Living Room Session 5

If I could summarize lesson 5 in the HEAL book, it would be found in this sentence found in Isaiah 30:18:

The LORD longs to be gracious to YOU;

he rises to show YOU compassion.

Isn’t that amazing? I wonder why I keep him longing to extend his grace to me? Why do I insist on returning again and again to the law? Why do I turn my back as he rises to show me compassion? Why do I not just swim in the ocean of His grace and bask in the pleasure of enjoying his compassion!?

If I were sitting in my living room with you all, I would have us break out our bibles for our time together today–a real bible study! 🙂 My goal…for us to capture, even for a few moments, the heart of God for you and for me. So do this with me ok? At the very least, get out a piece of paper to write down your thoughts. You have to go to work a bit for today’s blog! 🙂 (Remember, imagine we are all sitting around a living room–a cozy fire going, tea kettle on the stove, the scent of a delicious cinnamon candle burning!)

Open your bible to Ephesians 1:3-14 or click on this link and find it in a new browser tab or window. Even better if you print it out so you can write on it or mark in your bible.

1.)  Begin by inviting God to show you His Truth about what HE declares about Himself and about you. Ask him to show you and to help you to believe what He says in His Word.

2.) Ask Him to show you how believing Him and what this passage says about you and about Him can affect your relationship with food, eating, and yourself (and others, too!).

3.) Now, please read through Ephesians 1:3-14 casually the first time and get a feel for the passage–if you can, read it out loud and with expression!

4.) What words describe the kind of “feeling” you get as you read it all the way through? Is this passage instructional? Is it rebuking? Is it encouraging? Is it to relate history or an account of something that Paul has experienced? Can you imagine being a part of the new group of believers at Ephesus, years ago when this letter was first read to you? How might it have made you feel? How does it make you feel to read it today?

5.) As you know, verbs are action words. Underline in your bible and/or list in your journal all the verbs that are attributed to God in this passage. Note if any are past tense (God *has* done this…), present tense (God *is* *doing* this…), or future tense (God *will* *do* this…). We miss a bit in our English translations, but, even so, we can get plenty of what God intends for us to see through this exercise!

6.) WHY does God choose (or why DID he choose) to do these things? Note especially verse 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14

7.) Who are the beneficiaries of these action words? Who received the action? (In grammar, I think this is called direct or indirect object, if that helps!)

8.) What do YOU have to do in order to experience the action, in order to be the recipient of the action? If I asked this right, the answer will be…apparently, nothing…But to experience these things in real, vibrant, living color, you may have to BELIEVE that it is true!

9.) So what do you think about what this passage says about how GOD feels about YOU?

10.) What kind of God is described in this passage?

11.) Why does this matter? How will believing what God says about you and about himself make a difference in your life relative to food, eating, exercising, your view of your body, etc…?

You can close your time by asking the Lord to help you to believe the lists that you have made. They are in His Word and He longs for you to embrace it through and through.

Share with us here at the blog anything you may have discovered!