EXPLORING THE DEPTHS

OF GOD’S LOVE

CHARLES

STANLEY

Copyright © 2000 by Charles Stanley

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Scripture quotations are from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

ISBN 0-7852-7296-8

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 QWV 05 04 03 02 01 00

CONTENTS

Introduction: Our Need for Unconditional Love

1. God’s Love Letter to Us

2. You Are Loved

3. God’s Desire to Be Reconciled to You

4. God’s Desire to Free You from Sin’s Power

5. God’s Desire to Make You Like His Son

6. God’s Desire to Communicate with You

7. Our Response to God’s Love:

A Passion to Know God

8. Our Response to God’s Love:

A Passion to Obey God

9. Our Response to God’s Love:

A Passion to Serve Others

10. Our Response to God’s Love:

A Passion to Proclaim Christ

Conclusion: How Much Love?

INTRODUCTION

OUR NEED FOR

UNCONDITIONAL

LOVE

Name any problem that plagues our world today and I will point you toward an underlying emotional or spiritual need in the heart of man. Drug abuse. Child abuse. Spouse abuse. Poverty. War. Violence. Crime.

Each of these situations is the result of a ripple effect that begins with an unmet need in the heart of one man, one woman, somewhere on this earth. The person reacts to circumstances, which he believes are related to his unmet need, in a way that is unhealthy, ungodly, and ultimately unsatisfactory— perhaps with an outburst of angry words, a drink or the use of a drug to attempt to escape the need, a retaliatory measure, or grasping for material possessions in a hope of resolving the need. At that point, a trigger has been pulled. Another person is caused to feel pressure to respond to the needy person’s behavior. And so the problem expands and intensifies from person to person until an entire family, neighborhood, community, city, or nation is involved.

The basic condition of man’s heart is neediness, and the foremost need that mankind faces is a need for unconditional love.

At the foundation of all other needs we find a tremendous need to be affirmed by someone who will accept us for who we are. We long for someone to affirm our personality, our unique abilities and talents, and even our foibles and flaws. We long for someone to say to us, “I love you” without adding any “if you,” “when you,” or “so why don’t you” statements. We have a deep ache to be appreciated for no reason other than the fact that we are alive and we are a child of God.

Only God can give us this unconditional love in unlimited quantities. Only God has the infinite capacity to love in this manner. All human beings will ultimately disappoint us or fail us in their love. Why? Because they are also in need of unconditional love. We should never expect from another person what that person is incapable of giving to us—not because they wouldn’t like to love us in this manner, but because they simply do not have the infinite capacity to love us fully and unconditionally all the time, in all situations, and regardless of what we do.

To love a person unconditionally is not necessarily to like everything that the person does or says. It is to love the person in spite of what he does or says! To love unconditionally means to help a person become who that person can be in Christ Jesus—to help the person reach his potential mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. To love unconditionally means to forgive a person freely and as often as necessary. To love unconditionally means to allow another person to express his opinions and feelings, and to function fully in his ministry gift, without hindrance. To love unconditionally means to want for another person what God wants for that person, and to be sensitive always to God’s timing and God’s chosen methods for accomplishing His purposes in a person’s life.

A Threefold Need for Love

Our need for love manifests itself in three very basic needs: a need for acceptance, a need to feel competent, and a need to feel worthy.

Only God provides a means for us to be fully accepted and reconciled to Himself and to others. His provision is His plan of forgiveness.

Only God provides a means for us to feel competent. His provision comes to us in the form of natural and spiritual gifts, which He bestows upon us as our Creator.

Only God provides a means for us to feel worthy and needed. His provision comes in the person of the Holy Spirit, who guides us into the paths we are to walk and the work we are to do, presents to us opportunities to manifest His forgiveness, and reveals to us ways in which we are to employ our natural and spiritual gifts.

Only God has a means for completely fulfilling our need for love.

God “Desires”You as His Child

As you read through this book, you are going to encounter God’s “desire” for you. The simple fact is this: God longs for you to be in relationship with Him. He desires for you to become the person He created you to be from the foundation of the world. He wants to see you living a fulfilling, satisfying, and meaningful life. His desire is that you live as His child, in the fullness of His blessings, mercy, and grace.

What is it today that you desire for yourself? Do you desire to receive God’s love?

Ask yourself at the outset of this study:

• How does my need for unconditional love manifest itself in my life?

• In which areas of my life do I feel “unloved” or “unlovable”?

• In what areas do I need to show more love to others? (Are these areas in which I need more love from God?)

LESSON 1

GOD’S LOVE

LETTER TO US

The Bible is God’s love letter to mankind.

You may never have thought of the Bible in that way. Many people tend to think of the Bible as a “rule book” or a “story book.” In reality, the Bible is a magnificent love letter in which God tells His children how He longs to care for them and bless them, forgive them and shower them with His mercy, and protect them from their enemies. His love letter also tells of His desires for them to live so that they might avoid the painful consequences of sin, and His desires to lead and guide them into ways of righteousness and ministry that will result in meaningful, fulfilling lives.

When we want to know about God’s love, the first place we should turn to is our Bibles! The Bible is the foremost reference on this subject. It is the reference to which we must return continually to evaluate our definition of unconditional, divine love, and to learn better how to receive, appropriate, and pass on God’s love to others.

As you work your way through this study guide, I encourage you to make notes in the margins of your Bible. It is far more important that you write God’s insights in your Bible, which you are reading regularly, than to write in this book, although places are provided for you to make notes.

Keys to This Study

You will be asked at various points to respond to the material presented by answering one or more of these questions:

• What new insights have you gained?

• Have you had a similar experience?

• How do you feel about what you have read?

• In what way are you feeling challenged to act?

Insights

A spiritual insight occurs when you read a passage of Scripture and the meaning of that passage is clear to you. You may have read, studied, or meditated on a particular verse or passage many times. But then, God reveals a new level of meaning to you—you read the passage as if you are discovering it for the first time. That’s a spiritual insight.

Ask God to give you insights every time you read His Word. I believe He’ll answer that prayer.

Insights are usually very personal, and they generally relate to your experiences, either past or current. In this way, God’s Word is always timely, even as it is eternal.

Note your insights. You’ll be able to review them later in the light of still other Scriptures. You’ll also have them more readily available to share with others should the opportunity arise. Those who look for and note their insights are usually much more intentional about their Bible reading, and as a result, they tend to experience more insights.

Periodically in this study, you will be asked to note what specific passages of the Bible “say” to you. This is your opportunity to record your insights.

Experiences

Each of us comes to God’s Word with a unique background. Therefore, what we read is filtered to some degree by our experiences. Certain stories seem to have more meaning to us than others because we have had an experience similar to the one described in the Bible. At other times, we find ourselves saying, “I know that’s true because it happened to me!”

Certainly our experiences do not make the Bible true; it is truth, period. But when we see the Bible as relating to our personal experiences in the past, we are much more inclined to see how the Bible might relate to our experiences in the future. We are more likely to look for ways in which to apply God’s truth.

The more we read the Bible, have experiences, and hear about the experiences of others, the more we come to the conclusion that God’s Word is universal—it speaks to every individual in every culture during every century. It deals with the whole of human experience, and especially to the way men and women experience or express love. The Bible is about people and about God’s relationship to people, including God’s great desire to show love to His people and to receive their love in return.

As you share your experiences in your journey of faith, you will grow spiritually. Even if you are doing this study on your own, I encourage you to talk to others about your faith experiences.

Emotional Responses

Just as we each have unique experiences in life, we each have our own emotional responses to God’s Word. No one emotional response is right or more valid than another. One person may be frightened or perplexed by something he reads, while the person next to him may feel joy or relief.

Face your emotional responses to the Bible honestly. Learn to share your emotions with others.

Again, our feelings do not make the Bible true. The Bible is truth without variance. The value of taking a look at our feelings is so that we might identify how the Lord is working in us and how He may desire for us to pursue additional avenues of study. For example, if you are puzzled by what you read, and if you recognize that you are perplexed, you will likely want to know why you feel that way. Your emotional response can lead you to find answers that you may not originally have intended to seek out.

This is especially important in a study about God’s love. Many times, people discover that at a deep level in their spirit, they are angry with God, disappointed at something they believe God has done, or they are reluctant to open their hearts to receive God’s love. They fear being vulnerable to God.

The more a person explores these emotional responses to God, the more that person is going to discover about himself. And when he compares his feelings to the truth of God’s Word, the more he is going to be in a position to grow spiritually and to grow in his ability to experience God’s love more fully.

