Breaking Free 2-3

I am behind because I have been out of town so I am going to combine weeks 2-3 lessons. They correlate nicely by day. Week 2 goes through the five benefits that God has given to His children. While week 3 goes through some obstacles that stand in the way of us enjoying the above mentioned benefits. Each of the benefits correlates with one of the obstacles that keeps us from enjoying the benefits.

Day 1: Isaiah 43: 10-13 To know God and to believe him correlates with the obstacle of unbelief. Genesis 15:6 and Romans 4:3 cites how Abraham's belief was accounted to him as righteousness. The study uses the story found in Mark 9:22 when a man who cries to God to help his unbelief.

Day 2: Isaiah 43:7 To Glorify God correlates with the obstacle of pride. (Isaiah 57:15, Isaiah 42:8, Jeremiah 13:15-17). It goes through many verses on pride and the how we are to glorify God. The Hebrew word for glory is kavedh meaning to be renowned or to show oneself mighty. In other words God's glory is the way He makes Himself known and recognizable. When we have pride we are unable to be used by God to show glory to others.

Day 3: To Find Satisfaction in God (Isaiah 55:2) correlates with the obstacle of idolatry (Isaiah 44:10) An idol is anything that is put above or in place of God in our lives. Isaiah saw rampant idolatry in Israel and they ultimately reaped shame (Isaiah 44:6-23).

Day 4: To experience God's peace (Isaiah 48:18) correlates with the obstacle of prayerlessness (Isaiah 56:5-7) The study went through Phil 4:6-7 and the teacher did a lot of discussion on prayer in the main session with 1 Cor 10:13. Prayer helps to change our passion. Sometimes we hold onto habits and patterns in our lives because we deep down don't really want to give this particular thing up. The basic idea is that prayer changes our passions so that we are choosing to and ultimately want to be free. Prayer also creates a partnership with our Lord.

Day 5: To enjoy God's presence correlates with the obstacle of legalism. (Isaiah 29:14) The basis of this is that we are not able to enjoy His presence (Psalm 139:7-12 and Hebrews 13:5) when we replace Him with rules, performance, and details.

That is the basic outline with not a lot of detail, but it helped me review and refresh. Until next time.