Experiencing Spiritual Intimacy: Women of Faith Study Guide Series - Softcover

Kinde, Christa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1418507091 ISBN 13: 9781418507091

Verlag: Thomas Nelson, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

Women of Faith, renowned for their unique combination of personality and truth, offer fresh new messages in their fourth series of popular topical study guides. Titles include:

• Receiving God's Goodness
• Experiencing Spiritual Intimacy
• Contagious Joy
• Understanding Purpose

Each study guide, teeming with insights and quotes from the conference speakers provides twelve weeks of Bible study, a leader's guide for small groups, and a special take-home reminder for each week's lesson.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Head in the clouds. Feet on the ground. Heart in the story. Christa Kinde is a cheerful homebody whose imagination takes her to new places with every passing day. Making her home between misty mornings and brimming bookshelves in Southern California, she keeps her lively family close and her trusty laptop closer. Christa has been writing for more than a decade, producing numerous workbooks and study guides for Max Lucado, John MacArthur, and Women of Faith.  

 

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Experiencing Spiritual Intimacy

By Christa Kinde

Thomas Nelson

Copyright © 2006 Thomas Nelson, Inc.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4185-0709-1

Contents

Foreword...............................................ivIntroduction...........................................viiTheme Verse............................................viiiChapter 1 Knowing God..................................9Chapter 2 Being Known..................................17Chapter 3 I Will Send You a Helper.....................25Chapter 4 Cohabitation.................................33Chapter 5 Third Person.................................41Chapter 6 Sealed.......................................47Chapter 7 Undeniable Power.............................55Chapter 8 Quiet Infulence..............................63Chapter 9 Housewarming gifts...........................71Chapter 10 Fruit.......................................77Chapter 11 Fill 'Er up!................................85Chapter 12 Spiritual Intimacy..........................95Shall We Review?.......................................102What Shall We Study Next?..............................105Leader's Guide.........................................108

Chapter One

Knowing God

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

John 17:3 NKJV

Clearing the Cobwebs

Is there someplace you go to so regularly that you know it intimately-backward and forward?

Our family loves to go hiking. Nearly every weekend finds us packing up and heading out into the woods. Our favorite destination is a state-protected natural area surrounding a local lake. Trails of varying lengths and levels of difficulty wind through the trees, skirt small ponds, and zigzag up steep ridges. The first time we found this park, we were awed. Each bend in the trail brought us to some new and lovely scene. Now, the trails are becoming familiar. The more we revisit the paths, the more well-known each landmark becomes. A fallen tree covered with white mushrooms, a seven-trunked tree skirted with moss, a bench with a plaque reading, "Come aside and rest awhile." Each visit to the forested hillsides has yielded new discoveries as well-violets in spring, a doe and her fawn, a snail shell, a turtle, a crawfish, a pretty rock.

As Christians, we talk about God as a personal God. He's our Father. He's our Lord. He's our Savior. One of the strongest desires of our hearts is to know God more. But getting to know God is much like hiking through the woods. What begins in awe-inspiring discovery becomes comfortably familiar over time. When we've walked with God for many years, there are landmarks we can point to-answered prayers, unexpected graces, needed comfort, and blessing upon blessing. And as we travel the trails in our spiritual lives, and they become well-worn and smooth with frequent use, we make new discoveries about God as well. We come to know God in personal ways.

1. God is big. Vast. Limitless. Infinite. Just as a hiker who sticks to the trails only gains a small glimpse of the vast woods she's traveling through, we can only begin to know our Heavenly Father. What does Job 36:26 say about our limitations in understanding of God?

2. Despite the unsearchable nature of God, we begin with the assertion that God is God. It is a starting place for the relationship that will be built.

Exodus 8:10 - "That you may know that ...

Deuteronomy 4:35 - "That you may know that ...

Deuteronomy 4:39 - "Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that ...

Psalm 46:10 - "Be still, and know that ...

Psalm 100:3 - "Know that ...

3. What precious gift does God give to us, according to Jeremiah 24:7?

4. How does 1 John 5:19-20 say that we came to know God?

5. So how can we go about getting to know a God who is unknowable? What does Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 2:10?

6. Let's read some more of this passage. According to 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, why have we received the Spirit of God in our hearts?

I know my own grocery store like the back of my hand. No matter what I might need, I know exactly where to find it. Yeast, raisins, popcorn, evaporated milk-I can quote you aisle and shelf. But drop me in the middle of a grocery store on the other side of town, and I might as well be in the Amazon forest. I've lost my sense of direction. I don't know how to navigate. I'm lost.

Getting to know God is often like getting to know a new grocery store. Just when we think we have God all figured out, something unexpected shakes us to our foundations. For a little while, we're lost. That's when we rely most on the Holy Spirit. He reminds us of the things that are unchanging, and helps us to readjust when God does the unexpected.

7. Has God ever surprised you, for better or for worse, and opened up your eyes to some new facet of Himself?

8. Getting to know God is a lifelong journey. We should never give up the pursuit. In Isaiah 58:2 we get a picture of what followers of God should be like. How are they characterized?

9. Each of us has some area in our life that we're proud of-some accomplishment, some talent, some characteristic, some facet of our personality. You might call it one of the reasons you're glad you're you! What does Jeremiah 9:24 say we should be proud of, boast about, or glory in?

Digging Deeper

Do you think you can know God and not have it change your life? There are two sides to this. What is Paul's criticism of those who say they know God but don't show any evidence of it in Titus 1:16? And how does David describe a life lived in the pursuit of knowing God in 1 Chronicles 28:9? How has knowing God changed your life?

Ponder & Pray

God is knowable, and we long to know Him intimately. This week as you ponder this, try to make a list of the ways in which God still "wows" you with awe-inspiring discoveries. Then add to that list the ways in which He has become a comfortable and familiar friend Are there landmarks in your relationship with Him? Thank the Lord this week for well-traveled trails you've shared with Him, then ask God for new paths that will lead you to a more intimate knowledge of Him.

Trinkets to Treasure

At the close of every Women of Faith conference, women are asked to play a little game of pretend. Each conference guest is asked to imagine that a gift has been placed in her hands-one from each of the speakers-to serve as reminders of the different lessons shared. This study guide will continue this tradition! At the close of each lesson, you will be presented with a small gift. Though imaginary, it will serve to remind you of the things you have learned. Think of it as a souvenir. Souvenirs are little trinkets we pick up on our journeys to remind us of where we have been. They keep us from forgetting the path we have traveled. Hide these little treasures in your heart, for as you ponder them, they will draw you closer to God.

Trinkets to Treasure

Your trinket this week-a walking stick-will serve as a reminder that our Christian walk gives us the chance to know God. Something to lean on as we travel the well-worn trails of God's continued goodness. A steadying handhold as we explore new paths...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Thomas Nelson
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1418507091
• ISBN 13: 9781418507091
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 128
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland