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Copyright © 2021—Lifeway Church All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted UNSHAKEABLE and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by FAITH Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Lifeway Church 2230 Lebanon Valley Mall CONTRIBUTORS Lebanon, PA 17042 FROM LIFEWAY CHURCH: www.lifewaychurch.life Mark Bilik Amy Calkins Printed in the United States of America. Kim Burris Toby Burris Gary Groff Renee Groff Dean Lengel Alicia Martin Vern Martin Aaron Patches Brittany Patches Steve Sabol Danielle Yingst Unshakeable Faith: PRAY: Use these prayers to help you connect with Jesus or to A confident belief in God’s character and nature that cannot activate your own conversations with the Lord. be destroyed by external circumstances Want to go further? We’ve included additional material at the If you’ve ever seen the damage a storm can do, you know that back of the book to help you learn along with others. nothing is secure once the wind begins to blow. Limbs fall from trees, potted plants are toppled, and rocking chairs are whisked offers supplemental scripture readings and from porches. Our lives are not much different if we have not laid Going Deeper discussion questions that can be used for small groups, couples, the groundwork for a faith that withstands the storms of life. or families who want to broaden their understanding of faith in a group setting. The word of God encourages us to build our lives wisely. Listen to these words from Jesus in Matthew 7:24–25: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise Family Devotions includes hands-on activities and conversation- man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the starters for families with young children. floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” Our hope is that your faith continues to expand and grow beyond this 21-day adventure. While we believe this book will be helpful, ultimately, it is the power and presence of the Holy Spirit living For the next three weeks, we invite you to build an unshakeable inside you that will activate your faith journey, spur you on to love foundation of faith as you engage in reading God’s word and God’s word, motivate your prayer life, and help you persevere applying it to your life. Your daily scriptures and devotionals will when life gets challenging. All of this is possible with Jesus Christ! explore the following principles about faith: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Faith grows. Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of Faith believes. eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18). Faith acts. Faith anticipates. Faith perseveres. Renee Groff Discipleship Pastor Each day offers you the opportunity to go deeper as you engage Lifeway Church in the following activities: REFLECT: Ponder your past experiences and current mindsets in order to maximize your faith journey. APPLY: Be encouraged to grow in your faith through practical application of each day’s concepts. JOURNAL: Record what you are hearing and learning from God as you process your daily experiences. As we embark on this faith journey together, here is a bit of good news! 1. Faith is a gift. FAITH 2. You can ask for more. Sometimes it is easy to get discouraged by what we perceive as our lack of faith. Thankfully, God has a different perspective. He GROWS. likes to use our circumstances to provide what we lack and grow our faith. When God’s word and His power, combined with our willingness to grow and learn, are applied to our circumstances, the result is a dynamic upward trajectory in our faith journey! When we can see the big picture of what God is doing, our perspective shifts, and we can learn to trust God even when it is hard to do so. DAY 1 REFLECT: Think about the people who left a lasting impression on you. How did their faith in God impact the way they lived day to day? How …remembering before our God and Father can you shift your thinking about your own legacy? your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. APPLY: 1 Thessalonians 1:3 Ask the Lord to reveal to you the purity of your work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in Christ and to strengthen I often ponder what kind of legacy I want to leave behind when any areas that are weak or wavering or lacking. I am gone. How do I want people to remember me? I hope they recall me with fondness, that they will have felt loved by me, and that I will have spoken something into their lives that made a JOURNAL: difference. As I’ve crossed the mid-century mark, I realize that a lot of my goals and aspirations don’t really matter in light of Write out the kind of legacy of faith you wish to leave for those eternity. Sure, it’s nice to have a good hair day, bake a mean coming behind you. Give thought to what you want to be known batch of brownies, or be known for a great sense of humor, but for and how you will make it a reality. I’m fairly certain those things have no real lasting value when it __________________________________________________________ comes to impacting the lives of other people. __________________________________________________________ I cannot think of a better legacy than the one Paul refers to in his __________________________________________________________ opening remarks to the church at Thessalonica. He specifically __________________________________________________________ references three things: __________________________________________________________ Their work of faith: Everything they did was energized by faith __________________________________________________________ in Christ—not by a sense of duty or obligation, but by a genuine __________________________________________________________ belief in God that fueled their actions. __________________________________________________________ Their labor of love: Sometimes love is hard work, but they were __________________________________________________________ willing to do whatever was necessary to demonstrate the love of God without worrying about what personal sacrifices they might need to make. PRAY: Their steadfastness of hope in Christ: Their hope in Christ’s presence in the now as well as their confidence in the future He “God, I want to be known for my unwavering faith in You. Please had promised helped them endure and persevere when times help me to grow and mature in this area. Help me to serve and were difficult. love You and others from a place of genuine faith. Keep my motivation pure and my hope firm. In the name of Jesus, Amen.” Let’s be mindful of our legacy today and make it our goal to be known for our faith in Christ. –Renee Groff DAY 2 REFLECT: Consider the goodness and generosity of God, that He doesn’t ask anything of you that He doesn’t also supply. He not only does The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” His part, but He also helps you to do your part. Thank Him for Luke 17:5 His kindness and the grace that empowers you to live your life for Him. I grew up in a Russian/Ukrainian household, and we always had APPLY: food in the house. Always, always. A meal meant to satisfy the appetites of three to five people was actually enough to feed ten. Ask God, “How can I walk a little bolder in my faith today? What’s The leftovers always abounded. a baby step of obedience that I can take, believing more than I did before?” My childhood home was a place of plenty. Whenever I felt sheepish about eating the last piece of chicken on the dinner table, my parents said, “Eat, eat! There’s more on the stove.” JOURNAL: When it comes to our faith, it can be easy to see it as something in What are some areas in your life where you feel like you don’t limited supply, something we must drum up in our own strength have enough faith? List them below and ask God for more faith before God will move. We think, “Well, that’s a level 10 miracle, to believe for breakthrough. and I’m only fielding a level 2 faith right now, so I need to try __________________________________________________________ harder until I have more faith.” What if there is an easier way? __________________________________________________________ When you got saved, when you believed Jesus’ blood covered all __________________________________________________________ your sins for all time, where did that faith come from? I contend __________________________________________________________ that the Holy Spirit gave it to you as a part of your “yes” to Him. __________________________________________________________ It was a gift. __________________________________________________________ So if God’s gift of faith is what is required for mountains to move __________________________________________________________ and for breakthroughs to happen, why not put “more faith” on __________________________________________________________ your wish list? Why not ask Him for it? You were created for trusting God the Father in bold faith.