Allow the Scriptures to touch you emotionally. God created you with emotions, and He knows that you feel certain ways toward Him, toward others, and toward His Word. What He desires is that you be in touch with your feelings so that He might teach you important lessons for your life.

As you meet with others to study God’s love, stay focused on what the Bible says. Let the Bible speak for itself. Don’t get sidetracked by opinions or wander into psychological analysis. It is far more beneficial that you share what the Bible has to say than what any psychologist, counselor, or therapist has to say.

The subject of God’s love certainly has many layers of emotions and many types of experiences attached to it. Perhaps in no other area of study is it more important to be in touch with one’s feelings and to explore past experiences. At the same time, there is no greater subject likely to turn a Bible study group into a feel-good, emotion-laden, group therapy session. Don’t allow that to happen. Stay in the Word.

Challenges

God intends for us to be challenged by His Word. He has a purpose in communicating His love to us, and that is so we might experience His love and be vessels through which He might express His love to lost or hurting souls. God always desires for us to be growing and maturing into the full character likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. Real growth occurs not as we understand God’s Word with our minds, but as we apply it in practical ways to our lives.

As you read and study God’s Word, define, as best you can, areas in which you believe God is challenging you to grow and mature, or areas in which He is asking you to trust Him in a new way. Ask yourself, “What do I believe God has as the next step for me to take?” In doing this, you are identifying a challenge.

God desires to get you into His Word so He can get His Word into you, and so you, in turn, can share His Word with others. You are likely to find new opportunities to discuss the very things you are learning in this study. Some of them may appear suddenly or seem coincidental. Be aware that God is a master of timing! If He is freeing you to experience a new degree of love from Him, you are going to be transformed by that love in meaningful ways that others are likely to see or feel. You will also find that the more you experience God’s love, the more likely you are to express God’s love, or to express God’s love with greater freedom. Others are going to respond. Some may ask you, “What’s happened to you?” or note, “Something’s different in your life; what is it?” Be bold in sharing with others how the Lord is working in you.

If you don’t have somebody with whom to discuss your insights, experiences, emotions, and challenges, find somebody. Perhaps you can start a Bible study in your home. Perhaps you can talk to your pastor about organizing Bible study groups in your church. There is much to be learned on your own. There is much more to be learned as you become part of a small group that desires to grow in the Lord and to understand His Word more fully.

Keep the Bible Central

Again, I encourage you to keep the Bible central to your study. Come to God’s Word as if it is a banquet table from which you can eat to the point that your spirit truly feels nourished and satisfied.

If you are doing a personal Bible study, be diligent in keeping your focus on God’s Word. Self-analysis or personal recovery is not the goal. Becoming more like Jesus Christ is the goal of this study.

Prayer

Finally, I encourage you to begin and end each Bible study session in prayer. Ask God to give you spiritual ears to hear what He wants you to hear and spiritual eyes to see what He wants you to see. Ask Him to give you insights into your reading. Ask Him to bring to your mind the experiences that more directly relate to what you have read. Ask Him to help you clarify your feelings. Ask Him to reveal to you what He desires for you to be, say, and do.

As you end a Bible study session, ask the Lord to imprint on your heart what you have learned so you will never forget it. Ask Him to transform you into the likeness of Jesus Christ as you meditate on His Word and apply it to your daily life during the coming days, weeks, and months. Ask Him to give you courage to follow through and do what He is calling you to do. Pray for boldness to be faithful to Him always and to be willing to express His love to others in need.

• What new insights about God’s love do you hope to gain from this study?

• Have you struggled in the past with the fact that God loves you? Have you found yourself rejecting God’s love or shielding yourself from it? Do you know why?

• How does it feel to be loved unconditionally? How does it feel to love another person in this manner?

• Are you open to the possibility that God desires to shower His love upon you in new ways? Are you open to the possibility that God might ask you to express His love to others in new ways?

LESSON 2

YOU ARE LOVED

The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans one of the most tender and awesome statements about God’s love in all the Bible: “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5).

Poured out. The love of God has not been measured to us in spoonful or even bucketful quantities. No! It has been extravagantly, unceasingly, generously, abundantly poured out in our hearts. God does not love us in a miserly, stingy way, but with infinite generosity. The Greek word that is translated “poured out” is a word that means flooded or overflowed—God’s love flows freely and powerfully toward us, filling every aspect of our being and flooding over us in amounts too vast for us to contain.

This verse also tells us that God’s love is expressed to us by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to all who believe in Christ Jesus and trust Him as their Savior and Lord. The love of God is a gift to us from the Giver of all gifts—the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who manifests God’s love to us so that we can experience it, feel it, delight in it, be comforted by it, and relax in it.

Time and again throughout the Bible we find this word gift—God’s love is a gift, the Holy Spirit is a gift, His forgiveness is a gift, His mercy is a gift, His kindness to us is a gift. God moves toward His people continually to give them Himself, and always with generosity. God gives to the greatest degree that we are capable and willing to receive what He gives.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

[Jesus said,] “And I will pray the

_______________

Father, and He will give you

_______________

another Helper, that He may

_______________

abide with you forever . . . I will

_______________

not leave you orphans; I will

_______________

come to you.” (John 14:16, 18)

_______________

Peter said to them, “Repent, and

_______________

let every one of you be baptized

_______________

in the name of Jesus Christ for

_______________

the remission of sins; and you

_______________

shall receive the gift of the Holy

_______________

Spirit. For the promise is to you

_______________

and to your children, and to all

_______________

who are afar off, as many as the

_______________

Lord our God will call.” (Acts

_______________

2:38-39)

_______________

[Jesus prayed,] “And the glory

_______________

which You gave Me I have given

_______________

them, that they may be one just

_______________

as We are one: I in them, and

_______________

You in Me; that they may be

_______________

made perfect in one, and that

_______________

the world may know that You

_______________

have sent Me, and have loved

_______________

them as You have loved Me.”

_______________

(John 17:22-23)

_______________

• Have you received God’s gift of the Holy Spirit into your life?

• Have you felt God’s “overflowing” abundance of love in your heart? If you have felt His love, what words would you use to describe His love? If you have not felt this abundant love of God, do you long to experience it?

The Greatest Sign of God’s Love

We Christians have a symbol of God’s love that is not heart-shaped, but rather, cross-shaped. It is the symbol of the cross, which tells us that God so loved us, He sent Jesus to die in our place. He loved us to the extent that He would send His only begotten Son to die the cruel death of crucifixion so that we might not experience the consequences of our sins, but rather, experience forgiveness and life eternal. John 3:16 declares, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (emphasis added).

If you ever have a doubt about God’s love for you, look at the cross. It is there that God expressed the fullness of His love.

To the Jews, the cross was a stumbling block, a sign of weakness. To the Greeks, it was a sign of foolishness. But to all who believe in Jesus Christ, the cross is a sign of the power, wisdom, and love of God (see 1 Cor. 1:18).

• How do you feel when you look at the cross?

The cross tells us three important things about God’s love:

1. God loves sinners.

2. God freely bestows His love on all who will receive it.

3. God’s love is without “recall.”

God Loves Sinners

The first great message of the cross is that God loves sinners. At no place in the Bible will you find that God loves those who succeed on the strength of their own willpower and then turn to Him. At no place will you find that God loves only those who are of a certain heritage, birthright, or those who possess a certain degree or type of talents or skills. At no place will you find that God loves only those who are members of a certain race, nation, gender, economic standing, or denomination. No! God loves every person, and He loves us while we are still sinners.

What does this mean to us? It means that nobody is beyond the reach of God’s love. There’s hope for everybody!

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

For when we were still without

_______________

strength, in due time Christ died for

_______________

the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous

_______________

man will one die; yet perhaps

_______________

for a good man someone would

_______________

even dare to die. But God demonstrates

_______________

His own love toward us, in

_______________

that while we were still sinners,

_______________

Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:6-8)

_______________

In this the love of God was manifested

_______________

toward us, that God has

_______________

sent His only begotten Son into the

_______________

world, that we might live through

_______________

Him. In this is love, not that we

_______________

loved God, but that He loved us

_______________

and sent His Son to be the propitiation

_______________

for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)

_______________

We love Him because He first

_______________

loved us. (1 John 4:19)

_______________

The Scripture says, “Whoever

_______________

believes on Him will not be put to

_______________

shame.” For there is no distinction

_______________

between Jew and Greek, for the

_______________

same Lord over all is rich to all

_______________

who call upon Him. For “whoever

_______________

calls on the name of the LORD

_______________

shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:11-13)

_______________

• In your life, have you ever struggled to earn God’s love? What was the result?

