The Magnificent Obsession – Introduction

The Magnificent Obsession – Introduction

Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  Galatians 3:6

Hey there sweet friends and welcome to our Summer at the Well study of “The Magnificent Obsession” by Anne Graham Lotz.  I am super excited to spend some sweet time with the Lord and you in the pages of Genesis as we dig deep into the life of the Patriarch of our faith, Abraham.  This book, and the Scriptures that it is based on, have absolutely rocked my world!  My prayer is that your’s too will be sufficiently rocked in such a way that you will never settle for anything less than the magnificent obsession in your own life!

If you have not already purchased a copy of your book, don’t worry… you can begin the study whenever you like.  If you missed the “Instructional Blog” from last week, you’ll find it on the main blog page, right hand column: Magnificent Obsession (see entry from May 19th).

THIS WEEK’S ASSIGNMENT:

  • Read the short forward (from Rick Warren) and Anne’s introduction.
  • In addition, your Scripture reading for this week are: Acts 7:2-8; Romans 4; Galatians 3; and Hebrews 11:1-17.  This will give you the New Testament overview of the life and faith of Abraham.
  • Think about the phrase, “Abraham believed God…”  What does that mean to you?  You may want to take some time to do a word study on the word “believed”.
  • Something to think about: In what areas of your life do you need to believe God bigger?
  • Finally, don’t forget to “comment” (at the end of this blog) with your thoughts about what you’ve read, studied… and what the Lord is saying to you through this study of His Word!

“To believe God bigger and better… more and more:”  This is the goal of our summer Bible study of the life of Abraham.  Oh, that we might come to know God the way Abraham did… that we, too, might be considered God’s “friend” because we’ve believed Him.

I love the way Eugene Peterson phrases it in The Message ~

5-6″Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don’t these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.”

May it be said of each one of us, “Consider ____________ (you): She believed God and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.” 

I leave you with these lyrics by Mark Altrogge from “One Pure and Holy Passion”…

Give me on pure and holy passion

And give me one magnificent obsession

Give me one glorious ambition for my life

To know and follow hard after You.

Pressing on… to know God better and better!

xo – P