Hi Everyone. Been praying for your requests, and hoping to hear some updates. If you want to talk more about Mary, hop over to the Mary’s Conception post and start some discussion – I’ll be glad to jump in on the talk. Meanwhile, I want to do something a little different since we’re starting to talk more about the nuts and bolts of Bible study. So, I’m taking us now to another woman with a shorter story to work with than Mary’s.
This week we're reading about a woman who isn't named but, bless her heart, is simply described as a “sinful woman.” Now I’m certain we could all qualify for that title, but I’m not sure any of us would want it.
Her story is located in Luke 7:36-50 and, as always, it's linked here. Pray, and then read it in its entirety.
After you’ve read it, grab pencil and paper and go back through it answering these questions:
Where does the action of this passage take place?
Who are the various characters in this passage?
What is the main action(s) taking place in the passage?
What is the main theme, idea, or point of the passage?
Why do I need to know this?
What does this passage teach me about God?
Can I see myself in any of these characters?
Do I know, or could I guess, what motivated their actions?
What, if any, unanswered questions do I have after reading this passage?
What would my daily life look like if I implemented the “lesson” or teaching of this passage?
Labels: Bible study
Several of you have been asking questions about how to study the Bible. So I want to take the time to address a few of these questions publicly in the next couple of posts.
Claire in Kenya recently wrote: “I’m having trouble where memorising verses is concerned. My pastor advised a bible with a concordance. A friend suggested a commentary. Kindly advice which of these I should start with and version u can use.”
Hers is really several questions in one but we’ll start with her first issue – memorizing verses. You do not need a concordance, or commentary, or special Bible memory cards or anything else of the sort to memorize verses. You simply need to exert some effort. Memorizing takes concentration and time, and nothing more.
Now if you want to use a concordance to look up a bunch of verses on a single subject so you can memorize lots of verses on that topic, then great. If you want to buy pre-made cards with Bible verses on them to sit on your counter in a cute little holder, that’s fine too. Go for it. But just don’t make the mistake of thinking that if you just possess this item, memorizing verses will be so much easier. It won’t. It always takes the effort of concentration and repetition over time – and no product can supply your concentration and time.
When I come across a verse I want to memorize, I look it up in my Bible or I write it down on something. Then I read it over and over out loud. I do this a few times each day for several days until I can recite all of it without looking at the verse. That’s it. That’s all you have to do.
The memorization will take place faster and easier if you practice reading/saying that verse frequently. For example, if you only read it once each morning you will eventually learn it, but it will take longer than if you read it several times in a row each morning. And if you also read it a couple of times again later in the day, it will go even faster. A little tip is research shows we memorize best if we review the material right before we go to sleep. So try reciting it before you get in bed at night. Maybe review it as you brush your teeth.
When I’m reading out loud to memorize a verse, I like to emphasize each subsequent word in the verse with each reading. Or sometimes instead of individual words, I’ll group some together as phrases - but its best to keep the phrases short if you do this. Let me give you an example using Psalm 139:14 from the New Living Translation. Read this out loud, slowly verbally emphasizing each bolded phrase as you do.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it.
Labels: Bible study
One day an angel, Gabriel, appeared to Mary and said: “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.” Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
What the angel said would happen, happened. Then Mary journeyed to visit her cousin Elizabeth. When she arrives, Elizabeth proclaims to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed … You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.” Mary responds to Elizabeth (sounding a lot like one of the Old Testament writers or prophets):
“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”
It is clear from their words to each other that these two women are filled with the Holy Spirit! Dear friends, do our words make it clear to others that we are filled with the Holy Spirit?
Mary stays with Elizabeth until John’s birth and then makes the several day journey back home. She is now 3 months pregnant and her belly is probably starting to “show.”
Mary and Joseph are engaged. In their day that was a commitment almost as binding as marriage itself. Breaking off an engagement, except in certain circumstances, was punishable by stoning. So was adultery. To break off an engagement (such as if your fiancé slept with someone else during the engagement) required a bill of divorcement.
The couple would be bound in engagement typically for a period of a year before the wedding. During this period they could even be referred to as a husband and wife couple, but they were not to live together or sleep together during this time.
So you can imagine what people would think when the engaged Mary turns up pregnant. She could be publicly disgraced, or worse. Joseph was an upstanding man, this could seriously ding his reputation as well.
Have you ever willingly put your reputation on the line to follow God? Can you think of a time in your life that you have risked or sacrificed what another person would think of you in order to show God what you think of Him?
Joseph is considering quietly giving Mary a bill of divorcement. But during the night Joseph has a dream and an angel tells him, “Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
I wonder if Joseph woke up from that dream in a cold sweat? I wonder what questions ran through his mind as he lay there in bed in the early morning light ... Was Mary pregnant with the Messiah?! How can I possibly raise God’s son? Its going to be my job to raise the man who will forgive all the nation’s sins? What if I “mess up” as His parent? Will Mary and I be able to have other children in the future? If so, how will they feel having Jesus, Son of God, as a sibling? We don’t know what Joseph thought but we know what he did - Joseph obeyed the Lord’s angel.
Thus far we have read about several women for whom God opened their womb – such as Sarah and Elizabeth. They each had been sleeping with their husbands for years, not getting pregnant. When told by God or an angel that they would have a child, some of them doubted. We just read about Zechariah’s doubt – and he was a priest! These women had tried and failed many times, and concluded it was impossible.
Mary had never slept with anyone and, according to God’s law, she wasn’t suppose to until she married Joseph. So when she questions the angel saying “how can this happen,” she is not assuming what Gabriel says is impossible – she’s just unclear on how this is going to play out since she is a virgin and is suppose to remain one for many more months. Hers was not a question of doubt, but of logistics. She would not have known it was even possible to become pregnant without sleeping with a man.
