The class is divided into four segments: We begin with prayer at 4:30 – 4:45 and go directly from there into our exercise time. Each week we alternate between stretching/yoga, weight training, walking and on the fourth week we will have dinner together. After exercise we begin our study of the book of Proverbs, beginning with Chapter 1 plus we begin our first of three week study on prayer. Next week will be Chapter 2 of Proverbs and our second week on prayer. This is our spiritual segment
Next we begin our segment on mental healing where tonight we will begin discussing leaving the past and pressing on. Again that subject continues for three weeks.
We finish the night with a segment on healing physically where we will learn all kinds of different things about taking care of our bodies physically.Let’s review:
Our theme verse for the entire class is 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24
Let’s read it together:
May God himself, the God of peace sanctify you through and through and may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who has called you is faithful, and he will do it.
Let’s take that verse and turn it into our beginning prayer for tonight.
Father God, I thank you that you are a God of peace. I thank you that you have sanctified me and called my name to participate in this class and to be one of your chosen few. I pray that I can take my whole spirit, soul and body and keep them blameless before you until you return for us. I thank you that you are faithful to me and that I trust in you no matter how messed up things can get.
Praise you Father.
The word sanctify means: set apart; belonging to God; one who belongs to Christ; the word saint comes from the same word.
Blameless means: having no willful sin in our lives.
Job 1:1
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
After reading this verse, explain what the definition of blameless is: doing right, fearing God and not sinning.
After knowing the definition of sanctify and blameless, what do you think 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24 means? We are to set our whole spirit, soul and body apart for God (we belong to God) until He returns. We are to have no willful sin in our life, do what is right, and fear God. He has called us for specific purposes and He is going to be there for us to see it through.
We talked extensively about what the title of our class “The Way to Go Lightly” means.
List some scripture verses that explain the title of this class that were given in last week’s teaching.
Acts 19:23 – Jesus was the leader of a movement called the Way.
Matthew 7:13, 14 – Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is “the way” that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is “the way” which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
John 14:6 Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Joshua 24:15 If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourself today whom you will serve;
God gives us a choice as to whom we will serve spiritually, mentally and physically.
John 8:12 Jesus again spoke to them saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life”.
We are to “Go” spread the Truth of the Light to all people so they too can be a part of the few who will spend eternity in Heaven.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
We are here to learn to transform into this new creation. The old has passed away. We are here to learn how to heal spiritually, mentally, and physically. Our whole spirit, soul and body as the verse describes. Each part of us has a unique function, but healing takes place only when all three are in balance.
Begin Chapter 1 of the book of Proverbs. What one word describes the book of Proverbs? Wisdom
The book of Proverbs gives us detailed instructions to deal successfully with everyday life.
-Who asked for wisdom? King Solomon
-Who was King Solomon? Son of David and Bathsheba
Solomon took the throne at age 20 and was king for 40 years – 971 – 931. He was known as the wisest person in his time (1 Kings 4:29-32)
-How did you think studying Proverbs ties in with becoming whole spiritually, mentally and physically? Making wise decisions that are based on the Bible will prevent me from relying on my own flesh/emotions to make decisions that affect my health.
-What does the word wise mean according to 2 Chronicles 2:12? Endowed with discretion and understanding.
The word Proverbs means: “the path” and “the way” to live wisely to include conduct and lifestyle and providing both a goal and a means to reach that goal. Amazing!
The word Wisdom means: the God-given ability to see life with rare objectivity and to handle life with rare stability.
When we live each day following His detailed instructions, we will no longer repeat the destructive behaviors that are killing us spiritually, emotionally and physically.
The Way to Go Lightly is about following these detailed instructions with everything that happens to us. The Way we reflect Jesus Christ is to follow His example, His truths.
Eph 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.
But I will keep repeating this: God gives us a choice to follow His Light or the angel of light which is Satan.
Acts 26:18 says
“to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'
2Co 11:14
No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
Why is it so important to know what the Word of God says? Because when you are in a situation where you have to choose to follow Godly instruction or follow your sin nature, you have to know what God’s word says or you revert right back to the flesh/emotion and repeat the same old sin.
