Welcome to the first week of We Are the Body. We are thrilled you are joining us. This Bible study will be slightly different than our last one in that we won’t have video or a study guide. However, we will a time of Deeper Refinement that will allow you to spend the week digging a little further into each weeks lesson. Please make sure to leave your link, or let us know through the comment section, if you are participating so that we can pray for everyone involved!
Excuse Me – You Have Something In Your Teeth
Have you ever looked in the mirror after having dinner with someone or being with a group of people and discovered that you had something in your teeth or on your face? It is so embarrassing when you realize that you have just spent a couple hours conversing with others and no one was brave enough to tell you about it! You look in the mirror, take care of it, and move on wishing someone would have told you! It’s very humbling!
God has been teaching me what the purpose of the “church” is. I am being reminded over and over again how much we need each other. God has been giving me some awesome opportunities to share and speak into the lives of others…and He has also led others to speak into my life. I can’t even begin to express the amount of growth that I have seen in others, and in my own life, as a result of other believers loving me enough and being brave enough to tell me what I need to hear.
We need God and His Word. We need other believers.
I picture other believers as being the ones who can help us by telling us when we have “something in our teeth!” You know what I mean? We can walk around and be totally oblivious to an area of our lives that is in need of help…is weak…maybe even sinful and is being hindered in some way. Everyone else can see it but us! God can use other believers to pull us aside and help us to see what we need to see. I am so thankful to be in a body of believers where that is encouraged and people actually take the time to do that. The fruit of people being willing to do it is amazing, and it bonds believers in a way that I never imagined.
I picture God and His Word being “the mirror.” As we pray, read and seek God, it’s like looking into the mirror and He shows us what we really look like! He shows us how to “fix” it. He gives us the answers to life and shows how to be holy. He whispers in our ear, “You have something in your teeth!!!”
I know that sounds funny…a little crazy maybe. But it is the picture that God put in my mind. He knows I can see things more clearly when He puts them in simple, everyday, practical pictures!
I think that there is an overall neglect of each other in churches. Maybe we don’t even know what our calling is. Maybe we are too busy to get that involved. Maybe we don’t see the need. I don’t know the answer. I just know it is lacking. I just know I need it. And I know that there have been times that I longed for someone to love me enough to speak into my life and there was no one who had the time.
Hebrews 3:13 “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
I am thankful for the “mirror” of God’s Word and for those believers who are willing to pull me aside and tell me I have “something in my teeth!!!”
Do you daily study your “reflection” to see if you have “something in your teeth?”
What kind of accountability of believers do you have in your life right now?
This week I would encourage you to take some time to pray and evaluate your life. Spend time in prayer and in the Word and asking God to show you what you need to see. Grab a journal or just a plain notebook and write down your thoughts and prayers. Ask a couple of people who know you well, and who you know will be honest, to take some time to make a list of things that you need to work on. Record these things in your notebook. Then, take the list and bathe it in prayer. It may hurt some, but it will ultimately help you and set you down the path towards holiness.
As you go through this I would like to challenge you to pray about what you are called to and who God would have you reach out to serve and encourage.
You can come back anytime this week and add your link below, or share in the comments, if you choose to share what the Lord has shown you through this.
If you are doing this study with us, please take a moment and add your link so we can pray for you during our 8 weeks together.
Don’t forget to grab the button on the sidebar for We Are The Body for your blog!
NOTE: This list will show pictures for each link entered. So, link to your post, write your name and blog in the title space, and then choose a picture to represent you!
Didn’t write a post yet, sorry about adding the link to the ‘thingy’ I’ll be adding a post later and then come back and add it.
Looking forward to this study. AND Yeah, I hate when people don’t tell you things like that – My husband has always told me ‘you have stuff in your teeth’ I appreciate it every time.
I am so glad you are looking forward to this study and I am also very thankful that God can use the things He has been teaching me! We are all in this together! All learning!!!
This study looks to be very good! Just this morning I printed up our new memory verse. James 1, about looking into the perfect law of liberty and being a DOER of the Word. I have found, for myself, that I am the one who ‘looks’ but then somehow walks away unchanged, not realizing I had STUFF in my teeth!! Oh, sure, I recognize weaknesses and sins a little, but not really seeing the lack in me as I read the Word and then seeking to repent and change.
Also, the Lord has put people in our lives just recently to do just that, (tell them they have something in their teeth
And we earnestly beseech you, brethren, admonish (warn and seriously advise) those who are out of line [the loafers, the disorderly, and the unruly]; encourage the timid and fainthearted, help and give your support to the weak souls, [and] be very patient with everybody [always keeping your temper] (1 Thess. 5:14)
Done rambling!
THANK YOU for sharing! It is encouraging to read what God is doing in others!!!
My husband always tells me I have something in my teeth too! He is also my accountability partner! Already love the study!
