BIBLE STUDY WEEK 3 7/30/13

A STUDY ON EXPERIENCE OF A FRESH EXPLOSION OF FAITH

(By Beth Moore)  "A Taste of Believing God"

This is Chapter III

 

 

I Am Who God Says I Am:

 

 

For years I have been taught that the book of Ephesians gives us the profession of a Christian. I am who God says I am!

 

 

I am blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly place in Christ (Eph. 1:3)

I am chosen by You, my Father (Eph. 1:4)

I am holy and without blame (Eph. 1:4)

I am Your child according to the good pleasure of Your will (Eph. 1:5)

I am excepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6)

I am redeemed through the blood of Jesus (Eph. 1:7)

I am a person of wisdom and prudence (Eph. 1:8)

I am an heir (Eph. 1:11)

I have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ (Eph. 1:17)

I am saved by Your grace (Eph. 2:5)

I am seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6)

I am Your workmanship (Eph. 2:10)

I am near to You by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13)

 (Eph. 2:13)

I am a new creation (Eph. 2:15)

I am of Your household (Eph. 2:19)

I am strengthen with might by Your Spirit (Eph. 3:16)

I allow Christ to dwell in my heart by faith (Eph. 3:17)

I am rooted and grounded in love (Eph. 3:17)

I speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15)

I am renewed in the spirit of my mind (Eph. 4:23)

I am Your follower (Eph. 5:1)

I walk in love (Eph. 5:2)

I am light in You (Eph. 5:8)

I walk circumspectly (Eph. 5:15)

I am filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18)

 

 

 

That is just a few to mention.  How can we let Christ dwell in our hearts?  I see here that it's by faith that we allow things to happen in our lives.  Beth speaks of that faith.  This faith is a taste of believing and taking God at His Word.  We are who God says we are, and we can do what God's Word says we can do.   We as individual Christian have to believe that!  I have read the Ephesians' Declaration for months during my devotional time. I read it every morning for months, so I could get it in my spirit. When I feel like the enemy is trying to make me believe God don't care or God is angry with me, or even my faith has weaken, then I read this over and over again each morning while I do my devotion.  It's a blessing!   Beth says, "Believing I am who God says I am necessitates choosing what God says over what I feel. Glory to God!  When I was young and foolish, I always worried about what people thought of me, always. That play a negative part in my life for years. I start to feel what others thought about me was true until God revealed this to me. I am what God says I am!  Not what people say I am. What a different that made in my life. Listen to what Beth says here, "If I'm really serious about believing God, I have to believe God about me."  Let's look at this on page 31, "So, who does God say we are? Who are you in Him? If we've received Jesus as our personal Savior, the sum of our identity is found in First John 3:1: "Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God's children." And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn't know Him. Amen!

 

 

1 John 3:1: (KJV)

 

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not."

 

I love the KJV, because it speaks to my spirit-man more than others versions do.  I want to read a couple of other versions, ok.

 

 

1 John 3:1 (NASB)

 

"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him."

 

 

1 John 3:1 (AMP)

"See what [^[a]an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us, that we should [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! The reason that the world does not know (recognize, acknowledge) us is that it does not know (recognize, acknowledge) Him."

 

I almost took out the parentheses, but then they really explain the statement more, (recognize, acknowledge).

  

And one more;

 

1 John 3:1 (WYC)

"See ye what manner charity the Father gave to us, that we be named the sons of God, and be his sons. For this thing the world knew not us, for it knew not him [For this thing the world knoweth not us, for it knoweth not him]. 

 

I want to explore the explorer Joshua a little.  She mentions him concerning something I never would have noticed now. I believe in my studies of the bible I have known this, but it's good to explore again. Joshua's old name was Hoshea which means "deliverer" while Joshua means "Jehovah delivers." She went on to say, "If I were chosen by God to lead a grasshopper people into a land of giant opposition, I'd want to know He, not me, was the true Deliverer.  I'd like to suggest that Joshua not only needed to know who he was but he also needed to know who he wasn't" That is so true!  "He wasn't God, neither are we!"

 

 

At the end of chapter three, she talks about Simon Peter. "Peter believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, just as Abraham.  Sometimes the hardest biblical truths to accept are about us.  Believe you are who God says you are and fathom the double blessing of God crediting it to you as righteousness. I know that is easy said, then done. But pray to the Father for support and help through His Holy Spirit.

 

 

Prayer:

Father, You are wisdom personified.  Please forgive me for my short coming, for the times I have failed to believe Your Word about me because I look away from it. Pride lured me into thinking I could handle situations over my head and my thinking, instead of choosing to believe Your Word and listening to You. I choose to think that I am who You say I am. I long for wisdom, Lord, that I might reflect Your true character, and live my life as the person You say I am, in Jesus' name I pray, amen.

 

 

 

Questions:

1.   Who does God say we are?

2.   Why did Christ pray specifically for Simon Peter's faith not to fail?

3.   Name a few truths Beth mentioned about us.