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But for you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. — Malachi 4:2
Real life has hard things and at the same time has good things. Don’t we all know something about that tension that we all live in and the Jesus who is over it all, thanks be to God? ~ Lisa
Hey, friends! Welcome to our final week of the Jesus Over Everything Online Bible Study with our friend, Lisa Whittle. I love Lisa’s authenticity and her vivacity for Jesus. I wish she was my neighbor and we could chat over coffee and gingersnaps. Don’t you?
My favorite word picture Lisa shared from Scripture was that of the happy calves running and practically dancing into open fields in the spring. (Part of that is because I’m SoCal born and bred and everyone knows that happy cows come from California!) That visual of joyful, leaping, running calves just makes me happy, too. It’s the freedom my soul longs for. I’m not really a field person like Lisa, and I am not a runner either, but I have been known to sing on the beach with my arms flung out wide. That’s my freedom, happy, soul-bursting-wide place.
What about you?
Sit and close your eyes for a moment and think about what makes your soul skip and leap and run.
You and I both know that doing things our own way won’t give us freedom, it’ll give us bondage. Jesus over everything will give us joy and freedom. It’s the tension of choosing what we know to be true over what the screaming, selfish sinner within us wants. We have to squelch the lies and choose the truth even when it’s hard because we know it’s right and good.
When life gets hard, it’s easier to quit. Don’t quit!
The basics of Christianity are what we cling to when life is hard. Isn’t that the truth?! When you have to cling to the mast, it gets very simple. Two or three word sentences. It’s like that old saying that everything we ever needed to know we learned in kindergarten.
Jesus loves me.
God knows.
God sees.
God cares. ~ Lisa
The parts of our lives that have been left in ruins can be healed when Jesus is over everything. The whole of our lives will be better when Jesus is over everything. Eternity in Heaven will be ours when Jesus is over everything.
Talk about happy! I can’t wait to see and join in that happy dance!
As for me and my family, we will worship Jesus. — Joshua 24:15 MSG
This week in your study:
- Watch the video for session six of Jesus Over Everything on our study home page and take notes in your study guide on pages 115-121 but DON’T GO AWAY just yet! Hang out for the conversation with our OBS community afterward!
- Grab your Bible and enjoy your personal study this week on pages 122-135.
- Join the conversations about this week’s teaching and get to know our community in our private Facebook group.
Scriptures this Week
Ephesians 1
Malachi 4:2
Genesis 1:1-31
Joshua 24:15
Prayer for the Week
Jesus, we love You. We praise You. We worship You. We thank You! We choose You over everything. Help us, Jesus, to continue to choose You every day. Remind us before we even open our eyes in the morning to choose You over everything. We have the joy of Heaven with You ahead of us rejoicing forever! Help us to remember that the struggles in the here and now are only temporary and YOU are the goal and the prize! We love You, Lord. Amen.