With everything in life, God gives us a choice to follow Him, the Light of the World or Satan, the angel of light. 99% of the time we know the light from the dark, but because we are enslaved to darkness, we cannot see outside the pit of destruction we are in.
Our goal in this class is indeed to live our lives wisely in accordance with the Word of God and to stay on “the way” to the entrance to the eternal gate.
- So where does wisdom originate? God
- Who is Godly wisdom available to? To all but each person must choose the path of wisdom.
- What is the definition of Godly wisdom? To have knowledge is to have understanding or information about something. To have godly wisdom is to have the ability to apply the knowledge of the Word of God to daily life.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Choose to commit to learning God’s words of wisdom and knowledge or go through life trying to figure it out on your own.
So get out a blank piece of paper and let’s take a little quiz over what you have learned from Chapter 1.
Mental Freak Out!
Actually let’s review the homework from Chapter 1.
Write out:
Proverbs 1:33
NIV But whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.
a. List three reasons you should study proverbs (the answer is not your opinion but is in the Chapter)
1.
2.
3.
b. Complete: Knowledge begins with ____________for the Lord but fools hate wisdom and _______________.
c. Define respect ______________________________________
d. Greed _______________selfish people.
e. Vs 15 Look for “the way” and “path” Write this verse and elaborate on what you believe Solomon was telling his son and what this verse means in relationship to what way you will choose.
f. How does wisdom call us? Vs 20
g. What happens when we do not listen to wisdom? Vs 28
h. What happens to those who choose to listen? Vs 33
Vocabulary Word: Sanctify
Write out 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24
Define the word through (Webster and Vines): Emotion
Is it a Biblical word or a manmade word?
Take a blank section of your notebook and label it: Detailed instructions from God as to how to Become a Godly Wise Woman
We will begin a list of all the wisdom that the book of Proverbs contains so that we can refer back to it whenever we need direction in our life. Let’s go through it together and see what we find.
Chapter One
A Godly woman chooses to know wisdom and receive instruction from the Word of God and not advice from man…including secular books, horoscopes, TV, psychics, psychologist (unless that advice comes from God’s word). She is disciplined to search God’s word for instruction.
2. A Godly woman fears (respects/honors) the Lord. 1:7
3. If a sinner entices her, she does not consent. Instead she walks away, turns her back on them or they will take her down to the pit of death (1:12) or off the Way.
4. A Godly woman does not fill her house with all kinds of things (1:13)
5. A Godly woman stays far away from the path of a sinner.
6. No longer will a Godly woman sabotage her life.
7. A Godly woman pays attention when she is corrected by God.
8. A Godly woman stays away from the person who speaks perverse things.
9. A Godly woman listens for the Lord’s voice.
Can you add anything?
Next we begin the first of a three part study of prayer.
-What is your definition of prayer?
Many books have been written on: How to pray; why to pray; who to pray to; what to pray; how often to pray; the right format to use; how to take the “Our Father” and learn to pray; how to use the word “ACTS” to learn to pray. Adoration; Contrition; Thanksgiving; Supplication
I admit I have often felt guilty because I didn’t pray enough. I have felt inadequate to pray, unworthy to pray. I begin to pray and my mind drifts off to wherever it desires to go. I have sat in prayer groups thinking about all kinds of unrighteous thoughts. I have been hurt by other Christians who said unintentional comments that have lingered in my conscience. Let me give you an example:
I was a part of a group of women organizing a retreat. My responsibility was to bring the food for the women on a special needs diet. The week before the retreat we all gathered for a luncheon to pray for the upcoming weekend. I was standing beside my friend Dorothy and the retreat speaker came up beside us and said to Dorothy: “I can tell you are a prayer warrior. You and I are kindred spirits. Would you come pray with us over here?”
What thoughts went through my head? Inadequacy, not spiritual enough, not one of the chosen, not holy enough.
I have been standing in a mixed group of Christians and the pastor would point to the people he wanted to join him for the prayer team and not be chosen.
Let me ask you a question? Does God listen to the prayers of only a few of the few?
The eloquent speech of a saved sinner does not get the prayer answered any quicker than the stumbling speech of a saved sinner. If you are one of the few, we are equally qualified to pray to the same God who saved each of our sinful selves.
