Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl Bible Study Participant's Guide: Living the Faith after Bible Class Is Over

Session 1

In My Heart

The reality is no person, possession, profession, or position ever fills the cup of a wounded, empty heart—not my heart, not your heart. It’s an emptiness only God can fill.

VIDEO TEACHING SEGMENT

As you and your group watch Lysa teach on this topic, use the following outline to take notes on anything that stands out to you.

NOTES

No person, possession, or position can fill up our heart.

[Your Notes]

When we try to force something besides God to fill us, it quickly turns from a blessing into a burden.

[Your Notes]

Anything we use as a substitute for God is an idol, a false god.

[Your Notes]

It wasn’t just the people of the Old Testament that struggled with idols.

[Your Notes]

The same answer their idols gave them is the same answer our idols give us.

[Your Notes]

With every if only I had statement that tries to trip us up, we must replace it with a truth from God’s Word.

[Your Notes]

When I am satisfied with God and filled up with His truth, I can stop having unrealistic expectations from:

People,

[Your Notes]

Possessions,

[Your Notes]

And Positions.

[Your Notes]

VIDEO SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

1. As you watched the video teaching segment, what is one main point that you would like to apply to your life?

[Your Response]

2. Why is it so tempting to try to get our fulfillment from people, possessions, and positions?

[Your Response]

3. How does this affect our relationships?

[Your Response]

4. How does this affect our attitude toward possessions?

[Your Response]

5. How does this affect us in the positions we hold?

[Your Response]

6. How can we become more deeply satisfied with God?

[Your Response]

7. With what Bible verses can you replace your if only I had statements?

[Your Response]

BETWEEN-SESSIONS

Personal Bible Study

DAY 1

Read chapter 1 of the Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl book. If you’d like, record any highlights in the space below.

[Your Notes]

DAY 2

Complete this lesson:

I’m not sure when I first felt I wasn’t good enough, but my earliest stinging memory of it happened in a place where strobe lights tumbled about in a skating rink full of elementary school kids…. I fidgeted with the laces of my skates hoping to send a very clear message: the only reason I wasn’t couple skating was that I had a slight equipment malfunction. But in my heart, a false perception was cutting deeper and deeper into my soul with every beat of the Rick Springfield song. The false perception was rooted in this one flawed thought: You, Lysa, are not acceptable the way you are.

Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl, p. 17

1. During my growing up years, I was deeply affected by the feeling that I was unacceptable. Write briefly about a time when you did not feel acceptable.

[Your Response]

2. Look up the following verses and summarize them here:

Proverbs 21:3

[Your Response]

Isaiah 1:13 – 18

[Your Response]

1 John 1:7

[Your Response]

3. How does the world define the word acceptable?

[Your Response]

4. How does Jesus define the word acceptable?

[Your Response]

The word acceptable can literally be defined as pleasing or worthy to the receiver. It is who we are offering ourselves to that determines whether or not we are acceptable. If we offer ourselves to other people, we will never be wholly acceptable. People’s standards are illusive, airbrushed, unrealistic, temporary, and ever changing.

God’s standards are secure, based on what Jesus has done for us and not on anything we try to do ourselves. But we must make the choice to focus on Jesus and His definition of us rather than other people or worldly standards.

5. One verse on this matter that helped me tremendously is Jeremiah 29:11.

Write that verse here.

[Your Response]

What does this verse reveal about God?

[Your Response]

What does this verse reveal about me?

[Your Response]

6. Now let’s put Jeremiah 29:11 in context by reading verses 12 and 13 as well. What are three amazing promises made to us in these verses?

• [Your Response]

• [Your Response]

• [Your Response]

These weren’t just rote prayers being offered up in an obligatory fashion. These were prayers that caused seeking — and not just casual seeking. These prayers caused a wholehearted seeking with a promise of finding God.

7. What is your honest assessment of your prayer life now? Circle the description that best fits you:

a. practically nonexistent

b. canned and obligatory

c. friendly but not powerful

d. effectively seeking with all my heart

Seeking God with all our heart means to be completely filled and fulfilled by Him. Fulfillment means to be completely satisfied. How might our lives look if we were so filled with God’s truths that we could let go of the pain of our past, not get tripped up by the troubles of today, or consumed by the worries of