Sunday, October 5, 2014

#TheBestYes Week 2 and my Big Takeaway



So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-10 MSG

As I read through #TheBestYes this week as well as the testimonies in my FB Group, watched and read the P31 OBS Blog; one lesson was clear: God provides wisdom and expects us to choose to live our lives not only loving and obeying Him but applying wisdom, His wisdom to our everyday decisions. It was the first time I saw wisdom from the Bible in this way. I study the Bible and consider myself a student of God’s word so I am always learning but I know that is a gift and not how most people approach their spiritual life. I knew the book of Proverbs might as well be called the book of wisdom but I thought of it more as guidelines or advice. What Lysa Terkeurst (and Beth Moore) do for me, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is make God’s truth applicable to my everyday life, they show me how to take what I am learning and live it out. I always relied on them making His word come to life in such a way that my life would be improved but never really considered taking what I was reading in the Bible and using it as a road map for making every decision. God’s words are comfort when I am down, light when darkness is rising up, encouragement when I am hard on myself, a love letter from my Abba Father when the pain of not having an earthly father, a father of origin stings, motivation when life seems too hard to live, a lesson in how sin can destroy us and the most beautiful love story ever told when I am feeling unlovable but now it advices me for my day ahead. Take Philippians 1:9-10, which I have copied above. A week ago I would have looked at that verse and seen Jesus saying to me, “this is why you are celibate; I need you to be equipped with the way the Father and I love before you will ever be ready to have a romantic relationship again. This my precious daughter is why we don’t shoot off an email response or text when someone has pushed the wrong button and you take a minute to talk with us because those feelings you have are fickle and fleeting and when you see things from my perspective you can love that person instead of hate.” Now, I hear those things but I also hear how I am supposed to read a legal document someone who hurt me deeply needs me to read and sign, “Don’t hold back precious because you were hurt, look at this piece of paper as an assignment I have given you. Use the love I have for you and this other daughter of mine, love I have set apart as a tool to read the document. It is an act of love for me not an act of service for her. Don’t see the hurt Melissa; see the assignment which will be over and done as soon as we do it together instead of acting like it didn’t exist and keeping it hidden at church.” Some assignments God has for us are small: doing the dishes so you can have a stress free and focused time with Him and others like serving every week at church require a physical, emotional, spiritual and maybe even financial commitment. God may not actually have had Paul write you name in the Bible, the Holy Spirit may not have led those men to write about your exact issue that is troubling your heart but if you take a moment and read the Bible asking God for what wisdom He has for you there is a promise from me to you that it’s there. Ask and you shall receive. I wasn’t even asking tonight for wisdom about that  document, I was asking Him what He wanted me to blog about this week, He led me to open “The Best Yes” and review what He had for me this week and Lysa had this verse for us on the third page of our first chapter this week and because I had taken the time to look up the verse in another translation I had a note in the margin, “MSG translation is great: learn to love appropriately.”

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, Philippians 1:9-10 ESV

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