Hello all,
For my friends that
follow me here on “Angie’s Notes of Grace”, I want to share a couple of things.
I have started a second blog. It is not to replace this one but to supplement
it. Basically I am using it because I have joined an Online Bible Study and we
are blogging once a week. The format for the OBS blog is different than this
one so I had to start another one for the OBS. I will be posting that blog on
here each week to share with each of you. This is the first one. We are reading
the book, “Stressed-Less Life” by Tracie Miles. If you think you’d be
interested in reading the book or joining the study (you DO NOT have to blog)
it’s not too late, check it out at Proverbs 31 Ministries or Melissa Taylor’s page, she is our Bible study leader. Hope you enjoy what I bring from the study
to this blog! Here we go!!!
Let me first say that I
am getting SO much out of this study already! I am so glad I joined it!
I love how God works in
me. I read through the options we had for doing a blog and God didn't really
impress me one way or another as to what I should write. But this morning as I
looked at the topics again, I knew. God had been searing Isaiah 41:10 onto my
heart all week, so I knew that was it.
I have been "verse
mapping" in my head throughout the week and here are some thoughts I have
come up with.
Isaiah 41:10
Don’t be afraid, for I
am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you
and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Notice how this verse
starts with the word don't and the second sentence repeats it. I had a pastor
that used to say, "If anything is repeated in the Bible, you better pay
attention! Because that means it's important." So I would say the fact
that the don'ts are repeated and the fact that this a command, not a suggestion
or a question also makes it important. Now here is where I think it gets
interesting. "Don't be afraid" & "Don't be discouraged"
, normally I would read those as is, but when you do "verse mapping"
you take apart each word asking God what He wants to show you. This is what He
showed me. The word "do" is to take action, so "don't" is
the absence of action. Ok let's go ahead and take "afraid" of course
it is nothing more than fear, and "discouraged" is the opposite of
courage. What do you think of when you think of the opposite of courage? Well,
I came up with words like weak, fearful, worried and cowardly.
Now let's move on to the
end of those 2 sentences. God says "I am with you" and "I am
your God". "I am" the first thing I thought of is that
this is one of the name's of God! Right here He reaffirms who He is, LOVE IT!!!
The next thing I observed is "am" present tense, right NOW! Now
the words "with you" He is right here by my side! I don't have to
worry about being alone. In the next sentence, "your God" this is so
overwhelming to me. "Your God" you know "your" shows
ownership. That shows a belonging, I am a part of something. I'm a part of
God's family!!! Wow!!! The almighty, sovereign, all-powerful, creator of the
universe has invited me to be part of HIS family!
So this is how I look at
the first 2 lines, and what I am praying for:
Almighty God is my
God and is with me because, of Him I have NO fear and He
gives me courage.
Now to the second part
of the verse.
"I will strengthen
you", How do you get your body strong? Do you workout? If you don't you,
like myself, you know that working out is the only way we will strengthen our
body. So I have started looking at God as my personal trainer. He is going to
strengthen me. He is right there showing me what "exercises" I need
to do to strengthen my spiritual self. Prayer, Bible Reading, Bible Studies
(like this one), etc. and he guides me along. The next phrase is "and help
you". Part of what a personal trainer does is help you. This made such an
impact on me, to see God as my personal trainer, right there beside me training
me in spiritual strengthening. Too cool!
Now the last sentence,
" I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.". Now I have
to admit I struggled with this one. Not because I don't think God will hold us
up with His Strong and Victorious Hand. No, no, no, Not At All!!! I wanted to
know WHY did he say RIGHT HAND. Isaiah would not have put right in there if
there was not a reason for it. I thought and thought. I thought back to Moses
and Aaron and other people and events in history where either God "out
stretched His hand", or God had people lift their hands, but nothing
talked about God's RIGHT hand. I even looked at cross references on Bible Gateway and
still nothing. So I finally went to a website called Bible Study
Tools. From there I typed in the verse and it gave me a list of
sources I could use as study aides. I scrolled down to "John Gill's
Exposition of the Bible", instead of having us look back at history, he
suggests we look forward. Doesn't that make sense, considering Isaiah was a
prophet and his book is full of prophecy about Jesus. He looks at this part of
the verse like this, that through Jesus, who sits at His right hand of God, we
will be held up, by the grace that is extended to us. Because of this amazing
grace we will be able to persevere through any trials and temptations.
So the 2nd part says this to me.
I am here as your
personal trainer, ready to train you and make you strong for anything you need
to go through. Not only that but look, sitting to my right is my son who I sent
as your sacrifice. Because of Him and the grace I now give to you, if you just
trust in me you can get through ANYTHING!
One last thought that
keeps bouncing around in my head, and that is...
It's ALL about JESUS!!!
It's ALL about JESUS!!!
Living in Grace,
Angie
