JEREMIAH - DARING TO HOPE IN AN UNSTABLE WORLD

We had our first group study yesterday and what a great time we had!  Seventeen women coming together in sweet fellowship to study God's Word together with the goal of growing a little bit more into the women He designed us to be.  Again, if you can get to HopeChoice at 6709 Woodward in Amarillo on Fridays at 10:30 a.m. we'd love to welcome you to study with us!  And if you can't, come along with us via the blog ... either way, let's dive into the book of Jeremiah and find the hope that he gives us here in 2024 to live in this unstable world of ours!

A couple of things today:  If you haven't gotten your book for this study, you can get it on Amazon at

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Melissa-Spoelstra/author/B00LQKWXMQ?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1706374821&sr=8-1&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

The workbook is $14.94 plus tax.  I'm really impressed with the way the author has laid out the study with daily homework, memory verses, and avenues for digging deeper if you want even more information.  You'll start this week on page 11 - five days of study to accomplish over the next week.

Since we didn't have a video from the study for the introductory session, I did include this video that gives a QUICK overview (7 minutes) of the book of Jeremiah...hang onto your hats - it's fast with lots of information to absorb!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSK36cHbrk0

The memory verse for our first week is Jeremiah 15:16 - "When I discovered your words, I devoured them.  They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven's Armies."

Now that's a great verse to start on, isn't it?  THIS is what God's Word should evoke within us...an eagerness for more and more.  We come to Him starving for His nourishment.  Picture it - going without food for days, and then coming upon a feast.  How would you approach that table?  You're ravenous and before you are all your very favorites: turkey and dressing, creme brulee', prime rib, the choicest of every delicacy you can imagine....fill in with your favorite foods!  Now are you going to pick and nibble, or are you going to dive in...getting just as much as you can as fast as you can?  That's devouring!  And that's how we are to "feast on" God's Word!  We are starving for it, and when we discover it, we can't get enough!

His Word is to bring joy to us and become our innermost delight.  Sometimes I feel that way when I read my Bible, and sometimes I don't.  Sometimes I feel convicted (and I often need to be convicted of sin in my life that I need to walk away from) and sometimes I feel less than worthy and wonder if the promises that I'm reading really apply to me (a wonderful lie of Satan to bring those feelings upon us)...but then read the closing of this beautiful verse.  How do we get past our feelings of guilt and unworthiness...we allow the Holy Spirit to remind us that we are children of our wonderful, powerful Father (1 John 3:1).  We bear His name, and He is a God with a heavenly army behind Him ready to rescue us from all unworthiness through the work of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son and our only true and wonderful Savior.  

Now - how can we not be joyful in that affirmation of adoption?  How can our heart not delight in hearing His Word that, from start to finish, points us to the Truth, the Way, the Life that comes through Jesus Christ.  How can we not want to nourish ourselves regularly so that our soul never again becomes empty and famished, deprived of the very Bread that feeds it with everything it needs?  

Even better than creme brulee'!

Hide this verse in your heart - come back for five more entries over the coming week to accompany your workbook study!  

In His Amazing Love,

Janice