The Jig Is UP!

The jig is up.
The cat is out of the bag.
The ship has sailed.

You might be wondering “what is with the colloquialism overload this morning?” I would too, but it’s just my way of perpetuating the drama surrounding the much anticipated announcement for the Tuesday Morning Women’s Bible Study course material for this year. But more about that in a minute. First let’s give a brief recap.

This past Tuesday we gathered together to resume Women’s Bible Study and we studied together Psalm 84. In particular, we focused on verse 5 of that Psalm.

“Blessed are those who strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.”

We learned three key points regarding this verse:

1) We can set our hearts on all kinds of things during our stay on planet earth but God promises us that if our heart is set on one thing in particular, we will be blessed. That one thing is pilgrimage. While in the Old Testament, their pilgrimage was of a physical nature as they were commanded to travel to Jerusalem three times a year to meet with God, ours is a pilgrimage of a spiritual nature. Just as they were on a journey that brought them closer to God, so are we.

2) We also learned that the word 'blessed' in this passage is a powerful blessing that indicates “very favorable circumstances”. We examined together how the word blessing has been very much watered down in our culture and we don’t truly comprehend or maybe even recognize what is truly a Biblical blessing. God wants to do incredibly favorable things in our lives as we set our hearts on moving forward spiritually with Him.

3) Lastly, we learned that this journey is primarily one of the heart. It isn’t how well we are doing but how well our hearts are doing.

Read this version in the Amplified Bible:

“Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.”

Throughout the class we drew parallels between a road trip that you might take with your family or friends and how our pilgrimage might mirror that kind of adventure. We examined different road signs, detours, and distractions that one might encounter on any road trip and used them as illustrations to put a more tangible perspective for our spiritual pilgrimage. During that time we spent some time talking about our traveling companions and how vital it is to be sure that you are traveling with others who are either going to the same destination as you are or who traveled that way before. If someone has taken the trip in the past, wouldn’t it be wise to learn from their experiences.

Ok so I won’t keep you in suspense any long. This is the part of the blog where we springboard into our announcement regarding our course material. Drum roll please……we will be studying the ‘Women of the Bible’.

Why ‘Women of the Bible’? Maybe you are thinking “been there, done that”. Perhaps you don’t feel the need to examine a subject that has often been studied to death. But hear me out. This past summer I have been seeking the Lord diligently for His will for Tuesday mornings and this is what He brought to the forefront over and over. When the Lord repeatedly brings something in my life with that kind of consistency and urgency, I know He is up to something. I believe that He is about to bring a freshness and a relevance to our burden driven lives through the women of the Bible.

2 Corinthians 10:11 tells us that “these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us.”

We women have issues, don’t we? To be honest, and scripture will back me up on this, there ain’t nothing new under the sun. They had issues too. For example, there are women who dealt with (and I will do this alphabetically) abuse, adultery, betrayal, bitterness, childlessness, choices, dignity, dissension, dreams (all of this and I have only gotten to the “d’s”) and God in His tender mercies recorded them so that we might we able to relate and learn from them. God is that relevant. He knows what we are going through as women and He wants to speak to us about all our hardships and painful hurts. His desire is to bring wholeness and healing. I believe He will do that not only as we study His word but as we fellowship with other like-minded sisters in the Lord. My heart is filled with excited expectation in what’s ahead. Not only is my heart filled it is set!

So how does this work? We will gather for a teaching each week and then separate into smaller discussion groups after the message. The Bible study that we will be using is ‘Women of the Bible’ by Jean Syswerda. It is a workbook for the very excellent book “Women of The Bible” by Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda.

During the group time we will be going over several questions from that homework. Now here is the thing, if you don’t like homework you don’t have to do the homework to participate in the groups but I will tell you emphatically that there is nothing like homework and getting into the Word of God one on one with the author. I know from personal experience that when you engage with a “set heart” in that venue, He will honor that and teach you amazing things that you couldn’t know other wise. I am speaking from experience. I love Bible study and it is a daily habit for me. Aside from prayer and Bible verse memorization (okay that is for another day) nothing has dramatically affected my spiritual life like it. I encourage you to engage in the study but it is by no means mandatory. Just come!!! We would love to meet you.

If you can’t come out, you can follow us here on the blog. In the upper right hand section of the blog you will see a picture of the Bible study and the woman that we will be working on that week. That would mean that whatever woman is listed there, that is the one we will be receiving a teaching on and discussing in our small groups the following Tuesday. I also want to note that the homework is very short, only about 3 or 4 pages and you will have a whole week to work on it.

We are also doing something else new. Every Wednesday our precious sister Linda will be blessing us with a weekly column called “Here’s the scoop on                “ This will be a recap of the highlights of what we learned that week on each woman. We are really looking forward to this ministry and seeing her insights.

Ok, I think I have written enough for today. I am sure there are details that I might have left unwritten. Please feel free to either email me or Linda or you can post your question here. We are also on Facebook so you could join us there ( MWC Womens Bible Study)where we will post all the info as well.

How I hope you join us this year. I am believing God for a Holy Spirit power packed time of worship, study, and fellowship that will change us and spoil us for the mundane. You in? Is your heart set for a blessing? Are you ready to start your pilgrimage and walk in those blessings God has promised in Psalm 84:5? Then why not begin your journey with some traveling companions and join us on Tuesday’s this year. We look forward to seeing you there.

“O the happiness of a man whose strength is in Thee, Highways [are] in their heart.” Psalm 84:5 (YLT)