God’s Love Is Freely Given

The second great message of the cross is that God’s love is freely given to all who will receive it.

Certainly the death of Jesus on the cross was the most expensive price ever paid on your behalf or my behalf. Nothing could possibly be more valuable than the blood of Jesus Christ. But that gift was given freely—of Jesus’ own will—so that we might freely receive it simply by believing in Jesus as our Savior.

There are no long lists of things we must do to receive God’s gift of love. There are no prerequisites we must strive to meet in our own strength. God loves us while we are sinners and freely offers us His love. Our part is only to accept it—to believe and receive.

What good news this is! God’s free gift of love and salvation means that there is nothing we must do to earn God’s love—indeed, there is nothing we can do to earn God’s love. God’s only motivation for loving us and forgiving us is the motivation of His own heart. We cannot “make” God love us, and we cannot “keep” God from loving us!

Does this mean that all people automatically receive God’s love? No. Receiving is an intentional act of our faith. It is not a work, but it is an intentional desire and willingness on our part to receive what God offers. God does not bestow His presence, including His love, where He is not welcomed. He does not force Himself into a person’s heart. But rather, He offers His love freely, and whenever the doors of our hearts are opened to Him, He enters fully. Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). We only need to open the door of our hearts to Him to avail ourselves of His presence and love!

• What new insights do you have into Revelation 3:20?

• Have you had the experience of actively receiving God’s love?

• How do you feel about God’s “gifts”? How do you feel about the nature of God’s gifts—that they are given freely, regardless of your “works”?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

For by grace you have been

_______________

saved through faith, and that not

_______________

of yourselves; it is the gift of

_______________

God, not of works, lest anyone

_______________

should boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)

_______________

For the wages of sin is death, but

_______________

the gift of God is eternal life in

_______________

Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23)

_______________

God’s Love Is Without “Recall”

God does not extend His love and then withdraw it. He does not give His love conditionally—on the basis of anything we do—and accordingly, He does not withdraw His love on the basis of anything we do. We cannot cause God to stop loving us.

God’s love is constant and abiding. It does not change; it does not waver or vary according to anything we do or fail to do. Even when we sin, God loves us. Even when we reject God, He loves us. Even when we walk away from His plan and purpose for our lives, He loves us. There is nothing we can do to separate ourselves from His love.

• Have you ever felt a concern that God might have changed His “feelings” toward you? Why?

• What does God’s Word say about God’s constancy of love?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Who shall separate us from the love

_______________

of Christ? Shall tribulation, or

_______________

distress, or persecution, or famine,

_______________

or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . .

_______________

For I am persuaded that neither

_______________

death nor life, nor angels nor principalities

_______________

nor powers, nor things present

_______________

nor things to come, nor height

_______________

nor depth, nor any other created

_______________

thing, shall be able to separate us

_______________

from the love of God which is in

_______________

Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:35,

_______________

38-39)

_______________

Every good gift and every perfect

_______________

gift is from above, and comes

_______________

down from the Father of lights,

_______________

with whom there is no variation or

_______________

shadow of turning. (James 1:17)

_______________

• How did you feel as you read these passages from Romans and James?

Experiencing God’s Love

God’s love is an absolute. The sad fact is, however, that many people do not believe God loves them because they do not “feel” His love. God’s love is present and offered freely to them, but they don’t know how to receive God’s love in a way that is heartfelt and meaningful to them.

How is it that we get into a position both to know and to receive God’s love in a way that we truly feel it and know it experientially and not only with our minds or by our faith? We must seek the Lord.

The Bible tells us that if we truly seek the Lord, we will find Him. If we truly seek to know Him and to experience His presence, we will know Him and experience His love.

Jesus taught:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened . . . If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matt. 7:7–8, 11)

•What new insights do you have into this passage from Matthew 7?

• Have you had an experience in which you truly sought the Lord? What was the result?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

But as for me, I would seek God,

_______________

And to God I would commit my

_______________

cause. (Job 5:8)

_______________

One thing I have desired of

_______________

the LORD,

_______________

That will I seek:

_______________

That I may dwell in the house of

_______________

the LORD,

_______________

All the days of my life,

_______________

To behold the beauty of the LORD,

_______________

And to inquire in His temple.

_______________

(Ps. 27:4)

_______________

When You said, “Seek My face,”

_______________

My heart said to You, “Your face,

_______________

LORD, I will seek.” (Ps. 27:8)

_______________

O God,You are my God;

_______________

Early will I seek You;

_______________

My soul thirsts for You;

_______________

My flesh longs for You

_______________

In a dry and thirsty land

_______________

Where there is no water.

_______________

So I have looked for You in

_______________

the sanctuary,

_______________

To see Your power and Your

_______________

glory. (Ps. 63:1-2)

_______________

You who seek God, your hearts

_______________

shall live. (Ps. 69:32)

_______________

I love those who love me,

_______________

And those who seek me diligently

_______________

will find me. (Prov. 8:17)

_______________

With my soul I have desired You

_______________

in the night,

_______________

Yes, by my spirit within me I will

_______________

seek You early. (Isa. 26:9)

_______________

To seek the Lord means that we make our relationship with Him our priority and foremost desire. No matter what happens to us or around us, we choose to obey God, follow God, and have a daily and intimate relationship with God. To seek the Lord means to want the Lord in every aspect of your life— every moment of every day. It means to be “in pursuit” of the Lord—eager to talk to Him, listen to Him, and to consult Him at all times and in all situations we encounter. Those who truly seek the Lord ask the Holy Spirit to lead them and guide them daily. They ask the Lord to meet their needs in His way, according to His timing and methods—including their need to experience His love.

• What new insights do you have into the key to experiencing God’s love in your own life?

Seeking with Expectation

Those who seek the Lord expect God to answer. They are on the alert always for God’s answer. They read the Word expecting an answer. They listen to sermons, Christian teaching tapes, Christian radio and television programs, and Christian music with ears wide open to hear God’s answers to their questions and their needs. Those who listen expectantly are those who are listening with faith. They are the ones who will receive what they are expecting.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

My soul, wait silently for

_______________

God alone,

_______________

For my expectation is from Him.

_______________

(Ps. 62:5)

_______________

Let him ask in faith, with no

_______________

doubting, for he who doubts is

_______________

like a wave of the sea driven and

_______________

tossed by the wind. For let not

_______________

that man suppose that he will

_______________

receive anything from the Lord.

_______________

(James 1:6-7)

_______________

So many people do just about everything but seek the Lord in their need for God’s love. They try to suppress their need for His love, claiming that it isn’t important to them. Some try to deny that God loves them, claiming to be “unlovable” because of sin. Some strive to meet their need for unconditional love by turning to people rather than God—always to their eventual disappointment. And all the while, it is so simple to do the one thing that is required: Seek the Lord!

Are you willing to turn to Him today and say, “Lord, I need to feel Your love in my heart and in my life. I need to know You and to feel Your presence with me”? Are you willing to spend time with the Lord, reading His Word and listening for Him to speak to you?

Those who seek Him, find Him. And those who find Him, find that His loving arms are opened wide to them.

• What new insights do you have into God’s love?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit today?

LESSON 3

GOD’S DESIRE TO

BE RECONCILED

TO YOU

In the last lesson, we pointed to the great truth of the cross: God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die on our behalf, so that we might never die as a result of our sin nature, but rather, be transformed into a newness of life that is eternal.

When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are fully reconciled to God. Our sin nature is transformed, and we move from a state of being “sinners” to a state of being “forgiven.” Our reconciliation to God is total and complete.

What does it mean to be reconciled ? The apostle Paul addressed this question in his letter to the Colossians. He opened his letter with a prayer for these believers in which he said:

Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1:12–14)

Paul made it very clear that our forgiveness puts us into a different “status”—a different kingdom. He then went on to say about Jesus:

It pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard. (Col. 1:19–23)

What can we learn from these verses about reconciliation? These four lessons stand out:

1. Our salvation is complete.

2. Our salvation brings peace with God.

3. Our salvation makes us holy, blameless, and above reproach in God’s sight.

4.We are to seek daily forgiveness for our sins as we follow Jesus our Lord.

