Hello!
I am coming to you from the pages of PROVEN a study by Jennie Allen. Much of my posting over the next 7 weeks will be linked to this Bible Study, so grab a book and join me!
At my church we have an annual fall study that begins in September. This year, we have about 130 women participating in Jennie’s study PROVEN.
During the first week, we were asked to reached in and prayerfully asked ourselves & God…why do I keep trying to fill my broken cistern with water??? (Jeremiah 2:13)
“Christian, inside of you flow streams of LIVING WATER. Why would we ever go back to storing water in broken man-made places?” -Jennie Allen
“We were built to crave pleasure, joy, happiness…God built us for it, and when we don’t find it in Him and come to the end of ourselves we look for something to numb our reality.”
“As a culture, our God-given craving for fulfillment has driven us past God Himself.” -Jennie Allen
Our issue isn’t that we can’t find the things we crave within our God, our issue is, that we often haven’t truly “connected” to the source.
We live in a world where we think we are TOTALLY connected…social media, FaceTime, cell phones, texting, internet…even seemingly “good connections” with other believers through blogs like this are not a substitute for the CONNECTION we must have with our God face to face.
This week in the chapter entitled CONNECTED, Jennie prompts us to prayerfully meditate on Psalm 84.
I’ve always loved the song BETTER IS ONE DAY by Matt Redman taken from Psalm 84.
Everything we could ever want or hope for is found as we DWELL in the presence of God.
Psalm 84 (ESV)
My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord
84 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.[b]
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!
10 For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!
To DWELL…to STAY CONNECTED. Taking each step with the Lord…not solo.
Below is the “doodle” that came to me as I meditated on these Words of GOD.
Our meeting place isn’t limited to a church building, it’s right inside our own front door…and beyond those walls…
Psalm 139: 12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. 13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
We cannot hide from our Father.
Let’s meet with our God…every moment.
There we are strengthened, blessed, favored, honored, & shielded…our heart sing with joy because NOTHING is withheld.
Bless you,
M
1Arthouse 