Finally we come to the Living Room Session for Lesson 5.
Oh! How I wish I could see you face to face!
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!