Experiencing God

We have finished up our bible study on Experiencing God and Tommy was right. It was life-changing.

The first memory verse was John 15:5
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, He will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do NOTHING."

That one verse encapsulates everything that I've learned from the study. Learned might not be the right word. Maybe metabolized. I knew it. It made sense. But did I get the full implications of it - not a chance.

Apart from me - in disobedience, in rebellion, in confidence in self rather than confidence in God - I can do NOTHING. When I insert myself into this divinely breathed equation NOTHING is absolute zero. The total absence of light. Results in frustration and worry short and simple.

Over the course of the study we were asked to reflect on the study. I don't want to lose sight of any of these things:

1. Stop worrying and start putting that energy into trusting in God's plan.
2. Know that God is at work in EVERY area of our life. God is calling me to be a leader by serving those who are in charge of all those areas.
3. When I am getting caught up in my somethings, I am DOING NOTHING.
4. In order for me to see God working, I have to clear out all of the ME in things that are clouding my vision.
5. Waiting is part of God's plan for me - less of me and more of Him.
6. Obedience means I have to stop making lists of why I can't - too incovenient, doesn't make sense, people don't understand.....
7. Obedience means not fighting Him on things that I don't want to do.
8. The emptiness I feel sometimes is call to Him - not any one of the substitutes that I usually use to satiate (unsuccessfully) my melancholy.
9. Trust and obey is a path to God's best - it won't always be a pretty or a clear path but He already knows the end. He can't do any less. He's perfect love.
10. QUIT BRINGING MY NO INTO GOD'S YES PLAN. His plan results in joy even when you can't imagine it could. He's God!!!!
11. More faith means less planning and less overanalysis. So I have to turn off the worry and let God do His thing.
(This one felt wrong all my life. "Doesn't God want me to DO something?" And I've been learning that the answer is no. I DO and I forget that it's God doing. Don't get me wrong - I don't turn off my brain. But my brain is slowing turning on to the idea that my doing and thinking are attempts at rerouting God.)
12. Admitting that I am selfish and have been for a long time is hard. But it's true. That's my nature and God's trying to refine that right out of me. Pride. Ouch. Quit being defensive about my past and admit that God's been trying to get rid of it for a LONG TIME. My stubborness has prolonged it.
13. Praise Him when I am feeling self-involved. It works. It reminds of who He is.
14. Listen to Him.
15. I can't just chuck it all in a panic. That's me trying to fix things again. And it doesn't work. Ever.
16. Believe that He can do anything even when it doesn't make sense from my limited viewpoint.
17. Prayer is huge. Do it all the time. Everyday. About everything.
18. Believe God. I need to step out in FAITH ALONE.
19. God-sized tasks are His way. See 18 for His methodology. Things that for years I haven't been able to do on my own are how He works. And when that happens, others see that there is no way that it could be other than GOD.
20. Give things to Him and stop taking them back.
21. When things are uncomfortable (servanthood and humility) keep obeying His call to change - with joy.
22. Sharing means absence of self. The warmth of sharing is not in the good it feels for me but joy in sharing HIM.
23. Love all parts - people are hard to love. Maybe impossible without the love of Christ and the strength of the Holy Spirit.
24. Pray for clarity when you don't know if you are hearing from God right. He's not going to withhold that from His children.
25. All of this is for Him. Not me. His glory. His name. His purpose.
26. The absence of the me is HUGE in our marriage.
27. Every interaction with those kids I love so much is an opportunity that should be preceeded by prayer.

That's a long list but it was a HUGE study. It really has changed things. That's a lot to digest so I'll have to ponder that for awhile.