Thursday, June 20, 2013

Week 11: The Reset Button

I cannot believe we are almost done with week 11 of this awesome study, and have only 1 week to go.  It has been an awesome ride!  
Here is some verse mapping I did of different translations of our reflection verse this week, with the blue being God's part and the red being my part.  I also replaced the "we" and "our" with "I" and "my" to make it hit home in my heart just a little bit more. 

Romans 8:26:
"In the same way, the Spirit helps me in my weakness I do not know what I ought to pray for, the but the Spirit himself intercedes for me through wordless groans." (NIV)

"Meanwhile, the moment I get tired in the waiting, God's spirit is right alongside helping me along.  If I don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter.  He does my praying in and for me, making prayer out of my sighs, my aching groans." (MSG)

"In the same way, the Spirit also comes to help me weak as I am.  For I do not know how I ought to pray: the Spirit Himself pleads with God for me in groans that words cannot express." (GNT)

 "Also, the Spirit helps me I am very weak, but the Spirit helps me with my weakness.  I don't know how to pray as I should, but the Spirit Himself speaks to God for meHe begs God for me, speaking to Him with feelings too deep for words." (ERV)

The words I notice the most in each one of these translations are "I am weak" and "God helps me." He takes care of it all.  He takes care of me, of us.  He knows our hearts and our minds well enough to intercede. praying on our behalf when we don't even know how to put our words together.  That, alone, gives me so much comfort because I know that when I am overwhelmed to the point where I can't even speak His precious name, He knows my heart and soul, and He'll fix it.


Motions:
 This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way ('cause I don't wanna go through the motions)
take me all the way (I know I'm finally feeling something real)
take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way (I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go)
take me all the way (through the motions)
take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions



This entire song makes me thing of a man that goes to my church.  He spent close to 80 years just "going through the motions" of church, Sunday school, everything.  Throughout that whole time, he says he never truly understood what it felt like to believe in God...to have an intimate relationship with the Lord.  This year, He realized being a believer in Christ is more than just reading some chapters in the Bible and making sure he was at church on time.  It is so much more than that.  When you believe in Christ, you honestly believe in your heart that He loves you unconditionally without fail, and that He is capable of anything.  He is always on our side.  He is capable of helping us walk a better walk, talk a better talk, and just live a better, more fulfilling life...a life where we know we are always loved and accepted in His eyes.  He created all of us.  We are all His children.  We just have to let our hearts defeat our minds, as the song says. 
I can remember a time when I was younger when I was essentially going through the motions to some extent.  But as I got older and my faith got stronger through the experiences God placed in my path, or really His path for me, I developed a relationship with God that continues to grow in different ways everyday.  I don't read my Bible everyday now because I feel like I have to or because I think I'll get in trouble if I don't.  I read it everyday because it gives me strength and comfort.  It's God's big instruction book for life showing me where I need to go and how I need to get there.  It's my alarm clock.  It's my morning cup of coffee.  I love it, and it warms my heart to no end that this sweet gentleman at my church has that in his life, too.  He's not going through the motions anymore.  He's living the life!

 

4 comments:

  1. I love the interaction of myself & God that you pointed out in the verses...
    That song has been on my ipod for years... such a good one!

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  2. That song is perfect for this post! Such a great story and reminder of God's faithfulness.

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  3. WOW, love this! Love the perspective of the 80-year-old as well! Thanks for sharing your heart today!! ~Steph

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  4. Great post! Thank you for sharing the different translations. I loved it.

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