TGFABT – Psalm 8
“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
Psalm 8:4-5
The Extent of Our Worth
Examining the reality of our worth
Genesis 1:28 -We are made in His image
Galatians 3:28-29– If we are in Christ we are heirs with Christ.
Determining my worth by anything other than the truth of what God’s Word says about me discounts the greatness of God’s creativity and reduces the significance of the sacrifice of His Son.
With our worth comes:
Great power
Ephesians 1:18-19
Great authority
James 4:7
Great responsibility
Matthew 28:19-20
Truth
When I consider the work of His fingers I need to consider myself and how important I am to Him.
Word Study
ll the truth, did you guess what word would be the focus of our study today? The word has consumed my thoughts since my first read through of Psalm 8. God’s Word never changes but its meaning in our lives is so timely and applicable as the seasons of our lives change. It is so wonderfully alive and active. (Hebrew 4:12) And our word for today is extremely and wonderfully alive and active.
Psalm 8:3a
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers…”
Consider: Ra’ah (raw-aw’)
to see, look at, inspect, perceive
I just had to open the word perceive, oh it is so good.
Perceive:
- to become aware of, know, or identify by means of the senses
- to recognize, discern, envision, or understand
I love “identify by means of the senses”. Oh how I long to identify all the work of God’s fingers by means of all my senses. To see, hear, touch, smell, and taste all of His handwork.
Thankful
For a great friend and mechanic who took care of my car this week past when Scott was out of town.
Faith Stretching/Strengthening
My faith is stretched as I trust God’s answer for healing being different than mine.
I love this song!
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO_R3U3TE6w&feature=related’]
What a wonderful message today. There was so much there. I will definitely go back and listen again. I love that Wendy not only helps us realize why we have worth but I love how she also showed how we often determine our own self worth through all the wrong things instead of through the fact that we are made in His image and co heirs with Christ. The Whitney Houston example was such a clear picture of how we can get it all wrong. Live life loved, Ladies! You are loved by Him unconditionally, and His love is matchless.
I have to SAY WOW to this message. I will watch this again there was so much truth in this message. The Whitney Houston message should hit home with all of us when we think We are not enough and when we do this we are disrespecting God. I never thought about this at all. Great wake- up call!
Happy Monday morning to you all! I wish we could add thumbs up emojis to others comments!
Nancy, Vicky and Wendy great comments! I agree today’s lesson is one that should play over and over in our minds so that those of us who feel unimportant in anyway can be reminded just how much we mean to God our Father!
Amen girls! I appreciate the encouragement to seek the truth in the word that we may counteract the counterfeit of what we tell ourselves. So true that memorizing scripture can get us through those tough moments (days, years etc…) To put it in perspective that when we undervalue our self worth we discount God’s creativity and reduce the significance of the cross, powerful thoughts. Take our thoughts captive girls and dwell on His word.
I agree Karen…sobering thoughts when we think about our worth. I love her last thought in today’s study. She repeated what she said in the video, and I love that she put it in the study so we can linger there:
“Determining our worth by anything other than the truth of the what God’s Word says about us DISCOUNTS the greatness of God’s creativity and REDUCES THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SACRIFICE OF HIS SON. ” How I need to confess and ask God to help me to see myself through His eyes and in His image.
One lesson I have learned is that no matter how perfect the life of someone else seems to be they have the same feeling of insecurity as I have. We shouldn’t dwell so much on the ways we are disappointed in ourselves, but remember God created us in his image and we are his children. We need to love ourselves as God loves us.
Wow, wow, wow!!! Amazing message today. I feel like I need to listen to it several more times to really get all of the truths Wendy shared. What really hit home for me was when Wendy reminded us that we must use God’s Word to counteract the counterfeits that we tell ourselves. God’s Word is truly amazing! It has the power to rewind our thinking and help us focus on the truth! Tear down the lies I let satan tell me with the truth of God’s Word!
Truth- wonderful truths in the e-book study today. So often as women, we struggle -like Wendy describes-by comparing ourself to the “her” in our life . I love how she described it : We want our life to reflect her image and forget that we are made in the image of Him instead of her.
I also loved the truth in the e-book study today that we cannot let our feelings dictate our worth! Regardless of how we feel, we must remember the truth: we are made in His image and co-heirs with Christ!
Wonderful study today!
