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Week 1: Will You be Chosen to Receive Your Blessing?

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Thank you so much for joining me on this online journey through Tested by Fire. This first video will be slightly longer than most of our sessions together because it includes some of my testimony and some background on the book. Watch the introductory video below to discover what you can expect from this study and dig into some Bible teaching to prepare your way. I pray that God blesses you as we gather around His Word. If you like to follow along with notes, click here to view and print some prepared notes to accompany this session. See you in the Scriptures!

Watch the Video

Are you ready to leave the desert and enter into your personal Promised Land?

Week 1 Assignment

Complete days 1-3 of week one in your workbook. Don’t forget to invite God’s Presence to meet you there!

Optional Suggestion:

When Joshua was finally ready to lead the Israelites into their Promised Land, he gave them this command. Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” Joshua 3:5 Do you believe that God is about to do amazing things in your life? Ask God to show you what you can offer Him as an act of consecration over the next eight weeks. What can you do to show God that you would like to present yourself holy to Him in preparation for His mighty work? Perhaps it’s giving up a television show you watch or cutting back the time you spend on Facebook. Maybe it’s time spent shopping each week or giving up a particular food. Maybe it’s relinquishing a particular activity or finally doing something you know God’s been prompting you to do. Wherever He leads you, ask Him to help you keep your commitment to Him and trust Him to provide. He will honor your step of faith by revealing Himself. Let’s get ready to see God move!

Video Taping For Online Study Begins Today!

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As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”  At once they left their nets and followed him. 

When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Mark 1:16-20 NIV 1984

My heart is full today as we prepare to begin video taping sessions for Tested by Fire. I have to admit, I feel a bit like a fish out of water.

But as I read this story of the calling of Peter, Andrew, James, and John, I’m reminded that Jesus doesn’t call us to remain comfortable, or even invite us to stay with what’s familiar. He simply bids us to follow Him.

Yet an astounding truth surfaces in His invitation to follow. If we will, He will use our lives to catch people, gently rescuing them from the raging waters of the world and inviting them to breathe the fresh air of the Spirit.

Amazing.

I wish I could tell you I’m completely prepared for what’s coming. I’d love to announce that all my outlines are finished and I know exactly where we’re headed. But I need to be honest. I can’t. You see, Jesus hasn’t shown me all of it yet.

And that doesn’t necessarily sit well for a girl with a perfectionist personality and maybe a few tendencies toward control.

But my Lord is asking me trust Him. He’s simply saying, “Come, follow me.”

And I’m ready to follow. Because,

. . . I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

2 Timothy 1:12

I needn’t fear, because I know the One I believe. And He is faithful.

Just this morning in my quiet time, I read about Jesus in Isaiah 11:1-3.

 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of power,

the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—

and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

That same Spirit that came to rest on Jesus now resides within me. And He brings with Him every blessing He bestowed on Jesus . . .wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, and the fear of the LORD.

You and I have nothing to fear when we follow Jesus, dear one. Our faith opens us up to the gifts of the Spirit and allows God to reveal Himself.

And that’s good news. Because none of the people joining me in Bible study need me. They need to encounter Jesus through me.

Will you join me in praying for a fresh revelation of Jesus over the next nine weeks of Bible study? Will you pray that the ladies joining me in class will come to experience Jesus in a whole new way? And will you pray that the men and women joining me online through video will sense God’s presence even through the screen?

Thank you, dear one. God is about to do amazing things among us.

We’d love you to join us. Just click here to register. Do you sense Jesus calling you?