Why should you take the time for another Bible study? You’ve already got a stack of Bible study workbooks and notebooks on the bookshelf and yet somehow you are not really that much different than you were the day before the first one. How is this one any different?
The truth is there is no Bible study that will “do it” for you. There hasn’t been a Bible study written that alone could change your life. Apart from your desire to seek the truth and the work of the Holy Spirit in you they are all destined to be dust collectors on your book shelf.
The difference is something only you can truly answer. It’s an old question that Jesus asked long ago to a crippled man who could not get himself to the healing waters in time to experience the healing he so desperately wanted. In John 5 this crippled man tells Jesus that he doesn’t have anyone who can help him into the pool when the water is stirred. This man wanted something very good – he wanted to be healed. Yet he was looking for help in every direction except in the direction of Jesus, the only one who was capable of helping him.
Abortion and sexual abuse are deep wounds within us. The pain is difficult to ignore so we try to cover it up with so many other things in our life so that we don’t have to experience the shame, and the condemnation and the pain day in and day out. Somewhere mixed in with our attempt to cover the pain we are really hoping we’ll discover a way to make it go away, to fix it, to fix us. Like the man by the pool waiting for someone who could help him we neglect to look to the ONLY one who can truly heal us – Jesus.
The truth is that any healing work is between each of us and Jesus. The one who can heal asks the question – “Do you want to get well?” and the outcome depends on our answer to Him. When we are willing to cooperate with Him and allow Him to use the truth of His Word, through the Holy Spirit, to penetrate deep into our heart then the real work of healing can take place. If you are looking for a warm, fuzzy, fill-in-the-blank Bible study then A Journey to Grace may not be what you’re after. But if you want to learn to LIVE and walk out this life in Freeedom, with Hope and Healing, experiencing Forgiveness, Joy and Peace and knowing Jesus as never before then this might be the one.
