This I Know Study – Week 2

This I Know – Week 2

What Do You Really Believe? (pages 53-86)

Matthew 8:23-27 & Mark 4:35-41

Regardless of the storm I am in, am I really believing who God is instead of my fears? The storm came up with the disciples in the boat. They wanted a rescuer, but Jesus didn’t respond how they wanted.

Which “believe” statement on pgs 57-59 is the hardest for you to put into practice?

Lauren – Do you believe God will give you what you need when you need it? I will often try to figure this out on my own or I put it on my husband to be my provider. If you look at my everyday you would wonder if I really believe God will provide.
Be honest with the disconnect of how I live my life and what I believe.

Lisa – Do you believe God will give you what you need when you need it? A different spin. Will I know when He has called me to? How much am I responsible to know about what I am to do next? He is going to be the one that provides but it is not tangible things I struggle with but more mental ability and energy. Do I trust Him to lead or will i need to always be ready in the wings? No He backfills that. My job is not to be super aware of my needs, trust Him to lead me to what He is calling and equip me for that calling.

Breanne – Do you believe God will never leave you?
With – by Skye Jethani. This book challenged this belief. I have so many moments where I was scrapping it together thinking I was alone. I am still processing this. Psalm 16:8 “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” I have tried to make it a discipline when I am overwhelmed in these moments to clench my right hand to remind myself that He is there with me. All sorts of implications if I truly believe this truth.

Julie – Will God give me what I need? Really I live more being concerned if God will give me my preference. I am guilty of wanting things to look a certain way. Accomplishing things. I have gotten better at letting go of preferences and what God should give me.

Can you think of a time where you come up with a solution to “fix” a problem or need, rather than trust God to work?

Lauren – In our parenting we think we are going to talk this issue out of our kids. Forgetting my kids are on a spiritual journey too and it is the Lord that will work on their hearts.

Breanne – I go into overfunctioning. Entering a space that is too intense and trying to be more aware of that. The answer is acceptance and stepping back. Watching God work and rest in that.

Lisa – In marriage, rather than trusting God to work I will take on the role that I have been called to be the worker in my husband’s life. This can show up in any relationship. We need to trust the Holy Spirit to do the worker.

Julie – At Christmas when the plans continued to change and impacted everyone, I needed to stop and ask the Lord to help me be the communicator of the facts but not make all the decisions. God is doing that work.

The Hebrew understanding of the word believe isn’t just how we think…
it includes a firm conviction that results in acknowledgement of God’s truth; a personal surrender to that truth; and a conduct inspired by that surrender.

Knowing that, how is God asking you to live differently?

Breanne – My hope is that my posture would be one of surrender. Sitting back. Praying and asking God to do that work in me. I am not going to overfunction to fix things.

Lauren – Two things stood out to me in the story of the disciples in the boat. First, Jesus invited the disciples to come on the boat. So He knew the storm was coming. Jesus will invite us places where there is a storm. Just because there is a storm doesn’t mean it is bad or wrong. Two, when you look at the disciples they are going into overdrive. Jesus slept through it all. Jesus could rest and trust because He knows His father. Do we know the Father like that? In light of today, we are in a storm in so many ways. What God is calling me to do is to ask how can I surrender and rest in the truths. Taking all these words I know about God and to study them so that they are deep within me. Let’s look at sovereignty and do a further study to get to know God in a new and deeper way.

Lisa – Taking what you believe in your head and saying it out loud. These are things that I believe. When you say it out loud, it lets you own it. Anchoring thoughts. When I say a truth about God and then I contradict that with something else I am thinking and believing. Because I have said it, it is out there for me to process (spoken from a verbal processor!) If I keep it in my head I don’t process it.

Julie: What is your fear? Name it. Call it out! Choose to arise. God is with you, you can be strong and courageous. Learn to think differently. Meditate/ponder on what you know about God. Ask God to give you victory. Believe it. Results in peace.

And this is what we know….

God loves me for me, gives me what I need, is always good, won’t leave me, and is in control of it all! Especially – GOD IS WITH ME!