40 Day Soul Fast Restoring My Soul Womens

40 Day Soul Fast: Restoring My Soul Women’s Institute Woodstream Church Week Five

Restoring My Soul in 2016! Objectives: �We, as women of light, will be able to recognize the importance of fasting and controlling what and how we eat in order to demonstrate control of our bodies and to better serve God and others. �We, as women of light, will be able to share with other women and to apply what we have learned in order to build a stronger faith-based community within and outside of our church. �We, as women of light, will be able to recognize authentic living following a 40 day soul fast.

Reference �Trimm, C. (2011). The 40 Day Soul Fast: Your Journey to Authentic Living. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, Inc.

40 Day Soul Fast Schedule �April 13 – The Importance of Identity: Becoming a Master by Ming Your Mind �April 20 – The Power of Words: Healing the Hole in Your Soul �April 27 – No Sunday School – Easter Play

Week Five Outline Day 21: Embracing Characteristic 21: Faith Day 22: Agreeing Characteristic 22: Gratitude Day 23: Capitalizing Characteristic 23: Design Day 24: Belonging Characteristic 24: Identity Day 25: Becoming Characteristic 25: Purpose

Characteristic 16: Beauty

Homework �As you sit quietly in the presence of God, take an account of how you spend or allocate each hour of each day, just like you keep an account of how you spend money or allocate calories. �How can you “reorder” your day to help you better order your thoughts? �How does the order, or lack of order, in your home, office, car, or garage affect the order, or lack of order in your soul? Is there room for more order? How will you bring that order to pass? When?

A New Day �This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss; good not evil; success not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it. Author Unknown

Day 21 - Embracing Turn and Talk Apart from what you do, the roles you play, the family you grew up in – who are you?

Who are we? �Our identity is largely defined by what we do. �When asked to introduce yourself, what do you say? �Are you afraid of being judged or criticized? �God has uniquely designed a life especially for each of us. He commands us to “Wake up from [our] sleep, climb out of [our] coffins; Christ will show you

Understanding Who We Are �We have God’s DNA imprinted in our spirit �How we live and see ourselves will be manifested in how we live �Understanding our identity in Christ and how we are to reflect that is essential to living an authentic life �The more we learn about Christ, the more we will learn about ourselves and how to live in the victory and abundance He has for us. “Watch what God does and then you will do it. ” Ephesians 5: 1

Our Focus This Week �Agreeing �Capitalizing �Belonging �Becoming It takes faith to master our time and mind in the most effective manner.

Characteristic 21: Faith �Empowers us to endure. “The race is not given to the swift or to the strong but to the person who endures to the end. ” Eccles. 9: 10 -12 �Nothing compares to the power of belief; it changes circumstances, alters destinies, and fuels miracles. �Believing faith keeps us rooted and grounded in authenticity.

Faith continued … �If we want to live authentically, we have to live true to our divine self as Christ did, then stir up our faith every moment of the day. “For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ” (Heb. 3: 14 NLT).

Day 22: Agreeing Poor self-image is like a harness of slavery on your soul. Christ came to set us free from the bondage of shame, guilt, self-doubt, fear and unworthiness. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. ” Gal. 5: 1 a NIV �Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of our spiritual life because it contradicts the whole idea of being beloved by God – Brennan Manning �

We are His Beloved! �God wants to see our face, hear our voice and run with us on the mountaintops. �God wants us to stop hiding and to come boldly to Him. �No more masks, no more pretending and no more fear! �To be authentic means to live in agreement with what God says

Well what about me? �My life is not spotless and not subject to shortcomings and weaknesses. �Living authentically is not about gaining approval of people but of God Who loves us as we are! �We can’t will away our lives but we can change how we think about it. �Ask God to free us from the yokes of slavery in our minds and being seeing ourselves as God sees us – beautiful!

Characteristic 22 - Gratitude Stop and Share What has God set you apart to do that only you – being you – can do?

Homework �What five strengths, abilities, or talents about yourself are you grateful for? �List five opportunities or outcomes that you have not yet experienced that you can preemptively be grateful for? (Now you are building faith!) �Who are the people in your life that you are especially grateful for? What can you do to make this known to them and when? �How much time do you invest praising and thanking God, focusing on all the good gifts and blessing He has bestowed?

Day 23: Capitalizing �Knowledge about why we do what we do as well as what we are capable of will give us the ability to minimize our weaknesses while capitalizing on our strengths. http: //richardstep. com/richardstep-strengthsweaknesses-aptitude-test/ �Do all we can to understand how God has made us. “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that [we] should walk in them. ” Ephesians 2: 10

Characteristic 23: Destiny �Our divine self has a divine destiny! �Our destiny is decision-oriented. We are always only one decision away from living the life of our dreams.

Homework �Take time to reflect on who it is you are becoming and where you are longing to go. �What do you hear God saying about who He has called you to be? �Paint a picture in your mind of your greatest possible future – write down what you see. �Time in the Word and in prayer will take you up higher, where you can get a

Day 24: Belonging �Loneliness is one of the greatest fears and most intense emotional pains. �The greatest need of the human heart is to belong, the need for connection. �We are engineered for connectedness that why we are called to be “one in Christ” (Gal.

Belonging continued … �Finding the highest expression of authenticity begins with enjoying the loving relationship God is offering you, progresses into you loving yourself for who God made you to be, and then finally, through your connecting with others, a potpourri of people, all different from yourself, you are able to experience

Turn and Talk � What hinders you in belonging?

Characteristic 24: Identity �If asked the questions, “Who are you? ” how would you answer with the role you play or the title you wear? �Who does God say you are? �Who did He create you to be? �Pray about who God has called you to be – ask Him to show your identity in Him. It is only when you have a sense of this that you will find the courage to dare to live authentically.

Day 25: Becoming �Story about the shark. How can you jump out of your aquarium? �Staying where you are is neither possible normal. �God is an endless source of power for us becoming our true selves. �Understanding purpose = authentic living

Characteristic 25: Purpose �The Giving Tree �Everything and everyone in life has purpose. Jesus said, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given” Mark 4: 24 NLT �The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be

Homework �Take time today to reflect on God’s purposes and how those are reflected in your own. How intentionally are you pursuing this on a daily basis? �Write down what you heard God saying about His purpose for you in the season you’re in now. Pay close attention to what God’s spirit is speaking to yours. Remember, the closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given.

Homework continued … �What can you be doing more of to “do your part” in bringing God’s purpose for your life to pass? What should you be doing less of? Heed this advice from Proverbs: “Form your purpose by asking for counsel, then carry it out using all the help you can get” (Prov. 20: 18). �Be intentional. Be purpose-minded.

Announcements �March 16 – Sowing Seeds @ 6: 00 p. m. �March 27 – NO SUNDAY SCHOOL – Easter Play �April 2 – Eric Grantham’s Fundraiser