Intro:

Welcome! My name is Maggie, and I am very excited to be your guide on the incredible journey we are about to embark upon. I am a mature woman from the United States; a life-long believer - passionate about knowing and serving Jesus [Yeshua].  

Although I know God called me to this ministry, I want to be clear from the start that I do not hold any degrees, certifications or endorsements from any Bible college or other religious entity. On the contrary, though I have received training and have through my own study, learned to resource, I simply think of myself as a server (waitress) or guide (as I said above) who is here to facilitate a meaningful encounter with our creator and King for people with busy, modern lives.   

Our purpose here at “Strength and Courage” is to study scripture together as equals. I will attempt to slow us down at the difficult portions of scripture so we can excavate the deeper insights we've been missing. To facilitate our gaining deeper insight, I will typically provide links to articles and videos from a vast and diverse group of Bible scholars, Bible teachers and lay people with technical knowledge to help us better understand some of the more puzzling details in scripture. My only request is that you keep an open mind to consider the possible insight presented. I sincerely hope your experience on this journey through “The Gospel of Peace Study” is enjoyable, enriching and life altering.   

Some details of how I got here: 

Several years ago, I was in a wilderness time with God.  

The Wilderness?

If you are unsure what “a Wilderness Time” means, let me try to explain [not so] briefly.  

The Israelites, the descendants of God’s beloved friend, Abraham, had fallen into slavery in Egypt, and God heard their cries of anguish. God raised up a leader named Moses, a fellow Israelite who, through miraculous events, had actually been raised as a prince in the palace of the Egyptian king, Pharaoh. The story has a lot of incredible detail, so we’ll make it short for now as, God willing, we will continue on our journey with a second study based upon Moses and Israel’s Exodus from Egypt.

With Moses as their leader and intercessor, God delivered the Israelites from Egypt through a string of jaw dropping miracles. Once free from Egypt, however, God had to begin to deliver His people from their sinful, rebellious ways.  God had taken His people out of Egypt; that was the easy job, but now He had to take Egypt out of His people, and that was the tough/long term goal. The brief conclusion to this story is that the Israelite's spent forty years wandering in the wilderness, learning to trust, follow and obey God before they were allowed to enter Israel; and then, it wasn’t even the generation God delivered from Egypt who were actually allowed to enter God’s land but their offspring.
 

Times in the proverbial "Wilderness":   

For followers of Yeshua [Jesus], the wilderness usually means---struggling with temptation, adversity/hardships and sometimes giving up the things we "own" and/or love. These times are a fact of life for those who truly want to inherit eternal life in God’s Kingdom.  
 

There are many reasons for needing to face the "wilderness", such-as:

1) For new believers: New believers always face an "excursion in the wilderness" to soften our hearts, begin to train us to hear God’s voice and to initiate surety within us that we will be overcomers in the end.  

Example: when God called Abraham out of Babylon. Abraham had to leave all he knew to traverse the countryside in the area that is now the nations of Iraq, Syria and Jordan for many years, and then, finally he, his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot and a caravan of people who had joined themselves to God’s promises crossed over into the land of Canaan which would later become known as Israel. 

2) To refine God’s people: Another reason for being in the wilderness is: to correct, admonish, and encourage us as we learn to honor and obey our loving and righteous heavenly Father. 

Example: the children of Israel who wandered the wilderness for forty years as God proved His faithfulness, dismantled their remembrance of Egyptian idolatry and raised up a stronger, more faithful generation. 

  
3) To prepare God’s servants: The third purpose of a time in the wilderness is: to prepare us for ministry --- to teach us obedience to God and to be Strong and Courageous---faithful no matter what happens around us---to prove us. 

Example: Moses who spent 40 years in the wilderness learning to lead sheep before he was ready to lead God's people; also, John the Baptist [Yochanan the Immerser] who was raised in the wilderness by his mother after Herod had Zachariah, John's father, murdered; + many other examples including Yeshua [Jesus] who spent forty days fasting in the wilderness after He was baptized [Mikvah'd] by john. 