Salvation Is Complete

The apostle Paul states to the Colossians that their salvation is complete. That is what Paul means when he writes, “all the fullness should dwell” (v. 19). The “fullness” refers to our wholeness spiritually. Paul wrote a few verses later to the Colossians: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:9–10). We move from one state of being to another state of being. We are no longer in darkness, sin, shame, guilt, and condemnation. Rather, we live in light, righteousness, joy, and forgiveness. The transformation is total and complete. We are either in one state or the other.

From time to time, people have said to me that they are almost to the point of being saved fully—as if salvation comes by degrees or stages. That is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that when we receive Jesus into our lives, we are fully saved, fully reconciled to the Father, fully forgiven. There is no point at which you can still be subject to condemnation, which is total and eternal estrangement from God. Rather, you are subject to justification, which is a total alignment with God.

We are not the ones who bring about this reconciliation— God does this work in us. And what God does is always perfect, whole, and complete.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

I write to you, little children,

_______________

Because your sins are forgiven you

_______________

for His name’s sake. (1 John 2:12)

_______________

There is therefore now no condemnation

_______________

to those who are in

_______________

Christ Jesus, who do not walk

_______________

according to the flesh, but

_______________

according to the Spirit . . .You

_______________

are not in the flesh but in the

_______________

Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of

_______________

God dwells in you. (Rom. 8:1, 9)

_______________

[Jesus taught,] “Most assuredly, I

_______________

say to you, he who hears My

_______________

word and believes in Him who

_______________

sent Me has everlasting life, and

_______________

shall not come into judgment,

_______________

but has passed from death into

_______________

life.” (John 5:24)

_______________

Why is this fact about our “complete” salvation important to our understanding of God’s love? Many people believe that God only loves their good works, their good nature, their “bright side.” While it is true that God hates sinful thoughts, words, and deeds, it is equally true that God loves you always. He loves you regardless of what you do. He rewards you, however, according to what you do.

This differentiation between love and reward is critical for you to understand. Conditional love grants love as a reward for good behavior. Unconditional love separates love from deeds— unconditional love is bestowed because of who you are as God’s creation. It is granted on the motivation of who God is, not on what you do.

God loves always. The rewards we receive, however, are directly linked to what we think, say, and do. It is as we seek to keep God’s commandments that we truly grow in our relationship with the Lord and put ourselves in a position to receive the fullness of God’s rewards. Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” (John 14:23). Rewards are linked to behavior; God’s love is not.

The fact of God’s Word is that God loves you completely as His beloved child. God does not say, “I love this child a little, but I love that child a lot” or “I am fully reconciled to this aspect of My child’s being, but not that aspect of her character or nature.” God is fully reconciled to you in Christ Jesus, and He fully loves you.

• How do the words “fully reconciled” make you feel?

Salvation Brings Peace with God

One of the great marks of reconciliation in all relationships— whether with family members, friends, enemies, or with God—is genuine spiritual “peace.” Certainly that is also one of the great words we associate with those who have a loving relationship with one another. When a person accepts Jesus as his Savior, he enters a profound state of peace with God.

Peace and fear do not coexist. Our peace with God means that we no longer have any need to fear God, or to fear the consequences of our old sin nature. We can stand before the Father with perfect peace, knowing that all of God’s intentions toward us are for our eternal good.

• Have you experienced peace in your relationship with God?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Having been justified by faith, we

_______________

have peace with God through our

_______________

Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:1)

_______________

[Jesus said,] “Peace I leave with

_______________

you, My peace I give to you; not

_______________

as the world gives do I give to

_______________

you. Let not your heart be

_______________

troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

_______________

(John 14:27)

_______________

Salvation Changes Our

Identity Before God

When we accept God’s forgiveness, we have a new identity in Christ. The “old man” disappears; we are new creatures. The apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians that before the Lord we now are:

• Holy.The word holy literally means “separate.”We are no longer of the world; we are of God’s kingdom. We are no longer subject to the devil, but subject to Christ Jesus.

• Blameless. There is nothing held against us; the slates of our lives have been wiped clean before God.

• Above Reproach. There is nothing that the devil can point to and say, “That warrants eternal death.”

Peter wrote that Jesus “bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

_______________

he is a new creation; old things

_______________

have passed away; behold, all

_______________

things have become new. Now

_______________

all things are of God, who has

_______________

reconciled us to Himself

_______________

through Jesus Christ . . . God

_______________

was in Christ reconciling the

_______________

world to Himself, not imputing

_______________

their trespasses to them. (2 Cor.

_______________

5:17-19)

_______________

Thus says the Lord GOD . . . “I

_______________

will give them one heart, and I

_______________

will put a new spirit within them,

_______________

and take the stony heart out of

_______________

their flesh, and give them a heart

_______________

of flesh, that they may walk in

_______________

My statutes and keep My judgments

_______________

and do them; and they

_______________

shall be My people, and I will be

_______________

their God.” (Ezek. 11:17-20)

_______________

What does the peace of our salvation have to do with experiencing God’s love? It is very difficult to feel the love of a person in whose presence you are afraid. Peace with God closes the door to fear and opens the door to experiencing God’s loving presence—“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).

We Are to Seek God’s Forgiveness Daily

None of us walk in perfect holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives. We continue to make mistakes, to err, to sin. Some of our daily sins are rooted in what we know we should have done, but didn’t do. Some of our daily sins are willful acts of rebellion.

Do these sins damage or destroy our salvation? No. (If you have any doubt about this, I encourage you to read the Bible study in this series titled Understanding Eternal Security.)

The damage is not to our salvation but to two other aspects of our walk with the Lord. The degree of intimacy we experience with the Lord is damaged. And the extent to which we are able to experience the blessings of the Lord is damaged. Disobedience does not produce God’s rewards—quite the contrary, it can keep us from receiving God’s blessings.

We certainly know this to be true in our relationships with family members and friends. A marriage might not be destroyed because of mistakes one spouse makes or sins one spouse commits against the other—but the free-flowing peaceful intimacy of the marriage is certainly going to be damaged. A friendship may not be destroyed because of one person’s sins and errors—but feelings of “closeness” in the friendship are going to be impacted.

The same is true for our relationship with our heavenly Father. Sin pollutes the atmosphere of the relationship. It creates a hindrance, an obstacle, to our feeling God’s presence and power. It keeps us from feeling totally free in the Lord’s presence. Sin produces an impulse in us to run and hide when we hear God’s voice, just as it produced this impulse in Adam and Eve (see Gen. 3:8).

How can we keep our relationship with the Lord free of the taint of daily sins? By confessing our sins quickly! Our immediate confession of sin brings about an immediate forgiveness of sin—“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

We are also wise to ask the Holy Spirit daily to direct our steps away from sin and toward God’s plan and purpose for our lives. Jesus taught us to pray, “Do not lead us into temptation [in other words, lead us away from anything that will tempt us to sin], but deliver us from the evil one” (Matt. 6:13). We must make leading a life that is pure and holy before the Lord our goal—we must never think that it is acceptable to the Lord to “flirt” with sin or to engage in “just a little sin” from time to time. The Lord calls us to a perfect life—which is a life of wholeness, free from sin’s pull and sin’s consequences. It is as we seek to live a life of purity, forgiven of our daily sins, that we truly are in a position to experience the fullness of God’s love.

• What new insights do you have into the relationship between daily sins and the experiencing of God’s love?

• How do you feel when you know with certainty that you have been forgiven of your daily sins?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Those who live according to the

_______________

flesh set their minds on the

_______________

things of the flesh, but those who

_______________

live according to the Spirit, the

_______________

things of the Spirit. For to be

_______________

carnally minded is death, but

_______________

to be spiritually minded is life

_______________

and peace. (Rom. 8:5-6)

_______________

If then you were raised with

_______________

Christ, seek those things which are

_______________

above, where Christ is, sitting at

_______________

the right hand of God. Set your

_______________

mind on things above, not on

_______________

things on the earth. For you died,

_______________

and your life is hidden with Christ

_______________

in God. (Col. 3:1-3)

_______________

Therefore be imitators of God as

_______________

dear children. And walk in love, as

_______________

Christ also has loved us and given

_______________

Himself for us, an offering and a

_______________

sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling

_______________

aroma. (Eph. 5:1-2)

_______________

I have no greater joy than to

_______________

hear that my children walk in

_______________

truth. (3 John 4)

_______________

This is love, that we walk

_______________

according to His commandments.

