Bible Studies

These are our monthly bible studies/devotions designed to deepen your relationship with the Lord and with your Upward Call Church family. They are set up for you to have a weekly time to study topics and scriptures that the eldership team believes will heighten your expectation and personal growth as you spend time with God.

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September

Prosper

The Lord has shown throughout the generations that when we remember Him and are obedient to His direction, He will bless us not only with spiritual blessings, but with material abundance as well.

The scriptures are full of evidence of the Lord’s willingness to prosper His people with the riches of the earth when they demonstrate that they will use this abundance in obedience, with humility and faith, always acknowledging God as the source of their blessings.

You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, 1if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Our lives should be living testimonies of the favor of God. We can’t look at finances as the marker, but blessings can be. We have been blessed as a church family, we are blessed as a church family and as long as we continue to keep His commands, glorify Him and live by faith, we will stay in His blessing.

September 1st-7th

Talking to God

Show your gratefulness to the Lord by speaking, out loud, the blessings you have walked in.

Going Deeper

I think one of the most illumining texts about how we are blessed as Christians, AND WE ARE. I would say we are blessed without limit.

1 Corinthians 3:21–23 - Let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future - all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Let that sink in. What a verse! I love it. To belong to Christ is to belong to God as our Father and to be heirs of all that God owns, that is, everything. Paul says, “The world is yours. All things are yours.” Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”.

You cannot be richer than a Christian. Put all the billionaires together. They are paupers compared to the lowliest Christian.

Write it down

Write down the things you want to have in life. Don’t have false humility…write them all down!

September 8th-14th

Talking to God

Blessing comes in many ways. Mostly when we seek God for true blessing. Ask the Lord to open your heart to the many ways blessings can come.

Going Deeper

The Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, Jesus lists what it means to be blessed. It is not what I think of being blessed or when I pray for others to be blessed. Remember all those prayers when you were little, “Bless Mommy, Daddy, Auntie and Nana”? We had no idea what we were saying! We were actually saying, "Let them be poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, pure, peacemakers, and persecuted.” Hahaha…

How could any of that lead to happiness or blessing? It’s the opposite of happiness. But the Beatitudes tell us we can never be happy when we live self-centered lives. We may be fooled into thinking we're happy for a while but eventually we learn true happiness can only be found in our relationship with Jesus. The One who made us knows what will give us satisfaction in life. We have to get to the end of ourselves and the beginning of God to gain any lasting contentment in life.That can happen only through divine revelation and transformation through God's Word and the Holy Spirit living in us.

do something

Spend time reading the Beatitudes and ask God to give you revelation about what they mean in your life.

September 15th-21st

Talking to God

Ask God to bless you according to His will and the way He has defined success for your life.

Going Deeper

There are several definitions of blessed in the English language, according to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary: 1. Made holy; consecrated 2. Endowed, with divine favor and protection 3. Bringing pleasure or relief as a welcome contrast to what one has previously experienced. Let’s remind ourselves of how blessed we are from God’s Word:

Eph. 1:3 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Eph. 1:5-6 - he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Eph. 1:11 - In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will

take Action

Write down your definition of success after praying and asking the Lord for clarity.

September 22nd-30th

Talking to God

Ask the Lord to grow your faith to believe for being content.

Going Deeper

Most of the time when we see other people being blessed or prospering they are not Christians. We are drawn to the success of these people mostly because it is put in front of us in ways we can’t escape: social media, movies/tv, etc. We are bombarded by images designed to make us want things that the Lord hasn’t designated for us. The world is constantly baiting us into a tug of war. The reality is we can let go of the rope at any time. There is no need for us to compete with what the world labels as success. We have already been proven worthy of the family of God. There is nothing left for us to contend with. To live fruitful satisfying lives we have to find contentment within the life God has called us to. Once we are there, what can the enemy say or do to make us jealous of what he has to offer? Philippians 4:12 - I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Being content means we can be blessed no matter the circumstance.