Week 1: Homework Review

 

Ladies, it is my earnest prayer that you are so deep in the homework that you are having trouble coming up for air! But let's back up and review... In Week 1, we examined the realities of a walk with Christ.

From your WEEK 1 homework, you should understand that: 1) because you walk with Christ you will face many hardships and those hardships will develop Christ like character that can positively influence others toward God, 2) when our ultimate goal is God's approval rather than man's, we do not become distracted from being servants to Christ, 3) all ten of the characteristics of the crucified life (p. 19) begin with the understanding that "we must make certain choices to be crucified with Christ for victory in our daily battle with sin", 4) your "effort has no bearing on your acceptance," we have been clothed in Christ and like Abraham our faith in Christ is credited to us as righteousness, 5) we have been adopted, chosen, by God and He wants to have a familiar relationship with us not just as Father, an authority figure, but our "approachable" Daddy!

Without understanding Week 1, we cannot progress on to discuss the Holy Spirit. As I studied Week 1's homework I kept hearing our 5 statement Pledge of Faith ringing in my ears. Day 1 = I can do all things through Christ! Day 2 = God is who He says He is. Day 3 = God can do what He says He can do. Day 4 and 5 = I am who God says I am. I love when our lessons confirm and affirm what we have already studied. I very much feel like Week 1 should have just come out and asked us, "Do you believe God?" Because without FAITH, it is impossible to experience FREEDOM in Christ. And without FAITH, it will be impossible for you to intimately engage the Holy Spirit. Hello 5th Statement: God's Word is alive and active in me! How else did you think you would become FULL of the Holy Spirit, but through the WORD of God! I get supercharged to do my homework all over again Ladies! Each time we study the Word, we increase our capacity to be filled with His Spirit.

Remember, we can confess an area of unbelief and God will strengthen us in that area. If you have it, please refer back to Believing God pages 26-27. The father in Mark 9:14-25 asks Jesus to help his unbelief. We should be doing the same. Confessing our unbelief daily and asking Christ to empower us to overcome it.

When you look back over Week 1, what fact or idea was most transformative to you?