Tag Archive | Blooming in Christ

Blooming in Christ: Studying with Others

Hey y’all! Ginger here with a new Blooming in Christ post.

Today we are talking about blooming in Christ through studying with others.

There is really no better way to bloom in Christ than through studying his word, and it is amazing what you will learn when you study with others.

There are a few ways to study with other people.

Those are:
Studying with others who have the same beliefs as you.
Studying with people who believe a different belief than you.
Studying with people who have no knowledge of God or the Bible.

As I began to write this I was going to split each category up, but then I realized they all 3 have so many similarities it would be hard to do that.

Whenever we sit down to have a bible study with someone, something wonderful happens. We open our bibles to discuss God and his love with someone. What better thing to discuss with someone is there than that?

Normally, if we are having a bible study there is a topic that has been pre-determined before hand and we have been studying that topic to be prepared to have a discussion.

There are so many great things that are taking place in this process. We are studying our bibles more and studying other resources, so we’re are learning new things that we may have never known, or reading verses that suddenly have a whole new meaning because of our studying and we may see something and understand something that we didn’t before.

I haven’t had many studies or talks with people who believed something different than me, but the occasions that I have…..that is when I learned the most. It was a challenge to have to be prepared to share with them why I believed what I believed, and not to just say”this is what I believe”, but to be able to back that up with scripture. It really helped ground me in my beliefs because I so thoroughly studied and discussed a certain topic.

When we study with others we learn so much about them and ourselves. We learn what their bible knowledge is, we learn about things that have happened to them in life that affect what they believe, we learn that sometimes we are not going to agree, we learn what we are good at discussing, we learn where we need to improve in our knowledge, we learn that sometimes we have too explain to someone that they need to forget everything they have been previously taught and just read what the bible says, we learn that sometimes we need to forget what we have been taught and read what the Bible says, and I think most importantly it helps us learn how to talk to people about the bible with love and caring.

So the challenge is to improve our blooming through studying Gods word with others.

You can start slow. Have a few friends over for a bible study. You can either pick the topic yourself or have one of the others pick the topic, then give yourselves plenty of time to research and study on that. Make notes and have everything ready to talk about. So here are somethings to prepare for:

·Who can you invite over for a bible study?
·What would you like to talk about?
·How often do you want too meet?
·Be sure to schedule your next meeting and to pick a new topic if you need to.

If you are going to be studying with a friend who doesn’t have the same beliefs as you: make sure that you have found all the verses on that topic, be prepared for the other person to not agree with you, make sure you speak to them calmly and with love, be prepared to stop and continue at another time if things seem to be turning into a debate instead of a discussion, make sure that you are not letting personal bias or opinion cloud your discussion, and be prepared to accept the fact that you may be the one who is wrong or needs to change your stance…..it’s not always the other person who is wrong. So how to prepare for the study:

° Think of someone to study with, one on one or as a group.
° Pick a topic.
° Research the topic, gather all the verses you can find on the topic, make sure your verses are in context….don’t just grab verses.
° Know where the other person stands on the topic.
° Be prepared to defend your stance, but make sure that your stance is backed by the Bible, not by opinion.
° Make sure that you listen to what the other person has to say, understand why they believe what they believe.
°Be prepared for the other person to not immediately change their view, it may take sometime for them to work through new information, it may take time for them to accept that the Bible says something other than what they have been raised our taught for so long.
° Do not let the discussion turn into a bash fest of the other person, do not let any frustrations you have of why they don’t see what you see push the person away.
° Remember what is really important.
-If you are studying things that are essential to their salvation, you do not want to argue with them and lose your chance to reach a soul for God.
-If you are studying something that is not essential to their salvation, you do not want to push them away. You just want to have a discussion with an open Bible, in which you and them can grow.
-You want to have more studies, don’t let things get heated and turn into an argument….that is not the goal.
° Remember how Jesus and His taught others.

If you are studying with someone who had little to no Bible knowledge you will need to have a different approach. We have to remember who we are studying with and what we are trying to teach them. To do this you will need to have a plan.

