Tag Archive | good morning girls

Acts 1 – Wait for the promise

Sep7

Good morning y’all.  Welcome back from our break 🙂 . Today we begin our study on the book of Acts. We will be studying Acts 1 – 5 this week.

I’m blogging through the bible a chapter a day with Good morning girls. You can check us out at www.goodmorninggirls.org.

Courtney from GMG has done an intro into the book of Acts and our study for this week. Click here to read the intro.

Back to our study for today 🙂

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Verse 4 caught my attention.  Especially the phrase “wait for the promise”.

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said,“you have heard from Me;” (NKJV)

Most times there is usually a waiting period from the time God gives a promise, to the time the promise is fulfilled. Some of us are impatient, we want instant results (***covering my eyes**** I’m one of them).  Sometimes God answers instantly and other times He wants to teach us patience.  Abraham waited 25yrs for the promise to be fulfilled. Scripture says he hoped against hope. Physically it was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a child but Abraham still believed and had faith in the One who promised. He knew God was faithful to bring to pass that which He has said.

God is not a man that He should lie, if He has said it, then He surely will do it (Num 23:19).
Habakkuk 2:3 says:
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry” (NKJV).

The disciples were told to wait for the promise and wait they did. God didn’t let them down, He came through on His promise as we will see in chapter 2 tomorrow.

What has God promised you? Friends hold onto it, even if it feels highly impossible to you. With man it might be impossible, but with God all things are possible (Luke 1:37).  Psalm 27:14 says:
“Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!” (NKJV)

When God gives a promise, it’s not in our place to question when the promise will be fulfilled.  Ours is to believe it will surely be fulfilled at the right time. The disciples in verse 6 asked Jesus about the timing of the prophecy. Jesus responds to them in verse 7 by saying, it’s not their business to know the timing – that’s God’s business!!!.

“6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority”. (NKJV)

The key thing is to make sure we believe the prophecy and do what God asks us to do while waiting for the fulfillment of the promise.

What they needed to concern themselves with, was doing God’s business and for that they needed empowerment which came in the form of the Holy Spirit. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to empower us be witnesses for Jesus to the world around us. Of our own might, we won’t be able to do this. Verse 8 says:

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me[a] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (NKJV)

The disciples had a decision to make regards replacing Judas. They didn’t take it lightly but consulted God before making the decision.

” And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (24 -26 NKJV).

They included God in their plan. Are we including God in our plans no matter how trivial the plan maybe? Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths. The disciples chose not to lean on their understanding, so they prayed and asked God to help them choose. After praying they put their faith into action – they applied their faith.  It’s definitely good to pray but we also have to get up and act on our faith. James 2:20 tells us faith without works is dead.

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today and for the opportunity to learn at your feet. We ask for the grace to wait patiently on you and not loose hope. Give us the grace to be obedient, doing what you have asked of us while we wait for the promise to be fulfilled. Help us to trust you more Lord and we ask for a fresh release of your spirit over our lives. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name we prayed. Amen.

Thanks for joining today. Tomorrow we will be studying chapter 2. Pls feel free to share your thots on the chapter

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Song of Solomon 8- Set me as a seal upon your heart…

Aug12

Good afternoon y’all. Happy Midweek 🙂 .

Few housekeeping information. We will be going on break from 13th August to resume 7th September. We’ll come back to study the book of Acts. For more information see Courtney’s blog from good morning girls on our fall bible study here

Today, we are studying the last chapter of Song of Solomon…whoop whoop!!! Thanks be to God for helping us get through the book. I have enjoyed studying this book.  It’s great for reminding us of the kind of love relationship Jesus desires with us His church. He is our groom and we are His bride and He is coming back for us soon 🙂

I’m focusing today’s blog on verses 6 – 7.

Be blessed 🙂

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“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave.
Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame.
Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it.
If a man tried to buy love with all his wealth, his offer would be utterly scorned” (SOS 8: 6- 7 NLT)

A seal confirms a deed is original and authentic. It’s a stamp of ownership and authenticity on something. She’s asking her lover to claim her completely as his own; to put his stamp of ownership on her heart so she can be completely his and his only. In the same way Jesus has put His seal on us. He has claimed us as his own completely and He is jealous for us.

The love of God is as strong as death. Just like nothing escapes the grasp of death, so it is with God’s love: nothing can escape the grasp of His love. His love never gives up on us. It’s a jealous kind of God. In exodus 34:14 God says “...for the LORD, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about His relationship with you.”.

Many waters cannot quench God’s love for us. Romans 8:35-39 comes to mind immediately. Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. His love is so amazing and unconditional. Not even trials or death can separate us from God’s love towards us.

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[p] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(Rom 8: 35 -39 NLT)

An excerpt from Gill Exposition on the entire bible says:

“Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm,…. These are still the words of the church, speaking to Christ as she walked along with him, as the affixes in the Hebrew text show; in which she desires to have a fixed abiding place in his heart; to continue firmly in his love, and to have further manifestations of it; to be always remembered and supported by him; to be ever on his mind, and constantly under his care and protection; and to have a full assurance of interest in his love, and in his power, which is the sealing work of his Spirit, Ephesians 1:13. The church’s desire is, that she might be affectionately loved by Christ, be deeply fixed in his heart, be ever in his view, owned and acknowledged by him, and protected by the arm of his power“.

I pray God puts His stamp of ownership upon our hearts so that we will have a deep conviction of His love towards us and would guard that love jealously, ensuring that we do nothing to cause a separation between us and Him, in Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen

Thanks for joining today. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the chapter.

I am blogging through the bible a chapter a day with Good Morning Girls. Check us out at www.goodmorninggirls.com

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***