_______________

(2 John 6)

_______________

Reconciliation and Acceptance

Our need to belong—to be accepted—is part of our great need for love. God has met that need through the Cross.

Our forgiveness of sin through Christ Jesus makes us totally acceptable to God. He receives us fully as His sons and daughters, His heirs, His beloved children. We fully “belong” to God.

God’s acceptance of you as His beloved child includes an open invitation for you to come boldly into His presence at all times. It is an invitation to experience genuine fellowship with Him. It is an invitation to receive the warm embrace of His love.

• What new insights do you have into the nature of God’s love and how to experience it?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit today?

LESSON 4

GOD’S DESIRE TO

FREE YOU FROM

SIN’S POWER

The person who genuinely loves another person unconditionally wants the best for that person at all times, in all areas of their life. The same is certainly true for God! He desires the very best for His beloved children, including a life that is totally free from sin’s power.

One of the most potent words a person can ever learn in association with their salvation is the word redeemed. This word runs from cover to cover in the Bible. In the Old Testament, the concept appears more than a hundred times—God’s redemption plan for mankind is established, God clearly states that a redemption is required, and the foundation is prepared for that redemption plan to be implemented.

In the New Testament, God’s redemption plan is put into effect; in Acts the plan is extended to the Gentiles, in the Epistles it is explained, and in the book of Revelation it is ultimately accomplished. The great song of Revelation 5:9–10 declares in homage to Jesus Christ:

You are worthy to take the scroll,

And to open its seals;

For You were slain,

And have redeemed us to God by Your blood

Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,

And have made us kings and priests to our God;

And we shall reign on the earth.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians about the redemptive power of Christ’s shed blood:

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. (Eph. 1:7–10)

•What insights do you have into these passages from Revelation 5 and Ephesians 1?

The Price of Our Redemption

To redeem is to pay a price for a person or object. In the case of our redemption, the price was the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. Not only was the blood of Jesus Christ required for our redemption, but only the blood of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, sinless and pure, was sufficient to pay for our redemption.

The Necessity and Purpose

of Our Redemption

Since the moment when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, every person has been born with a sin nature. We all know that from our infancy we have done things we should not have done and we have known more of evil than we ever should have known. We have had a sin nature that could not be dominated by our will alone. Sin had dominion over us—we were sinners by nature and sinners by action.

God’s holiness and absolute goodness are incompatible with sin. God does not associate with sin and can have no part in sin. Our sinful nature, therefore, alienated us from God and put us outside the boundaries of God’s intimate presence.

In His love, God continually called to man. And in sending His Son to this earth, He made a full provision for us to be drawn near to Him once again so that we might enjoy the intimacy of His loving presence. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13).

The purpose of our redemption was to spare us from the consequences of our sin—eternal separation from God our loving Father. Our redemption makes possible our eternal life. But not only that—our redemption also frees us from the destructive dominion that sin has had over our lives. We are not only redeemed for eternity, but we are also redeemed so we might live victorious lives right now.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

_______________

And forget not all His benefits:

_______________

Who forgives all your iniquities,

_______________

Who heals all your diseases,

_______________

Who redeems your life from

_______________

destruction,

_______________

Who crowns you with lovingkindness

_______________

and tender mercies,

_______________

Who satisfies your mouth with

_______________

good things,

_______________

So that your youth is renewed

_______________

like the eagle’s. (Ps. 103:2-5)

_______________

You, O LORD, are our Father;

_______________

Our Redeemer from Everlasting

_______________

is Your name. (Isa. 63:16)

_______________

The LORD redeems the soul of

_______________

His servants,

_______________

And none of those who trust in

_______________

Him shall be condemned. (Ps.

_______________

34:22)

_______________

Living in Daily Redemption

If a person “redeems” an item from a pawnshop, he pays the fee for the item so he can walk away with it. In the Bible, the word has two meanings: first, to pay a ransom, and second, to buy and bring out of a marketplace.

A Ransom Paid for Our Release

Ransoms are generally associated with kidnapping, and in the spiritual realm, that is exactly what happened to man—he was “kidnapped” away from God by the enemy of our souls, enticed and trapped and held in bondage by Satan, the deceiver. The shed blood of Jesus Christ was required so that mankind might be freed from this bondage and restored to God.

Who is it that pays a ransom for a kidnapped child? The one who dearly loves that child—his father. It was out of our heavenly Father’s infinite love for us that He paid the ransom necessary to get us back into His embrace.

How is a ransom price set? The value of the kidnapped child is determined according to what it is that the father is both capable of and willing to pay. The devil set an extremely high ransom price for mankind. He knew we were infinitely valuable to the Father and that He would be willing to pay the ultimate price for our return.

• How do you feel about the fact that as a believer, a “ransom” has been paid so that you might be restored to your loving heavenly Father?

What does our ransom mean to us? It means that we can be restored to intimacy with the Father. We are no longer “held” in captivity by the devil. We no longer “belong” to him. Rather, we are free from him—if we will only choose to be free and to walk away from the devil and walk toward our Father. The bonds that have held us have been broken—it is up to us to step out of those shackles and chains and move toward God, receiving and believing in the ransom paid by Jesus Christ.

No Longer Enslaved to Sin’s Impulses

The second meaning of the word redeem is to “purchase from a market,” and in the New Testament, this word refers specifically to a person’s purchase from a slave market.

Slavery was common in New Testament times, and those who were familiar with slavery knew that to be a slave was no joking matter. There are those today who “joke” about sin— they think they are free when they are sinning, and that a “little sin” can be a lark. The truth is the exact opposite: Sin enslaves. It tempts us, and then takes dominion over us. It is a snare— alluring with enticing bait, but a trap in the end from which there is no escape apart from God’s help.

Before a person accepts Jesus as Savior, that person lives under the dictates of the enemy, and all of the fleshly desires that are under Satan’s influence: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16).The sinner automatically gives in to these lusts and to pride—he never thinks twice about doing what feels good to his senses or what he feels is right in his own eyes. He lives for self, doing whatever he feels he must do to protect and promote “number one.” There is no genuine concern for others or about what God holds out as commandments, absolutes, or standards of right living. The sinner may feel guilt and shame, but these feelings do not keep him from continuing to do what brings him momentary pleasure— in fact, his guilt and shame may drive him to do what brings momentary pleasure and an escape from guilt and shame.

Once a person accepts Jesus as Savior, those bonds of “automatic impulse” are broken. Suddenly the person who has been enslaved has a true choice about how he will think, speak, and behave. The Holy Spirit who dwells within him makes him very uncomfortable with self-promoting, self-preserving, self-pleasing choices. The Holy Spirit continually compels him to turn away from sin and from a love of the world, and to turn toward the will of God and the love of God.

• In your life, can you point to times before you were saved when you “automatically” entered into sin, without thinking or evaluating your behavior? In what way was your behavior altered after you accepted Jesus as your Savior?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Do not love the world or the

_______________

things in the world. If anyone

_______________

loves the world, the love of the

_______________

Father is not in him. For all that

_______________

is in the world—the lust of the

_______________

flesh, the lust of the eyes, and

_______________

the pride of life—is not of the

_______________

Father but is of the world. And

_______________

the world is passing away, and

_______________

the lust of it; but he who does

_______________

the will of God abides forever. (1

_______________

John 2:15-17)

_______________

Can a person live free from sin? Yes! John wrote:

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. (1 John 2:1–2)

We can live in a continual state of “abiding” in the Lord so that we keep God’s commandments and choose constantly, moment to moment, day to day, to live according to God’s plan. The Holy Spirit enables us to do this. John wrote, “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13).

John also wrote about the way the Spirit empowers us to withstand temptations from evil sources, including evil people:

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:4–6)

The Holy Spirit not only imparts to us the knowledge of right and wrong, but He also empowers us to make choices for right! The believer has to work at making a bad choice and giving in to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He has to “go against the grain” of his new nature, consciously and willfully choosing to engage in sin. The more mature a believer becomes in Christ Jesus, the harder that person has to work at making an active choice for evil, and the more miserable he is going to be as a result of his bad, willful choice. The Holy Spirit moves within us constantly to call us away from sin and toward righteousness. The Holy Spirit builds a resistance into a believer against evil—the genuine believer’s desire is to follow the Lord, and the genuine believer’s conscience therefore becomes stronger and stronger the closer and longer he follows the Lord.

The believer is simply no longer enslaved to sin. He has been set free to choose to follow the Lord and to choose to yield to the will of the Holy Spirit.

