So I'm in that time between book Bible studies. Our Ladies Bible study finished 2 weeks ago and right now, nothing is on the calendar until the first of the year. I thought about starting another book study on my own and decided instead that I'd choose a book of the Bible to study. Just me, God, my Bible, a pen, and my journal. I felt a tad overwhelmed to begin with, because I didn't want to play Bible roulette, so I decided to pray about what book God wanted me to go through. After a minute of just listening, I was positive of the fact that God was giving me 1 Thessalonians. Now, I've read through this book probably 30 times. But I've never sat down with pen in hand and waited for God to bring the words to life. Well, wouldn't you know, I got about 3 verses in and here it came...
As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.- 1 Thes 1:3. Now, maybe you think that's a random verse to stick out to me, but I grabbed my journal immediately and wrote these 3 phrases down... Faithful Work Loving Deeds Enduring Hope I decided to take these each one by one and do a little digging. So, here's parts of what I recorded in my journal about Faithful Work. I decided to start with the actual definitions of the words... Faith- Noun, confidence or trust in a person or thing Work- Noun, exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil. So, confidence in God motivates us. It motivates us to exert effort to accomplish something. My next question was- What confidences do we have in God? I know the list is extensive, but I'm just going to add what I wrote down in my journal. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. We have hope. We have a future. He will always lead us. He will always love us. He is for us. He wastes nothing. Having these assurances, how are we motivated to work towards accomplishing eternal goals? A few of my personal observations were... 1. He will be with us and provide for us when we are serving Him. 2. We can move with courage knowing we will be successful in our work for Him.( Now let me add a little to this one- Am I saying everything we do will be successful? No. Back to the He wastes nothing. If God calls us to do/try something and we don't succed, does that mean all is lost? Absolutey not. That means God is doing something we can't see behind the scenes. Hold tight, there's a plan we don't see. ) 3. If God leads us to something we can keep walking knowing he brought us there no matter how dark or unclear the path. 4. Searching out the things of God is never a waste of our time and energy. So, once I had all those written down, I asked myself... What does this mean for me? Here's a few of the things I concluded... - I need to to seek out God's will even if it doesn't seem like He's leading me to the right thing. (what I want) - Everything means something. Every step has had a purpose. God won't discard that purpose and it will all be used for His good. (Amen to that!) Perhaps this seems a little disjointed, mostly personal to me, a little more studyish, and lots of information compared to usual, but this is what I've deducted from this..... My faithful work is this- Being assured of God's promises and using them as motivation to do what God has called me to do. Right now, my calling is to be the best wife and mother I can be. To love my husband, to be his helper, and to point him towards the cross. To love my children, to instruct them with biblical instruction, to teach them grace and humility, and to lead them to the cross every day. To show them who Jesus is. Knowing that God is for me, that he has a plan for me, and that he wastes nothing is motivation to live day in and day out knowing that folding laundry, doing dishes, breaking up sister fights, praying for graceful responses to my husband, though they seem mundane and unimportant- they are not. Because it is my faithful work. What are you doing today, this week, this month, in this season of your life that is your faithful work? Are you like me- loving your husband, raising your children, keeping your home? Perhaps it's opposite of that. Whatever it is, I encourage you to figure out what your faithful work is, and do it well.
1 Comment
Cindy Davis
10/30/2013 12:47:50 pm
Wow Jessica that was very good and well said. Made me think a lot. Thanks for sharing honey:)
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HEY, I'M JESSICA!
Christian. Wife. Mommy. Daughter. Pastor. Friend. Saved.Redeemed. Beloved.
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