Welcome to Week 1 of the "Perfect Love" online bible study!
Have you ever felt unlovable, lost in routine or heartbroken? Many of us have experienced all of those at some point in our lives. It's possible you're experiencing one of those at this very moment.
The feeling of being unlovable creates such an emptiness inside of us. An emptiness that we often attempt to fill with things that only bring us more emptiness.
Being lost in routine consumes us and sweeps our focus away from those we love...especially our Heavenly Father.
Having a broken heart can feel like we're carrying a huge weight in our chest.
Doubt and despair leave us gasping for air. Destructive thoughts and behaviors take over.
As Lisa pointed out the answer to all of these is to run towards Jesus, the Lover of our Soul. He delights when we run towards Him...no matter how messy or broken we may be.
His love covers it all.
Here are two of our favorite quotes from this week's video:
Perfection is not a prerequisite for a relationship with Jesus. He loves us even though we do not have it all together.
Because we're so involved in ministry, activity can be a substitute for worship. It's like a thin line. I'm doing this for God. I'm serving. I'm singing. I'm ministering. But it can't serve as a substitute for a personal relationship with God.
Let's Chat:
If you haven't already, take a moment to reflect on your answers to the study handout. The first online discussion question comes directly from your handout.
Join the online chat by answering these questions in the comment section at the bottom of this post. Make the conversation even better by reading other comments and replying to a few.
- From your list of actions words David used to describe his feelings toward God in Psalm 63, which of these words describe your relationship with God, either in the past or right now? Which words do you most want to describe your feelings toward God?
- As women, what is one thing that keeps us from passionately pursing an intimate relationship with God? What is your greatest piece of advice for overcoming that barrier?
There were several of the action words that spoke to me. I think the one that is hitting me right now is, with deepest longing I will seek you. The other one that I think describes me in this moment is my soul thirst for you. I love this whole passage. It hits me right where I am.
ReplyDelete"with deepest longing I will seek you"...I love that part too! And I want that to be true about me every day. Honestly, I don't always pursue Him with "deepest longing" - but the longing is certainly there. It just goes unmet sometimes because I am too busy filling my life up with other things. I hope that makes sense.
Deletewow! to say "my soul thirsts for You." how powerful! i mean truly, truly thirsting. i wish i could say this describes my relationship with God right now. oh i so badly want it to, and i can feel something shifting in my relationship with Him where i am beginning to really long after Him like this psalm says. thanks for sharing, angel! your desire for Him is contagious!
Deletepsalm 63 is one of my favorites! this is such a passionate psalm where david is running so hard that he is panting and fainting because of his pursuit. the first part of verse 8 just floors me: "my whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You." oh, i want to be there, i so do. and i do feel as though i'm seeing glimpses of this pursuit in my walk with Him lately, but more often than i would like, my brain is more thirsty than my heart. does that make sense? sadly, i keep filling up my time with other things - including good things like family time and ministry. instead of really following hard after Him, i end up following hard after the things of Him! or maybe i am following hard after the relationship i’ve had in the past with Him. that is old manna. i want a new and fresh desire! i want to want more. i can feel something being awakened in me even with this first week, and i’m looking forward to more!
ReplyDeletei think one thing that keeps us women from passionately pursuing an intimate relationship with God is the sheer speed at which we live. we, or at least I, am at a constant state of reaction. it is like i’m playing goalie in this perpetual game of hockey where pucks are flying at me at the speed of sound and i’m doing my best to deflect each one, but i inevitably catch an occasional puck to the face. i think the best way to overcome that is to honestly do what Jesus said when it comes to spending time with the Father: when you pray, go into your most private room, and closing the door, pray to your Father..” we pray on the go – which is also biblical, but more often than not, i am not going into my “prayer closet” or even getting in a quiet place to really get alone with God much at all. that is where intimacy is really cultivated though. on-the-go praying is easier. it is less intimate and therefore more desirable as far as a checklist goes. however, it is not what is always best. i want to make it a priority to really spend intimate time with God. alone time. quiet time. it’ll be tough to make this a priority in this crazy life that i have right now, but God will honor the pursuit and i am ready for those words in psalm 63 to be true again for me!
Jenny...
DeleteI love your analogy comparing your life to the game of hockey. I too feel that way quite often. Sometimes I get so busy trying to juggle everything in life, I fail to give God the time he deserves. Often the time I do carve out for him is simply a few minutes here and few minutes there as I move from one thing in my life to another. I know in my heart that if I want an intimate relationship with God, then I have to provide him with time. True time dedicated to him. I think this is why the very first verse spoke to me in Psalms 63, as well. This is what I truly want! I need to make QUALITY time for us!
