study guide

for personal study

and/or small groups
 01

F A I T H

01
Act, and God will act. Saint Joan of Arc

It is the year 2015. We live in the future, a time when almost

everything happens at the push of a button. It is wonderfully
convenient. There is no need to shop anymore; the shoes you wanted
come right to your door. No need to put on shoes and go to
Blockbuster; just push 3 buttons and the movie you want to see plays
on your TV. No need to buy groceries; those can be delivered by a guy
who goes through the grocery store and buys everything you need.
We have eliminated so much action from our lives.

The world has lost its sense of action, of doing. So many things are
done for us that we can easily forget that some things, especially in
regards to our faith, take hard work and perseverance.

This is what makes a life of faith all the more unique in this day and age.
Ask, seek, and knock are all verbs. Each requires us to be proactive
because a life of faith is a life of action. One cannot push a button to
have a relationship with God, nor can one simply hope that the
Kingdom gets built here on Earth. We must act, because God delights
in responding to us. God expects us to act because it is in being
proactive that we learn and it is based on our very actions that he can
respond to us. It is in seeking the answer to a prayer or being
persistent in following our hearts desires and callings where we can
learn more about loving God, ourselves, and others.

Take action in your faith today, and allow God to respond to you. But
be careful about all the asking . . . seeking and knocking require you to
stand up and go and live. And you and I both know we could all afford
to do a little more of that.

Emily Wilson on Faith

 S T U D Y
// What areas of your life are "wonderfully convenient"?

// Do you think the convenience of our world leads to a lack of

faith because it takes hard work and perseverance?

// Where is God calling you to be proactive in your life of faith?

// Do you believe God delights in responding to you?

// What can you ask for right now in prayer: where is your heart's
desires, where do you feel called?

// Are there areas you know in your heart youre supposed to be

seeking and knocking but you have hesitated to do so?

Faith
J O U R N A L

Faith
02

H O P E

02
There have been a few times that, quite memorably, I was so horribly
distressed by a situation that I was unable to say anything beyond the name of
Jesus. I remember being so terrified yet so utterly grateful that His name came
to my lips, as I truly believe His name alone is an extraordinarily powerful
prayer.

In the early days of the Church, the Apostles were flogged and ordered by the
Jewish authorities not to speak in the name of Jesus. Those same men left the
Sanhedrin, according to the Book of Acts 5:41, rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Why were the authorities so
afraid of Jesuss name, and why did the Apostles rejoice?

Later in Acts 21, Saint Paul says he is willing to be imprisoned and to die for the
name.

Not even too long ago, twenty one men proclaimed, Ya Rabbi Yasou (My Lord
Jesus), before they were brutally slaughtered for their Christian faith.

Why? Why would someone die for a name?

Because, my friends. The name of Jesus is not just any name. It is THE NAME
above all names. As Saint Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians:

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is
above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven
and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (2:9-11)

That passage gives me chills. Every time. Because there is no name greater
than the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. His name causes demons to flee. His
name casts out all fear. His name heals all our infirmities. His name frees us
and sanctifies us and makes us holy. And, my sisters, His name saves.

There is unparalleled hope in His namehope that we may be forgiven,

righteous, and redeemed. Do we live in the reality of this hope? Do we believe
that, one day, we, too may be with Him in Paradise?

Heather Renshaw on Hope

 S T U D Y
// Has there ever been a time you've been in a terrified or
distressed situation and His name came to your lips?

// Is there any name you put before the name of Jesus?

// What is holding you back from knowing and hoping in the

name of Jesus?

// Is there anything in your life causing you great fear or

infirmity? Anything you need healing from?

// What do you need renewed hope about?

Hope
J O U R N A L

Hope
03

L O V E

03
A widow walks behind the coffin of her only son, surrounded by her
community, weeping.

She is not alone, but she is lonely and deeply wounded. Who could know the
depths of her grief? Who could understand her sorrow and remove it?

A Man she has never met, His eyes full of love and brimming with tears,
touches the coffin. With one brief phrase He reverses death.

Would she run to her son first, or to the Man who raised him from the dead?
How marvelous a story Luke 7:11-17 tells in so few words, .

It strikes me that the writers of the Gospels revealed much by what they did
not say. In leaving room for the imagination, they encouragewhether
purposely or not, I do not knowour God-given capacity for empathy.

Luke's Gospel strikes a chord in my heart not only because I have a newborn
son, but because there are lessons here for each of us as women in all our
different stages of life.

Today, put yourself in the shoes of this woman, bereaved of both a husband
and an only son.

What have you lost? What or whom have you loved that has been taken from
you?

Remind yourself that, as Jesus looked upon her and was moved with pity, so
He will also look into your heart and be moved. Jesus is not a God of
transactions or legal exchanges, but of personal, rich, and entirely whole Love.

He doesnt save us because He has entered into a contract, but because He

sees us, and Hes moved with pity.

Relish and savor the rich, personal, entirely whole Love of Jesus todayfor you.

Audrey Assad on Love

 S T U D Y
// Can you picture yourself in the widow's shoes? What are you
feeling?

// What do you do when Jesus raises your son from the dead?
How is your heart moved?

// Do you see Jesus as a God of transactions and legal exchanges,

or a God of personal and whole Love? How so?

// What is it like to be pursued by Love Himself?

// How can we change how we live, knowing we are loved richly

and personally?

Love
J O U R N A L

Love
 04

M E R C Y

04
There Matthew sat in his sin. (Matthew 9:9-13)

Everyone knew tax collectors took more than they should, keeping the extra
for themselves. They were liars and thieves. They werent respected or trusted.
Perhaps as Matthew sat in his sin, he was inwardly crying out to God, begging
for a savior, hoping someone would restore his dignity.

We all have a sin or at least a temptation that, if we let it, can define us and
become the sum of who we are. Every other characteristic about us, all the
intricate details God added while He lovingly shaped us in the quiet, they can
all be wiped away by the word we allow to define us.

Bitter. Lazy. Mean. A gossip. Jealous. Afraid. Lustful. Prideful. Angry. Timid. Self-
centered. No self-control. Unreliable. We sit with these sins and we begin to
believe them. Maybe it starts out small but when we allow it, they will take over
until we reach the point where we doubt our own worth.

Now this part is important: You are not your sin.

You are a daughter of God. You are His beloved. You are His creation. God
does not create, love, or redeem crap.

Right now, Christ is calling out to you, just as He did to Matthew. Just like
Matthew, you have nothing to lose but everything to gain. Get up and follow
Him.

Bonnie Engstrom on Mercy

 S T U D Y
// What is it that you struggle with that you inwardly cry out to
God, hoping to be restored from?

// How has your past or your decisions shaped how you view
yourself?

// How easy is it to fall into the trap of doubting your worth?

// What do you need to let go of to remember that you are not

your sin or your past?

// How is God calling you out? Where is He calling you to follow

Him?

// When you look in the mirror or reflect on yourself, do you see

a daughter of God, His beloved?

Mercy
J O U R N A L

Mercy
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