nonna

Q1. (2 Corinthians 3:7-11) Why did Moses’ face glow? After his encounter with God, the Glory was so great he glowed. Why did he cover it when he was out with the people? He was different, the glow may have scared some, or it might have brought unwanted attention to him Why didn’t more people’s face glow in Moses’ time? In the OT, the glory was temporary, and few had one on one encounters or the hunger to seek God face to face. What’s the difference between the spread of God’s glory in Moses’ time when compared to our own time? In the OT, the glory was temporary, after Jesus died on the Cross, the Holy Spirit lives in us and we can experience His glory anytime we choose to, when we put all of our "stuff" aside and give in to the spirit. I thank God for this daily.

Q1. (2 Corinthians 2:14-16a) In what sense is knowing God fragrant to people who are open to God? When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we are filled with peace and joy. Others can sense this peace and joy and are drawn to it and ask questions like How are you so happy? In what way is this fragrance repugnant to people who are closed to God? When someone is closed to God, they may sense our peace and joy as fake, not genuine. When I was in Sin and away from God I wore my pain and anger like a beautiful coat, showing it off for all to see. Have you suppressed your “fragrance” because some people are allergic to Christian perfume? If so, how can you regain the fragrance of Christ’s gospel? I am a very empathetic person, sometime I do suppress as to not overwhelm, however I feel God calling me to be Bold in spreading his word, and to not tame down my "fragrance" I believe I can regain the fragrance by prayer, faith and staying in the word and asking each day for God to show me how to serve him and others and make that my top priority for the day.

Q2. (2 Corinthians 1:24) What does it mean to “lord it over” someone? What is the balance between (1) good, strong leadership, (2) micromanaging, and (3) a complete laissez-faire approach to leadership? What are the dangers of an authoritative leadership style? What are the dangers of a weak leadership style? To "lord it over" means to means to have authority, control and power over others and to me it means to abuse this power. The balance to good strong leadership, is to define the qualities of those you lead, develop a trust and good communication so that you be entrust to them the goals you have set for them, micromanaging is the above without trust for those you lead and to feel you have to oversee everything. The laissez-faire approach has no accountability, and without accountability there is usually little success. The Dangers of authoritative leadership style, is there is no creative expression, no trust and usually little communication, just commands and orders. This can be very stressful to those you lead, and can cause burn-out or rebellion. Weak Leadership Style has no balance, and it is usually left up to individuals with no common goal. That is what I love about God, he gives directions with accountability and communicates through the Holy Spirit. God is an awesome example of good strong leadership.

Q1. (2 Corinthians 1:21b-22) According to this verse, what does the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives signify? How does the Spirit unite us with God? What is the promise of future blessing inherent in the Spirit’s presence? He annointed us, set his seal upon us and set his spirit within us. The Spirit unites us with God by living in us and guiding us and holding us accountable. The promise of future blessing is eternity

Q2. (2 Corinthians 1:9-10) How does facing a harrowing crisis help us grow in the Lord? How has a crisis helped your spiritual life? What is the value of learning not to rely on ourselves? What does this do to our pride? How does this improve our effectiveness as God’s servants? A harrowing crisis will help us grow in the Lord when we lay the crisis at the cross, and realize it is beyond our control. I have learned the hard way, when i tried to "fix things" myself, these were my greatest failures. When I trusted God and gave the entire mess to him and had faith.....I have seen my greatest miracles. I have been through many crisis in my years, both of my own doing and with my children and grandchildren. It teaches me patience, endurance, trust and faith. I have learned I am NOTHING without God, but with him all things are possible. It has taught me to be prideful is to sin, to be humbled can be my life or I will face things that will humble me. I believe this improves our effectiveness by being a good witness of what God has done in our lives, and to not judge others and to come along side of them in prayer and faith.