4) To establish us as faithful: Another reason for a wilderness time is, as an example --- to show you have grown and matured in your walk
Example: Job, a very faithful [possibly non-Israelite] believer who; because of his steadfastness; God was able to point out to satan [hasatan] to be tested and tried. Job suffered unbelievably, but he continued to acknowledge God's authority and ownership of all Job had --- even his own life and the lives of his family. 

  
5) Making God’s people soft [sensitive] to hear His voice: Times in the wilderness come most often when we who Love God are disobedient and hard headed (very common problems for humans by the way), or when we try to make something happen on our own; even if it’s a good thing --- our focus must never be on “the thing” but on our King. Refusing to let go of idols (including: things, people, satisfaction), or if we refuse to move when He says to; these are all types of rebellion, and He will often take us into a time of hardship, even lacking creature comforts and sometimes even without things we consider basic necessities to get us to the place where we will come into a right relationship with Him.  

Example: Jonah [Yonah] who tried to run away when God told him to go to Nineveh, a very wicked city, to preach God’s Gospel of Peace. Yonah ended up spending three days and nights in the belly of a “big fish” (talk about a wilderness experience), and some Jewish commentaries say that Yonah actually died and was brought back to life. After that --- Yonah went to Nineveh!

You may ask, “Why would a loving God put us through such hardships and pain, and the answer is truly “because He loves us”. You see, if we’re not actively submitting ourselves to God’s direction we will, always, wander off His path; away from His care and get lost trying to find our fulfillment without Him, which cannot work; ever.  

We have a loving and kindhearted Father in heaven who wants us all to be with Him in His Kingdom, always, but we can not live in His presence in His kingdom and be rebellious against His decrees. He is our King. We must learn to listen and obey, to trust and revere Him. 

If you are not yet sure of God’s goodness, I have a project in the "Topics Cache" section on the home page titled “The God Is Good List”. I recommend you start that project as soon as you can.

Back to my wilderness journey: 

So, again, I had recently begun a wilderness time with God. 

I was staying with a wonderful and very loving couple who run a large Christian boarding house. They let me stay free of charge for helping keep the house clean.  
There were many hardships; but after a while, I realized that God had answered my most fervent prayer and brought me to a place where I had the support and extra time I needed to be able to study the scriptures in a deeper way. 

  
6) To provide space and time for drawing closer to God: 

Extra time and space to learn from Him is another reason God will take us into a time in the wilderness. 

Example: the disciples of Yeshua who left all they had [including families] to wander the Levant learning from Yeshua.

Extra time with Yeshua, to worship and love Him, to study the scriptures, etc. was exactly what I had been praying for. This provision, although humbling and even painful in many ways, was such an amazing answer to prayer.   

Well, I determined that if God answered my prayer, gave me the time and place and wanted me to study, that I would focus and pour as much time and energy as possible into it.

That's when he began talking to me about the Gospel and revealed that most believers, just like me, do not really know what the gospel is and have no clue how to actually share it with others. 

That is where this journey into the gospel began, and now I’m so excited to share what I have learned over these many years.  
Link - Maggie's Video Commentary at Youtube Pt. 1

A Few Study Details, Schedule and Structure:

This study is designed to work us through scripture, for the most part chronologically; mining every section for a clearer understanding of God, how He feels about us, what He wants from us as well as clarifying His instructions as to how we must approach and serve Him. This study should ultimately, over time, reveal the actual “gospel” ([besorah] good news or good message) treasures which will enable us to become better followers of our King and better builders of His kingdom (our sacred calling).   

This study should:   

< broaden our basic understanding of the structure and detail of scripture 

< train us to consistently “study” God’s Word

< and ultimately, arm us with more insight and a more accurate perspective; many truths which will help make us His, teach us how to serve Him, lead us into a consistently more faithful connection with Him. Through this study we will focus on accessing insight which we can also have ready to share with those around us, varying our message according to the situation, conversation and the questions we're asked.

If you're like me, you are ready to dive in and begin to uncover the mysteries of God's Gospel, but before we move into the "meatier" study I want to spend the first several days (two weeks to be exact) defining some basic ideas, themes and terminology and touching on a few concepts we'll be encountering frequently.   
This knowledge will be vital as we move through scripture. Even those of us who have been reading the Bible for years need to obtain a good understanding of these issues. Defining the details will be, and should be, an ongoing process we'll tackle throughout our Biblical adventure. 

