Unwavering Bible Study Guide: Living with Defiant Joy

By Stasi Eldredge

Take hold of hope, beauty, and life in a hurting world.

Maybe you’ve been whiplashed by an unexpected crisis. Or fear has gripped you, causing you to bury your dreams. Perhaps a sad ending has filled you with loss or hopelessness, and made your faith waver.

Don’t despair! God means for us to have JOY–a joy from Him that is defiant in the face of this broken world.

In this six-session video Bible study, Stasi Eldredge invites us with courage, candor, and tender vulnerability to a place beyond sadness or happiness. Using stories from Scripture, she expands on lessons from her book, Defiant Joy, to help us maintain a posture of holy defiance that neither denies nor diminishes our pain but dares us to live with expectant, unwavering hope.

This study guide for individual or group use includes video notes, group discussion questions, Scripture study, and biblical application for your life. It also features personal Bible study between group meetings, reading and journaling from Defiant Joy, worship song suggestions, and guided contemplative prayer.

Sessions include:

1. A Reason to Celebrate
2. Godly Interference
3. Greener Grass
4. Expectant Hope
5. Cultivating Joy
6. The Ultimate Victory

Designed for use with the Unwavering Video Study (9780310096924), sold separately.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Oct 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9780310096917

Stasi Eldredge

Stasi Eldredge es una autora superventas del New York Times, y se han vendido casi tres millones de ejemplares de sus libros, que han cambiado la vida de las  mujeres de todo el mundo. Maestra y conferencista, Stasi es la directora del ministerio de mujeres en Ransomed Heart y dirige los retiros internacionales de Cautivante. Su pasión es ver las vidas transformadas por la hermosura del evangelio. Ella y su familia viven en Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Book preview

SESSION 1

A Reason to Celebrate

INTRODUCTION

Group leader reads aloud these opening words from Stasi:

I love to celebrate. I love birthday parties and baby showers, holidays and homecomings. But I especially love Christmas. Except when I don’t. At the beginning of too many holiday seasons, I can become overwhelmed by what is required of me. That is, I did, until I needed to pare down for my sanity’s sake and to also keep my family from hiding from me. Still, I love creating spaces for beauty and for others’ lives to be honored. And honestly, there’s no one I love to honor more than our Jesus, and gathering to celebrate Him brings me the greatest joy.

But life doesn’t take holidays. Pain doesn’t check out. World events don’t slow down. Evil doesn’t give vacations. So how do we become a people who learn to celebrate the goodness of God and His many gifts in the midst of what is often a heartbreaking world? How do we grow to be a people known for our unwavering joy right in the middle of our hurting world?

Let’s press in to find out together.

WATCH VIDEO SESSION 1

Video Notes

Use this space to make note of anything that stands out to you in the teaching.

Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

GROUP DISCUSSION: DEFIANCE

Gather into small groups if part of a larger group. Spend time together reacting to what Stasi said in the video through these prompts and questions.

Gathering Together

Read aloud as a group the following Scripture:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)

What jumped out at you or surprised you or struck you most in the video?

[Your Response Here]

1. Stasi said defiance means resistance, opposition, noncompliance, disobedience, dissent, and rebellion. How do you feel about associating this definition with the living God?

[Your Response Here]

2. When it comes to things that would destroy our souls, do you agree or disagree that this is the right response? Why or why not?

[Your Response Here]

3. We oppose death and destruction by the life of Christ in us. We dissent by casting our vote against the belief that sorrow and endless suffering win. We welcome life, love, and the full work of Christ to bring all of His goodness into every aspect of our and His domains.

Brainstorm together some words you could use to fill in these blanks and briefly discuss what it means to actively oppose death through the life of Christ in us:

We comply with ______________________.

We obey ___________________.

We respect His ______________ and His __________________.

We overcome evil with ______________________________.

We defy hatred by embracing ______________________________.

We dissent by ___________________________.

We choose _______________________.

4. Think about the phrase choose joy. Make a list of what that might look like in your everyday life, and share one idea with the group.

[Your Response Here]

5. Share two or three areas where you would like more joy in your life.

[Your Response Here]

6. Everyone has known seasons of suffering and pain. Every person has a story to tell. Tell about either a past time of suffering or one that you’re currently experiencing.

[Your Response Here]

The presence of God is our good. And knowing His presence in the pain is the sweetest gift of all.

7. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39 ESV, emphasis added). What is the cup you are asking (or have asked) to pass from you?

[Your Response Here]

Encourage one another to accept God’s will, not our own, in this circumstance.

8. To continue to host the Christmas Party on the evening that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took place, we needed to be honest about our grief and sorrow over the lives lost. We also needed to proclaim that even in the midst of this horrific tragedy, Jesus has triumphed over death.

Where do you need to proclaim and enforce the victory of Jesus Christ? (Take turns sharing.)

In a place you are struggling or fearful

Where you are concerned over loved ones lives and choices

A particular evil in the world

[Your Response Here]

Scripture Response

Ask for volunteers to read each of the following verses/passages aloud to the group. Go around the room and have each woman share one word or phrase that comes to mind after hearing these Scriptures:

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

[Your Response Here]

"The L

ORD

your God is with you,

the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

but will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

[Your Response Here]

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are God’s children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory. (Romans 8:16–17)

[Your Response Here]

Leader reads this final note from Stasi:

Yes, Jesus is known as the Man of Sorrows, but He is also the God of great joy! He rejoices over you. Yes, you. Right now. Our God sees the end from the beginning. When He looks at you, He doesn’t see your failures, your disappointments, or even your sins. He looks at you and sees His spotless, perfect, beloved. His favor rests on you. He chose you before the foundation of the earth to belong to Him. You are His child.

We can rejoice over that.

CLOSING PRAYER

Leader or volunteer, close your group time in prayer:

Dear Father,

Thank you that I am Your child. I pray to know You more deeply as my good Father. I pray to encounter Your love increasingly, even in moments and seasons of travail. I need to see life with Your eyes. You know that what is suffered now does not compare to the glory that You will reveal in us. I pray to know that too. Thank You that You will provide everything I