positive to be used for HIS glory!

Love what you wrote: "We mess up...we feel the shame and the enemy tells us that we are unusable and our life is over. He wants to just put us down and we believe the lies he feeds us instead of seeking God's opinion and listen to what He says about us...you are flawed child, but you are forgiven. Let me use your imperfections for my glory"

Awesome truths!
love ya,
Kim