Week 15/ Day 1:
Hebrews 12:3
“Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Journaling Assignment #1
Write the verse and read it several times. Pray and ask the Lord to reveal to you His heart in this verse. Don’t forget to practice the all 43 verses together several times today.
Journaling Assignment #2
Spend today defining the following words, not by looking them up, but simply based on what comes to your mind. There is no right or wrong. This is just a jumping off point. Take the time to reflect; be honest and open with yourself about your thoughts and feelings. We have nothing to do in the space except grow and learn! I will even provide my journal notes each day so that you can see the mess that the Lord is working with here!!
opposition
sinners
grow weary/lose heart
Kinsee’s Stream of Conciousness Journal Notes
opposition: Where do you experience opposition? Is it a work? At church? At home? Opposition is a tension that is almost palpable. When talking about strength training, opposition is used to provide resistance and make the movements more challenging. In life, opposition certainly does make movement more challenging! Opposition can come in the form of direct confrontation, passive aggressive behavior or even forces beyond our control. In planning an event, for example, you can experience opposition by people who have differing ideas and opinions about how the event should be planned and executed. You can experience opposition by people who do not carry their load or undermine your leadership and you can even experience opposition from forces of nature. An outdoor event on a rainy day is very challenging to say the least. Opposition is inevitable in life. Maybe the more important question is, what do we do with it?
sinners: So, that’s us! “We have all fallen short of the glory of God.” We are sinners. Thankfully, we are covered by grace. When the Pharisees spoke of sinners, they did not consider themselves a part of that group. They felt that they were living under the Law in a way that separated them from those whom they taught and governed. If we are not careful, we can take on the same attitude. We can rank sins based on there visibility and the consequences associated with them and decide that we are doing okay. We aren’t. We are all equally sinners, in need of a Savior. Thank you Jesus for your salvation and grace in my life!
grow weary/lose heart: I homeschool my boys and I tend to grow weary and lose heart about every Wednesday around 1:30. It is at that point that I become pretty convinced that I am doing everything all wrong, that my children are going to wind up uneducated and maybe imprisoned and that my best option is to hide under my bed for the rest of the day. Do you know what happens after every Wednesday? Thursday. Yep, new grace, new strength and new perspective for the journey. God is so good to make days only 24 hours and to force us to take a break during the night. When I come to the end of myself, He is so good to provide a natural time of rest and restoration. For those of you wondering how the rest of Wednesday afternoon goes, before the natural break of night…well, sometimes there are tears, sometimes there is laughter, sometimes there is success and sometimes there is failure. But every time there is life, abundant life full of emotions and experiences. Life lived together and loved together, some days better than others!
Journaling Assignment #3
Jot down anything from this verse that jumps out at you. Include other scriptures that come to mind. Cross references add great insight into each verse. It is powerful to keep notes of what the Holy Spirit draws out of the verse in your heart and also to study Scripture in light of Scripture.
Week 15/Day 2
Hebrews 12:3
“Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Let’s Dig into Some Truth
Jesus faced great opposition. He faced opposition from the religious elite, the governing officials, His own disciples, the general population and His own family. He faced His greatest opposition from Satan. Satan tempted Jesus in the beginning of His 3 year ministry on Earth. Satan came to Him after He had been fasting in the desert for 40 days, at a time when His flesh was weak. Jesus stayed strong against this opposition by reciting and standing on the words of the Old Testament. How about that….Jesus used Scripture memory too! Satan again brought great opposition at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry as He hung on the cross. Satan used the voice of mockers to tempt Jesus to save Himself. Again, He stood strong on the Word and promises of His Father. Jesus fought the spiritual opposition with the words of Ultimate Victory and ultimately He was victorious as He walked out of the grave and defeated Satan’s opposition to Him for all of eternity.
