Are You About to Study Embracing Joy? (Bible Study Introduction)

Are you considering studying Embracing Joy: An 8-Week Transformational Bible Study of Habakkuk? This episode will give you an overview of the study and tips for studying it. 

Get your copy of Embracing Joy on Amazon or Our Daily Bread Publishing.

Visit my website for more Embracing Joy resources.

For more resources for studying the Bible, visit JeanWilund.com

If you want information about studying or purchasing my books visit my website for more information on Embracing Joy and Ease into the Bible:

Embracing Joy: An 8-Week Transformational Bible Study of Habakkuk

Ease into the Bible: How to Wade into the Water of God's Word with Confidence

Transcript

Are you about to study Embracing Joy: An 8-Week Transformational Bible study of Habakkuk? 

I’m Jean Wilund but It’s All About Him! Welcome to a fun place to get serious about Bible study—and to learn more about my Bible study Embracing Joy..

If you’re about to begin my study Embracing Joy, I want to thank you. “Thank you!” for entrusting me to lead you through the book of Habakkuk. The truths God revealed to His prophet have the power to do the same work in our hearts as they did in Habakkuk’s. 

Babylon may not be knocking down our front door, but when we learn and believe these truths that Habakkuk learned, we’ll be ready to face whatever tomorrow brings—to face it with abiding joy. To take joy in the Lord and rejoice in the God of our salvation—like Habakkuk. 

Whether you’re going through Embracing Joy alone or with a group, everything you need to understand this study is in the book—except the Bible. You’ll need a Bible and a pen or pencil. 

I created this podcast to give you an overview and to answer questions you may have or simply to share information that will enhance your study of Habakkuk. 

I’ll continue to add episodes, so reach out to me on my website JeanWilund.com if you have any questions you’d like me to answer on this podcast. 

One thing you’ll figure out as you go through the study is that first week and last week (the 8th week) are different—for a reason. The first week is for introduction. The last week is for lingering. I’ll explain in a minute.

The study is essentially divided into three parts: 

1.     the first part (the first week) being introduction,

2.      the second through the seventh weeks are for deep diving into Habakkuk, and as I said, 

3.     the eighth week is for lingering. 

First, we’ll start out in the first week talking about who Habakkuk is and how to use the Transformational Bible study method. This is a method I developed to study the Bible that has truly transformed me in a way that no other method ever has. So, we’re going ot go through that. I teach it to you in that first week. 

Plus, we talk about how God’s people descended into such evil that Habakkuk complains to God to please DO SOMETHING!! And God responds. Oh, how He responds. 

In Weeks Two through Seven, we’re going to dive into Habakkuk’s complaint, God’s response, and how the truths we learn will transform our hearts like they did Habakkuk’s from panic to praise and from confusion to confidence IF we believe and act on the truths. 

We finish studying the book of Habakkuk at the end of Week 7, and we spend Week 8 lingering in the truths. 

I didn’t want us to just finish Habakkuk, finish the last verse, close the book, and then rush off onto the next thing. I wanted us to linger in these wonderful truths—to marinate in them. And to see them lived out in more modern-day saints, such as John Newton, Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, Oswald Chambers, AW Tozer, and a little known missionary couple from Sweden. 

These saints believed and acted on the same powerful truths we learn through Habakkuk. Like him, they too came to know, trust, obey, experience, and love God—the God of their salvation, which empowered them to live out a level of faith that is sadly too rare among God’s people today. This kind of faith should be the norm because it's available to all who trust in Christ, including us.  

Each lesson of the study is designed to draw out these truths and lead us to respond to them with growing faith. 

I begin each lesson with a story that introduces the day’s lesson, followed by a section called Intent, where I give helpful information about the passages we’ll study. 

Next is the Truth section, where we study the day’s passage in Habakkuk, we dive into the Truths God reveals about Himself and others through these verses. 

We end the lessons with a Transformational Truth statement, the Transformation Question, and the Memory Verse. 

The Transformational Truth statement is a memorable statement that sums up the lesson. 

The Transformation Question calls us to respond to the truths we’ve learned. 

And the Memory Verse is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the verse we’re memorizing that week. Each week we memorize a different verse. Each lesson, we review the week’s verse. Please don’t skip this part.

I have a worksheet on my website that will help you keep track of the verses and memorize them. Go to the Embracing Joy tab on my website—Jeanwilund.com-- for this sheet and other helpful resources to study Habakkuk. 

Thank you again for joining me in Embracing Joy. I’m praying for you that by the end of the study, you’ll be able to say that you will never be the same. That the truths that transformed Habakkuk have transformed you—and filled you with abiding joy. 

If you haven’t started studying Embracing Joy yet, get it today. The link is on my website and in the show notes. Hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss an episode. I’m Jean Wilund. But It’s All About Him!