Truth is that I so often look in the mirror in the morning and think look at this defect look at this one. Throughout the day I tend to say that also and compare myself to other women. This study is my wake-up call to stop that stinkin thinkin and make satan say he is afraid of me when my feet first hit the floor in the morning, as Wendy stated! My truth is to practice that I am perfect in the eyes of God. Have a great Tuesday!!!
We all claim to be believers. In truth we all have a hard time “living like we believe it”. Especially that we are worthy of acceptance in his eyes. Because his eyes are the only ones that should matter to us.
I find that with advancing years and Gods gift of wisdom it is somewhat easy to not be worried about what people may think of me. However the scars of acceptance run deep in and on me.
Please pray for a dear child who is struggling greatly and feeling worthless, Morgan Pancher. And her mother Tammy in her feelings of helplessness.
Truth Tuesday. The e-book study really hit home for me. For years I compared myself (sometimes I still do) to a “her” in my life. I measured myself against how she dressed, looked, acted all while comparing my life with the successes she had in her life; it was exhausting! I am doing better at this, as I realize that even this “her” in my life is not perfect. But that fact should not be my only reason for not comparing myself. What should be the only reason is that I am created in God’s image and am perfect just the way he made me. “Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” There is nothing I can do to lose or add to my worth in Christ’s eyes. What a beautiful picture!
Perceive is to believe and understand–God made me to appreciate myself every day and believe he loves me just the way I am because I was made in his image. What a beautiful thought for Word Wednesday! Happy hump day!
Vicki
I’m beginning to “perceive” God’s magnitude of love for me! What a comforting thought. I always assumed he loved me but more like a young child incisions. I’m so grateful to have this study and you lady’s inspiring comments to continue learning as much as I can about God’s love how It affects me personally. I also enjoy seeing how his handiwork in others throughout time can relate to me.
Good morning Ladies! It’s Thankful Thursday! I have so many things to be thankful for its hard to single one out. But if I must…. I am thankful for the singing birds, playful squirrels, waddling ducks, stinky skunks, yes even those, my beautiful furry Tazi and all the beautiful creatures God lets me see on a daily basis.
I am thankful for the compassion and strength with which God holds those who are hurting and the assurance we have that those who have gone before are being held in the arms of God.
I am thankful for my husband, Kevin who is always trying to please me and give me’s grace when I don’t deserve it, works hard and shows our family love when we are undeserving. Friends who stand by you, when you are not having your best day and loves you anyway. Thankful for this study to keep me focused on God and see the Psalms differently then I have in the past.
Word Study Wednesday: I loved thinking of experiencing God’s handiwork through all the senses. This thought made me think of this verse – “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” – Psalm 34:8. Seeing God’s work in all areas of my day-to-day life is something I need to improve on.
Thankful Thursday – I am thankful today that the Lord is bringing me through something that I was fearful about. God is so FAITHFUL!!
Thankful that God goes beyond taking notice of us…the Psalm tells us He is mindful of us and cares for us.
Ladies – sorry I am so far behind in listening to the video. Reading is going well but conference last week in Columbus and on vacation to SC this week I got behind. Just listened to the video tonight. Great message this week and I am going to have to listen again to get everything Wendy pointed out. How true it is that we all, no matter what we look like or how successful we are in our jobs or our every day life, we never feel good enough. Even though God shows us over and over again that by believing in him we are just as we should be as women we have a hard time thinking of ourselves as just right for anyone let along our Lord and Savior. This is something I really need to work on.
Because I am so far behind I am posting my Thankful Thursday – I am so thankful God gave me the opportunity to go to SC to visit my son and daughter-in-law because I have not seen them in 1 1/2 years. And praise the Lord that he gave me the strength to take my mom with me. Flying with her took a lot of patience but God was there every step of the way. We were able to get great seats on all 4 flights and we had great Delta Sky Cab folks that helped me through the airport with mom in a wheelchair. She had a great visit and was thrilled to see her grandson. God is very, very good!!! I am also thankful for these lessons because I am looking at the Psalms and myself differently than I have ever done before so Wendy, thank you for this study.
That is awesome, Jackie!!!! So glad you and your mom were able to go and have a a good time making memories with family.
Faith stretching Friday- God is stretching me to live in the image of Christ and continue to ask Him to show me truth in criticism.