Thank you, Heather!
I only had a few minutes before I have to run to work…so I sat down at my computer to see what’s going on over here At the Well…and was suprised that this study was already posted!
I plan on being involved..so I linked my blog up…
Today I will go to work refreshed and see if God shows me anything I can work on in my life.
thanks
Praying for you, Nikki!
Sounds like a great study. But, how do you go about speaking to others in an appropriate way? For example, we have a pre-school Children’s church teacher, young woman, who wears very provacative, inappropriate clothing….bends to help children and just about falls out of her dress, etc. I’ve often thought of how to approach her gracefully, as a woman, but just don’t know how. I don’t want to speak harshly, and so I don’t say anything….any thoughts?
Linda, I personally believe that the best way to approach this is to be honest. You can tell her, with love and grace, that you feel she’s dressed inappropriately. It would be best to have at least one other person, who feels as you do, with you when you talk to her, as support for you. If it were me and you felt that I was dressed inappropriately, I would want you to tell me.
I personally would be hesitant to bring another person with me only because I wouldn’t want her to feel “ganged up on”. You know what I mean? If we are seeking to serve the women around us, accepting them for where they are at and loving them. If we are nurturing and seeking to encourage and build up those around us, then if/when confrontation does come then it can happen with so much more grace because we’ve already truly cared for them.
thanks for taking the time to share! I am loving this!
Grace to you!
Linda,
Why don’t we put your question on our Blog Frog Forum and see what ideas ladies have?
Here is the link:
http://theblogfrog.com/763283/forum/33939/reader-needs-advice.html
Ladies, if you want to share how you would respond please do so on our Blog Frog Forum! Or you can check it out to see how others would respond.
I too have had this problem before, and I just don’t how to address it without offending the woman or making her feel personally attacked. So, I am looking forward to reading the responses!
Good question, Linda. Those situations are HARD HARD HARD! When I am in those types of situations I try to remind myself, and of course God reminds me, that only by HIS grace am I aware of what He has shown me. So I can start by praying that He would continue to show me my own “stuff”…the things that others see and I don’t! Then I pray for God to open the eyes of the person I am thinking of (like the lady you spoke of with the clothes). He does the work in others! Then I pray that IF He wants me to be the one to share, that He will open the doors and make it happen. And I continue to pray for the person. Make yourself available. Try to see past her “weakness”, and see all the other evidences of God’s grace in her life.
Do you have a relationship with this lady? Have you reached out to her to be an encouragement in any way? I would hesitate to confront her about her clothing if I haven’t nurtured any kind of relationship. I know sometimes that can happen, but speaking into someones life can be done in many ways. Confrontation is only one. If you have spoken into her life and sought to encourage her, then the “confrontation” will come much more naturally. And she might be more likely to trust and listen to you. But we need to remember that it is God that does the work and opens our eyes, so we need to really pray over these situations and for those involved!
Just pray for her and for how you can speak into her life. Look for ways. And let the Lord lead you with the clothing issue. I will pray right now for you that you will know what to do, and that you would be able to see her through eyes of grace.
Please keep us posted.
I am praying for this precious lady as well.
Totally agree with Gina here. Very wise advice. I would definitely not bring another person into it because it causes embarrassment and offense which often ends up in division. I have learned this the hard way through the years. Praying for all involved.
I think our greatest teaching is the examples we live out and the more humility and love they carry with them, the more we are heard. Don’t get me wrong, there is most certainly a time to speak up, but I’d only do so with much prayer and caution. Blessings!
Gina, I am so glad to be doing a study with you, my friend. I have always appreciated your authenticity and your heart for challenging one another in the Body!
I am so thankful for my spiritual mentor who does challenge me, “as iron sharpens iron.” She is honest and doesn’t “sugar coat” the truth! I am also blessed to have a group of women to grow together with. I have NO problem with revealing MY flaws and asking for help/prayer/accountability. My struggles come with loving my friends enough to tell them about the food in their mouths! THAT is the “tricky” part! And, I believe where we so need the Holy Spirit’s leading and guiding! God has to open the doors of communication, otherwise, our “help” can be either 1.misinterpreted or 2. judgmental on our parts. Wow, do we need to be on our knees in these situations! But, God’s Word is so clear in that we are to HELP one another in this journey!!!!
Anyway, I am excited to be pondering all you have asked us to think about this week.
Many blessings, sweet friend,
Tracy
Hi Tracey! I feel like we go “way back”, don’t you?!!! Thanks for taking the time to share! I value your input! God is working all the time, and it is so awesome to share what He is doing!
Hugs to you!
I am looking forward to this study!
CeCe-I am looking forward to reading how God uses this in your life!!!
Thank you, Gina, for leading this study. I value those friends who are close enough to be able to tell me when I’m going astray.
You are welcome, Melissa! We are learning together!!!
