STUDYING IN THE PSALMS (07-29-10)

Last night's meeting was one of our best yet, I think. It was so touching and moving sharing our Psalms. I do not have liberty to share the other ladies' feelings, but I will share with you here the Psalm that God put on my heart to study and share. I used Anne Graham Lotz' technique from her Bible Study that I went through a few years ago - breaking it down verse by verse. I did a few verses each night and then yesterday, during my lunch hour, I took the questions that I had from each verse and started writing what God was saying to me.

PSALM 34:1-22

Psalm 34 reminds me that I need to praise Him at ALL times, no matter what my circumstances are. I must remember how much He has blessed me and let others know how good He has been and is being to me.

He is the only reason I can do anything. I must remember to lift up His name in praise. I must pray earnestly and seek Him so that I will know the direction He wants to take me. I must pray and seek Him so that He can set me free.

I have to quit looking to others for help or answers and quit trying to figure things out on my own. I am not in control and, as I was reminded last week, I am NOT God. I have to remember to look to Him for my help and my answers.

What am I afraid of? What do I fear? I need to take those things to Him and let Him have them so He can set me free from them. He is guarding me and wants to rescue me but He is a gentleman and will not force Himself on me.

When will I learn to truly trust Him? Why is that so hard for me? I will only be able to have true joy when I can trust Him with everything. HE is my provider. HE will take care of me; but, I must show Him reverence and honor Him. How do I do that? Reverence is not just sitting quietly – it is obeying Him. When I obey what He asks me to do, THAT is showing reverence and honor to Him.

If I do my best to do His will, then He will provide for me. He knows my heart and my intentions. He alone knows if I’m truly trying and if I’m doing things for the right reasons.

How do I go through my daily life? Am I careful of things that I say? Do I really do my best to get along with others and live in peace? I can not do these things in my strength but I can in His strength. (Philippians 4:13).

Have I intentionally done evil things before? Do I find myself still doing those things? He will have no part of it! He will turn His face away from me and “erase my memory from the earth”, (Psalm 34:16) if I don’t repent and stop doing evil things.

If I belong to Him, I will not want any part of evil. I will do my best to live for Him so that He will hear me when I cry out to Him and He will come and rescue me.

When I feel like everything is falling apart or falling in all around me, do I feel Him close? He is – as close as I will let Him be. If I allow my troubles to overtake me instead of calling out to Him, I render Him helpless. YES, He knows what I need but He will wait for me to ask Him for help. As I stated before, He is a gentleman and He will not force Himself on anyone.

He will not leave me or forsake me. He is always there just waiting for me to call to Him. He is in control and I can rest in the knowledge that He has redeemed and pardoned me.

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I found this neat little thing in my Bible about "Reasons to Read the Psalms" so I typed it up and gave one to each of the ladies in attendance.

Next week, we will be studying in Titus. I don't know that I've ever actually just read that book (all 3 chapters) and I'm looking forward to seeing what God shows me and the other ladies there :)

If you haven't attended a meeeting yet, please feel free to come any Thursday. We look forward to seeing you soon :)

FREEDOM (07-22-10)

This Thursday night's meeting we had Sheri Rose Shepherd as a guest speaker - well, okay, so she was here only on CD - LOL

That's right - we listened to "FREEDOM for His Princess" by Sheri Rose Shepherd. The Lord gave me a couple of 'visuals' to use while we were listening and also gave me several ideas of things to give the ladies to take home with them. One thing Sheri says at the beginning of her talk is.................

She goes on to talk about how a lot of times we go around as if we're holding a bucket in front of us, asking "people" to fill up our bucket and we are dragging a ball & chain behind us. The ball and chain being all the lies that the enemy tells us, all the while singing the song, "I am free to live. I am free to dance"........

She then goes on to talk about FREEDOM by using each letter of the word and giving scripture references.

Sheri Rose shares that the way to break free from the pain of your past is to 1) trade all the lies that you believe for the TRUTH of who GOD says you are and 2) let God love you even when you do not feel worthy of love.

It's up to you - you have to make the choice - are you going to walk in the enemy's lies or are you going to walk in God's truth?

Each lady in attendance was given a piece of paper to write down a lie that the enemy has told her. No one saw what was written on the paper except the person writing it. Each lady then took that piece of paper and put it in the shredder to symbolize that particular lie is now GONE and can not be put back together.

Another thing Sheri Rose pointed out was to DO THE ACTION, EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT. Do the action anyway and the feelings will follow. Praise Him even (and especially) when you aren't feeling it because when you continue to praise Him, the feelings WILL come.

She encouraged us to pray about fasting off the following for 7 days:

1) Saying anything negative about yourself
2) Saying anything negative about the world you live in or the people around you
3) The beauty and star magazines
4) The news - just get the highlights so you can pray for the world

If you weren't at this meeting and you would like to listen to the CD, just let me know. You can listen to it any time.

