Chairein! (Ky Rain)
Homework: Day two has really driven home the point that I must be a doer of the Word! I know that reinforcement of this point is going to pound me in future lessons, so I’d better get to work on this pronto. As believers, we must obey scripture and LIVE IT OUT!
Melissa’s Articles: This week’s articles include:
“Hearers, Not Just Readers” was more than inspiration for me to persevere through memorizing the book of James. This article went into depth about how hearing God’s Word spoken makes those words take new shape in the heart and mind of the hearer. It can be an emotionally moving experience to encounter God’s Word with our ears.
The message can resonate more deeply with us. Our ears can pick up on repetitions of words, revealing themes. Hearing isn’t influenced by chapter and verse breaks, so it’s easier to follow the flow of the writing. But the most moving part of this article to me is that hearing the Word creates a special bond with first century believers because this is how the most common people encountered God’s Word. Not that I am not thankful that I am literate, by any means. It is simply humbling and refreshing to hear the Word and let it soak into my heart and mind through my ears.
“The Implanted Word” revealed quite a bit that I never really contemplated before. The Old Testament talks about a time when God’s Word would be planted in men’s hearts. This takes place when we receive God’s gift of salvation. I am blown away that James saw and recognized that the New Testament church was a fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy while he was right in the midst of it. It just goes to show you how God can use anyone – including a man who didn’t believe his Brother was the Messiah! It makes me wonder what plans He has for my future. I am incredibly excited to find out!
In the article “Perfect Law of Liberty”, Mellissa got me thinking about the liberation that the perfect law of love actually brings. I believe that any future reading of the exodus of the Israelites will be forever colored by the idea that Israel had the opportunity to obey that same perfect law, but their disobedience led to their enslavement by a variety of nations. What has my disobedience cost me? In what areas have I been enslaved and to whom? How can those chains of bondage be broken? I am greatly blessed to know that love really is all you need.
Writing James: This week, we wrote James 1:19-2:13
Memorizing James: I struggled with the memorization exercise last week. Perhaps this was a peeling of my initial arrogance. And despite that, the Lord blessed me deeply by allowing me to encourage others with their scripture memory challenge. It looks like I will be more in tune with Beth’s original 5 month time frame to memorize this 5 chapter book.
As of the class meeting for week three of study, I have memorized James 1:1-19.
Video Segment: This was a terrific lesson that concentrated on just a couple of verses that we already studied this week, but that taught me about looking intently into the perfect Word of God and completely illuminated Christ’s glory! It gave me new perspective on how mankind can miss seeing Christ’s glory since James lived with Jesus and missed it! And knowing that the angels still peer down at us intently and wonder why God is allowing the things that go on reminds me that I’m not alone in having that perspective myself, sometimes. I want the Word to change me deeply. I do wish that Beth would have mentioned in an earlier session why she does her memory work in a different translation than she normally uses for study. I probably would have considered doing the same thing. But now, I’m so far in (working on 1:21, now) that I will keep this in mind for future memory work.
Homework: Day two has really driven home the point that I must be a doer of the Word! I know that reinforcement of this point is going to pound me in future lessons, so I’d better get to work on this pronto. As believers, we must obey scripture and LIVE IT OUT!
Melissa’s Articles: This week’s articles include:
“Hearers, Not Just Readers” was more than inspiration for me to persevere through memorizing the book of James. This article went into depth about how hearing God’s Word spoken makes those words take new shape in the heart and mind of the hearer. It can be an emotionally moving experience to encounter God’s Word with our ears.
The message can resonate more deeply with us. Our ears can pick up on repetitions of words, revealing themes. Hearing isn’t influenced by chapter and verse breaks, so it’s easier to follow the flow of the writing. But the most moving part of this article to me is that hearing the Word creates a special bond with first century believers because this is how the most common people encountered God’s Word. Not that I am not thankful that I am literate, by any means. It is simply humbling and refreshing to hear the Word and let it soak into my heart and mind through my ears.
“The Implanted Word” revealed quite a bit that I never really contemplated before. The Old Testament talks about a time when God’s Word would be planted in men’s hearts. This takes place when we receive God’s gift of salvation. I am blown away that James saw and recognized that the New Testament church was a fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy while he was right in the midst of it. It just goes to show you how God can use anyone – including a man who didn’t believe his Brother was the Messiah! It makes me wonder what plans He has for my future. I am incredibly excited to find out!
In the article “Perfect Law of Liberty”, Mellissa got me thinking about the liberation that the perfect law of love actually brings. I believe that any future reading of the exodus of the Israelites will be forever colored by the idea that Israel had the opportunity to obey that same perfect law, but their disobedience led to their enslavement by a variety of nations. What has my disobedience cost me? In what areas have I been enslaved and to whom? How can those chains of bondage be broken? I am greatly blessed to know that love really is all you need.
Writing James: This week, we wrote James 1:19-2:13
Memorizing James: I struggled with the memorization exercise last week. Perhaps this was a peeling of my initial arrogance. And despite that, the Lord blessed me deeply by allowing me to encourage others with their scripture memory challenge. It looks like I will be more in tune with Beth’s original 5 month time frame to memorize this 5 chapter book.
As of the class meeting for week three of study, I have memorized James 1:1-19.
Video Segment: This was a terrific lesson that concentrated on just a couple of verses that we already studied this week, but that taught me about looking intently into the perfect Word of God and completely illuminated Christ’s glory! It gave me new perspective on how mankind can miss seeing Christ’s glory since James lived with Jesus and missed it! And knowing that the angels still peer down at us intently and wonder why God is allowing the things that go on reminds me that I’m not alone in having that perspective myself, sometimes. I want the Word to change me deeply. I do wish that Beth would have mentioned in an earlier session why she does her memory work in a different translation than she normally uses for study. I probably would have considered doing the same thing. But now, I’m so far in (working on 1:21, now) that I will keep this in mind for future memory work.
Comments