The Life and Times of the Watters Family

Bible study

With the study, A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place, ending I am really thankful to be starting a new study already. It’s always sad for me when a good thing comes to an end. One thing that makes this transition a bit smoother is that the majority of our table group is continuing on with a new study together, No Other gods, by Kelly Minter.

Our group is joining thousands of women around the US and the world who are taking time every other Tuesday to meet together and study God’s word throughout the summer. Beth Moore and her team at Living Proof Ministries have organized this unique study. Each time we meet together we will share what God is teaching us through His word. We will share prayer requests, snacks and we will work together on memorizing our summer verses. Beth challenged us to memorize Jude 1:24-25.

No Other gods challenges us to “confront our modern-day idols”. In the introduction to the study Kelly says:

A few years ago I was feeling stuck. Stuck with God, people, career, living space, finances, convictions. I constantly cried out to God, “Please deliver me.”….. I was not ready for the simplicity of God’s remedy; He wanted to be God in my life.

Though somewhat unaware, I had been depending on false gods that were at the bottom of much of my pain. They were taking up room in my heart– room God desired to occupy. Through this process I became desperate to discover who the true God was in all of His glory so as not to return to the lesser and baser things. These idols could only offer temporary relief– promising what they could never deliver. How relieved I’ve been to find that through the dismantling, God has planted, built, restored, and redeemed. He has done nothing short of miraculous.

Idols are objects of worship and can be anything that we spend more time thinking about, interacting with or trusting more than our God. The subjects of idolatry and worship have been reoccurring themes recently and for me this means–God is speaking, pay attention! Pastor Mark Driscoll preached a fantastic message on the subject of worship. Mark teaches that whatever our issues may be, all our strongholds and addictions all boil down to having a worship problem. I highly recommend checking out that message, it’s one of the best I’ve heard on the subject.

This last season of Bible study has been life changing. The studies, the decisions, the clarity that came and life experienced throughout this spring will be one of the stones of remembrance in my life. Studying the Tabernacle, God’s presence, His glory and His plan for our salvation all the way back to Genesis has been indescribable. God has drawn near and I am forever changed. I am so grateful for His faithfulness and the journey He continues to call me to take with Him. Following God is exciting, challenging, refining, peaceful, restoring, and so much more. I just love Him.

new Bible study

“Discover the parallels of the Tabernacle’s building and your life as a chosen vessel of God.”

Christ the King’s Women’s Ministry will be offering this study:

11 Wednesday Mornings
April 9 – June 18
10 am – 12pm, in Fun Zones
Materials Fee: $20.00, free childcare
or
11 Monday Nights
April 7 – June 23 (no class on Memorial Day)
6:45 – 8:45 pm, in room 116
Materials Fee: $20.00, free childcare

How can I thank Him enough?

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

“Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:7-10

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” John 10:14-18

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us ALL our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 3:13-15

“He still raises the dead. Saves the lost. Heals the weak. Sets prisoners free. He never misses a tear. Never let’s us go. He was lifted up so we could be drawn to Him. Killed so we could live. Beaten so we could win. No matter what stone seems to have you entombed, He can roll it away. Nothing can stay in the grave when God has resurrection on His mind. And, Sweet Thing, God has resurrection on His mind right now. “  ~Beth Moore

Today….

Terri and I are going up to Vancouver to hear Beth Moore teach. It’s going to be great! I am looking forward to what God is going to say through her to this group of women. It’s exciting that 50+ women from CTK are heading up to the event as well. Bring it Beth!

quote:

“Family unity is not automatic. It’s democratic. It takes a majority of people in a home casting their votes toward getting along. Lest you give up, keep in mind that every majority begins with one contagious person. Filled with Christ’s Spirit, that one person can be you.”

