Thinking Girls Bible Study

I once had a Bible teacher who said, spiritually, every choice we make is a life or death decision. He referred to the passage in Deuteronomy 30:19-20, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” Now of course, the context for this verse was instructions for the Israelites. But we can benefit by gleaning the truth from it. What this teacher was trying to convey is that with every decision we face, our choice will either lead to further life, or will lead us to a dead end. Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to...

The biggest fight is here and you are a contender. The book of Jude was written “to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ.” In other words, it was written to believers. Jude started out to write about our common salvation, but was then compelled to exhort us to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints. As always, we will look at the original Greek and Hebrew words to get a better understanding of this exhortation to believers, beginning with verse 3: “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Emphasis mine.) The Greek word for exhorting you is parakaleō . In the Blue Letter Bible Outline for Biblical Use we see “to call to one's side, call for, summon. To address, speak to, (call to, call upon), which may be done in the way of exhort...

I’ve had a few people ask me recently, “Do you think this is the end times?” The context for their question had more to do with the world’s fight against Israel and how we know Israel remains a key figure—and a controversial one—up until the last days. But even without that context, is it difficult to imagine that the world we live in today might be rapidly approaching its end as we know it? That the labor pains we are warned about (1 Thessalonians 5:3) are the pains we see on the news right now? Our once perfect, now fallen world is groaning for redemption. It is easy to imagine that this world—just like us—is anxiously longing for God to swoop down and make it new again. “And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5 Right now, it might feel like the world is rapidly deteriorating into a wasteland. We know God uses the wilderness often. He moved His chosen people around the wilderness for 40 years. He called Jesus into the wilderness ...

We all need reminders. We have calendars, appointment books, reminders, notes, alerts on our phones, sticky notes, etc. We are forgetful people, but that’s only part of it. We all live such fast-paced, busy lives, and we process so much information each given day that we need reminders to bring our focus back to our priorities. There are a few essentials and priorities that we need to remind ourselves of every day. The first is the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” Beginning the day by reminding ourselves of the gospel brings gratitude to ourselves, reminds us that God’s Word is true because it was “according to the Scriptures,” and puts it fresh in our minds for the people we will come in contact with that day who need the Gospel. Taking this a step further, when I remember the ...

I'm excited to announce the first collection of Thinking Girls Bible Studies in my new book, JEWELS FROM THE JOURNEY .   I had no way of knowing when I started writing these studies back in 2017  that God would link them together with a common thread—our identity in Christ. These studies have been revisited and many of them revised. Even if you have read them previously, I hope you'll notice fresh insights. It's my desire that everyone know the joy and blessings of knowing who we are in Christ and Christ in us. I also encourage you to check out the first book published under the Thinking Girls Bible Study banner, A 21 DAY BIBLICAL GUIDE TO OVERCOMING ANXIETY . It's not just easy to feel anxious in today's world, it's almost a guarantee. Our Father has given us tools in Scripture to help us overcome our anxiety and experience the "peace that passes all understanding!" I hope this three-week guide is a useful resource to help embed Scripture in the rea...

Philippians 1:29: “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Suffer. Doesn’t that word just make you pull back and feel uncomfortable just at the mention of it? The Greek word for suffer is pascho and means to be affected or have been affected, to feel, have a sensible experience, to undergo, to suffer sadly, be in a bad plight. Strong’s Definition: apparently a primary verb; to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful) — feel, passion, suffer, vex. (1) There’s also the word suffering, which in the Greek is pathema meaning:      1. That which one suffers or has suffered           A. externally, a suffering, misfortune, calamity, evil, affliction                i. Of the sufferings of Christ                ii. also the afflictions which Christians...

My mother’s favorite Psalm was Psalm 139. She especially loved the last two verses, 23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” She also loved the hymn we sang with these words put to an old tune. As I grew, I came to love this Psalm and make it my own and it became my favorite Psalm, too. It’s interesting that the New King James Version uses the word anxieties where the KJV uses thoughts. The Hebrew word is saraph and means “disquieting thoughts, thoughts.” This word is found also, in Psalm 94:19: “In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.” The root word for saraph is caiph and means “ambivalence, division, divided opinion.” Strong’s Definition says “divided (in mind), i.e. (abstractly) a sentiment: —opinion. In other words, these are thoughts that divide and distract, thoughts that cause us to be anxious because they bring doubt and ...