Restless Bible Study Guide: Because You Were Made for More

By Jennie Allen

Do you feel like you're just waiting to find your purpose? Do you want to live like you were made for more?

Many of us feel restless, and that might not be a bad thing. . . When our restlessness awakens our longing to be woven into God's story, it can launch us into living the life of purpose God designed for us.  

In this video-based small group Bible study (DVD/video streaming sold separately), Bible study teacher and author of Get Out of Your Head Jennie Allen helps you discover a practical plan to identify the loose threads of your life and how to weave them together for God's glory and purposes.

Jennie uses the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis to explain how his suffering, gifts, story, and relationships fit into the greater tapestry of God’s narrative—and how our story can do the same. In this study you will: 

• Explore practical ways to identify the threads of your life.
• Learn how to intentionally weave those threads together.
• Discover how your gifts, passions, places, and relationships aren’t random; they’re deliberate and meaningful.
• Speak the truth about your suffering: it’s possible it has produced the very thing you want to give back to the world.

The Restless Study Guide engages the mind and heart through stories, Bible study from the life of Joseph, and Threads—a tool to help you see your own personal story and to uncover and understand the raw materials God has given you to use for his glory and purpose.  

What would happen if you spent the rest of your life running without reservation after His purposes for you?

Designed for use with the Restless Video Study (9780879922374), sold separately

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Jan 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9780849922466

Jennie Allen

Jennie Allen is the founder and visionary of IF:Gathering as well as the New York Times bestselling author of Get Out of Your Head, Made for This, Anything, and Nothing to Prove. A frequent speaker at national events and conferences, she is a passionate leader, following God's call on her life to catalyze a generation to live what they believe. Jennie earned a master's in biblical studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Zac, have four children.

Book preview

INSTRUCTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GET OUT OF THIS STUDY?

[Your Response]

GET HONEST

This is going to get personal, but it will be worth it. We will be dealing with the very things that make you, you. God wants to do something with those things. But until we recognize that we are made to run a race all our own, we will miss what he has for us. If you consider yourself restless, perhaps you would be willing to consider a way out, even if it is costly. Be honest with yourself and honest with God. He knows all of it anyway.

ENGAGE WITH YOUR SMALL GROUP

An important part of personal growth is community. We are going to deal with the way we view God and how we are to spend our lives individually for him. You may even need time outside of this small group to process with others your passions and gifts and purpose. Be intentional to pursue deeper conversations with others through this process.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

JOHN 8:32 NKJV

COMMIT TO BEING CONSISTENT AND PRESENT

Commit to being present at your group meetings, barring an emergency, and arrange your schedule so you do not miss any part in this journey. Have your lesson and projects finished when you come to the group meeting (except for this first one, of course).

GROUND RULES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

BE CONCISE.

Share your answers to the questions while protecting others’ time for sharing. Be thoughtful. Don’t be afraid to share with the group, but try not to dominate the conversation.

Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak.

JAMES 1:19 ESV

KEEP GROUP MEMBERS’ STORIES CONFIDENTIAL.

Many things your group members share are things they are choosing to share with you, not with your husband or other friends. Protect each other by not allowing anything shared in the group to leave the group.

RELY ON SCRIPTURE FOR TRUTH.

We are prone to use conventional, worldly wisdom as truth. While there is value in that, this is not the place. If you feel led to respond, please only respond with God’s truth and Word, not advice.

NO COUNSELING.

Protect the group by not directing all attention on solving one person’s problem. This is the place for confessing and discovery and applying truth together as a group. Your group leader will be able to direct you to more help outside the group time if you need it. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

STUDY DESIGN

In the first meeting, your groups’ study guides will be passed out and you will work through the Getting Started lesson together. After that, each lesson in the study guide is meant to be completed on your own during the week before coming to the group meeting. These lessons may feel different from studies you have done in the past. They are very interactive. The beginning of each lesson will involve you, your Bible, and a pen, working through Scripture and listening to God’s voice. Each lesson will conclude with four projects you can do to help you further process how to live God’s Word.

Don’t feel as if each lesson has to be finished in one sitting; take a few blocks of time throughout the week if you need to. The goal of this study is to dig deeply into Scripture and uncover how it applies to your life, to deeply engage the mind and the heart. Projects, stories, and Bible study all play a role in it. You may be drawing or journaling or interacting with the homeless. At each group meeting you will discuss your experience in working through that week’s lesson.

TERRIFIC RESOURCES FOR FURTHER PERSONAL STUDY

www.biblegateway.com

EBOOK INSTRUCTIONS

In this ebook edition, please use your device’s note-taking function to record your thoughts wherever you see the bracketed instructions [Your Notes] or [Your Response]. Use your device’s highlighting function to record your response whenever you are asked to checkmark, circle, underline, or otherwise indicate your answer(s).

WHO IS JOSEPH, AND WHY DOES HE MATTER?

WHO WAS JOSEPH IN HISTORY?

:: Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob (father of the twelve tribes of Israel) and his mother was Rachel.

:: From an early age, Joseph had dreams and revelations from God. He specifically dreamed that his brothers and parents would all bow down to him one day.

:: Joseph was hated by his ten older brothers, and they sold him into slavery.

:: Joseph served as a servant in the house of Potiphar.

:: Joseph was unjustly imprisoned when Potiphar’s wife reported him for rape.

:: With God’s revelation to Joseph through dreams, he went on to help Pharaoh lead Eygpt out of a great famine and was given tremendous authority, second only to Pharaoh himself.

WHO IS JOSEPH IN SCRIPTURE?

:: Joseph’s story threads through Genesis 37–50.

:: Joseph serves as a prototype of Christ.

:: Joseph serves as the biggest link between the patriarchs of Israel (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and Moses and the prophets.

WHO IS JOSEPH IN GOD’S PLAN?

:: Joseph reveals God’s character.

:: His story shows how God provided for his people far in advance of their need. It’s an inspiration and encouragement to our faith and prayers.

:: His story shows how God can work our disobedience as well as our obedience to accomplish his purposes.

:: The favor of God on Joseph’s life displays what it means to be called by God for a specific purpose.

:: His life shows how God is sovereign over good and evil, blessing and famine.

HOW DOES JOSEPH’S LIFE ULTIMATELY POINT TO CHRIST?

:: Joseph’s obedience through difficulty results in the preservation of the future nation of Israel and the line of Christ. This is both a means to Christ and a picture of Christ.

:: The events of Joseph’s life foreshadow the role and ministry of Jesus.

:: The pictures of redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation all foreshadow the work of Christ on our behalf despite our rebellion.

GETTING STARTED :: RESTLESS

RESTLES S

Because you were made for more.

Something in me is restless, and I know I’m not alone. I think we are all aching for some magical great noble purpose to squeeze into the holes of our ordinary lives.

We are numb.

We are bored.

And yet, every once in a while our hearts race just a little. Not like when we were kids and we heard the words Disney World. Not even as intensely as when we heard the ice-cream truck. But every once in a while they quicken.

Why such a restlessness for purpose?

Because it is possible to waste our lives.

These words haunt me and point to one of the greatest fears of mankind. We aren’t sure we matter. We live with lots of things and lots of people, but do we live for something?

We all desperately want to live for something. We die a little inside when we think we aren’t living for something, and are ready to die when we think we can’t. But that purpose feels slippery sometimes. We glance over