Jenna Lucado Bishop - Love Is... Bible Study Guide: 6 Lessons on What Love Looks Like

2013 by Jenna Lucado Bishop

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4016-7856-2
ISBN: 978-1-4016-7857-9 (ebook)

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To my bee-sting healer, my carpool driver, my

homework helper, my relationship advisor, my wedding

planner, my best empathizer, my constant encourager,

my Bible teacher... and, oh, so much more. I want

to love others like you love me. And I want to love

Jesus the way you love Him. Mom, I love you.

Contents

Love.

We were made for it.

Made to love. Made to be loved. Made to say love. Made to know love.

But did you know you were made by Love?

Love thought you into existence.

Love knit you together in your mothers womb and then breathed life into your soul.

Love gave you a purpose.

Love gave you a name.

Love knows the number of hairs on your head and number of thoughts inside it.

Love knows your every move, your every secret, your every victory, your every tear, your every chuckle, your every sigh.

Love made you.

You see...

Love is a Someone.

Sure, love is a word.

Youve read the word hundreds of times on hundreds of book covers, billboards, magazines.

Youve heard the word thousands of times in thousands of song lyrics, commercials, movies.

Youve said the word millions of times about millions of things, places, people.

Sure, love is an action.

You love your friend, and so you spend time with her.

You love your grandparents, so you smile when they give you that green, fuzzy purse at Christmas that looks more like a pet than an accessory.

You love your mom, and so you wash the dishes. (Ahem. Hint. Hint.)

Sure, love comes with feelings.

You feel butterflies when he walks in the room.

You feel comfortable to be yourself when you are with them.

You feel compassion when she is hurting.

But, above all, love is a Someone.

First John 4:8 says, God IS Love (emphasis mine).

As we hang out together over the next six weeks, my hope is that you spend time getting to know Lovethe capital L kind. Get to know the Love that made you. Get to know the only Love who wont fail you.

Sit with God. Soak up God. Spend time with God. Because the more we get to know Love as a Someone, the more we understand what love really means.

Love to you, sweet friend,

Jenna

Before we begin this journey together, I thought I would tell you a little bit about what is to come and give you some suggestions that may help you along the way.

Every week of this Bible study is broken up into five days. I suggest you break up the material into these days instead of doing it all at once. That way, you are practicing the habit of setting aside time to spend with God every day. This discipline changed my life! And I know it can change yours if you have yet to experience it. So take the study a day at a time if possible.

Other than the first week, the final five weeks are all broken up into four parts:

READ This section is for observation. You are just reading the overall story for that week and jotting down what you see. Dont worry, Ill provide questions to guide you through this step.

REALIZE This section is a time when you and I look a little deeper into the storythe context, the history, the details that typically require some outside study. Ive done the outside study for you (phew!), but if you would like to do further research, here are some of my go-to resources:

1. A Bible dictionary. I used the Thomas Nelson Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

2. A Bible encyclopedia. I typically refer to a free one online called International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

3. A Bible commentary. I love this great Web site that offers a lot of credible and insightful commentary as well as other resources. Its www.biblos.com. Check it out!

4. A Study Bible.

RESPOND This section is a time for you to get honest with your heart. What did you learn that day, and what do you want to apply to your own life? Its important that you be transparent with God during this portion. Ive noticed the more open I am with God, the more He moves in me, transforms me.

RETAIN This section is a time to memorize a favorite verse from the story that week. It might be tempting to glaze over this part of the study. I know it would be for me, because Im terrible at memorizing! But please dont skip this section! Memorizing scripture is so important. It implants the Word of God deeply in our hearts. And Ive noticed that when I do it, as I live my life and run into a dilemma, a verse that Ive memorized never fails to pop up into my head. It brings me comfort, clarity, direction. This is one of the ways Gods Word becomes alive inside of us, transforming us to be more like Jesus.

Okay, well Ill stop chattering so that we can dive in. I cant wait to see what God is going to do!

Day 1Love Is: A Someone

Eric was my first love.

Yes, Eric. Just Eric.

Dont ask me what his last name was. I didnt know then, and I dont know now. But were last names important as a kindergartner? Absolutely not! The only requirements I had to fall in love as a five year old were the following:

He had to be cute.

He had to be nice.

Oh, and if he gave me presents, like a cherry Ring Pop, that meant he was really the one for.ev.er. (Or at least until recess was over.)

Eric was cute. Check.

Eric was nice. Check.

Did he give me ring pops? No. Which leads me to the problems with this first love of mine.

You see, Eric was a prince. And though my plastic, pink, princess crown my mom bought me at Toys-R-Us qualified me as royalty in my little mind, Erics royal status was of a different level.

On top of the prince thing getting in the way, Eric was... well... a cartoon. That was somewhat of a hurdle in our relationship. And the icing on the cake? He was taken by my favorite Disney princess (and best friend), Ariel.

So prince, plus cartoon, plus dating my BF, equaled unrequited love.