Becomingabiblenerd

05/16/2024

This one was so personal!!!! Let’s talk about our PRAYERS bring in an incense bowl in the throne room. I love Revelation 5!!!!!

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04/25/2024

Let’s try this. My take away from Revelation 2.

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02/06/2024

Follow along with us in the study of 1 John. Read the chapter, take some notes, ask questions and tune in to the podcast this Thursday!

Check out the blog for chapter 1 below! 👇🏼

I love a good mystery. And, OK, maybe I consider myself an amateur sleuth. I love to figure out “Who Dunnit?” before Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Poirot, and, on a good day, Jessica Fletcher can. And, sure, there’s usually some mayhem involved (in the words of my husband, “Does someone hav...

02/01/2024

Want to learn how to study? Come on this journey with us! Tune in now.

01/25/2024

Join us on this 8 week journey through the book of 1,2,&3 John! John’s writing is easy to understand and I’ll be here for the hard parts! It’s simple and I’ll explain it all in the first episode of season 5. Tune in February 1st on the podcast! Find us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

01/11/2024

Psalm 8:4
What is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him?

While David writes this he talks about looking up into the vastness of the heavens and marveling at God’s handiwork. The heavens have magnificent bodies including the sun, the moon, and billions of stars. What was even more amazing was that this was all created with God’s finger! I can imagine how small David felt as he gazed upward.

Have you ever heard the song by Hillsong United called So Will I? If you haven’t, then stop what you are doing and listen now! It begins with the lyrics God of creation, there at the start, before the beginning of time. No point of reference, you spoke to the dark and fleshed out the wonder of light. As you speak a hundred billion galaxies are born in the v***r of your breath the planets form. If the stars were made to worship, so will I.

After all the wonder and awe of God speaking and the heavens being formed, God created man and thinks about him individually. Not only does He think about him, He looks after or cares for him (or her)! He orders our steps… each child! That is a lot of steps to order! He wants intimacy with us. He gave us marriage to understand just what He means. He then sets Jesus as the groom and the church His bride. He knows us and adores us. He is delighted (isn’t that such a sweet word) when we receive that invitation and draw near to Him. That is what is crazy! He is HUGE and all powerful and the Most High, yet He longs to spend time with us. But even in all His power and might He never forces a relationship on us. He lets us choose if we are interested or not in Him. What a humbling thing to Selah.

01/10/2024

Psalm 6:1
Lord do not rebuke me in your anger; do not discipline me in your wrath.

Psalm 6 is one of 7 Psalms that were sung in the early church on Ash Wednesday (40 days before Resurrection Sunday) according to David Guzik.

In Revelation 3:19 Jesus tells the church at Laodicea, “As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent.” When you think about it, this is one of our roles as a loving parent. We must discipline our children when they cross boundaries. We do this out of love so that they will stay safe, and be productive adults.

I can remember a time where my father met me at the bus stop and asked me to race him home. I was 5 years old and up for the challenge. On this day he decided to not let me win. I ran into the ditch and threw a huge fit. My dad knew that I had to learn how to lose with grace, so He took this opportunity to gently discipline me so that I don’t go through life entitled and selfish. His disciple was harsh enough for me to remember this lesson, but gracious enough where I realized it was out of a caring place. I always knew that he still loved me when those moments came. He would make a point to communicate that to me.

It was never out of anger that he moved. In fact, there were years when I got older that I would have to go to my room for a while until the consequence came. I now know that he in fact didn’t do that to torture me, but to calm down if I did anger him. This is what loving parents do. When you have a child that runs out into a busy road time and time again, you discipline them so that their life is spared later down the road. God does the same for his children. He does it to those he loves! Enduring Word writes, “God’s chastening hand is not a mark of displeasure, but rather a mark of adoption.” Check out Hebrews 12:7 for proof.

We have the advantage that David didn’t have of knowing that God had a plan. His plan was that His son would take on all of our sin while on a cross, and that God’s wrath would be satisfied on that day.

So rest in the grace and mercy of a loving father today. Know that when we walk unrepentantly in sin, our father will discipline us to get our hearts back in check. It won’t be out of anger. It won’t be too harsh. It will be just enough to get our attention and to cause slight discomfort. The goal is to get us back into the safety boundaries God has set for our protection and for the good of others. God ultimately wants repentance. We will talk about that in depth later in Psalms.

01/09/2024

Ever want to do more than skim over bible passages and check it off of your to do list? Really want to take your time and learn how to understand what you are reading?

Then follow along with us this Spring Semester! We will take ONE chapter a week and work our way through the 3 books of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. The goal is for you to read it, study it, take notes on it and then tune in to our weekly show (via podcast or watch on YouTube) while we break down the entire chapter and we let you know the resources out there we used to discover the meaning behind the words.

