Stormie Omartian - Choose Love Prayer and Study Guide: The Three Simple Choices That Will Alter the Course of Your Life

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Scripture verses are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover by Harvest House Publishers, Inc., Eugene, Oregon

Back cover author photo Michael Gomez Photography

CHOOSE LOVE PRAYER AND STUDY GUIDE

Copyright 2014 by Stormie Omartian

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-5993-3 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5994-0 (eBook)

All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of authors and publishers rights is strictly prohibited.

Contents

A supplemental workbook to

T his Prayer and Study Guide is a companion to the book Choose Love . So you will need to have that book with you in order to answer the questions and follow the instructions after youve read each chapter (it will be referred to as the book within each weeks questions and directions). You will also need a Bible to read the suggested Scriptures and write out your prayers and personal insights. I have used the New King James Version here, but you can use the translation you are most comfortable reading. I also recommend having a small notebook or journal with you because I believe you will want to write.

The purpose of this Prayer and Study Guide is to convince you of how much God loves you and to encourage the deepening of your relationship with Him. It will also help you grow in love for the Lord and effectively express your love to Him. It will then show how God wants to guide you as you extend His love to others, and what needs to be determined first by seeking Gods will and discerning His instructions in specific situations. The more you understand how much God loves you, the more you will love Him, and the more He will pour His love into you so you can better love others. In the process, the course of your life will be altered for the better. Thats because God wants to bless you in ways you may not have realized before, and that only happens as you show love for others.

This Prayer and Study Guide is not intended to just give you something to do or to be busywork for you. This is not like being in school where you fill out papers for a grade. No one is judging you. What you write is for the purpose of helping you draw conclusions and make decisions based on biblical truth and the evidence of your own life experiences.

In Private or Group Study

You may choose to complete this Prayer and Study Guide by yourselfbetween just you and Godand He will speak to your heart as you ask Him to do so.

However, you may also want to get together with one or more other people in a group setting, which is also extremely valuable and uplifting. If so, read the chapter (or chapters) in the book assigned for that week, depending on how many chapters your group has decided to cover in a week. If your group wants to do one chapter a week, it will take approximately five months of meeting together once a week. Or, if you and the others have the time to cover two chapters a week, you will be done in about three months. You decide how you want to do it.

One of the advantages of doing this Prayer and Study Guide as a groupor even with just one other personis that you can share your answers with others as you feel led. This book is personal for you, so only share what you are comfortable doing and keep private what you want to keep private. No one else should ever be reading your Prayer and Study Guide unless granted permission by you. Just know that what you do share with others from an open heart can bring great encouragement, healing, and blessings not only for them but for you as well.

Usually, more people will be wanting to share than there is time for, so decide how much time to allow for your meetinganywhere from one to two hours is goodand try to abide by that. Busy people tend to drop out when they cant depend on meetings letting out at the agreed upon time.

After going through the questions, ask for a few testimonies of what God taught or revealed to each personabout Him or about themselvesor how He encouraged them as they read the chapter and responded to the questions.

Always close the meeting with a prayer. Whatever way God leads you in thiswhether you pray, or you call upon several to pray, or let whoever feels led to praywill be a very powerful time for everyone.

I pray that as you complete this Prayer and Study Guide , you will meet God in His Word and it will be life-changing for you. I pray you will grow in greater appreciation of Gods love for you, your love for Him, and the love He puts in your heart for others.

When You Are Finished

Once you have completed this Prayer and Study Guide , you will have written prayers you can pray again and again. You will have recorded insights the Lord has given you regarding specific Scriptures. And you will also have written Scripture out as prayers and be more accustomed to including Gods Word in your prayers. In this way, this Prayer and Study Guide will be a powerful tool to help ignite your prayer life, keep you refreshed and renewed, and enhance your ability to choose to receive Gods love for you, express your love for Him, and love others in a way that pleases Him every day.

When you do this, you will be amazed at what doors will open up for you in your personal lifedoors to greater fulfillment, positive experiences with other people, and a sense of the Lords love with you always. Your love will grow for God every time you express it to Him, and He will pour more of His love, mercy, and compassion into you. You will not only know Him better, but you will know yourself better as well. And you will have a greater sense of His purpose for your life.

Shall we get started?

Read Chapter 1: See Yourself the Way God Sees You in Choose Love

1. Are you generally hard on yourself or fairly forgiving? Do you have extremely high standards and require perfection from yourself, or do you give yourself grace enough to say without condemnation, I will simply try harder in that area? The difference is whether you beat yourself up when you feel you have not lived up to your own standards or not. Explain your answer.

2. Do you see any weakness in yourself as failure on your part or as an opportunity to trust God to be strong in you?

In light of your answer, write out a prayer asking God to help you see any failure you feel you have experienced as an opportunity for Him to be strong in you. If you can think of a particular time in your past where you should have turned to Him for strength and didnt, be specific about that.