 Memory Verse: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8
I love to receive gifts! Do you? Or was that an absolutely ridiculous question J This week we are going to focus on the gift of Grace. Remember, we are intentional students of His word these next five weeks. Let's read and dig and ask questions during this time. If this is your first time here, please read the intro to this bible study here. Below I have come up with a plan of action to go deeper. Monday READ: Let's start with our memory verse above: Ephesians 2:8. Read this verse in your bible and in three other translations like New International Version (NIV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), New Kings James Version (NKJV), The Amplified Bible, The Message. You may find it easy to use a bible app like You Version or a free resource like www.blueletterbible.com. To understand better the word grace and gift in this verse, let’s look at what Strong’s Concordance says. Strong’s Concordance states the word grace is “charis” which means graciousness, divine impact upon the heart, acceptable benefit, favor, joy, pleasure. Strong’s Concordance states the word gift is “doron” which means a present, a gift, an offering. It is a gift given to us, to anybody, who will receive it for doing absolutely nothing….. no sweat, no long hours of hard work, no time invested in it. My thoughts as I read Ephesians 2:8: Recently, I designed a calendar to sell to make some money for Christmas. I spent five months creating this calendar. Lots of hours went into designing it. Now that it is finished, I am able to start selling the calendars and receive the payment for them. Not only am I rewarded by the buyers’ positive responses about the calendar, but I am also being rewarded by receiving the profit for each calendar. The excitement on their face and the profit from the calendars are my rewards for the five months of time I invested in designing this calendar. But this is not what God is talking about. Grace is a gift, a present from God, for doing nothing. Grace is the unmerited love and favor of God to people. It is not a reward for doing something for Him. A reward by definition is a gift of something to someone in recognition of their services, efforts, or achievements. There is absolutely nothing I needed to do to receive the gift of grace from God. There is no amount of time I spent investing in or working hard to get this gift; however, with this gift does come rewards like joy, favor, and pleasure but again I didn’t do any service or put forth any effort or achievement to get these rewards. Let’s look at more scriptures about the gift of Grace. Read Ephesians 2: 8-10, Acts 15:11, Romans 3:24, and Ephesians 2:5. Questions to ask ourselves: 1. What common theme are you seeing in all these scriptures? {Optional: When you see the common theme feel free to write it on the forum}. 2. Are there any cross-references associated with these scriptures? Go ahead and read the cross-references. 3. Do the cross-references show us more revelation about His grace? 4. What other scriptures can we read to learn more about God's grace? Go ahead and let us know the scriptures you are reading about His grace. You can write it in the comment section of this post or in the forum. Tuesday WRITE: Write Ephesians 2:8 on an index card or piece of paper and tape to your bathroom mirror, tape one in your car, attach one on your cabinet in your kitchen or on the refrigerator. Place it around your home and around your office if you work away from home. Be intentional to recite the scripture daily to memory. Wednesday RECEIVE: The gift of grace is each of our gift from God. Questions to ask ourselves? 1. Do you ever feel like you just don’t deserve this gift: His grace? 2. Is there something you have done in your past or are doing in your present that you know is wrong and you are having a hard time receiving this gift from God? or 3. Are you working hard to convince God to give you His grace but no matter what you do you are having a hard time believing you have received the gift of grace from God? 4. If we already received His gift of grace, is there someone in our life that we need to extend grace to like God did for us? If you think of someone, write their names down and pray about this situation and ask God for an opportunity to extend grace to this person or persons. I know we have a God who wants us to open up this present from Him! He wants us to receive this gift with open arms knowing there is nothing any one of us can do anyway to receive it! That is a true gift don’t you think?! A gift with no strings attached; nothing being held over our head. What a gift! Thursday (and Happy Thanksgiving) RESPOND: This week as we study about God's grace, let's lift up our chin to heaven, close our eyes and know God is pouring out His grace, His gift on you and me. Let Him know you accept this gift from Him. Thank God for this precious gift of love from Him. Thank Him for the unmerited favor He is lavishing on you at this moment. Friday PRAYER: Take out your journal or a piece of paper and write a Thank You note to God for this amazing gift! At the end of the week, let's join each other on the forum and thank God for the gift of grace. We'll praise Him and thank Him for a gift we surely don't deserve yet He gives it gladly.
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 Tomorrow, we start a 5 week bible study on the gifts from God. There are 5 Mondays before Christmas. Do you find yourself taking a lot of time trying to figure out the bests gifts to give your loved ones? I know I do. I want each person to truly love their gift. So why do I wait until the end of November to start this? Oh the pressure I put on myself! :) But as the holidays approach and life gets a little busier, I don't want to put God on the back burner and get to Him when I have time. I want to make Him my daily priority. I want to be very intentional this holiday season and focus on God's gifts He wants to give us.