° Set up your study.
° Figure out how you want to do the study.
-Do you want to use a prepared study?
-If you are going to use a study that requires homework for the other person make sure you prepare them for that. Be sure to give them the “homework” with plenty of time for them to study and complete it.
° Start slow with them, this could be all new information to them.
° Be sure to teach the fundamentals of Jesus, I would approach it the way they did in the first century.
-Jesus is the son of God.
-He died for everyone, so they can have a home in heaven.
-The Bible tells us exactly what we need to do to have salvation.
°Show them in the Bible what they must do to be saved.
°Understand it may take a lot of studying and discussion, be patient.
° Remember that the gospel is for everyone, no matter how many bad mistakes they may have made…..you may need to help them to understand that to.

So here is my challenge that I hope you will join me in:
How can I start to study with others and bloom for Christ?

I guess there is nothing to do now, but to find someone to study with.

I hope this will help you to bloom in Christ!
Don’t forget to do something to make someone smile today, like share God with them!

Until next time,
Ginger

Blooming in Christ: Preparing for Sunday Morning and Worship

Jun28

Hey y’all! Jenn her with a new Blooming in Christ post.

If you missed the start of this it was a post titled Am I Blooming In Christ? Are You Blooming In Christ? And what I have realized is that I was not blooming in Christ so I have begun working on that. I made a list of the things I was doing when I felt the most growth to compare to what I am doing now…..so I can address the things on the list and correct them.

Today’s topic is:
Preparing for Sunday Morning and Worship.

Picture this if you will: It’s Sunday morning, and you have overslept! Now it’s time to get everyone fed, dressed, and out the door…..but OH NO! Your husbands shirt is not ironed, you child’s clothes are downstairs, you need a shower, there is nothing defrosted for breakfast, where is that skirt you wanted to wear? Okay its time to go!….But where is everyone’s Bibles? Where is your book/material for Sunday School? Okay your out the door and headed to the building. But did you grab the checkbook? Do you have cash for your little ones offering? Did you pack a drink and snack for the little one? Ahhhh!! And then after all that rushing around the inevitable happens…..
By the time you get to the building you are all in a bad mood, you are either arguing or obviously mad at each other and not talking to each other, you have unjustifiably yelled at your spouse and/or child. You sit through Sunday school and worship mad at the world and the worse part is you don’t get anything out of class or the sermon, because you keep thinking about your crazy morning and how upset you are.

Soooo does this ever describe a Sunday Morning at your house?…. If not I am truly impressed!! It definitely describes some that we have had, and that I am trying to work on.

I think Sunday morning should be so what calm and relaxed, I feel like you should be preparing your heart and mind for what is about to take place. You are getting ready to go join your brothers and sisters in Christ for Sunday School, fellowship, prayers, singing, taking the Lords supper, offering, and to hear a lesson from Gods word. Those are all such wonderful, heartwarming, and much needed things, sometimes I think we forget how much we and others need those times. We shouldn’t be so worn out from a lack of preparedness that we don’t enjoy and learn from our worship.

So how do we improve this? This is my challenge to you and myself. Bloom through preparation for Sunday morning.

1. Get your clothes ready the day/night before. Make sure everyone’s clothes are clean, ironed if needed, and ready. This is a challenge for me because I usually don’t know what I want to wear until I wake up, so I have to work on that. If you have children lay out their clothes the night before.

2. Have a plan for breakfast. If you are cooking make sure your meat is laid out to defrost. If you are having cereal make sure you have enough for everyone and that you have enough milk. Make sure your dishes are clean that you need for cooking and eating. If you plan on going out for breakfast make sure you leave in enough time to get your food and eat it before class.

3. Have your bibles ready. Either right where you can grab them, in your “church” bag, or in the vehicle you are taking to service.

4. If you had homework for Sunday School or you are teaching a class, make sure everything is done ahead of time and ready to go.

5. If you write a check for your offering make it out ahead of time and have it ready, this way you can reflect on the Lords Supper properly and not have to write out the check quickly before the offering plate comes around. If you like for your little one to put money in the plate make sure you have that cash on hand.
*Our daughter likes putting money in the plate, and I want her to be a cheerful giver. So I want to be sure to have some for her. I don’t usually have cash, so I set a reminder in my phone at the start of the month to go to the bank and get her offering for the moth, but another method may work better for you.

6. If you have little ones and need to have things for them to do, keep a bag packed.
* Be sure to switch out toys occasionally because children tend to get tired of the same things every Sunday. We also have traded toy bags with another family which seemed to work good because they got to play with different things.

7. If you need to have a snack for your little one, pack it the night before. Then just add their cup of water in the morning.

