Welcome to Kendra Graham’s Summer Bible Study! This is a place where we can come together and share in our journey towards Scriptural truths and spiritual maturity. We pray this will be a safe, respectful, resourceful place to come and discuss God’s Word…to discover What it says…What it means…and What it means to you!
Kendra Graham notes from Romans 12:1-2
WHAT DOES IT SAY? THE FACTS ONLY PLEASE.
In this step you need to list the outstanding facts of the passage. DON’T get caught up in the details, just list the facts. Do not paraphrase. Use the actual words of the passage. This is God’s Word, a lot of times this step seems tedious to some, but I urge you, as we read, and say and write God’s Word, it begins to sink deep into our hearts. If you just pick one fact out of the verse, write it down and meditate on it.
FACTS:
By the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? THE LESSONS.
Look for a lesson to learn from each fact. What are the people doing that they should be doing? What are the people doing that they shouldn’t be doing?
Is there a command to follow? A promise to claim? A warning to heed? An example to follow?
LESSONS:
Service…. living sacrifice…. transformation…. now this is dramatic. I’ll take the worst patient. I’ll do the most work. I won’t take a lunch break so everyone else can have lunch…. I’ll be the martyr… When I read about “service and living sacrifice”I think of these things, and then I feel guilty because I don’t want to do them and I can’t do them everyday, and I don’t have enough energy to be that doormat hour after hour. Is this what Paul means when he is talking about being a living sacrifice? I can’t do it. I am exhausted. I am working as hard as I can, giving up as much as I can, yet I still fail.
What if it’s not about the “works” and all the “stuff” I do for Jesus at all? What is it that God really wants out of you and me? It’s not about what we “do” that peeks God’s interest in us…it’s about who we are. Paul is urging me here in these verses to offer Christ what I am, and all of it, from my mind and my decision process to my literal actions. God has created me with a purpose, His purpose, and I will never be satisfied or content with the world and all of its offerings, because I was not created to be content with the world. I was created for a personal relationship with the God who created me. Everything flows from that PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with God. SACRIFICE…. EVERYTHING, to keep that personal relationship with God alive. It is by the mercy of God that this relationship is available at all, so do all you can every day to keep that relationship in tact. Don’t worry about my work, my theology, my image, my desires, or what everyone else will think about what I’m doing or not doing. If I sacrifice time, and invest in my personal relationship with God, the work will naturally flow from that….
When we read the Gospels, we can’t miss all the times Jesus snuck away to pray. It was that personal relationship with the Father that led Jesus to the Samaritan woman, the lepers, the tax collectors. It was that personal relationship Jesus had with the Father that enabled Him to say in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will, but Yours be done”(Luke 22:42). Jesus trusted the Father, because He knew the Father. The relationship Jesus had with the Father, led Jesus to act and “Proved that Perfect and good and acceptable will of God”.
If I love Jesus personally and passionately everyday, I will be able to meet the needs of those that He brings my way today, my work will be a natural outflow from my worship.
It is like a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies, it will spring up a harvest! (John 12:24)
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ME NOW? APPLY IT…. TODAY.
Take the lessons you learned and put them into the form of a personal question that you would ask your spouse, or a friend or your son or daughter.
As you write the questions, listen for God to communicate to you through His Word.
*Do not rush. Do not write things down just to have something on paper, this step takes more time that you may think. This is where Scripture meditation becomes real, this is where you begin to hear that still small voice speak to you, and place His finger in your life and begin to direct your paths…. this day, and the next, and the next. Do you trust Him enough to put into place that which He is moving you to?
Have you invested time and energy into your relationship with God today? Will you? What is keeping you from investing and growing your relationship with God? Are you so busy for God that you have not had time to stop and ask God what He wants to show you and where He wants to place you because you have your own ideas of where, when and how you want to sacrifice for Him?
LIVE IT OUT!
Hold yourself accountable to LIVE OUT in your daily life that which God impresses upon your heart. Write it out, sign it, date it and claim the transforming power of God’s Word and His presence in your life.
Spend time with God today and ask Him to open your eyes to what His good, and perfect and acceptable will for you is.
Homework: Hebrews 11:39-40
Get stuck? www.annegrahamlotz.com and Anne will walk through the Three Questions with you and help you along!