Jenny, I think you posted what all of us are feeling but too scared to post, Thank you for being bold and honest with us and making yourself vulnerable to us. Sometimes we make it look like we got it all together ,but inside we are struggling to just keep up. I want and desire that intimate pursuit. I look forward to the following weeks to see what God is going to do in me and all of us.
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Delete"A hockey puck to the face"...yep, that's how I feel some days. Great analogy! But I also like the part where you said "My brain is more thirsty than my heart." It's true. My life of checklists takes over the moment I open my eyes. It's a never ending chase...but I don't even know what I'm really chasing some days. My heart screams for time with the Lord, for the satisfaction that comes from His Presence but my brain yells "NO, you've still got items 12 - 93 to finish before you go to bed!" So I become a slave to the checklist far too often.
DeleteI struggle with making my heart believe what my intellect knows. I know God loves me, I have gone through some really ugly times and I know it was choosing to place my trust in God's sovereignty that made coming out the other side whole possible. But deep down I struggle with confidence that Creator God longs to be with me, requires of me more than just "checking Him of the list". I am always weirded out when I realize someone is pursuing a friendship with me, it doesn't make sense to me, so to get my head/heart around GOD PURSUING ME???? I don't even feel worthy most of the time of just hanging out with Him, much less responding in kind to an intimate pursuit. So when you see me leading worship on Saturday night or Sunday morning or heart 2 Heart events, when you see me at life group leaders meetings or leading my life group etc. you are seeing a real girl trying to reconcile bringing her "not having it all together" and offering it before her perfect God. Jesus, thank you for pursuing me especially when I don't feel worthy of that pursuit.
ReplyDelete"You are seeing a real girl trying to reconcile bringing her 'not having it all together' and offering it before her perfect God." Preach it...I'm with you on this. And I'm so thankful that He still chooses to use us ordinary, everyday girls. :)
DeleteI chose the word cling in verse 8 of Psalms 63. I feel in my life that is a desparate statement. I CLING to Him will ALL I have, because if I let go then my world will fall apart. It is a life or death situation. I am not going to let go, because He holds me securely in His right hand when I cling to Him. The busyiness of this world is overwhelming. The only security I have is in Him. I will be okay, my world will not come crashing down around me as long as I cling to Him. Clinging is an action a purposeful response to Him. It is a choice that I have to choose to keep Him number one in my life. Otherwise, the world will consume me and I will drown in "good things for the Lord" but not be secure in HIm. That is not a place where I want to be. I don't want to be full of good deeds but no faith. So I cling to Him, recognizing He is in control not me and I follow where He leads me.
ReplyDelete"Clinging is an action a purposeful response to Him. It is a choice that I have to choose to keep Him number one in my life." Oh sister, that is good!
DeleteI think for me, I'm much like Pam... it's really hard for my "logical" brain to grasp the concept that God really does love me more than I could ever imagine. I mean, yeah He loves me. But is it REALLY more than what I can picture? Does He really love me more than the love I have for my family?? And I, too, have had things happen in my life that makes me doubt that He loves me. If He loves me, wouldn't He protect us with His almighty power?? But every time those thoughts come to mind, I must remind myself of the TRUTH, He loves me with an everlasting love!
ReplyDeleteIt's not always easy. And I fail more than I succeed. I'm hoping this bible study will perminately burn it into my heart so there will never be doubt again.
This made me think of the song "Everlasting God" by New Life Worship. Some of the verses start with "One thing I know..." We do have to keep reminding ourselves of the things we know to be true about Him. We forget, especially when there is pain involved. I want a deeper revelation of His everlasting love. I can't comprehend a love so deep!
DeleteI picked 63:1 because it stated "earnestly I seek you". I have been seeking God for over a year now and I am so glad I have made it a priority. I feel like I am a sponge soaking up anything and everything I can. I am enjoying my journey and seeing results in my life in many ways. I am also very thankful to be on this journey because it has helped me get through this week. This is Tera, trying to figure out this blog thing.
ReplyDeleteI love learning new things about the Lord too. I love discovering new things in scripture that I've not noticed before. He's been teaching me a lot about His grace over the past few months. His grace for me that I need to also extend to others. That's one place I've been "earnestly seeking Him" lately. It's neat when you can look back over the last year and see how much you've learned and grown. I can't wait to see where we both are a year from now!
DeleteLike Stephanie Dunn, I chose "My soul [my life, my very self] clings to You; Your right hand upholds me." I realize I cannot do this life without Him. I desperately need Him. No, like really really desperately need Him! I have to cling to Him in order to be who I need to be as a wife, mother, friend, leader, employee, etc. The days I try to do it without Him, I fail or miss out on the things He wanted me to do. Life is tough. It's tougher when you aren't cling to the One who is in control of it all. I've lived life without Him. I don't want to go back to those barren places. I don't want to miss anything He has for me.
