Girls! Ladies! Women! Sisters!
It’s a big day around here. We are so excited to share a few pieces of news with you.
1. First up – we start a new plan today! We prayed a good bit about where to head after Proverbs and the Lord put Galatians firmly on our hearts. We’ve been studying, reading, and praying and we are so excited to walk through this book with all of you that is chock-full of the Gospel.
2. We are launching our very first She Reads Truth plan on YouVersion today! Our entire plan – the breakdown of the reading, a short daily devotional, and a few questions for thought are all together in one place on YouVersion – which you can access via the app or the website. Not only that BUT in each daily reading from YouVersion, there is a link back to each daily post on our site – so you can easily interact with the community after reading each day.
Also – we know some of you have had trouble in the past getting to plans on YouVersion, so we wanted to make it super simple for you! Below is a little picture tutorial of exactly how you find the She Reads Truth plan! To start – either download the YouVersion app to your phone, or go to the website.
1. Open YouVersion. 2. Search for “She Reads Truth” 3. Select that beauty right there! 4. Hit “Start Plan” and join the fun!
3. We are giving away a ticket to the Influence Conference – coming up this fall in Indianapolis, IN. All of us at She Reads Truth are involved in the conference in some way and we are thrilled to be meeting up for the first time. She Reads Truth girls will be meeting up throughout the weekend to meet, hug, and hopefully spend a few moments reading God’s word together – of course! There are only about 20 tickets left, so if you’d like one – make sure you enter the giveaway ASAP or go buy your ticket today.
To enter the giveaway for the Influence Ticket – simply follow the instructions below! No need to do anything fancy – just click enter and give your contact info (we won’t use it or share it!).
And, since there’s no time like the present, shall we jump into Galatians together right now?
First, a quick introduction to the book:
Galatians is a letter written by the apostle Paul to a collection of churches that he planted in Galatia on his first missionary journey with Barnabas. He’d been able to visit and check up on them with another ministry partner, Silas, in a second trip. The churches were primarily made up of gentile Christians, like most of us, and trouble started to arise when in Paul’s absence, some Jewish Christians arrived and began teaching a different “gospel”.
The Galatians were quickly misled to believe that they needed Jesus + rules to be Christians. They didn’t just mislead the new believers, they also attacked Paul to help prove their point. Thus, we get Galatians. A passionate letter from Paul reminding them of the true and beautiful Gospel they’d received and doing a little defense of his own ministry.
This book, like everything else we find in God’s Word, is super relevant for us as present day gentile Christians. We’re easily misled, we love adding rules, and we forget what makes a true disciple so quickly. We hope you’ll read along with us and fall back in love with the freedom, grace, love, and beauty of the Gospel that we have received through our Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Savior.Pleasing God or each other?
Galatians 1:1-10 | Pleasing God or each other?
Paul is simply an apostle addressing the churches in Galatia, and now us, as one who is experiencing the peace and grace that comes from the beautiful Gospel – the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins, by the will and for the glory of our Father. And we see immediately in Galatians that people then are just like people now (us) – people who quickly forget the truth of the gospel, who they were following, and are led away from great grace.
- Is anything bewitching you?
- Is there a person, a lie, a thought, a belief that is allowing you to believe anything other than the amazing news that you’ve been bought with the blood of Jesus for the pleasure and perfect will of God?
- Have we begun to live in a way that we aim to please men rather than the one who authored such Good News for us?
See you in Galatians, sisters! And maybe even at Influence next month!
I'm so glad that y'all have started this new plan. :D I'm still in the beginnings of Proverbs, but I hope to catch up soon
I have been thinking about the concept of "other" gospels than the one I first received based on this passage. How simple it is to add to the gospel sometimes. It is easy to get fixated on things that are, in and of themselves, totally fine, but take it a bit too far and adopt them as "gospel." Whether it is our political views, pre-trib vs. post trib, pre-destination vs. free will, young earth vs. old earth, organic vs. processed, etc…for example: "To be saved, we have to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who died for our sins and was raised on the third day AND the democratic party is the instrument of satan" (please "hear" my sarcasm here) or "To be saved we have to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who died for our sins and was raised on the third day AND that creation was literally 6 days…or we must believe and act just so and be good people….it is so common to "camp" out in these debates…and usually, the side we are "camping" in becomes our addition to the gospel. And that when we do this, it is devisive…the opposite of what we should be doing-coming together around our relationships with Jesus Christ. There are subtle ways that I "add" to the gospel. I need to remember that it is rather simple. It is good news. Whether I'm a vegan democrat who believes in a literal six day creation or a McDonald's loving republican who is SURE about how the rapture is going down. The gospel is the same either way.