For our study I suggest you keep a journal and use it a LOT! This is where you’ll keep your notes, where you'll write your answers to textual questions and, I hope it is where you’ll record your thoughts, insights and deep contemplations.
 

The Importance of God’s Word:

Psalm 17:4-5 (CJB)  

4 As for what others do; by words from your lips I have kept myself from the ways of the violent; 5 my steps hold steadily to your paths, my feet do not slip.

Some people may ask “why do we have to study all of this scripture”; and it can seem like a daunting task when we’re new to this concept.  Allow me to assure you, however, that there is so much richness to the word of God; and all that “richness” is embedded in the word just waiting to nourish and grow us. 

I have done the typical; “oh, my gosh, I have to read three whole chapters in the next ten minutes --- so I can get on with my day”!  Yes, I have been there my friends, and I assure you, I have dreaded and forced myself to “read” the Bible for the last time. 

When God began to call me to this ministry, He also spoke to me about the love of “studying” His word, the Bible. He told me that the only way to “know” Him is to develop a love for learning about Him using the resources He Himself gave us and spending quality time with Him. 

The desire of my heart is to truly know Him, and I am guessing you have found your way here because you, also, have this same longing. God showed me a better way to approach His Word; a way that says, “slow down and embrace the art of ‘study’”, and I know He wants to inspire others with this passion as well.  

Let’s begin by praying as we embark upon this expedition. You should pray for help conquering all the issues which typically derail your attempts to draw closer to God, and yes, we all have such issues. I am adding a few points here which tend to cause problems for most of us:

1, Ask God to begin to help you slow down and enjoy your study times. We’re really-not running a marathon here ;)

2, Pray that He will help you be patient and committed.

3, Ask God to help you overcome your fallen/human nature which always battles against the good work God wants to do in us.

4, Pray God will help you find creative ways to overcome distractions, fatigue, your family and friend’s resentment of your commitment to spend quality time with God, your propensity to cave to filling all your time engaging in more worldly activities, and that He will help you over time to develop a workable plan, a schedule that you can implement to insure you are able to meet with Him over His word daily.

5, Ask God to help you remember what you learn.
 

Journaling: 

Take a fifteen minute break to get somewhere quiet and pray for your time doing this study and for a renewed passion for learning and understanding God and His word more deeply. Be sure to journal a list of the issues which usually derail your attempts at Bible study and add them to the list above as applicable. 

Throughout the course of this study, continue to pray for God’s help in overcoming all the distractions and issues you struggle with. 

Write the scripture above [Psalm 17:4-5] in your own words, including your thoughts on what King David [the author of this Psalm] was referring to when he said he had kept himself from the “ways of the violent by the words from God’s lips”. Make sure you come right back for the last section of this intro.
 

The Importance of Genesis: 

Having now acknowledged that a commitment to studying scripture is vital to our walk, I will venture to say that a “working knowledge” of the book of Genesis is, without a doubt, essential to connecting with God, growing our faith, understanding the rest of scripture and our mission on this earth. 

This one book is, in itself, an encapsulated and power packed version of the gospel. Without a firm foundation in the book of Genesis [Bereshit in Hebrew] we will misconstrue the rest of scripture and will never reach the depth of relationship we are intended to have with our Creator. Yes, my friends, I believe Genesis study is that important. 

So, now that we’ve discussed our itinerary and agenda; let’s get under way. 

Link - Maggie's video commentary Intro Pt 2 

I highly recommend for your own enrichment you follow the "50 Questions: Genesis" link at the bottom of this paragraph and take a few minutes to take the quiz. The idea is to take it again at the end of our journey through Genesis so you can see your progress and know the true value of your time and hard work doing these studies.

 The 50 Questions: Genesis

I have had trouble with this link, so if it does not work, you can also find the quiz in the "Topics Cashe", and you can download a printable version from the "Download Cache" at the bottom of the homepage.

If you're not interested in the quiz, please return to the home page and enter the "Gospel of Peace: Genesis" portal and click on the "week one" tab to continue.