Verses from Fall 2018
- Brittney Roszell
- Dec 18, 2018
- 4 min read
Its been a long time since I have wrote a blog post. I have been super busy and overwhelmed but God has been so good to me this semester and has taught me some great things about himself. Right now I am going to take the time to talk about a few of the verses I shared during my sororities chapter where i served as chaplain for this semester. These are not all of the verses I covered this semester more will come in a series called the "I am" series. Be looking out for that, now lets dive into these three verses .
The first verse I spoke on this semester was Matthew 18:19-20. I chose this verse to start the semester off with because I think it shows a good glimpse of what community looks like through prayer and what all God can do for his children through prayer. A couple weeks before this chapter it was still summer and I was serving at the Oaks retreat which is an on campus ministry that helps incoming freshman plug into community. Preparing for this retreat all of the counselors and leadership prayed daily for God to provide 613 freshman to this retreat. Before the retreat started God had provided more than 613 freshman who had signed up to attend which was a blessing but, God soon would teach us a lesson through this number. He did this by many freshman not showing up to the retreat. After the retreat was over God had faithfully provided exactly 613 freshman this summer. God showed me through this that he takes Matthew 18:19-20 very seriously and that when he promises something in scripture he means it. I wanted to share this verse with those in my chapter to remind them that community isn't just a word that means you hang out with people every once in a while but that community is a place where you can share your heart, struggles, needs, and desires to a group that can go to the Lord and pray with you for things that you need help with and need the Lord to answer. Community is a beautiful thing when you make the most out of it.
The next verse I spoke on was Genesis 32:26, this is a verse that I had recently read because my church started its new reading guide for the year. This verse really hit me and showed me a lot about the character of God which has been something I have been praying for God to reveal to me daily. The context behind this verse is that Jacob is struggling with meeting his brother Esau who wants to kill him and he begins to wrestle with a man on earth about these things. The man wrestling Jacob was no man but was a angel wrestling as God himself. Which we know because Jacob states he saw God face to face. Jacob is being defeated by this man which teaches us that God is greater than ourselves. When we are wrestling with thoughts we should wrestle with God as Jacob does, when God wins we will realize as Jacob did that God's way is greater and our fleshly way is nothing. This verse comes directly from when Jacob was weeping and asked God who had just defeated him to bless him. Through this verse I see how God meets us where we are and is willing to battle us and our thoughts if we bring them to him. which also shows gods power how he will always prevail when we do wrestle. I also see Gods loving grace, although Jacob was wrestling with God, God still blesses him. These character traits of God cause me to stand in awe at my father that he would meet me where I am with whatever I am struggling with and wrestle the thoughts, the insecurities, the lies, the sin, all of it with me to show me his way is greater, that he is powerful, and that he will still bless me although I am caught up in these worldly thoughts.
The last verse Im going to talk about here is Isaiah 12:1-2. I love this verse written by a Psalmist. I remember reading this verse at my first Oaks retreat. I was taught through it Gods character once again. During this verse the Psalmist knew God had been mad at him. I remember not understanding this verse for a time because I thought "God is not quick to anger" which is very true. However, God has been mad and has used his wrath in the old testament before Jesus came to use his tongue instead of wrath to teach Gods people. This verse shows me that although we do so much that should make God angry with us he doesn't get mad. In this verse God turns his anger away to comfort his child in need. Does God not do this daily for his children now. Yes, he does! He is so good to not get angry at his sinful children but to turn that anger away to comfort us and give us the grace we do not deserve. The Psalmist declares that God is his strength. What another powerful lesson that I have learned recently that God is my strength... and I mean all of it. I learned this through camp when I felt I didn't have the power to do anything or to even get out of bed but through prayer and reliance on God I did the work. I have also seen this daily in my life after camp to prove to me that God is my strength in every ounce of every day.
To see Gods character is such a wonderful thing. I encourage anyone to ask God to reveal this to them while reading his word. Through this prayer I have been introduced to character qualities of God that I didn't know or understand before. There is always more to God that he is waiting to reveal to his children.