• How do you feel about being a person who has been set free from an “automatic impulse” to sin?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

By this we know that He abides

_______________

in us, by the Spirit whom He has

_______________

given us. (1 John 3:24)

_______________

He who says he abides in Him

_______________

ought himself also to walk just as

_______________

He walked. (1 John 2:6)

_______________

He who is in you is greater than

_______________

he who is in the world. (1 John

_______________

4:4)

_______________

We know that whoever is born of

_______________

God does not sin; but he who

_______________

has been born of God keeps

_______________

himself, and the wicked one does

_______________

not touch him. (1 John 5:18)

_______________

No Longer Enslaved to the Law

The apostle Paul also wrote of a second form of “enslavement”— the enslavement that was associated with living under the Law of Moses. He said to the Romans:

Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. (Rom. 6:14–19)

In this passage, Paul admonishes the Romans to recognize that the Law was for them a form of slavery. They had no choice but to serve the Law, as if serving a slave master, if they were to live in a right relationship with God. But now, Paul says, the grace of God has been manifested in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and a person can live in the freedom of grace. And yet, Paul is quick to add, such a wonderful forgiveness compels a person to choose to become a slave to righteousness. The person who once governed his own behavior to avoid punishment under the Law, now has a heart desire to choose to do and say the right things because he loves God and desires to serve the Lord and live a holy life.

• In your experience, have you found that the longer you are a Christian, the more you desire to do what is right in God’s eyes, not because you fear God’s punishment but because you love the Lord?

Our motivation changes when we come to Christ. Consider for a moment the person who does what is right because he is afraid of doing the wrong thing and getting caught. His behavior is good, but the motivation of his heart is suspect. In contrast, consider the person who does what is right because he deeply loves God, wants to please God, and desires to experience the fullness of God’s blessings and favor. His behavior is good, but of even greater value, his motivation is godly. A person who desires to please the Lord and fulfill His commandments is a person who genuinely loves God and desires to live in the center of God’s will.

• Have you ever stopped yourself from doing something because you feared the consequences of getting caught? How did your feelings differ from times in which you chose to do the right thing simply because you wanted to do what was right?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

You were once darkness, but

_______________

now you are light in the Lord.

_______________

Walk as children of light (for the

_______________

fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness,

_______________

righteousness, and truth),

_______________

finding out what is acceptable to

_______________

the Lord. And have no fellowship

_______________

with the unfruitful works of darkness,

_______________

but rather expose them . . .

_______________

“He says:

_______________

Awake, you who sleep,

_______________

Arise from the dead,

_______________

And Christ will give you light.”

_______________

See then that you walk circumspectly,

_______________

not as fools but as wise . .

_______________

. Do not be unwise, but under-stand

_______________

what the will of the Lord is.

_______________

(Eph. 5:8-11, 14-17)

_______________

Love and Redemption

The Lord desires the best for His beloved children—and the best is to be free from the captor of their souls, free from the bondage of sin’s impulses, and free from a motivation rooted in guilt or shame.

A major aspect of our need for love is a need to feel competent—capable of accomplishing what we desire to accomplish, capable of accomplishing something that is good and lasting. God meets this need in our lives by redeeming us. He sets us free from the devil’s hold on us so we can act out of a pure heart and do the works of righteousness. He sets us free so we can accomplish great things for His glory by the power of the Holy Spirit. He sets us free to function in the fullness of our Godgiven talents and abilities, without having those talents and abilities soiled or spoiled by sin.

God removes all the hindrances of sin that have held us down and held us back so that we can move into the fullness of His purposes for our lives. God does not redeem us so that He can control every move we make, but rather, so that He can help us become all that He gave us the potential to be and to do.

•What new insights do you have into God’s unconditional love for you?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit?

LESSON 5

GOD’S DESIRE TO

MAKE YOU LIKE

HIS SON

Aperson who loves you desires for you to have a great life and a great future. The person who loves you wants you to succeed, to maximize your potential, to achieve all that you are capable of accomplishing, to have all of your spiritual, material, and physical needs met; and to experience great love, joy, peace, and fulfillment every day—today, tomorrow, and forever.

That’s the way God loves you. He wants you to succeed and to be all that He has created you to be. He wants you to know the greatest fulfillment you can possibly experience in life. He wants your needs to be met and your life to be filled with love, joy, and peace. He wants you to experience more and more of His blessings. And that is why He is determined to see you “grow up” spiritually into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Why become like Jesus?

Because Jesus lived the most superlative life of any person who has ever lived. He fully succeeded in His mission on this earth. He experienced the most fulfillment a person can experience. He had all of His needs met—physically, emotionally, and materially. He knew the greatest love, joy, and peace a person can ever know. Jesus said of Himself, “I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly” (see John 10:10).Your loving heavenly Father wants you to become just like Jesus and to experience life in all of its fullness or abundance. The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans: “Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29).

What Does It Mean to Be “Conformed”?

Certainly our conformity to Christ Jesus does not refer to a conformity to His physical likeness. Neither can we ever be conformed to many aspects of His natural life on this earth, including His supernatural virgin birth. Neither does our conformity refer in any way to our becoming the “savior” of either ourselves or any other person. What Christ accomplished on the cross, no other person could ever accomplish, and therefore, no person will ever be asked to die for the sins of another person. Christ’s death and resurrection were definitive, divine acts that only Christ could and did accomplish. The writers of the New Testament also make it clear that we are not called to conform ourselves to the strict practices of Judaism. (See Acts 15:1–30.)

To what, then, are we to be conformed? We are to be conformed to the character likeness of Jesus. We are to manifest His obedience to the Father, His love of God and of other people, and His character traits of joy, peace, kindness, goodness, and self-control. We are to forgive as He forgave and to call others to repentance and a newness of life just as He called those He encountered in His earthly ministry. We are to think as He thought, speak as He spoke, and act as He acted—motivated as He was motivated by a love for the Father.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

God forbid that I should boast

_______________

except in the cross of our Lord

_______________

Jesus Christ, by whom the world

_______________

has been crucified to me, and I

_______________

to the world. For in Christ Jesus

_______________

neither circumcision nor uncircumcision

_______________

avails anything, but a

_______________

new creation. (Gal. 6:14-15)

_______________

Walk worthy of the Lord, fully

_______________

pleasing Him, being fruitful in

_______________

every good work and increasing

_______________

in the knowledge of God;

_______________

strengthened with all might,

_______________

according to His glorious power,

_______________

for all patience and longsuffering

_______________

with joy. (Col. 1:10-11)

_______________

• How do you feel about being conformed into the character likeness of Jesus Christ?

Adopted Sons and Daughters

The apostle Paul not only said that we are to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus, but he also said we are “to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).

Jesus is not only our Savior, He is also our “older brother,” the firstborn in the family to which we belong. Have you ever really stopped to think about what a marvelous thing it is to be part of the family of almighty God?

God loves you and me so much that He has adopted us into His family.

Adoption was a very serious matter in the Roman Empire at the time of Christ. The natural child of a parent could be disowned, but an adopted child had full legal rights that could not be revoked. Adoption allowed a child to be a full heir of all that a parent had, including the use of the parents’ name.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

When the fullness of the time had

_______________

come, God sent forth His Son,

_______________

born of a woman, born under the

_______________

law, to redeem those who were

_______________

under the law, that we might

_______________

receive the adoption as sons. And

_______________

because you are sons, God has

_______________

sent forth the Spirit of His Son

_______________

into your hearts, crying out,

_______________

“Abba, Father!” Therefore you

_______________

are no longer a slave but a son,

_______________

and if a son, then an heir of God

_______________

through Christ. (Gal. 4:4-7)

_______________

Just as He chose us in Him

_______________

before the foundation of

_______________

the world, that

_______________

we should be holy and without

_______________

blame before Him in love, having

_______________

predestined us to adoption as

_______________

sons by Jesus Christ to Himself,

_______________

according to the good pleasure

_______________

of His will, to the praise of the

_______________

glory of His grace, by which He

_______________

made us accepted in the

_______________

Beloved. (Eph. 1:4-6)

_______________

• How do you feel knowing that as a believer, you are an adopted child of God and therefore, an heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ Jesus?

God’s Conformation Process

The conformation process God uses in our lives is a process that is the opposite of the world’s approach.

The World’s Approach to Conformation

The world’s approach to conformation is a process of imitation and self-improvement.

