Thinking Girls Bible Study

I spent the better part of two days getting this study  ready to publish.  I was just about at the end and was correcting a mistake, and something happened, I don't know what...and everything was deleted.  To say I was devastated would be an understatement. How could I possibly remember everything? Then it occurred to me, that is what Elohim does with our sins.  When we accept His Provision, the Lamb of God as our Savior, He deletes our sins as far as the East is from the West.  He remembers them no more.  How wonderful is that? We live in a world where there are no superlatives.  Everything and everybody is "awesome" or "incredible" or "unbelievable."  As a result, nothing is. The world falls all over itself, trying to be more outrageous, more shocking, more, more, more. The noise has also been amplified.  If you'll notice, every commercial, every talk show, morning show, even news shows have a background synthesized "music" that is

I wanted to do something a little different for this study.  The last few weeks have seemed more tumultuous than ever. The whole word seems to be in turmoil, with issues of war and hatred to the weather and geographical upheaval.  Lives have been changed forever in these last few weeks.  It's easy to get caught up in worry and woe, and to look at what's happening around us instead of keeping our eyes on our Savior.  Let's remind ourselves and each other that we serve a sovereign God who loves us and gave His life for us. He is in control and He has appointed everything to play out according to His will and His purpose. As we see all these things happening, let us remember to look up. Our redemption draws near. I decided to post this piece called "My King" by Chuck Missler for our next study.  I have benefited greatly from Chuck's teachings.  There is a wealth of free material made available on his website Khouse.org.   Every time I read this, I'm over

In the last study, we looked at Hagar and how her life was impacted by Abram and Sarai taking matters into their own hands instead of waiting on the Lord. There are more dynamics to this story than can be addressed in two studies, but we will look at a few. God had given a promise to Abram and Sarai that He would give them descendants. But many years had passed since that initial promise, so Abram and Sarai decided they would help the Lord out. How many times do we do this? And the result is other people get hurt. Sarai came up with the idea that she would give her slave girl to Abram to have a child by her. Perhaps when Hagar conceived, that confirmed to Sarai her fear that she was the problem. But another dynamic of this story is that Hagar, in her flesh, despised Sarai after she became pregnant. When we find ourselves hurt by others, our tendency is to act in the flesh, to nurse our wounds, to feel sorry for ourselves. Hagar found herself pregnant, in bondage, in seeming hopeless

Have you ever suffered collateral damage as the result of someone else taking things into their own hands instead of waiting on the Lord? Or maybe just the results of the fleshly behavior of someone else, or resentment or lack of forgiveness?  Or have you suffered because of a loved one's addiction or some other sin?  Maybe your own resentments and unwillingness to forgive have caused collateral damage in someone else life.  Sometimes in studying forgiveness, when people are encouraged to forgive, we hear things like, "You only hurt yourself when you don't forgive."  Or, "You are the one in chains when you hold on to unforgiveness and resentment."  But that's not really accurate.  Being at the receiving end of resentment and bitterness due to lack of forgiveness can be excruciating.  Sometimes it can feel as if a two ton boulder is suffocating the life out of you.  In a sense, a loved one's lack of forgiveness can place chains that can only be remo

In the previous two studies we saw both Abigail and David in their wilderness journeys.  We saw that David had been engaged in battles with Saul and other enemies leading up to the time he met Abigail.  We saw that Abigail was engaged in her own battle.  Many of us know very well what a wilderness experience is. Many of us have been engaged in our own spiritual battles for what may seem like an eternity.  That's why I find comfort in reading Psalm 18, a song of deliverance. David gives us the description of this Psalm in the first verse: "To the Chief Musician.  A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD who spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.  And he said;  I will love You, O LORD, my strength."  The occasion for David writing this was the day the Lord delivered David from the hand of his enemies and Saul.  What comfort to hear that there did come a day

Read MARRIED TO A FOOL: Abigail and David, Part 1 . When I was studying Abigail in 1 Samuel 25, my eyes caught a glimpse of a verse in chapter 23 that had the words "Rock of Escape."  So naturally my curiosity was piqued.  I went back to that chapter and made some wonderful discoveries.  Chapter 23 details the time when David had asked the Lord if he should go down and fight the Philistines.  The Lord said yes.  During that time, Saul learned what David was doing and plotted evil against him.  What captured my attention begins with verse 25:  "When Saul and his men went to seek him , they told David.  Therefore he went down to the rock , and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon .   And when Saul heard that, he pursued David in the Wilderness of Maon . " (Emphasis mine.) The passage continues in verses 26-29: "Then Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain.  So David made haste to get away from Saul,