I will be the first to admit that verse 10 really hit me today, I am so guilty of sometimes desiring the approval of man over God. I am ashamed to even write that as I know that it is displeasing to God. I have recently begun to feel extremely convicted about the role "man" plays in my life, God has been doing mighty pruning in my life of people who are not healthy for me, and it really has been freeing to know that Gods approval is much more important and worthy than mans!
Hmm, so am I living my life to honor Christ?! I sure hope so! Many times it's possible to think a kind thought as it is a judgement, isn't it? Influences in our lives play such a heavy role, don't they? Fill your life with junk, gossip, jealousy, and out it comes. Fill it with love, truth, and God's word, and you've got beauty. I'm excited to jump into this study and glad to be reminded today that Paul clearly says, "Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. "(Galatians 1:10 NIV) it just can't be any more clear! I choose to practice being a great influence, even if I'm not always perfect.
Praise Jesus for giving me a body of believers online to share my love for our King! I have done a few of the bible studies but have never posted a response on the blog. I wanted to thank ALL of you for your sharing of the Word and how God is using it in your life. I have done a study of Galatians before and really enjoyed it so I am looking forward to this one.
One of the things that went through my mind is how easy it is to be deceived. I pray often for wisdom and discernment so as not to fall prey. I only want God's will for my life! I also want to seek wisdom that when I speak it is God sent. I have a tendency to speak before I think sometimes. As a Christian I know I am held to a higher standard (not that I shouldn't be). I do not want to misrepresent my King and the grace and mercy that he has shown to me.
We must continually pray that God will draw us closer to him. Thanks for letting me join you ladies on this journey through His word.
I always seem to jump in to these studies late, so I am ready to start this one off right! And what better way than through one of my favorite books? So many truths in this beautiful letter.
Why hello there ladies! I am beyond stoked to dive into this new study with all of you. Did anyone else tend to let reality fly out the window (spending far too much time refreshing the #SheReadsTruth home screen in order to find out the topic of the new study)? No?….uh, me neither. Who would ever be that over the top to do this? Cough.Cough.
Confession time? I did. In fact, my little Dell almost gave under the pressure (got to remember to plug those charger cords in) haha.
No seriously, I am looking forward to what God is going to reveal to all of our hearts as we delve into this letter.
I know a couple of pieces that are shouting louder than all the rest would be Galations 1v6-10. I won't type all of the verses out, but o would encourage you to read the MSG version of these truths. It truly is gut wrenching to think of how easily we can be swayed by 'the shiny things' in this life. Whether it be a screwed vision, a sweeter tasting word, or a deceptive smile, they are all nothing but bold faced LIES.
The only true happiness, peace, joy, hope, love, & ultimately life is found in His Love Letter. No matter how pretty the world's stationary may seem. No matter how crisp & clean the edges of the paper seem (I am a little bit of a neat freak when it comes to crisp & cleans pages in a book. No dog ears found here), their only going to deceive & destroy.
Tonight I pray that God will open our eyes, shield our hearts, & attune our ears to only take in His truth in the coming days.
Much love.
A
Alyssa
I am struck with verse 6 "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel."
First, I have to say I love the boldness and how blunt Paul is in this letter. His passion spills over into every word and his zeal is infectious. He believes in the Truth and worries for all who are straying from that truth .
In this verse, he is talking about the different gospels that the Galatians were turning to, but the way I see this, we ALL find different gospels that we turn to from time to time that takes us away from the Truth of God.
Pop culture itself is a constant pull away from our truth. Lies. Gossip. Judgement. Vanity. We may follow the Bible and be in love with Jesus, but there are moments when we let the outside gospels in.
Gospel itself is defined as something that is considered of prime importance, something that is true and believed. It is so important that our ONLY Gospel be the truth of Jesus Christ and that we guard our hearts from the mistruths of our secular run world.
We, like Paul, MUST speak the truth with confidence, passion, and conviction.