Because I am insanely obsessed with wondering why everybody doesn’t agree with me about following God’s health plan, my mind starts to fix everyone as they pray for health!
Someone prays: Lord, would you free me from my arthritis joints….I am thinking…if you would just stop drinking all that acidic coffee and take two tbsp of Essential Fatty Acids everyday you wouldn’t have arthritic joints. I can help you.
I feel guilty when I don’t have a prayer notebook on hand when someone says, would you pray for such and such.
I was 33 when I first became a Christian so I was expected to know the Christian lingo by that age. I would avoid prayer times and prayer circles and prayer groups just because I was afraid someone would call on me. I started going to Sunday school and I was just mesmerized by all the spiritual sounding prayer. I wanted to pray just like them. So I started to pick up the main lingo… You might know it….hedge of protection….send your army of angels, guide the doctors hand… if it be your will…. But after awhile it just all sounded like parrots and a memorized script. I was searching for “real” prayer.
Real prayer. What is it?
We are going to look to the Word of God to see how we are to pray. Then we will know for sure we are imitating our Savior and not man.
We as a class are going to figure out what real prayer is by taking all the verses from the Word of God and putting them into action. Please email rosieskye@hotmail.com for a list of those verses.
Letting Go of the Past, Pressing On - Week One of Three
Mental Healing
Have you ever been so locked up in the confines of your mind that you cannot see any Light or hope of your troubles ever ending? Do you wish someone would just hand you a key to open the door to your prisoned mind so you could spring from your cell and once for all be set free from the torment of the past?
Well the good news is someone has. Jesus Christ is the key and tonight you can use Him to unlock the mental pain and suffering you have experienced anywhere in your past. Open that cell door and let the prisoner free. Spring from your cell and never turn back. There is no hurt, no pain, nothing that the love of Jesus Christ cannot heal. Keep running, and don't look back."
Romans 4:16
So that's why faith is the key! God's promise is given to us as a free gift.
New Revised Standard Version
Acts 5:17-25
17 Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy, 18 arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, 20 "Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life." 21 When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching. When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the temple police went there, they did not find them in the prison; so they returned and reported, 23 "We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside." 24 Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them, wondering what might be going on. 25 Then someone arrived and announced, "Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!"
Isa 43:18 –Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past.
Ec 3:15 - Things that happened in the past have happened, {and we can't change them}. And things that will happen in the future will happen, {and we can't change them}. But God wants to help people that have been treated badly.
NKJ: That which is has already been. And what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past.
God does the judging. We don’t have to right the wrongs that were done to us.
Isa 61:7 - In the past other people shamed you and said bad things to you. You were shamed much more than any other people. So in your land you will get two times more than other people. You will get happiness that continues forever.
Eze 33:16 - I won't remember the bad things he did in the past. Why? Because now he lives right and is fair. So he will live!
Ro 6:17 - In the past you were slaves to sin--sin controlled you. But thank God, you fully obeyed the things that were taught to you.
Ro 7:5 - In the past, we were ruled by our sinful selves. The law made us want to do sinful things. And those sinful things we wanted to do controlled our bodies, so that the things we did were only bringing us spiritual death.
Ro 7:6 - In the past, the law held us like prisoners. But our old selves died and we were made free from the law. So now we serve God in a new way, not in the old way with the written rules. Now we serve God in the new way with the Spirit.
Proverbs 29:18 says: Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Mistakes, regrets, stupid stuff, words you said, words said to you, nothing can change what happened to you in the past … but what happened to you in the past changed you.
Right now we can begin anew. When you wake up in the morning, you begin again. If you screw up today, tomorrow is a new day. The Bible says that His mercies are new every morning.
You screw up. Get up and try again. It is the saint that stays down that cannot fulfill the purpose God has for them. Everyone will fail. Anyone can quit. It is your choice. Remember: it takes guts to continue on.
Do you believe you can be set free? Do you believe Jesus Christ died for your sins so that you could be free? You may have had a miserable past, you may even be in current circumstances that are very negative and depressing. You may be facing situations that are so bad it seems you have no real reason to hope.
But you must believe that your future is not determined by your past.
Get a new mindset. Believe that with God all things are possible (Luke 18:27).