8. Try having a “church” bag. This has greatly reduced my stress of not having something during services. Designate a bag as your church bag and keep essentials in it. I use a 31 tote that is perfect! It has a large inside which can hold bibles, iPads, coloring books, crayons, a notebook, books for class we may need, and a few toys. It also has pockets on the outside that are perfect for holding gum, tissues, pens, band aids (I have a 4 yr old), my daughters snack and her cup of water.
* This will have be cleaned out regularly, if you are like me it will end up with crumbs from snacks, gum wrappers, broken crayons, etc in the bottom of it.

Now time to work on blooming!!

-Evaluate how your Sunday mornings go.

-What areas do you need to improve on when it comes to your preparedness for Sunday morning?

– Make a list of things that need to change.

– Use the above ideas to help your Sunday mornings flow smoother. Or adapt them to fit you.

I guarantee that when you go into class and services on Sundays after having a smooth stress free morning that you will benefit so much more than when you spent your morning running around like a chicken with your head cut off.

I plan on blooming by being better prepared for Sunday mornings, I hope that you will bloom along with me…..and together we will bloom in Christ.

Until next time,

Love,
Jennifer

Blooming in Christ: Singing

May30

Hey all! Jenn here with a new Blooming Christ post.

Our congregation recently had its Old Fashioned Gospel Singing. I love it so much! It is a time when people come from all around (we have had up to 300) to sing, pray, fellowship, and of course eat. It is so amazing to hear songs like A Common Love sung by 300 brothers and sisters in Christ! AMAZING! And this brings me to todays topic:

Singing.

I will be the first to admit I can not sing…there I said it! I do have a few talents, but singing is NOT one of them. I used to dread singing during services because I was afraid of what the people around me would think…..I could just hear them going…..WOW DID YOU HEAR HOW BAD SHE WAS! I know it sounds petty….but admit it, you have thought people were judging you before because of something you weren’t especially good at! We all have that fear. Well this fear kept/keeps me from really singing. I tend to hum or just mouth it. But over the last year I have really started to read and think on the words in the hymns and how they can really have an impact on any situation in our lives.

I split singing into 2 different categories:

-Singing during worship:

It is so easy to just sing during worship because “it’s what we do” and never really focus on what we are singing. It is also just as easy, at least for me, to overlook the fact that singing is a part of how we worship God.
I can’t begin tell you how many times I have heard the verse: “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to The Lord” Ephesians 5:19 and I seem to just ignore that last part, but wow what a statement! “Making melody in your heart to The Lord!” I can tell you, I definitely am not always making melody in my heart to God when I am singing in worship. I even made a book for my daughter on worship and for singing I wrote “we sing these songs in a way to show love to God”….well I guess it’s easier to write it in a book and teach it than it is to apply it. But that is going to change! I am going to really work on focusing on what I am singing and focusing on the words of the songs….those hymns can really speak to you, if you let them. And it doesn’t matter how I sound to the person next to me, all that matters is that I am singing to God.
I think that if we focus on what we are singing, focus on the prayers being said, and combine that with really focusing on the lesson given by the preacher…..WHOA! I imagine what we would take from that service would be AMAZING! And it would be such a wonderful show of reverence, respect, and love to God.

-Singing everywhere else
I used to do a better job at this and I have really fallen off. I have a hymn book from church and I used to sing while I was cooking supper, washing dishes, and baking. (I don’t know a lot of songs by heart so I would prop the book up and sing while I did these things) I used to also go on you tube under Westside Church of Christ and listen to/sing with the videos they have posted. It amazed me how quickly I could learn the words and how the songs would pop into my head later on….even when I was thinking about something else. Alas, I have fallen away from this. When we moved I couldn’t find our hymnal….then I found it and just never got back in the habit.
I have been trying to improve this and pick back up. Today we made cookies and I had Westside pulled up on the iPad so we could listen and sing along. It is amazing how the songs can cheer you up and even more amazing how just listening to them can put them in your head to pop up later….sometimes when you need them to.
I think the important thing is to try to apply them in different aspects and again to really listen and think on the words and the message in the song! We recently started singing Count Your Blessings during Bible time, and I try each time to really explain the song to my daughter. That is a powerful song and it can get you through some tough times….if you think on it and let it help you.
Now just for fun I will add that I like to think about children’s songs sometimes :). I am in The Lord’s Army everyday! I do need to let this little light of mine shine (yes we can pause for you to hold up your finger and go around in a circle)…..there have been days where I recited 1,2,3 the devils after me! And who doesn’t smile when you randomly think of the hippo song….I have no clue what is actually the name of that song, but it makes me smile every time I see or think of a kid singing it and for your smiling pleasure I will say that we have broke out in that song and dance in parking lots and on the sidewalk of a busy street.