~Beth Moore (from Stepping Up)

new bible study

Today I begin a new bible study at CTK, my 6th Beth Moore study. I have thought a lot about the idea of whether or not it’s good to stay with one teacher for so long. After much thought and prayer I have determined that Beth is a very gifted teacher, I learn so much more with each study I complete, I have been pretty much non-stop in a bible study for almost 3 years now (which can’t be a bad thing), and she’s not the only teacher in my life, so, why re-invent the wheel? I appreciate transparent and vulnerable teachers who are “not ashamed of the gospel” and don’t fear telling the truth in love. I feel so privileged and thankful to live in a time where I can access so many gifted teachers. I love Chuck Swindol’s Insight for Living online devotion, watching Pastor Mark Driscoll’s messages from Mars Hill online, Beth’s studies with the DVD teaching, and Pastor Grant’s messages each weekend a CTK. I am grateful that God continues to reveal Himself to me and teaches me how to be the woman He created me to be.

Hymns

A couple of weeks ago I bought Chris Rice’s album Peace Like a River: The Hymns Project. I have been listening to it repeatedly since I bought it. Growing up in a very conservative church where we sang mostly hymns, I became acquainted with many of the great ones. As a child I couldn’t appreciate the sentiment or power of the words in many of those old songs, so I decided they were boring and antiquated. How can you understand God’s great faithfulness, amazing grace, how mighty He is, and how enduring His love is until you have lived life awhile? We need time to learn to trust Him with something precious, time to rebel and transgress to understand grace, time to see miracles only explained by God’s providence, and experience suffering to the point of needing to rely on Him alone. I am so thankful for a God that allows us the freedom to learn to trust Him. I am thankful that He is faithful even in our questions, fear and doubt and that He unfailingly pursues us.

My favorite Hymn on the album is Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. The depth and beauty of the lyrics captivate me. It embodies what my soul feels yet cannot as eloquently express.

Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of God’s unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless days.

After a few days of listening to this song I began to wonder what an “Ebenezer” was. The reference is from 1 Samuel 7:12. “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the LORD helped us’.” All throughout the Old Testament the Israelites would set up stones of remembrance as a testimony to God’s mercy and presence for the generations to come. In Genesis 26:18, Jacob gives the name Bethel, meaning House of God, to the stone which he had used as a place to rest his head while receiving the dream of the ladder. He says, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Later, that very same place is so defiled and misused that it was renamed by the prophet Hosea, Beth Aven, which means House of Nothingness.

In Joshua chapter four, there is another example of stones being set up in remembrance of God leading. God tells Joshua, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” The place was named Gilgal, because it was the place where God rolled away the reproach of the Egyptians.

In Amos chapter five there is a call for repentance of Israel.“This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: ‘Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing. ‘Seek the LORD and live…”

Sadly, many of the sacred symbols of God’s faithfulness later became idols. No longer were people remembering and seeking the Faithful One; they began to worship the monument and even defile the sacred. As awful an appalling as that thought is, I find I struggle with this very thing. I sometimes supplant the worship of God Himself with the praise for the outcome that results from His work, or, even worse, I complain about where God has rescued me to. As time passes and I get further from my crisis, my memory of God’s help thus far fades and I forget to continue to “seek the LORD”.

The line “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love” breaks my heart every time I hear it. How true it is. No matter how many times God demonstrates His love to me and no matter how much I love Him in return, I am “prone to leave the God I love”. Not necessarily by an act of rebellion or anger but by distraction or laziness.

I desire to leave a legacy of faith and faithfulness for my family. I want the “stones of remembrance” in my life to always point to God alone and serve solely as a reminder of His goodness. I do not want what God has intended as a place of remembrance to become a stumbling stone of pride or an idol. I am beginning to understand that this kind of heritage does not come about accidentally, it has to be an intentional decision made daily. I cannot will it to be and it is impossible for me without God’s help.

“On that day, freed from sinning, I shall see Thy lovely face” — I can hardly wait!

Self-Condemnation

food for thought from Beth’s blog

Daniel, a Beth Moore study

I have been in 3 different Bible studies using Beth Moore’s teaching materials over the last 2 years and I am really excited to begin my 4th study. Beth’s teaching is profound and relevant. I just checked out the promo for Daniel, Lives of Integrity- Words of Prophecy, I think it is going to be a great study. It begins April 11th @ CTK.