#wordbites

Isaiah 66:1-2 Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the LORD. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

1. Read this passage aloud.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved…  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9

2. The Bible makes it clear that it is not by our own effort that we can even approach God, the Creator of the universe. Think about yourself and your attitude towards God. In what ways have you tried to compensate to be ‘good enough’ for God? Are you still doing any of these things? 

 3. Take this opportunity to pray to Jesus. Ask God to forgive you if you have tried to make yourself ‘good enough’ or ‘do enough’ to make Him accept you, when it’s only Jesus’ death on the cross that allows us to approach Him now. 

 4. The David Guek bible study guide for Isaiah 66 makes this point:

We may want to serve God - but serve Him our way. We may want to build God something, but what can we build that is worthy of God?  Instead, what God really wants from us is a poor and a contrite spirit, and to tremble at His word.  i. Contrite is literally "'lamed' or disabled, here used with spiritual significance: one who is aware of the damage wrought by sin, of personal inability to stand upright before God." (Motyer)  ii. Are you one of those who trembles at God's word? "They tremble at the searching power of God's Word. Do you never come into this place and sit down in the pew, and say, 'Lord, grant that thy Word may search me and try me, that I may not be deceived'? Certain people must always have sweets and comforts; but God's wise children do not wish for these in undue measure. Daily bread we ask for, not daily sugar." (Spurgeon)

5. Reflect on your attitude towards the Bible/the Word of God. How can you show respect and deference to it in your life? 

6. Make an action point to improve your attitude. 

 7. What is God’s way for your life, rather than your own way? 

 8. Read 1 Cor 6:19-20.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

9. Did you know that God has designated your body as a temple of His? Click here to read this devotional by Oswald Chambers about the topic.

10. Think about what it means for you to be God’s temple. Do you think God values you? 

 11. Why do you think He designated Christians to be His temple? 

 12. How does that change how you act and think about yourself?

This is a new feature of Wordbites: Bible study guides that are on the same topic as the videos we make!