Believe! If you just believe, He will do the rest. That is the key for freedom. Use that key and be set free.
We must stop looking at our circumstances through our natural eyes. It is here that we see impossibilities, failures, how could it happens, and doom and gloom.
Those Israelites, they just kept talking about the way things were. The good old days. Well they forgot one thing! They were slaves…in bondage,
Numbers 14:2,3 says…all the Israelites grumbled and deplored their situation, accusing Moses and Aaron, to whom the whole congregation said, Would that we had died in Egypt. Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword? … Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?
They were negative and they thought it had been better in slavery.
The good old days! How we want to go back to a place that no longer exists. It doesn’t exists because we are different.
Yesterday is gone, like Elvis and his mom...gone.
Forgive yesterday when your boss overlooked your excellent performance and you wanted that raise or when your child told you she hated you. Forgive 1 year ago when you were rejected by a man who decided another woman made him happier than you did, forgive 25 years ago when your mother told you that you were a brat and that you would never amount to anything but poor white trash.
Forgive yourself for the abortion you had, or the time you slept with dozens of men you were not married to, or the many nights eating gallons of ice cream to comfort your lonely heart.
What can you change about the past? NOTHING. It is over. It is gone. Dead and gone.
That is why we begin a new today. Let it go. It happened. It is over. Forgive yourself for God has already forgiven you.
Sign up to break free.
John 18:8, 9 Jesus said, "I told you that I am Jesus. So if you are looking for me, then let these other men go free." 9 This happened so that the words Jesus said before would be true: "I have not lost any of the men you gave me."
Healing Physically
Disease fill our daily lives—everything from the common cold to cancer to high blood pressure. To hear someone over the age of 35 tell me they are not taking some prescription medicine is very rare anymore. The latest prescription advertisement I heard on TV said that even a 12-month old could take it.
Isn’t this getting a little chaotic when we start targeting a baby market?
Considering all the sickness and disease we experience today, could it be that we have not listened carefully enough to the voice of the Lord?
Exodus 15:26
If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.
As Christians we know that God has given us two free gifts: The gift of life and the gift of eternal life.
In order to truly understand how we are to take care of our bodies (which are referred to as the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19)
We must turn to the Mosaic Laws in the Old Testament. Many have argued with me regarding applying Old Testament laws to a New Testament Christian because they say…. We are free from the law.
But my argument is that if today’s Christian were disease free than I would agree with that statement but looking around the church body, we are just as sick as the unbeliever.
In our study of the physical body, we are going to take a look at a lot of Old Testament Scripture and compare it to today’s science to see just how accurate the Bible has always been even concerning our physical health.
Science is trying to catch up with the Bible. The Bible has the answers to all health concerns.
There are three core principles or goals that I want us to reach by the end of class.
- Principle #1: Eat only substances God created for food. Avoid what is not designed for food.
- Principle #2: As much as possible, eat foods as they were created – before they are changed or converted into something humans think might be better or quicker or more convenient.
- Principle #3: Avoid food addictions. Don’t let any food or drink become more powerful than you.
Over the course of the next 39 weeks, we are going to learn about 39+ foods that heal and 39+ foods that harm. Each time we learn about particular foods, I highly recommend you add the healthy ones to your diet and eliminate the harmful ones.
The first foods we are to add to our diet are legumes and barley. What are legumes?
Legumes are another word for beans. Barley of course is a grain.
In the Bible, whole grains and beans were eaten together as a primary source of protein, B vitamins, and dietary fiber.
Deuteronomy 8:8
Genesis 25:30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that stew of red lentils…”
Esau’s pottage is one of the most famous recipes in history, and to this day various simmered red-lentil dishes are known as Esau’s pottage in Bible lands. (Genesis Chpt 25-27)
Recipes are available including Esau’s Pottage) that you can use or you can create your own.
Either way, before next week, it is highly suggested that you eat lentils and barleys at least once, preferably twice!
One of the most harmful chemicals that is consumed by many Christians is saccharin whether it be in Diet drinks, little pink packages, or inside processed foods. I want to highly encourage you to stop drinking anything with artificial sweeteners in it to include Splenda.
More than likely you will experience headaches from the withdrawal of this highly addictive and dangerous chemical.
See you next week!
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