Reality Check #1: If we are committed and walking with the Lord, opposition can be expected on a daily basis. I have to tell you that since I began writing this study, the spiritual warfare has been relentless. Satan has brought opposition in the form of sick kids, insecurity, unexpected responsibilities, broken bones, and relationship trials. For a long time, I did not recognize these events as attacks and attempted to handle them myself. I got tired and discouraged really quickly! The Lord then pointed out to me that He would fight my battles for me and I could save my strength and energy for the race marked out for me. “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:14). It might seem contradictory to link running a race and being still. It isn’t. My feet can still be running if my soul is resting in the Lord’s provision. My soul is still and my life is moving toward the finish line of “well done good and faithful servant.”
Reality Check #2: ”On hearing this, Jesus said to them,’It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”(Mark 2:17). This verse is particularly poignant in light of the fact that it was sinners who opposed Jesus. The very ones whom He came to save, persecuted Him and took His life. And how did Jesus respond? “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’”(Luke 23:34a). Even in the midst of pain, rejection and opposition like we will never know, Jesus loved and forgave. This was not an act, not a choice. You see Jesus is love and forgiveness with skin on; therefore, it was all that He could do. He was simply being what He is, grace. Therein lies the beauty of this truth for the sinner, for you and me. Jesus was not surprised by the opposition then and He is not surprised by our opposition now. He created us, He knows all of our faults and He loves us anyway. The powerful way that all of this come together amazes me. In Hebrews 11:3a we read, “By faith we understand the universe was made at God’s command.” That was the very beginning and there was God in relationship with us. Here we read that Jesus faces our opposition, our sinful nature and He loves us and forgives us. We are still and will always be wrapped in the grace of God’s love and in relationship with Him. Sin can no longer separate us from God. Jesus defeated it once and for all. And so, by faith, we will not grow weary or lose heart!!!
Reality Check 3: Faith is the ultimate definition of who we are and it is found in the One who created the Universe, created us, forgave us and loves us. Faith cannot be shaken because it is of God and it is God. If God does not grow weary or lose heart then His power in us can yield the same result.
What is the answer…
…when we become discouraged? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we are persecuted? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we are mistreated? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we are afraid? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we are impatient? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we are lonely? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we are insecure? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we face dangers? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we cannot understand? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when our hearts are broken? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we experience joy and jubilance? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we witness a miracle? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we are stepping out of our comfort zone? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we are leading? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
…when we are following? Cry out to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
In all things, at all times….cry out to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. He will never let us down. In His faithfulness, our faith will grow and He will make us “confident in what we hope for and assured about what we do not see.”
Journaling Assignment #4
Take time to record the “reality checks” that the Lord provided to you as you were digging into His truth today.
Week 15/Day 3:
CELEBRATION DAY!!!!!!!
1. Reflect on your notes from this study.
2. Practice the verses you have memorized.
-Write them.
-Recite them to a friend or family member to check for accuracy.
-Use them as a prayer to the Lord.
3. Read Hebrews 11 in its entirety a couple of times.
4. Thank the Lord for endurance throughout this journey.
5. Remember…
“He who has called you is faithful and He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve God’s will, His good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).
*He did it!!! You did it!!!! I am so proud of you!!! You have persevered and memorized even more than an entire chapter of the Bible!
We have reflected on the meaning of Scripture, we have meditated on the Word of God, we have memorized His truth! Thank you for sharing your time with me. I pray that it has been a faith building experience and that your mind has truly been transformed.
Don’t stop now!!!! Choose today the next Chapter that you will memorize! Pray and ask the Lord to reveal to you where He would have you go from here. Continue to recite this chapter daily so that it will eventually be committed to long term memory. In addition, you can use the same techniques that we used here to memorize your next passage.
I would love to hear from you; my email is kinsee@comcast.net. If you have a second, it would be wonderful to know of how this journey played out in your life. I am confident that the Lord has blessed your efforts and I would love to join you in praising Him for all that He has done.
Love to you all!!
Kinsee