1. Imitation of others. From the world’s perspective, a person who desires to conform himself to someone else’s image is a person who seeks to “imitate” that person—doing what they do, talking as they talk, adopting their mannerisms, surrounding himself with the possessions the other person has, going to places the other person goes, and making choices the other person makes. This approach is rooted in the belief “I can act successful until I am successful.” Conformation becomes a process of copy-catting.

Ultimately, this approach fails because in copying a person we perceive as being successful, we tend to copy their faults and sins as much as we copy their strengths and good deeds.

• Have you ever tried to conform yourself to the image of another person through imitation? What were the results?

2. Improvement of self. The world’s approach to conformity is a self-improvement process. The human approach says, “I can make myself into a better person, and if I work hard enough and long enough at self-improvement, I can make myself into a virtually perfect person. I can conform myself to the image of a successful person by using my willpower and changing those things I want to change.”

This approach also fails because no person can change their basic nature on their own. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit truly to transform a person from their sin nature to righteousness.

• Have you ever tried to “imitate” your way into success?

• Have you ever embarked on a self-improvement course? What was the long-term result?

God’s Approach to Conformation

God’s approach to conformation is a very different process. It is a process of indwelling and unveiling.

1. Indwelling. God’s approach declares that man cannot save himself, redeem himself, or conform himself to Christ. Man’s will is limited, and even the strongest willpower is too weak to accomplish anything that is life-changing and eternal. The only way for a person truly to achieve success is for that person to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables man to live in righteousness. The Holy Spirit’s power, coupled with man’s will, is true and effective willpower.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

[Jesus said,] “I will pray the

_______________

Father, and He will give you

_______________

another Helper, that He may

_______________

abide with you forever-the

_______________

Spirit of truth, whom the world

_______________

cannot receive, because it neither

_______________

sees Him nor knows Him; but

_______________

you know Him, for He dwells

_______________

with you and will be in you.”

_______________

( John 14:16-17)

_______________

It is God who works in you both

_______________

to will and to do for His good

_______________

pleasure. (Phil. 2:13)

_______________

Walk in the Spirit, and you shall

_______________

not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

_______________

(Gal. 5:16)

_______________

2. Unveiling. God’s approach to conformation is something of a subtraction process, followed by an addition process. You cannot “put on” Christ’s character without first “taking off” the old nature of the world.

One of the foremost roles of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to reveal to us those things that are displeasing to God and not in harmony with Christ’s life. The Holy Spirit, in other words, reveals our base humanity to us—He shows us our fleshly nature, our pride, our sinful habits, and the errant ways in which we are dealing with other people. And He calls us to repent, or to change. He calls us to turn away from our old way of living and to “put off” the old man. Conformity ultimately involves a “stripping away” of all things that are not like Christ.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

I have suffered the loss of all

_______________

things, and count them as rubbish,

_______________

that I may gain Christ and

_______________

be found in Him, not having my

_______________

own righteousness, which is from

_______________

the law, but that which is

_______________

through faith in Christ, the

_______________

righteousness which is from God

_______________

by faith. (Phil. 3:8-9)

_______________

Put off, concerning your former

_______________

conduct, the old man which

_______________

grows corrupt according to the

_______________

deceitful lusts, and be renewed

_______________

in the spirit of your mind . . . put

_______________

on the new man which was created

_______________

according to God, in true

_______________

righteousness and holiness.

_______________

(Eph. 4:22-24)

_______________

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger,

_______________

clamor, and evil speaking be

_______________

put away from you, with all

_______________

malice. And be kind to one

_______________

another, tenderhearted, forgiving

_______________

one another, even as God in

_______________

Christ forgave you. (Eph.

_______________

4:31-32)

_______________

Now the works of the flesh are

_______________

evident, which are: adultery,

_______________

fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,

_______________

idolatry, sorcery, hatred,

_______________

contentions, jealousies, outbursts

_______________

of wrath, selfish ambitions,

_______________

dissensions, heresies,

_______________

envy, murders, drunkenness,

_______________

revelries, and the like; of which

_______________

I tell you beforehand, just as I

_______________

also told you in time past, that

_______________

those who

_______________

practice such things will not

_______________

inherit the kingdom of God.

_______________

But the fruit of the Spirit is

_______________

love, joy, peace, longsuffering,

_______________

kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

_______________

gentleness, self-control. Against

_______________

such there is no law. And those

_______________

who are Christ’s have crucified

_______________

the flesh with its passions and

_______________

desires. (Gal. 5:19-24)

_______________

• How do you feel about God’s conformation process of indwelling and unveiling?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit? Are there specific things you know you need to “put off” in order fully to put on Christ Jesus?

God’s Commitment

to Your Conformation

God is committed to your success. The conformation work that He has begun in you as a believer is a work that He will not abandon until you truly are mature in your faith. The work is His work, not ours. The glory that results is His glory, not ours.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

We have this treasure in earthen

_______________

vessels, that the excellence of the

_______________

power may be of God and not of

_______________

us. (2 Cor. 4:7)

_______________

Now may the God of peace

_______________

Himself sanctify you completely;

_______________

and may your whole spirit, soul,

_______________

and body be preserved blameless

_______________

at the coming of our Lord Jesus

_______________

Christ. He who calls you is faithful,

_______________

who also will do it. (1 Thess.

_______________

5:23-24)

_______________

Your Awesome Destiny

As a believer in Christ Jesus, you have a great destiny. Not only have you been given eternal life, but you are now in the process of being conformed into the very likeness of Christ Jesus. God, through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in your life, is causing you to develop the mind of Christ and the character of Jesus—which in turn, compels you to speak and to act as Jesus would act if He were living in your world, your family, your circumstances, your job, your church, and your community today.

Can there be any greater expression of God’s love than His desire to give you the most wonderful life possible for you to live? Can there be any greater expression of love than for God to impart to you His own Holy Spirit, to enable you to reach His highest and best?

• What new insights do you have into the love of God and its working in your life?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit today?

LESSON 6

GOD’S DESIRE TO

COMMUNICATE

WITH YOU

A person you love is a person with whom you desire to spend time and share life’s experiences, a person with whom you enjoy communicating—by both talking and listening. A person you love is a person you look forward to seeing, a person to whom you hate saying good-bye. A person you love is a person to whom you make yourself accessible, available, and vulnerable.

One aspect of our great need for love is a need to feel that we are worthy—to feel we are worth knowing, worth having around, worth conversing with, worth calling a friend. We each long to feel valuable. Ultimately, our sense of value and worthiness must be rooted in the fact that almighty God, the King of the universe, considers us worthy and valuable beyond measure.

In His great love for you, God desires to have an intimate friendship with you. He counts you worthy of His time, attention, and presence.

From the very beginning, God made it clear that He desired to be not only the Creator of mankind, but also a friend to mankind. His very purpose in creating man and woman was so He might communicate with them, delight in their exploration of His creation, involve them in His creative process and plan, and enjoy their presence.

God not only made Himself available to Adam, but He also desired his input into the Lord’s creation. We read in Genesis 2:19, “Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” God valued Adam’s opinion!

When Adam and Eve “heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,” they were not surprised that God was in the Garden. That was a routine occurrence, a natural part of their lives. It was because they had disobeyed God’s command regarding the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that they hid themselves from God’s presence. The Lord certainly knew where they were— nevertheless, He “called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” In doing this, He was inviting Adam to come into His presence without fear. (See Gen. 3:8–9.) What a different outcome this story might have had if only Adam and Eve had owned up to their willful rebellion against God and asked His forgiveness, rather than attempting to justify their behavior and pass the blame for their sin to others.

The purpose for communication is to establish relationship. And from the beginning, God has desired to have a walking-and-talking, ongoing, moment-by-moment relationship with His children. He created us for honest, heartfelt fellowship with Himself. He longs to be Father to us, and to enjoy our presence as His children.

• How do you feel about having a daily, ongoing, walking-and-talking relationship with almighty God?

There are three aspects of God’s desire to communicate with us that we will cover in this lesson:

1. God’s availability to us

2. God’s listening ear

3. God’s desire for us to be His people

God’s Availability

God makes Himself infinitely accessible to His beloved children. He never is too busy or too preoccupied with other people or problems to hear us or make Himself available to us. It is beyond our human ability to comprehend how this can be true, but we have full assurance from God’s Word that it is so. Part of God’s omnipotence (infinite power) is His ability to be concerned about and to rule over the smallest details. Part of God’s omnipresent nature (eternal presence) is His ability to be present in each moment of our lives.

