Galatians 12 week study
Geoff Ziegler
I could have underlined every word of this section!!!
“The worst thing we ever did was put God in the sky out of reach pulling the divinity from the leaf, sifting out the holy from our bones, insisting God isn’t bursting dazzlement through everything we’ve made a hard commitment to see as ordinary, stripping the sacred from everywhere to put in a cloud man elsewhere, prying closeness from your heart. The worst thing we ever did was take the dance and the song out of prayer made it sit up straight and cross its legs removed it of rejoicing wiped clean its hip sway, its questions, its ecstatic yowl, its tears. The worst thing we ever did is pretend God isn’t the easiest thing in this Universe available to every soul in every breath.”— ‘The Worst Thing We Ever Did’
by Chelan Harkin
From her poetry book ‘Susceptible to Light’
“We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it’s all about.”
— Joseph Campbell
as the colder months approach: i wish you all a healthy, calm end of the year. i wish you tasty cups of tea, comfortable clothes, warm beds, nutritious meals in safe homes, good music, new friends and unwavering health. you deserve good things now.
I love you pre-Autumn. I love you first chilly night after a hot day. I love you first crunchy leaves on the ground while the trees are still green. I love cicadas. I love you crickets. I love you dusk sneaking in earlier for the first time. I love you deep sigh of relief after summer.
(via reb-wall)
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Reflection
This scripture teaches us that we should rely on God in whatever we do. However, we often go in the wrong direction and rely on our own intelligence and ability. In the process, things may eventually be done and problems may be solved, but our spiritual life didn’t make any progress. We missed the opportunity to know God and the experience to establish true faith in God.
God’s words say, “If you don’t learn how to look to God and rely on God, you will never see the work God does on you, or the guidance and enlightenment He gives to you. If you can’t see these things, then the matter of whether or not God exists, whether or not He guides everything in the life of mankind will, in the depths of your heart, end with a question mark and not with a period or exclamation mark. ‘Does God guide everything in the life of mankind?’ 'Does God observe the depths of man’s heart?’ This will be troublesome. For what reason do you make this a question and add a question mark? If you do not truly rely on God or look to Him, you will not be able to generate a true belief in God. If you can’t generate a true belief in God, then the question marks will forever be there with everything God does, and there will be no periods.”
God said “No matter how great or small their stature is or what their personal environment is like, something that they cannot be without is looking to God and relying on God in all things; this is the greatest wisdom.” God’s almightiness is everywhere, and is not influenced by any people, events, or things, or other objective factors. As long as we truly rely on God, He will be our ever-present help. Just as the Bible said, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower” (Psalm 18:2). Will we have the faith to rely on God after we understand these?
This is fantastic…to just sit in absolute wonder & meditate over this!
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Reflection
This scripture teaches us that we should rely on God in whatever we do. However, we often go in the wrong direction and rely on our own intelligence and ability. In the process, things may eventually be done and problems may be solved, but our spiritual life didn’t make any progress. We missed the opportunity to know God and the experience to establish true faith in God.
God’s words say, “If you don’t learn how to look to God and rely on God, you will never see the work God does on you, or the guidance and enlightenment He gives to you. If you can’t see these things, then the matter of whether or not God exists, whether or not He guides everything in the life of mankind will, in the depths of your heart, end with a question mark and not with a period or exclamation mark. ‘Does God guide everything in the life of mankind?’ 'Does God observe the depths of man’s heart?’ This will be troublesome. For what reason do you make this a question and add a question mark? If you do not truly rely on God or look to Him, you will not be able to generate a true belief in God. If you can’t generate a true belief in God, then the question marks will forever be there with everything God does, and there will be no periods.”
God said “No matter how great or small their stature is or what their personal environment is like, something that they cannot be without is looking to God and relying on God in all things; this is the greatest wisdom.” God’s almightiness is everywhere, and is not influenced by any people, events, or things, or other objective factors. As long as we truly rely on God, He will be our ever-present help. Just as the Bible said, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower” (Psalm 18:2). Will we have the faith to rely on God after we understand these?
Be both grateful for what The Lord gives you and what He doesn’t give you. Does He not know what’s best for you ?
Reminder to self 🤍
(via christiantumbler)
““Oh, beloved, it is weakness that is made strong (2 Cor. 12:9). It is the last who can be made first (Matt. 19:30). What will make the whole situation different? Confessing our helplessness. God says that He feeds the hungry with good things, but the satisfied He sends away empty (Luke 1:53). If you want to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the grace of God, get hungry enough to be fed; get thirsty enough to cry out; be broken enough that you do not want anything in the world unless He comes Himself.””— Smith Wigglesworth
sleep tight is such a cute thing to say to someone. like ok maybe i will. maybe ill be a sweet little roly poly all tucked into my softest blanket. im a little baby bird with my beak under my wing im the coziest boy there ever was. what about it. “sleep tight” i love u.
(via itslovedarling)
Man is a relational being. And if his first, fundamental relationship is disturbed- his relationship with God- then nothing else can truly be in order. This is where the priority lies in Jesus’ message and ministry: before all else, he wants to point man toward the essence of his malady, and to show him- if you are not healed there, then however many good things you may find, you are not truly healed.
Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives
