Bible study from Youversion.

This is completely from Bible.com

I did not write any of it, I merely copied it over by hand so it can be shared because I believe it's very important to know about God's calling on your life. 

-------------

2 Thessalonians 3:1-3

Request for Prayer

As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 

When God reveals His plan to you, it is usually beyond your current skill set of ability. It can also be beyond your level of education and outside of your financial budget. It will stretch you and challenge you to come out of your comfort zone and start becoming the person He desires for you to be. 

Sometimes this can leave us in a state of insecurity, as we will have a tendency to feel small compared to the BIG plan that God has shown us. Yes, it can seem overwhelming at times, but you must understand and know that it's not impossible. 

The key to overcoming your insecurities is to start trusting in God's ability and not your feelings. 

God didn't leave Gideon in a state of insecurity and he won't leave you there either. As you learn to trust in His Word and apply it to your life, you will begin to gain a level of confidence and courage that overrides any feelings of insecurity. 

Remember that nothing great or extraordinary happens in your comfort zone. 

But like everything else in life, you will also hit those moments where you will come up against great resistance, attack, and distractions from the enemy while trying to accomplish what God is telling you to do. Staying committed through the ups and downs is the key in order to reaching your destiny. 

When you start walking out the plan that God has for your life, it will be very important for you to stay focused on Him and the plan that He has for you. It will be a noble cause and worthy of your undivided attention. Be on guard against anything that will distract you or slow the process of completing the work that God has you doing. 

Like sheep

If someone is around a flock of sheep that they don't recognize, they scatter. They don't know what to do. They don't know who this is, so they become confused and bump into other sheep and run the wrong way. 

This reminds me of Christians. 

There are so many preachers, etc, that are teaching what they believe to be truth,

and living in a society where truth is not truth for everyone,

it's hard for followers of Christ to know who to follow. 

But if we focus on the good shepherd, the Bible, the words of the one leader,

we can all know the same and only TRUTH.

Listen for His voice and follow it.

John 10: 4-9

(Jesus talking)

"...When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again, "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. "

Trinity, etc

God is one being.

The Father is God.

Jesus is God.

The Holy Spirit is God. 

He is continuous throughout these three beings throughout time.

He exists outside what we consider time.

Jesus is not the Father, and the Father is not the Holy Spirit. 

They are three separate entities in one being.

example.. 

You are body, mind and soul.

You are three things continuously throughout your existence.

This is one reason we can say and prove and realize that when God said he made mankind in His image, it is literal.

We are three things in One being, as He is.

Only we are not infinite.

We were created.

We had a beginning, and we will have an end.

 

Mere Christianity - God is our Maker, we are His. We are not our own.

 "Of course we never wanted, and never asked, to be made into the sort of creatures He is going to make us into. But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us. He is the inventor, we are only the machine. He is the painter, we are only the picture."

When we feel like complaining because life isn't going how we want it to, keep in mind, we were not created to be what WE want us to be. We were created with the purpose of serving our Creator, and being in a love relationship with Him. Hid ways and are higher and better than ours. When we can finally realize this and submit ourselves daily to His plan, we will see Him work and move more than we ever thought possible.

Mere Christianity - why being a Christian is hard.

God warns us to "count the cost" before we put our lives in His hands.

There is daily cost to being a follower of Christ.

"In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world." - John 16:33

Luke 14

The Cost of Discipleship

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 n“If anyone comes to me and odoes not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, pyes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 qWhoever does not rbear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not sfirst sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not tsit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 uSo therefore, any one of you who vdoes not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.