Stepping Up - Introduction

Time for another Beth Moore study and I am so excited about it!  I will try to blog through it -  I have been doing great at getting homework done so now I just need to work at blogging as I go.  Please pray that I have the perseverance to do it.

I do have to state my disclaimer here, that many of the ideas are not my own.  This is a directed and guided Bible study using the Stepping Up workbook.  Each day of homework that I blog about comes from this workbook and some of it may even be directly quoted.  The credit needs to go to Beth Moore and ultimately to God.  He has guided me down this particular path and will guide me in what I need to learn.  And I thank him for providing such a wonderful teacher as Beth Moore!!

Ok, the basis for this study is 15 Psalms - Psalm 120-134 which are the Psalms of Ascent.  I had no clue what that meant, but it is actually really amazing.  These are Psalms that the Jews would sing on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

In the session we also learned that in the Temple court there is a staircase that has 15 steps, which could have been one for each of the 15 Psalms.  The parallel that we can draw is that as we work through each Psalm we are stepping up and moving on from where we have been.  Each step gets us closer to God.

So what do we want from Bible study, what should we be striving for?  Beth states in the workbook...

"I expect nothing less than a new level of intimacy with God through these pages."  and goes on to state "The more we bare our souls to God, the safer we'll feel with Him and the closer we'll draw to Him." 

 And that is what it is all about - drawing closer to Him!

As always, the DVD session was fantastic and it is exciting to be studying with Beth again!  The visuals of the temple were amazing and really makes me want to visit Israel!  She reminds us that the Jews had to go to the temple to get close to the presence of God, but through Jesus we are invited into His presence at all times.  She also left me with a powerful image... (not a direct quote because I can't write that fast - but the concept is there).

Imagine Jesus coming down those 15 steps towards you, holding out his hand and saying "Come with me, one step at a time, I am with you" 

Jesus brings us into the presence of God and guides us as we get closer to Him.