Last month I introduced an idea for women to get together and talk about scripture and it's application to their lives that I am calling Shoulder to Shoulder, from Zephaniah 3:9. (If you would like to know more about Shoulder to Shoulder but missed the newsletter, click here.)

As subscribers, you can use the devotionals and questions I post with a group of your own or you can meet electronically through my blog (On Beyond Ordinary) where we will link each devotional. Today's questions can be found by going to this link!

The devotionals can only be found in the newsletters. I will link the newsletter to a blog post with the questions. There you can comment and discuss with other women, what God is speaking to you or pose questions you have. Hundreds and hundreds of you have signed up. We are praying God blesses His Word in your lives and that it spills over into the lives of others however He may choose.
 
More than praying for you to experience the joy of the season corporately, I am praying Romans 12:1 over you:
I don’t know if you can sit shoulder to shoulder with other women during this busy time of year. If so, I encourage you do so. But even if we must settle for the connections made here-- may we not only attend a few extra events and lift our voices in some heavenly carols, but look deeper at what Paul is driving to impact our personal worship.

• Paul is begging us here. It’s not a flippant suggestion, but affectionate and persuasive. And he begs us based upon the mercies of God. Paul has just spent several chapters explaining our desperate need for a savior and God’s ability and willingness to meet this need.

Here he calls the reader to remember God’s merciful character: His compassion, His pity, and His great patience, and all that we are---for no other reason but the mercy of God.
 

• Nothing is held back. Paul urges us to give ourselves as a living sacrifice. The imagery given to the Romans would have compared to the traditional burnt offering. This offering was required to be without blemish and presented wholly. The entire offering was consumed in the fire. Not even the best parts were held back for the priests. Everything was burned up. God required all of it.

• ALL is a reasonable sacrifice. To Paul, wholly offered, completely given, nothing held back was a reasonable offering. I think he needed to make the argument AFTER begging us to remember God’s mercy toward us because it doesn’t sound reasonable. It sounds impossible. Who among us can give everything? It’s asking too much! It’s more like a nigh-on preposterous expectation! 

Or is it?
 
When we come before the Lord in worship, should we not be aware of what we have earned? Every last one of us should receive eternal damnation. Instead, God gives mercy.
  But we don’t keep this glorious undeserving truth in mind.
 
Is not our tendency to show up to worship covered in sin? Disobedient to our very core? Don’t we hold back our best, with ungrateful attitudes and self-destructive tendencies? We sing carols while we think slanderous and lustful thoughts, pointless dribble, or worse. THAT is UNREASONABLE worship. It is not true. It is not proper. It is nothing a savior deserves.
 
Therefore, because Paul understands us and our tendencies, and because has come to understand the mercies of God, he begs us to offer what is reasonable.

Let us allow Paul’s begging to take effect.

May our personal worship be holy and pleasing to God.  May we bring our sin and lay it before Him. May we bring all that we are --our hopes and desires; and trust He can out dream us. May we lay EVERYTHING before Him and trust Him to know what He is doing.
 

Cheri