I don`t have a blog but I will be in the Bible study.
WELCOME, Linda!!!
I am very excited about this study. It sounds so interesting. I love the song too! I will be here each week and will place it on my blog!
I love the song too, Monica! It actually went through my mind as I wrote this study!! I will look forward to meeting with you each week!
This is an incredibly timely study for my life. Gina, my heart echoes “I longed for someone to love me enough to speak into my life”!
We have ‘Care Groups’ at our church but we’ve had some ‘less than stellar’ experiences and we’d about given up on getting re-involved in one. This may be just the ‘nudge’ that we need to persevere in this mode of fellowship.
Prayer I’d covet would be for this understanding that you’ve described to be the same for all participants; so that the relationships would be built (key word) on this solid foundation (key concept): “I am so thankful to be in a body of believers where that is encouraged and people actually take the time to do that. The fruit of people being willing to do it is amazing, and it bonds believers in a way that I never imagined.” Yes & Amen!
I will pray for you that you will be led to a group that is practicing (not perfectly…but trying!) what it means to be the body of Christ. I think nurturing relationships is key! don’t you? Keep us posted!
Michelle @ Finding Michelle told me about this study and I’m pleased for the opportunity to participate. My husband John & I are committed to one another and sharing the kinds of things you’re speaking about. I have a couple of very close women friends with who we can do that for each other. But as far as in church, it doesn’t happen much. Even though John & I are both actively involved. If I’m totally candid, even myself, I’m very slow to point out the problems of others. I will do it if we’re in relationship; but I pray a lot first and am thoughtful as to how I do it. I tend to be concerned that I want to help them vrs hurt their feelings. There’s a huge concern in today’s culture about not being judgmental.
thank you for sharing!!! It’s a blessing to know there are still others out there that WANT to do what we are called to do!!!
HveHope and Tracy~ WELCOME to the study! I pray God will use it and that He will direct you in how He wants you to live life with others!!!
What a great post. I just finished reading `You Can Be Everything God Wants You To Be` by Max Lucado. It was summed up in your post `challenge you to pray about what you are called to and who God would have you reach out to serve and encourage`
I look forward to this study.
Thanks for heading it up.
Hi, Michelle! Thanks for taking the time to share! I pray this study will be used! We are learning together! Nice to meet you!
This study has come at the precise moment when I was examining myself, or should I say, asking God to examine my heart more profoundly concerning this very topic. Been through many wounds concerning this subject but pray God will bring even more healing. Looking forward to growing together.
I know about the wounds “One Heart”! I have many myself. I wish we could sit down over coffee and share! It was actually through the many hurtful and confusing situations that God led me to write this series. If you stop by my site http://www.chatswithanoldlady.com I share a lot about my own pain and what God has done through it! I know God will use your wounds to be a more sensitive and grace filled part of the body! Feel free to email me! Im sure we have much to share with each other!!!
Blessings Gina…I love this theme for a study and have been absorbed in reading over at your blog! I shared on my blog even though I’m currently not blogging! I have your blog bookmarked and added in Google Reader and someday hope to comment much on your blog! Great insights and inspirations! Wonderful reflections!
I’m not able to join in the study but I will hope to read as I am able to and share my passion like yours for the Body of Christ to be the body…
I saw this post and just wanted to share it because its challenge is great for each of us:
http://heartlikejesus.blogspot.com/2008/11/if-we-are-body-casting-crowns.html
May God anoint and bless you and each participant as the Body of Christ through this study and being all we should be in Christ Jesus!
Love you and praying for you…(I think we know each other from a while ago) Peggy
Hi, Peggy! Thank you for your encouraging words and for praying. Please join and share as you are able. I would love to hear what you are learning!
Grace to you!
I am a new believer in christ and I am so glad to be here. i have a lot of stuff in my teeth and I am trying everyday to live according to his will for my life. I have surrounded myself with other christians and they do not point things out to me. I on the other hand notice everyone’s flaws. I dont mention anything to them either, I just pray for them
Yessica,
I find that prayer is the only way of sharing sometimes. Nothing we could say or do would point some towards Christ nor do we listen when we aren’t connected truly through Christ. I find that the relationships take time and trust. I have been a Christian for 17 years and truly have my precious husband alone who can tell me things and I to him. But no girlfriends at this point in my 62 years. God will bring those people into our lives as His time is perfect.
May your day be a blessing and you be one too!
~ linda
I have written a post on my blog with more than enough “stuff” in my teeth. I am sharing it through a link: http://beingwoven.blogspot.com/2010/06/we-are-body-deeper-refinement-week-one.html
Week One has shown me more than I imagined. I need this and am glad to be here with you each and all.
Caring through Christ, ~ linda
Linda,
Thanks for sharing!!!!
I hope to stay evolved and be able to find Gods calling for my life.