Week 5

You’re On Your Way Up

By Sandra Clifton, D.Min.

 

Begin your study by reading “When Do I Get There?” by Naomi Dowdy (SpiritLed Woman magazine, June/July 2007).

 

Introduction

Do you have goals and dreams? How do you get “from here to there”? Don’t be dismayed if not much seems to be happening or happening as smoothly or as fast as you would like.

God is with you all the way! He is in the transition of your moving into His promises, whether you see Him or not at work! And, being a good God, He desires that you arrive at the best for you! His Word affirms it and will guide you, sustain, and keep you on course to fulfill His best for you and your life!

 

What God Says

Read Is. 45:2.

 

Write it out. Contemplate what it means applied to your life.

 

Deeper Insight

Read the following scriptures (in New King James Version, as the exercises to follow will be based on that). Make brief notes of what each passage is saying to you about God’s loving presence in your life, helping you to fulfill His best for you.

 

Isa. 45:2: _______________________________________________________

 

Joel 2:25: _______________________________________________________

 

Rom. 8:28: _______________________________________________________

 

2. Cor. 3:18: _____________________________________________________

 

Application

Below are three well-known Scriptures that will reassure you of God’s faithful presence in your life. Fill in the blanks (using NKJV, taken from the previous Deeper Insight section). Check afterward to see how you did by looking up each one. Put them on 3x5 note cards, memorizing them, as powerful reminders of His love and faithfulness.

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Isa. 45:2a: “I will ___ before ____ and make the _________ places ________.”

 

Joel 2:25 (first line): “So I will ________ to you the _____that the swarming _______ has _____.”

 

Rom. 8:28: “For I am _________ that neither _____ nor _______, nor ______ nor __________ nor _____, nor things _______nor things to _____, nor _______ nor depth, nor any other created ____ shall be able to __________ us from the ______ of God which is in _____ ____ our Lord.”

 

For Group Study

Begin your group time by reading aloud Isa. 45:2, and then go around the group, with each sharing how this might be so (present or in the past) in each one’s life. Have each one share how she has looked back and seen evidence of “God at work” all along, preparing ahead of time the best outcomes (though perhaps it didn’t seem so when going through the challenges or wait Encourage testimonies.

            End the meeting by taking prayer requests, praying for victorious outcomes to the goals and dreams of the members.

 

Prayer

Memorize Romans 8: 28. Read it aloud as the beginning of your prayer. Thank the Lord for a loving and deep relationship with Him! Give thanks that nothing or no one, or any circumstance or thing of the world, can interfere with your relationship with Him! Thank Him that He always gives you the victory over all circumstances—and empowers you to be more than a conqueror (as promised in Romans 8:27)!