ReplyDeleteWhat keeps us from intimacy with God? L-I-F-E or least what we have made of our life. I am guilty of letting checklists and "fires" steal my time. My advice - intentionally carve out time for Him. When is a time in your day when things/people are least likely to interrupt your quiet time? Choose that time. Now don't get sassy and say that's between 2 -3 a.m. but it may be 5:30 - 6:00 a.m. So put yourself to bed at a decent hour so you can get up early. Turn off Netflix. Set the coffee pot to brew at 5:15 and get yourself before the Lord. That's what I have to do. Some times I have to be flexible...the great thing is God is flexible too!
Well sorry I'm late with starting/commenting. Oh boy, there is so much where to start!? Jenny you hit it on the head with life being a game of hockey and getting hit in the face with a puck or 2. Although I wish we didn't have all these struggles, it's so nice to know we are not alone. As I am into this life full swing as military wife/mom life with husband gone, all I can say is CRA CRA CRAZY! I look forward to praise and worship each week at Church (you ladies rock) and during that time I just say, "I need this at home, I want to feel this everyday". Then I get home, juggle it all and then my day is gone and I have not put time aside for Jesus. I feel like I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the bed and then I want to throw my phone across the room when my alarm goes off in the morning. (Please say it's not just me) And boy, I need Jesus now more than ever. Lol
ReplyDeleteWhen we think of the love Jesus has for us, I don't know that we can completly understand how much he loves us. We think of our children, our husbands and how much we love them and how we would give our lives for them...but it's hard to think that Jesus loves us more than that. He forgives us when we wrong him, and he never leaves us. He does not give up on us and just wants us to walk with him. We talk about true love and how he loves us all, but you know there are times that it is hard for us to love people. You know it's true, there has been "that person" that you just want to look at with your eyes rolled and say REALLY?! First, we need to realize that Jesus really does LOVE us, and although we may fall today (we didn't spend time with him today), he has not written us off. Let's grow with this and make today better than tomorrow. I loved the first testimony in the video of the woman that didn't know Jesus could love her, but look where she is now. And when the story was being told of Jesus in the mall and all the dirty kids came running and Jesus said he loves sticky children.. Lol
ReplyDeleteAren't we all sticky? Great analogy!
Better than yesterday...not better than tomorrow. Duh. Lol
DeleteI'm with you, Ashley. And the thing is...Jesus knew we would struggle with all of this and yet He still said, "I choose HER!" Then He continues to choose us day after day...even with our sticky messes!
ReplyDeleteSister Prickle is her name. She tests every evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in your life. She is hard to love. You run from her in the grocery store or even the church hallway. (I'm sure I'm someone's sister prickle!) But you're right, God's love for her is just as deep as it is for me. And she's dealing with her own struggles. She battles things I can't even imagine. She just wants to be loved too. We do have to realize we need to love our sister prickle with the love of Christ. We have to see past each other's exteriors and recognize the woman on the inside who's just trying to be the best she can be. She just wants to know that there's hope.
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ReplyDeleteShannon, I too fall prey to the checklist type of things and end up not giving God the time he deserves. I always have good intentions, but then life gets in the way. As you can see, I'm very late in watching the video from last week and posting. I love the part in the video when Lisa referenced the story in Luke 24:13-35 where Jesus said All of this is about him and how much he loves his people! What a great reminder of his love for me, even when I don't spend the time with him that I should, he still loves me (and all my messy self). I'm looking forward to the next few weeks of this study to see what God has for me.
ReplyDeleteTracy, you are just in the nick of time. I'm chomping at the bit to post tomorrow's blog. "Worthy of His Love" is going to be really good!
ReplyDeleteI think for me, especially the season I've been in of healing and restoration, I can closely relate to verse 8 - I cling to you, your right hand upholds me. Had it not been for Him holding me tightly and not letting go, I surely would have fallen. As Mrs. Peggy use to say, where else can I go? Where else can I run to? I cling tightly to the One I know who will never fail me. I love this verse in the NLT- I cling to you, your strong right hand holds me securely. That is a promise that I treasure and cling to. I kinda think of it like bungee cords or hog ties. He's got me and isn't going to let go!
ReplyDeleteI believe the barrier that keeps us from passionately pursuing Jesus is ourselves. We get caught up in time, events, or business. I think Jenny captured this one quite well.
For me it is the busy-ness of life and the lull of "down time". I don't meet with Him because when I sit still I zone out. The cure for me in this season of life is being around people...usually church...when they are experiencing Him and I join in the experience which carries over to home. Congregation or fellowship are the driving forces for me recently which is a much different mode than I have been in before. I normally get my drive from my personal study time which can make me more reclusive and isolated. I have been thinking that this is not a great time, but perhaps it is an eye/heart opener to be more involved with people. So pretty much, you amazing ladies draw me (or point me) to intimacy with Jesus right now, and I am extremely grateful for you.
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