Who Am I?

Week 4

This Week’s Truth to Treasure: 

I Am An Adopted Son of God

PART 1:  Introduction & Reading Assignment

What are you hoping for?  What are you looking forward to?

In this chapter Jerry continues to build on what we learned in the last chapter, revealing how the Lord has amazingly taken our relationship with Him to an even higher level!

Best part for me?   Being reminded how amazingly, incredibly rich I am!  And that I can confidently live my life with the expectation that God, as my daddy, will meet my needs!

When you’re raising support and living solely on that support is this ever a timely reminder!  It is helping me to rest even more in Him and experience peace today.

Reading Assignment:  Read chapter four in Jerry Bridges’ book “Who Am I”  pages 41-51.

Be sure to read with a pen in hand (colored if possible! ;0)  and underline the things that stand out to you – this will be a huge help as you seek to further process and discuss this chapter with others.

PART 2:  Creative Processing…!!!  

RECOMMENDED MATERIALS:  Art Journal, colored paper, scissors, glue or glue stick…

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Take a sheet of colored paper and imagine it being the curtain in the temple.  Consider how before Jesus died you were completely shut out from the holy of holies, and only one person once a year got to go behind that curtain!

2.  Read Matthew 27:50-51.  Then tear the page from top to bottom and as you do reflect on how that temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom the moment Jesus died signifying that through Jesus the way to God was now open for all people!  (note: this curtain was not like the ones in your bedroom.  It’s been estimated it was around 60 feet high (40 cubits) and shortly after Jesus died a man named Josephus stated in his book that the temple curtain was four inches thick and two horses pulling in opposite directions could not have torn it apart!  But God did…!)  Next glue the torn curtain to a page in your art journal.

3.  Consider:  What difference has this made in your life?  And use the rest of your page to illustrate this.  For me I cut a throne (well, it may not look like that great of a throne!  Remember it’s not about the art!!! ;0) pasting it in the center of the page, then on the steps leading up to it I wrote key things that are now true because I am a son of God!

4.  And last, I cut out a figure to represent me running eagerly toward the throne starting to ascend those steps because reflecting on this made me more eager than ever to run to spend time with my daddy!

NOTE:  This exercise is provided as a guide, to jumpstart and get you going.  There may be something totally different that stood out to you.  Feel free to follow the Lord in creating your page – remember the goal isn’t to create a page but to help you further process what the Lord has highlighted for you, what He wants you focusing on.  Create your page with Him and may He richly bless you as you do so!

OPTIONAL:  Take a picture of your page and share it via Instagram and/or facebook using the hash tag #WhoAmIartjournalingcourse

PART 3:  Identify Your Application & Live It Out! :0)

You are an adopted son of God!!!  What a difference really embracing this in your heart can make in your life – and what might the Lord want you to do so you can better embrace this truth in your life?

Remember application doesn’t have to be a huge ordeal.  It can be as simple as praying and asking the Lord to heal your father wounds so you can have a correct view of how lovingly and faithfully He cares for you!

It can even be to simply thank Him for the access you now have to God!  I was with a friend this past week and she was sharing with me how lately she’s been so in awe at the reality that God speaks to us!  The way He so creatively and amazingly communicates with us!  She told me a story about a person who was so astounded by what he read in Genesis 1, he went around running, “God speaks!!!”  “God speaks!!!”  and he hadn’t even focused yet on what God said!

Because of Jesus, I have full and complete access to God!  And I can live with confident expectation that as my daddy He will provide for me.  I don’t have to worry about providing for myself!

How easy it is for me to take these incredible truths for granted  ~ or never even say thank you for them!

Be sure to create a page highlighting your application(s) from this chapter.  I love how Dawson Trotman use to say, “Thoughts tend to untangle themselves when flowing over the tip of a pen.”  Is this ever a key first step in application – clearly identifying what you intend to do!

And then may the Lord richly bless your doing it!

THE GRAND FINALE!!!

I don’t know about you, but accountability increases the likelihood of me doing something in an off the charts way!

Just a few weeks ago I was on the road traveling and a friend posted a challenge on Facebook.  She gave an invitation to post below her comment if you planned to exercise for thirty minutes that day.  So I posted.  I want to do this.  I need to do this!  But you know it ended up being a super exhausting day and when I got back to the hotel room it was small with extra furniture so there wasn’t a lot of room for exercising.  It would’ve been so easy to just skip it and climb right into bed!  But…  Because I’d posted sharing my intent that I was going to exercise for 30 minutes that day, I actually did do it!!!

Now there’s no application police here!  And total grace!  No matter what you do you are always totally, completely, forever loved!  But we thought we’d include this last step because it really can help you do what you want to do, to share it with someone.

So use the comments section below to share your application and what happened as a result of you doing this!  Or whatever else you’d like to share as you press on in this journey!  Know I’m reading them all and praying for you!

What a joy it is to be traveling this road with you! ;0)