So here is our challenge:
Find some favorite hymns
Sing them at different times throughout the day
Sing ones appropriate to our situation
During worship make melody in our hearts to The Lord

I am going to start blooming by singing and thinking on hymns more frequently. And I hope you will bloom right along with me!

I picked a favorite hymn to go along with this post and I think it is only fitting:

Sing and Be Happy

If the skies above you are gray, You are feeling so blue,
If your cares and burdens seem great all the whole day through,
There’s a silver lining that shines in the heavenly land,
Look by faith and see it my friend, Trust in His promises grand.

(Chorus)
Sing and you’ll be happy today, Press along to the goal,
Trust in Him who leadeth the way, He is keeping your soul,
Let the world know where you belong, Look to Jesus and pray,
Lift your voice and praise Him in song, Sing and Be Happy Today!

Often we are troubled and tried, Sick with sorrow and pain,
There are others living in sin blest with earthly gain,
Take new courage we cannot tell what the morrow may bring,
When the dark clouds vanish away then your heart truly can sing.

Oft we fail the see the rainbow up in heaven’s fair sky,
When it seems the fortunes of earth frown and pass us by,
There are things we know that are worth more the silver and gold,
If we hope and trust Him each day, We shall have pleasure untold.

LOVE THAT SONG!

So let’s lift our voice and praise Him in song and sing and be happy today! And bloom in Christ through singing.

Don’t forget to do something to make someone smile today!

Bye for now,
Jennifer

Blooming in Christ: How is your blooming going?

May21

Hey Everyone! Jenn here!

I wanted to take sometime to check on you and see how you are blooming. So how are you doing?

Below is the list of things that I was going to work on and I added how I have been doing…..I thought that it might be time to reflect on how I/we have bloomed in praying over the past few weeks.

1. Return to writing in my prayer journal everyday.
I have not returned to writing in my prayer journal everyday. I want to, but I have not made the time to do it. I used to do it after my daughter fell asleep, but lately I have been going to sleep when she does or I have let other things distract me (Pinterest mainly). So I have a new goal of making time to write in it. It is so easy to let other things take my focus….I really need to work on that!
2. Pray before I get out of bed every morning.
Sadly I have not gotten in the habit of doing this every morning, I am doing better…but it does not happen every time. I am still working on it, and hope to get there soon!
3. Pray before I go to bed every night.
I have really improved in this! It does not happen every night, especially when I am laying with my daughter and end up asleep. But I have gotten much better!
4. Pray before meals (currently when it is just my daughter and I she says the prayer and I don’t)
This one has been difficult. I started out the month strong, but then my daughter started asking me to not pray. She says she wants to say one by herself, so we are working on her getting used to us both saying a prayer. It really surprised me that she said something, but I think it is because she says a fairly short prayer and I say a longer one. (She wants to hurry up and eat)
5. Pray when I see an ambulance, police officer, fire truck, or solider.
Alas, this one is a failure. My daughter does good with it, but I have not been doing good. I definitely have to work on this!
6. Pray when ever I think about our country.
Our country hasn’t really been on my mind lately…..I have been focused on my daughter. You can refer to my post A Long 4 Weeks to read more about that.
7. Pray whenever a child in my life crosses my mind.
I have done better about this. I have been praying for my own child a lot, but I have really improved when it comes to other kids. I recently went back to visit some wonderful kids I miss dearly and I found myself praying for them and thanking God for them, without really thinking about it.
8. Pray whenever I start to feel discouraged, angry, upset,or that I am slipping away from God.
9. Pray when I am happy.
10. Pray when I think of all my blessings.
These last three I have been working on, and I seem to be improving. I have been praying a lot for my relationship with God to grow and I feel as though it has. And I think that improvement has come from my focus on it and my focus on praying for different things.

Well….this reflection has been good for me…..I have not bloomed as much I would like, but I am blooming! So if you haven’t bloomed as much as you wanted just take comfort in knowing that I haven’t either. But we can still bloom more! That is one of the best things about blooming in Christ….you can always grow there is not a time limit. All that matters is that we are honestly trying our best to bloom in Christ.