I believe Mary considered it an honor to be used of God, however He saw fit to use her. We learn from our reading that she was a "ponderer" so its no wonder she couldn't help but wonder how when she hears of God's plan. God doesn’t seem to mind her questions or her curiosity as she is grounded with great faith in Him. I pray that each of us would have the wisdom, fortitude, grace and faith to respond to God and His plans for our lives as Mary did.
May we each say to God today: “I am Your servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
Labels: Bible study
Answering the questions about the linage of Mary is not as easy as we might like for it to be. Genealogies, particularly at this time, were typically traced through the father’s line. Rarely would the wives/mothers make the lists. Though we do see some women listed in Christ’s lineage here, including some we read last month like Rahab.
Genealogies are offered in Matthew and in Luke, but they differ. Luke’s goes all the way back to Adam, and Matthew’s only goes back to Abraham but that is not problematic. Both run concurrent from Abraham to King David. Then they start to vary ... a lot.
After David, Matthew traces Jesus’ line through David’s kingly son Solomon, while Luke traces it through Solomon’s brother Nathan, another son of David. Also, Matthew’s list after David is much shorter than Luke’s. Many names are listed by Luke that are not listed in Matthew’s account. In fact, they only have a few names in common from King David on, and it is possible those could be different individuals with the same names.
Notice the name “Levi” mentioned twice in Luke’s account after David, but not at all in Matthew’s. Recall from last week that Elizabeth descended from the priestly line of Aaron, which was a division of the Levi clan? And recall that Mary and Elizabeth were related? That gives us a clue about Mary’s lineage.
In fact, many Bible scholars suggest that the genealogy in Luke is actually the genealogy of Mary, while the genealogy in Matthew shows the lineage of Joseph. If this is the case, then both Mary and Joseph are descendants of King David, enabling Jesus to be eligible as Messiah from either side and fulfill that prophecy (Psalm 89:3-4, 2 Samuel 7:14-16).
Joseph’s lineage would give Jesus the legal right, while Mary’s would preserve his right biologically since Joseph did not physically father this child. All the while Jesus would actually be fathered by God’s Holy Spirit, giving Jesus the spiritual right to be Messiah. (Belivers are also re-born by God's Holy Spirit!) So Jesus was fully the Son of Man, and the Son of God. Moreover, Mary’s virgin womb was the vessel God used to accomplish this miracle.
Isn't it terrific to see through this study of women of the Bible so far, just how valued women are in God’s eyes and God’s plans?
Let me be clear that just based on reading the text in the Bible, I cannot say for absolute certain that Luke’s genealogy is actually describing Mary but I think there is a good chance this is the case.
Labels: Bible study
Welcome if you are joining us today from the Proverbs 31 "Encouragement for Today" devotion. This Spring a few thousand women from around the world and I began reading through the women of the Bible together – here from this blog. We’ve just wrapped up the Old Testament women and are now starting into the New Testament. If you’d like to jump in and join us, we’d love to have you!
Here is how it works. I post the character we will be reading, and the location of her verses in the Bible. I hyperlink those verses too in case you want to read it online. When we have completed the reading we post an “I did it.” So if you could use a little accountability in reading your Bible regularly, here it is. Then we take a day or so to think about that woman, mull over her story, and see what God whispers to our hearts.
I create a second post about her at that point with my thoughts on her life and then others jump in posting their thoughts. Some good discussions get going and we learn a lot from each other. If you are a researcher type, feel free to post stuff you may have read in a commentary or a book about the character we are reading in addition to your impressions. If you are the quiet type, feel free to lurk along with us, but I do hope you’ll post every now and then, especially if you have a prayer request.
I’ve been so encouraged over the past couple months to hear how doing this study together has been changing the participants’ lives. It has certainly blessed me as well. This is a super supportive group! So subscribe to my blog and/or bookmark this page if you want to jump in and follow along with us.
Next we’re reading Mary, mother of Jesus. She is arguably the most famous woman of the Bible. We will look at Mary’s story in three of the gospels, and it may take us a few days to discuss her fully. Here is our assigned reading:
Mary in the book of Matthew 1:18-25 and chapter 2
Mary in the book of Luke 1:26-56 and 2:1-52
Mary in the book of John 19:25-27
Pray for God to guide your mind and heart as you read and help you understand more of Him and His ways.
Post your “I did it” here once done, and we'll discuss her soon.
Labels: Bible study
A question was asked that is a common one, and an important one: How do I know that I'm hearing from God? Its not an audible voice that I hear, but more of a impression I get in my heart. Not a fleeting thought that pops in my head once, but an impression that settles upon me.
My good friend Lysa TerKerust provides some great guidance on this subject in her book What Happens When Women Say Yes to God. She has 5 questions she asks herself when trying to discern if something is from God:
- Does what I'm hearing line up with scripture?
- Is it consistent with God's character?
- Is it being confirmed through messages I'm hearing at church or during my Bible study time?
- Is it beyond me? As we're seeing in this study, God likes to do things through us that we couldn't do ourselves.
- Would it please God?
Also, as I hope you are discovering through this study, the more plugged in I am to God - meaning the more I read the Bible and obey it, and the more I pray and think about spiritual things through out my day - the easier it becomes for me to recognize God's voice and to notice Him at work in my circumstances. And naturally, the more I am into the Bible, the better I can answer Lysa's 5 filter questions listed above.
Hope this helps someone. Be back later ~ Rachel
PS_Three of the P31 gals have had their blogs locked up this week by blogger and they can't get on to post at all. I don't know what that is about exactly, but pray it doesn't happen to mine.
Labels: hearing god