Without Moses, they reverted back to old ways, Aaron gave in caved so to say, then tried to fix it by saying it was for Yahweh. The golden calf probably made God angry, disappointed and frustrated after all he has done. Churches today make celebrities out of their leaders and see them as idols, and Christian Musicians...there is also Power, Money, Social Standing and Standing in the Church, and even Church itself that people idolize. These days it seems there is little of God and alot of socialization and that is idolized also.

The people had a need and God provided. The manna ceased when there were other provisions available for the people. Anytime we receive something without effort it can easily be taken for granted. I no longer take any provision of God for granted. After being healed and seeing the mess of my life by taking everything for granted, and being so close to losing everything..I know my God provides and I am determined to be grateful every single day for all gifts of God.

If after prayer and conviction, you feel the leader is following God and you submit to the Leader you are submitting to the Lord. It is important for us to chose who we follow and do not go for the flash in the pan minister, and then submit wholly to the Leader with a servant's heart. Leaders who have not submitted themselves wholly to God and stay true to humility can fail and take on what is not theirs to take on. Humility, strength of character and a strong prayer life will keep you true to knowing it is all for the Lord and you are just the messenger/servant.

Fear and unbelief caused the people to grumble and complain. Fear can take over and if you do not take authority over fear it will lead to discontent. I have to constantly remind myself to FEAR NOT, and to trust God for everything little and big. I have a delay instead of being upset and fearful of being late I trust that God knows I need to be somewhere and he has a reason for the delay. This was quite apparent when we avoided a avalanche while traveling up North. Taking authority over fear, prayer and trusting God for ALL things is how I personally deal with fear, grumbling and complaining.

Moses was given a mandate from God Almighty, he did not have the authority to compromise. Compromises may be made when it does not compromise the word of God or a Mandate. Jesus stepped out from the law many times, but he stayed true to the ultimate vision and directive of God. It would be wrong to compromise any dictate straight from God. A Word from the Lord must be followed through with out diversion.

Before any confrontation, the truth must be proven not gossip. If confrontation is required then it must be done after much prayer and with love. When Jesus confronted he did so in love. Church Leaders are afraid of losing people, income, sometimes it comes into play that they may lose one of their largest supporters. So money and ego come into play. How many times have churches overlooked someone's behavior because "their family started this congregation" or "their family is our largest financial supporter". I believe in the word of God that if someone is in sin they should be talked to by the leaders of the church. If done with love and with God's guidance it can be positive for all concerned. When we refuse to confront when we should, it shows us to be weak, to be more concerned with image than with truth.

Fear is the enemies plot to keep us from faith. So we must take authority over fear and believe what the Holy Spirit is telling us without reservations. I also feel that it is my own lack of self worth that keeps me from obeying God. Am I worthy? which is what I feel Moses dealt with. Am I capable of being a leader? Courage is required to stand against those feelings and believe that God has given me this assignment he has given me the tools to complete it.

When you create something it is part of you, you put the best of you in this creation...as creator has the ultimate authority over our lives, but leaves the best part of himself in the creation. We should become more christ-like to honor our creator, that should be our self imaga and our sense of purpose.

He is our creator, he created us for his purpose,, yet I have found myself asking him what my purpose is? I see now a better question is what does he want me to do to achieve his purpose, not my own. to walk by faith, to trust he has it all worked out. So from this day forward, my only question will be Master, Father, God, Creator, what is your will for me this day?

David knew God to be the eternal God, the I AM, he had complete faith that God sent him to take down Goliath and his faith led him to victory. God should inspire fear and dread for those who do not worship him....faith is not about having a fairy godmother who gives us our wishes and if we just believe, our lives will be perfect and we will all be so happy. This world has real enemies and we need a God, a warrior who can conquer those enemies, I need a God to overcome the sin and evil of this world not someone to make me happy for today but to cover me in his presence forever. When I am wrong and sin I need grace and forgiveness but there are consequences I still have to pay. With the enemies being supernatural we need a supernatural warrior we need our God.