28 Apr “8 CHOICES” Spring-Summer Study – Intro Lesson
Hey there Bible Study Babes!
We’re kicking off our Women at the Well Spring-Summer Bible study this week with our intro lesson to “8 Choices That Will Change a Woman’s Life”. Wow! Thanks for your great response on Check-In Day and for sharing your “top two best choices you ever made”. (If you didn’t check-in, you can always go back to the previous blog and do so.) Love hearing from you all! By the way, if you are looking for someone to group with, I’ll post separate blog to do some “match-making”. AND – If you are joining us for the first time you may want to read the details explained in the previous blogs under this heading in the right hand column. OK – let’s get started!
It is a doctrinal fact that we have a very real, and very much alive, Savior and Lord in Jesus Christ who has thought out good plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11)! And make no mistake that we also have a very real and very alive enemy of our soul who has also has plans for us… a three-fold mission to “kill, steal and destroy” (John 10:10), and he is very serious about accomplishing his plans. He’s thought them through, studied human behavior for over 2000 years, and has devised some pretty effective schemes, and set some successful traps that have caught me more than twice. I’ve often said that, “…the enemy baits the trap with my favorite “flavor” then lures me in!” Oh, is that ever the truth! On page “vi” of the Introduction chapter, Jill writes, “ – the devil lies in wait at the very center of our lives, baiting his traps with all sorts of tempting morsels from his infernal cheese market.”
Infernal cheese market; does anyone else besides me find that funny? Jill is British and therefore has that…well, British humor thing going on. I think it’s the whole cheese market thing; they’ve been common in Europe and Great Britain for centuries, but only recently have I encountered cheese markets in my town; in the last 2 years at least 3 cheese markets have opened in my neighborhood featuring hundreds of different kinds of cheese. Who knew that many cheese flavors existed (do you call them cheese “flavors”?). I’m stunned. Can we not just learn to be content with American, Swiss, Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Parmesan and Velveeta, with an occasional Blue or Gorgonzola thrown in for kicks? John often asks me to whip up his favorite dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup. Do you know how difficult that is to do these days with the variety of cheeses available? I digress. Well, sorta… there is a point to all my cheesy talk and Jill is right; the enemy is baiting his traps with all sorts of tempting morsels from his infernal cheese market… and we’re loading up our Ritz crackers!!! Then he watches and waits until the right moment and… SNAP! We’re trapped!
So here’s the deal – we’ve simply got to wise up to the enemy and his ways, sisters, and recognize his cheese tray when we see it!!
I have an ice-breaker and 2 discussion questions for you as you begin your study this week:
1. After you open in prayer, share in your small group why you’re doing this study and what you hope to gain? Record your answer and that of your small group members, in the front of your books so that you can reflect back at the end of the 8-week study.
If you are doing the study independently, please share your responses as a “comment” on the blog.
2. Read James 1:13-15 out loud from your own Bible, and also from The Message translation below. Discuss what temptation is and what it isn’t. What part do we play in the temptation-to-sin progression?
“Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. James 1:13-15 The Message
3. Read and discuss I Corinthians 10:13. God uses the Holy Spirit as our internal warning system, alerting us to the dangers of traps in our way. I think of the old TV series, “Lost in Space” where the robot would flail his accordion arms and shout, “Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!” just as young Will was about to step into a sand trap (If you are too young to remember, I really don’t want to know). So, is there an area of your life where you’ve heard the Holy Spirit’s warning? Have you listened and turned back, or turned a deaf ear?
Sisters, every promise of God is “yes” and “amen” in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). As you close, read aloud 1 Corinthians 10:13, believing this promise to you and committing this verse to memory over the next week! We don’t just want to escape the traps the enemy sets for us by the skin of our teeth, we want VICTORY over temptation…period! So let’s get this promise under our “belt of Truth” and into our marrow!
I’m so thrilled we’re doing this study together! I love you all to pieces! The Lord bless you as you spend time with Him in His marvelous Word this week!
Don’t forget to join in the blog discussion by commenting with your responses to any of this week’s questions. Let’s chat it up, girls! We can encourage each other all summer long! I love hearing from you!
Punky