This semester we have a companion workbook for those wanting more guidance! You can order it here: Beloved: A Bible Study of 1, 2, 3 John https://a.co/d/6sKKFGA.

The good news is you can go at your own pace (unless your pace is faster than ours). What are you waiting for? Share this with a friend and go on this journey together!!!

See you all February 1st where we will discuss the BACKGROUND of the book!

01/09/2024

Psalm 5:3
At daybreak, Lord, You hear my voice; at daybreak I lead my case to You and watch expectantly.

This Psalm begins once again with David asking God to hear him and to pay attention to him. We see that David is going to God early in the morning right as the sun appears. He is going to God first. The New Testament shows Jesus meeting often with God during the same time. All throughout the Bible God is looking for our first. First in time, first in our money, and putting others first. Meeting with God that early can be hard! In fact it takes sacrifice. But in the still, quiet morning we are clear minded and can hear more easily. We are not bombarded with our to do list, other people needing us, and all the other busyness that comes later in the day. We are also communicating to God that He will be first. Now hear me out, as with everything else about our walk we should not get legalistic about morning time. You may have circumstances where you find a quiet space late at night and you are wide awake, or on your lunch break you sneak away and spend that time with Him. Do not feel like you need to change your meeting time. God wants quality time with you that is what I encourage you to find.

When we do approach Him there is a model to follow. So many times we can get caught up in ourselves and approach God more like we do Santa. We know Santa isn’t real so we don’t bother with saying “Hi, how are you?” We go straight to our wish list. God isn’t a genie in a bottle or a Santa at the North Pole just waiting around to get our list and if we are good we get it fulfilled. He is Holy, and righteous. Jesus told His disciples to approach God like this “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by your name.” In my language it would look like this “Good morning Dad, how are you? Your ways are higher above mine and so are your thoughts (I’m praying scripture Isaiah 55). You sit high on your throne and are the Most high. Your name is Holy and you truly are set apart.” We honor the creator of the universe. We also sit and listen. I try very hard to ask God questions rather than only telling Him what I want. What if what I want is off track? Ultimately we want His will to be done. So I pray for that often.

I love what David does after he pleads his case. He waits EXPECTANTLY. Remember yesterday? He recalls the past and all the ways God has moved. So David sits and watches for God’s movement again. He expects it! Here is the key though, expect Him to move in His own way! If you look for Him to move in your way then you just might miss the miracle!

01/05/2024

Psalm 3:3-4
But You, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts up my head. I cry aloud to the Lord, and He answers me from His holy mountain. Selah

Growing up in church I can still hear our worship leader singing this Psalm while playing his guitar. I loved it. As an adult, I can now fully appreciate what David was experiencing.

In the world of war, during this time men would be assigned to carry a large wicker and leather shield into battle and place it in front of the archers for protection. David sees that His creator, the creator of the entire universe, is also one who comes down and personally protects him. In my travels there is one thing that has stood out more than anything else about gods, temples and worship. False gods always want their followers to feel small and intimidated. The followers have to work tirelessly at rituals to appease the god they worship. Their gods seem to be angry one minute and pleased the next and their behavior will tell all. The creator GOD, Yahweh, is steadfast and self-controlled. We live to offer Him high praise and worship because He is worthy, not because we hope to appease his temper. He in turn sees us as His children and serves us much like a parent does. He disciplines us when we need it, but He also protects us. It’s a very intimate relationship we are in. Here David sees God as his protector. “Lifting the head” is symbolism of granting strength to the king for victory! It is also a sign of invincibility. God’s anointed will be victorious as long as they humbly stay submitted to Him.

These two verses end with Selah, This word is found 71 times in the poetic book of Psalms. The meaning of the word has yet to be fully understood by scholars and there are many disagreements on the root word it is translated from. However, with the amount of times it is mentioned we do need to attempt to understand it. The answer probably lies somewhere in between all of the possible definitions. So when seeing this word stop and weigh them in the balances. The wisdom just dropped is invaluable. We furthermore should pause and give God praise. Praise Him for His unconditional love, grace, mercy, steadfastness, and provision.

01/04/2024

Psalm 2:4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them.

This Psalm begins with God placing His choice for a king (David) on the throne, and the surrounding nations plotting to usurp him. According to Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary “changes in kingship created political instability.” When this change occurred the rulers of lesser nations would sometimes rebel by forming alliances with other surrounding nations.

Psalm 2:4 makes me smile as David envisioned God as a human and saw Him laughing at the absurdity of man. David was God’s anointed King and the thought of the wicked ones having the power to overthrow God’s plan and authority is not something we should stress over. God certainly doesn’t stress, it makes Him laugh.

Rest in this today… we serve a mighty king who orders our very steps. He is ultimately in control and is the victor. I will close today with a verse from chapter 3. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all of your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight”.