Intro for this bible study: I am not taking on a teacher role during this bible study but rather coming as a student of the word like you who wants to know more and learn more about His gifts to us. Instead of studying this by myself, I thought it would be fun to gather with others online and study His word together. As I have been reading about God's gifts to us and thinking about how to make five specific posts on His gifts, I have come to realize there is not one gift that stands alone and there are not just five gifts. Yes, I can see your eyes get big and the words at the tip of your tongue ready to say "but Jesus is that gift!". Well, yes and no. I thought the same thing but as we dig into God's word about His gifts we realize quick that one gift is tied to another gift that is tied to another gift. But for study purposes and to really learn all we can about all the gifts, I am going to pray and let God give us the direction on the gift or gifts of each of our five Mondays. As we study His gifts in the next five weeks, let's have an understanding that we know Jesus is the ultimate gift from God to all. I am glad you are here. I look forward to hearing what God is speaking to you during this study. Along with having the comment section to discuss what God is teaching us, I have also created a forum for us to talk with each other. Feel free to go to forum and add yourself as a member of the bible study. Feel free to invite anyone who wants to dig in His word with us. Welcome to this 5 week bible study! Prayer: Lord, may our hearts be open to receive Your wisdom and knowledge that You want to give us as it relates to Your gifts. May we be pliable and moldable to become more of what You want us to become. In Jesus' name. Amen. Gifts! Aren't they just great to receive? We have eight children and every year I put pressure on myself to try and figure out what is a great budget-friendly gift to give each child where they will love their gift and bring them joy. Then there is the excitement of me receiving a gift at Christmas from my husband. I have already dropped a few large hints to him about what I would like for Christmas and even though I pretty much know what I am going to get I am still filled with excitement and anticipation just thinking about waking up Christmas morning and unwrapping my gift! Gifts! They just make the world a happier place right!? There are five weeks before Christmas and I want to invite you to pour a hot cup of coffee or tea with me and let's look in His word and see the gifts God has for each of us. The best part is there is not just one gift from God to us but many that He wants to give us. So for the next five weeks I will post a set of scriptures, questions, and study words on the five Mondays leading up to Christmas: November 24, December 1, December 8, December 15, and December 22. I would love for you to join in the conversation as we study God's word. I am believing and praying that God is going to peel back the layers of His word and bless us with not only His gifts for us but a deeper revelation of these gifts. I am happy you are here :)
I have started a Bible Study Forum. You can click here to join us in the conversation. I am a people person. I love to be around people especially other Moms who hold similar convictions and values for their family. Then I am around people that I literally have to ask God why I have to be around these certain people. Let’s face it; people can be downright rude, disrespectful, and ugly. Some don’t hesitate to say the very impolite thoughts they are thinking and are quick to meddle and snoop in your life affairs when you never invited them into these areas to begin with. There are just some people in this world that I would be ok if they just disappeared from my life and I never saw them again. I can assure you I would not miss them one bit. Do you have people like this in your life? Can you think of one person right now? I have a person just like this in my life at this very moment.
But I am a woman who wants and desires to do God’s word so when I read Mark 12:31 “Love your neighbor as yourself” I seriously had to ask God how in the world do I love this person who I don’t even like. (This can be anybody in your life not just geographically your neighbor across the street or living on side of you). This is how God answered me: Aimee’, you are only looking at the flesh of this person. The flesh of a person can be downright evil. I want you to look past their flesh and see the spirit in them. Friend, can I tell you it was like a light bulb appeared above my head. It was like a blanket of heaviness lifted off my shoulders! Before this revelation I was flustered because I just did not know how to do this scripture but God, with His loving kindness, showed me how to love my neighbor as myself. I didn’t have to love this person in front of me in a totally physical sense; I now had the answer….. you have to look past the ugliness of what a person is doing and see the spirit inside of them. I can do this! I can love this person as myself when my eyes see past the hurtful, wounding actions this person has done to me and focus on the spirit in this person. With the holidays coming up, will you be around a person that you would be happy if they just disappeared from your life and you never saw them again? If so, I want to encourage you the next time you are around this person to look past the insensitive words or actions and see there is a spirit tucked away in this person that God wants you to focus on. Prayer: Lord, thank You for showing me how to do Your word. Thank You that I can look past the unkind and cruel things people do to me and see the spirit inside of them. Father, I pray for a blessing to be poured over them. Their flesh is doing things that are against Your word. I choose today to love them for the spirit that is inside of them. Touch their hearts, Lord, and open their ears to hear the hurtful words that are coming out of their mouth. Remove the blindness from their eyes so that they can see that what they are doing needs to stop. Flood them with Your love! I want them to taste and see the goodness of the Lord. I ask this in Your name Jesus. Amen.  What does it mean to you to live fully in Christ?
When I think of what it means to live fully in Christ, I think of Paul and immediately Philippians 3:14 comes to mind. Paul chose to live fully in Christ. He made a choice to forget what's behind, forget all the wrong things he did, shedding condemnation, ridding himself of any guilt and pressing towards the call of God in Christ. He made a decision to press forwards. He made a decision to let the past be the past. He was not going to be put off course by distractions. He was determined to stay focused. He was determined to put his eye on the ultimate goal. I love the way Philippians 3:12-14 is written in the Message bible, "I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: by no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward - to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back." Are you living fully in Christ? Your answer may be in this simple question: What goal is your eye on? Prayer: Lord, show us what goal our eyes are on. Rid us of any blindness. Make us aware of any distractions the enemy is throwing our way to get us off course. Let us intentionally throw off guilt and condemnation and receive Your forgiveness and Your grace. We want to live fully in Christ. Gently turn our attention to the ultimate goal which is You. In Jesus' name. Amen. |
Hello and Welcome!
Wife, Mother, Christian woman who loves God's word and teaching others what God teaches me, Adoption Advocate, Writer, Illustrator.Who am I? Galatians 2:20 does a great job of summing up who I am. My life is His, the One who loves me and gave Himself for me . In return, I want to be all He wants me to be and do all He wants me to do on this side of Heaven. 
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Recipient of the Angels in Adoption Award 2016. A program of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute in Washington D.C.
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