These are the "goodies" that each lady in attendance received: A bucket to remind her to "Let God fill your bucket with His promises"

These were the scripture references that were in the bucket - look 'em up:

And Sheri Rose also told us not to put a period where God has placed a comma in our lives and used Jeremiah 29:11 as a scripture reference, so each lady also received:

(By the way - those are commas and periods on each side of the 'frame' - lol)

And, last but not least, each lady also received a copy of the acronym Sheri Rose used for FREEDOM:

And all the goodies were placed in a little bag reminding her to GET READY to GET FREE on the front and our group logo on the back:

We discussed what to do in our next meeting and decided that we would each share a Psalm (or two or more) that God put on our heart.

It was a wonderful time of sharing and learning and we hope to see you at the next meeting :)

ARE YOU THIRSTY? 07-15-10

WOO HOO!!!! The Lord gave me the most wonderful logo for our group. Shared it with the ladies at the first meeting and everyone loved it! Here it is:

I gave a brief description of how WATER Group came to be.

I received in the mail, a sample of some water flavorings from Crystal Light. This was the package it came in:

So, I emptied out the samples, made a change to the 'bottom' portion of the package (which you can see below:

                                                  

And inside I placed all the scriptures we used that night.

        

Everyone got to take a set of the scriptures home with them.

I also found two wonderful articles online when I searched "thirsty for God-Alive". I shared parts from them that God laid on my heart to share. Some of those highlights were:

Jesus knows that deep in all of us is a longing that can  only be satisfied when our soul is in contact with the God who created us. He called this deep longing a thirst for God. (Someone read John 7:37 here)

This article also gave scriptures from Psalm that remind us of how thirsty we are for God. These scriptures were: Psalm 42:1, 63:1-3, 143:6, 73:26, 27:4, 84:10 and 119:57.

The main points from this man's article were:

1) REFRESH THE LORD - HE'S THIRSTY, TOO (The flow of worship)

2) DRINK IN DEEP (The flow of growth)

3) OVERFLOW TO FRIENDS AND STRANGER ALIKE (The flow of service)

In the conclusion of his article, he shared this: When we refresh someone who is thirsty, Jesus, "The King wil say...'I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink...' The righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink?'...Then the King will reply, '...Whatever you did for one of the least of these...you did for Me" (Matthew 25;31-46)

A cup of cold water is a little kindness you do for someone. It's something that ANYONE can offer from their heart.

As I was studying this, Angela Thomas (Pharr) posted on Twitter what she had seen Bob Goff post and I thought it went right along with what we were studying. Bob Goff had posted: "Jesus offered thirsty people a drink; most people don't want a speech, they just want a straw."

                                                    

So, we each got a straw to remind us that people don't want a speech, they just want a straw :)

ARE YOU THIRSTY?

On June 27, 2010 I posted this note on facebook to let the ladies know about what God had placed in my heart to start. I also sent it as an e-mail to those that don't have facebook. I thought it would be nice to post it here so that we have everything from the "beginning". And now......the note (e-mail)....

Do you feel dry? Parched? Want something to drink? Do you want to drink from the river that NEVER runs dry? The ETERNAL RIVER? If so, please join us for W.A.T.E.R. Group on Thursday nights. We will have our very first meeting on Thursday, July 15, at 7:00 p.m. at my house. You can message me for my address and directions (if you need them).



WHAT IS W.A.T.E.R. GROUP? Soooo glad you asked - It is Women After The Eternal River and our group's scripture is Psalm 42:1-3. I LOVE the way it is written in The Message: "A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek; I want to drink God, deep draughts of God. I'm thirsty for God-alive. I wonder, "Will I ever make it - arrive and drink in God's presence?" I'm on a diet of tears - tears for breakfast, tears for supper. All day long people knock at my door, pestering, "Where is this God of yours?"


It's a place for us ladies to come together and get to know each other. Share what's going on in our lives so we know how to pray for each other. A place for us to allow God to grow us more in Him. It's a place where we let GOD decide what we will do - it may be something different every week, we may decide to go through a Bible Study or we may just delve in to the scriptures. Come July 15 at 7:00 p.m. and let your voice be heard. We want to hear from everyone. I will have something ready to share that night to get us started, but if God gives you something to share, bring it. Share it. It will be appreciated.


The more ladies I talk to and get to know, the more I realize how many of us are going through much the same things. I always used to think I was alone. That's how the enemy wants us to think. It's time to come together and realize we are NOT alone.


I hope you will be able to attend. Some may not be able to come every week and that's okay, too. Just know that you are welcome to come any time you can.


If you'd like me to send out a reminder the week of the first meeting, just let me know. This is only a SMALL bit of information. There was no way to fit everything I wanted to say about W.A.T.E.R. Group here.


Looking forward to getting input from each of you.


In His Love,
Kathryn