Throughout the ages, many women have found themselves, whether through arranged marriages or by choice, married to men who might be considered fools... men who are not walking with the Lord...  men who have hardened their hearts to their wives and to the Lord.  The world says, "Well, you deserve to be happy."  Or it tells us that love is the basis for whether a marriage is to continue or not... as if lack of love is a legitimate reason for divorce.  Let me say here if you are divorced for whatever reason, be encouraged that you still have a Husband, and His name is King Jesus.  There is much to be learned from the story of Abigail for all women.  This study, in particular, is for those women who find themselves in the same plight as Abigail.  Let me encourage you, Dear One, if you don't know what to do, stay where you are.  God has permitted this to happen in your life, in part, to refine you, to sift you, to chip away as a gemstone cutter chips away to make the perf

This next study is a very personal one for me.  Let me elaborate.  I didn't know until about fourth or fifth grade that I walked "funny." I was made fun of and became very self-conscious as a young girl.  At a time in our lives where we just want to blend into our surroundings, I felt like all eyes were on me with every step I took. My walk would come to define who I was. I wouldn't find out why I walked the way I do until I was in my forties.  And the details don't matter.  What does matter is that God taught me so many things that I wouldn't have known otherwise, simply because of the way I walk.  It began to have a parallel meaning of my walk with the Lord. Also, I don't have pretty feet. It's all related.  So when I was studying Jael, I made a discovery that really spoke to my heart.  You'll see in the lesson when we see that Jael's name means "mountain goat."  These mountain goats are surefooted climbers.  Their feet are designed

Many of us find ourselves embattled in intense, serious spiritual warfare.  Some of us find ourselves in the awful position of having the enemy in that war using our loved ones, sometimes our spouses as his instruments.  One of the devil's greatest tools is to get us to agree with him about our loved ones, or to get our loved ones to agree with him about us.  He is the accuser of the brethren and one of the ways he loves to accuse is through the mouths of people who are suppose to love us.  It was in one of these fierce battles of spiritual warfare that this lesson was born. One of the great things about the Bible is that we can study and study and still not exhaust what there is to learn from it.  Such is the case of the story of Deborah and Barak and Jael.  Deborah, of course, is one of the more well known women of the Bible.  Perhaps we can learn even more from another woman in the same passage named Jael.  So let's look at Judges chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 beg

I lost my precious mother a few days ago.  The ten days leading up to her death were long and draining.  I suffered as I watched my mother suffer, as I watched my sisters and brother suffer.  We spent most of the time everyday of those ten days together, with hospice nurses and CNAs coming in and out.  There was hardly any time to be alone—alone with my thoughts—alone with My Lord.  I thought of this post that I had planned next,  WILDERNESSES AND SOLITARY PLACES. I thought of my own times in the wilderness and my own need of that solitary place.  When those times of wilderness happen, it's usually pain that leads us there.  In our wildernesses, we almost always initially feel abandoned... like God has forsaken us... like He doesn't care.  Then, after a while, we begin to realize that He is calling us to a more intimate place with Him.  We begin to see that those are the sweetest times with Him... that He, through His Word, is whispering sweet truths and promises to us that p

A few years ago I watched a program on Day of Discovery. It was about a twenty year old girl named Lygon Stevens who was a mountain climber and had died in an avalanche while climbing with her brother. Lygon did not sound like your typical twenty year old. We get a glimpse into her walk with the Lord through her journal that her brother salvaged during the accident. She seemed to have found all the things that young girls are looking for in her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But after her death, her family was left to deal with their huge heart rending loss. Their suffering was horrific. More of the story can be found on the website http://www.timetoliveisnow.org/ . The takeaway in this story for me is an illustration that came from Lygon's mother. She had been asked to speak somewhere and had gone to a place of solitude to gather her thoughts. It was still very hard to carry this whole thing around with her...the loss of her daughter, but the story of a

Moses had to deal with difficult people.  Some things never change, because we all find ourselves dealing with difficult people.  In dealing with those people, our own flesh always wants to  rear its ugly head. Let's remind ourselves to speak to the Rock and not the people during these times of difficulty. Scripture readings: Exodus 3:1-4:17, Acts 7:22, Numbers 12:3, Exodus 17, Numbers 20:1-12, Deuteronomy 3:23-29, 4:21-22 Moses. What a fascinating character. Definitely one of the most amazing men of God. Yet, I'm intrigued by the fact that he didn't get to go into the Promised Land, even though he knew the Lord intimately and the Lord spoke to him “face to face as one does a friend.” As I was reading in Deuteronomy where Moses is coming to the end and is giving the instructions to the children of Israel, I was struck by his words, “Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not ente