No believer is excluded or denied access to God at any time or for any reason. He receives all of His children at all times. Furthermore, no believer is excluded from any of the promises of God or from having access to any aspect of the Holy Spirit’s power.

In His accessibility to us, the Lord is

• patient, merciful, gracious, and full of compassion.

(Ps. 145:8–9)

• quick to grant salvation to any person who calls upon His name. (Rom. 10:12–13; John 3:16; Joel 2:32)

• eager to have us come into His presence so that He might be our source of peace and rest. (Matt. 11:28)

The Lord even gives us the language of a pure, innocent heart with which to communicate with Him (Zeph. 3:9).

• Have you ever felt that God was inaccessible to you? Was that really the truth about God’s nature or was that your perception? Why did you feel apart from God?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

The LORD is gracious and full

_______________

of compassion,

_______________

Slow to anger and great in mercy.

_______________

The LORD is good to all,

_______________

And His tender mercies are over

_______________

all His works. (Ps. 145:8-9)

_______________

There is no distinction between

_______________

Jew and Greek, for the same

_______________

Lord over all is rich to all who

_______________

call upon Him. For “whoever

_______________

calls on the name of the LORD

_______________

shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:12-13)

_______________

[Jesus said,] “Come to Me, all

_______________

you who labor and are heavy

_______________

laden, and I will give you rest.”

_______________

(Matt. 11:28)

_______________

And it shall come to pass

_______________

That whoever calls on the name

_______________

of the LORD

_______________

Shall be saved. (Joel 2:32)

_______________

For God so loved the world that

_______________

He gave His only begotten Son,

_______________

that whoever believes in Him

_______________

should not perish but have ever-lasting

_______________

life. (John 3:16)

_______________

[The Lord said,] “For then I

_______________

will restore to the peoples a pure

_______________

language,

_______________

That they all may call on the

_______________

name of the ,

_______________

To serve Him with one accord.”

_______________

(Zeph. 3:9)

_______________

And the Spirit and the bride say,

_______________

“Come!” And let him who hears

_______________

say, “Come!” And let him who

_______________

thirsts come. Whoever desires, let

_______________

him take the water of life freely.

_______________

(Rev. 22:17)

_______________

God’s Listening Ear

King David had absolutely no doubt that the Lord heard him when he prayed. He prayed with full expectation that God would hear and answer:

LORD, I cry out to You;

Make haste to me!

Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.

Let my prayer be set before You as incense,

The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. (Ps. 141:1–2)

In another psalm we read, “I said to the LORD: ‘You are my God; hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD. O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation” (Ps. 140:6–7). David believed that God would not only hear but also answer his prayer in a way that was beneficial to David and to the furtherance of God’s purposes.

• In your life, how have you approached God in prayer? Have you expected Him to listen and answer for your benefit?

Every Prayer Is Answered

God hears and answers every prayer. “But,” you may say, “I have prayed lots of prayers that God didn’t answer.” Be honest with yourself. Are you saying that God didn’t answer, or that He didn’t answer in the way you desired for Him to answer you? The truth is that God answers all prayers, but according to His goodness and His eternal purposes.

The petitions we make out of our finite understanding are answered out of the abundance of God’s infinite wisdom and eternal perspective.

God’s answers to us are “yes,” “no,” “not now,” and “if-then.” When we pray according to His will for us—which is always for our eternal good—His answer is always “yes,” although we may not receive His answer in the timing or the way we had imagined. Anytime we petition Him for something that is contrary to our eternal good, His answer is going to be “no.” At times, the Lord gives us a yes answer but asks us to wait for His answer to be manifested, and at times, He gives us a yes answer if we will meet certain conditions that He has established in His Word. When you pray, look for God’s answer to you—listen for it. He hears your prayers and responds to them. But very often we do not wait in His presence for His response.

• What has been your experience in the past with “answered prayers”?

• How do you feel when God does not answer your prayers as you had hoped and believed He would (or as you had thought He should)?

• In your life, what has been the benefit of a prayer that God answered by saying “no”?

King Solomon had a clear understanding that God heard and responded to all prayer. I encourage you to read the prayer he prayed at the time the temple in Jerusalem was completed. (See 1 Kings 8:22–54.) After Solomon had finished his prayer, he stood and blessed the people of Israel and said,

Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise . . . May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near the LORD our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. (1 Kings 8:56–60)

•What new insights do you have into this passage from 1 Kings 8?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Because He has inclined His

_______________

ear to me,

_______________

Therefore I will call upon Him

_______________

as long as I live. (Ps. 116:2)

_______________

As for me, I will call upon God,

_______________

And the LORD shall save me.

_______________

Evening and morning and at

_______________

noon I will pray, and cry aloud,

_______________

And He shall hear my voice. (Ps.

_______________

55:16-17)

_______________

Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;

_______________

And attend to the voice of

_______________

my supplications.

_______________

In the day of trouble I will call

_______________

upon You,

_______________

For You will answer me. (Ps.

_______________

86:6-7)

_______________

Then you will call upon Me and

_______________

go and pray to Me, and I will listen

_______________

to you. And you will seek Me

_______________

and find Me, when you search

_______________

for Me with all your heart. I will

_______________

be found by you, says the LORD,

_______________

and I will bring you back from

_______________

your captivity. (Jer. 29:12-14)

_______________

God Also Listens to the Heart

God does not only listen to our verbal prayers—our spoken expressions of petition, praise, and thanksgiving. God also listens to our hearts. He knows our thoughts. He is aware of how we feel. He knows our unspoken needs, dreams, wishes, hopes, and desires. God not only listens to what you say, but also to who you are. He knows you completely because He pays attention to every detail of your life, inside and out. And He listens to you—all of you—with compassion.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

For the word of God is living and

_______________

powerful, and sharper than any

_______________

two-edged sword, piercing even

_______________

to the division of soul and spirit,

_______________

and of joints and marrow, and is

_______________

a discerner of the thoughts and

_______________

intents of the heart. And there is

_______________

no creature hidden from His

_______________

sight, but all things are naked

_______________

and open to the eyes of Him to

_______________

whom we must give account.

_______________

(Heb. 4:12-13)

_______________

The LORD knows the thoughts of

_______________

man. (Ps. 94:11)

_______________

But Jesus, knowing their

_______________

thoughts, said, “Why do you

_______________

think evil in your hearts?”

_______________

(Matt. 9:4)

_______________

• How do you feel about the fact that the Lord listens to all you think, feel, and express—spoken and unspoken?

God’s Desire for Us to Be His People

God has a great desire to be with us and to bless us. His Word to His people throughout the ages has been, “You shall be My people and I will be your God” (see Lev. 26:12).

For many centuries, the Israelites had an understanding that God was their “husband”—He was the One who cared for them, protected them, nurtured them, provided for them, and called them by name. In the New Testament, those who followed Christ Jesus understood themselves to be the “bride” of Christ. God’s people have always recognized that God desires to be in the closest, most intimate relationship with them.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

I will walk among you and be

_______________

your God, and you shall be My

_______________

people. (Lev. 26:12)

_______________

The eyes of the LORD run to and

_______________

fro throughout the whole earth,

_______________

to show Himself strong on behalf

_______________

of those whose heart is loyal to

_______________

Him. (2 Chron. 16:9)

_______________

[The Lord said,] “I will betroth

_______________

you to Me forever;

_______________

Yes, I will betroth you to Me

_______________

In righteousness and justice,

_______________

In lovingkindness and mercy;

_______________

I will betroth you to Me in

_______________

faithfulness,

_______________

And you shall know the LORD . . .

_______________

Then I will say to those who

_______________

were not My people,

_______________

‘You are My people!’

_______________

And they shall say, ‘You are my

_______________

God!’” (Hos. 2:19-20, 23)

_______________

“I will cause him to draw near,

_______________

And he shall approach Me;

_______________

For who is this who pledged his

_______________

heart to approach Me?” says

_______________

the LORD. “You shall be My

_______________

people, and I will be Your God.”

_______________

(Jer. 30:21-22)

_______________

[Jesus said,] “You are My

_______________

friends if you do whatever I

_______________

command you. No longer do I

_______________

call you servants, for a servant

_______________

does not know what his master

_______________

is doing; but I have called you

_______________

friends, for all things that I

_______________

heard from My Father I have

_______________

made known to you.” (John

_______________

15:14-15)

_______________

How precious also are Your

_______________

thoughts to me, O God!

_______________

How great is the sum of them!

_______________

If I should count them, they

_______________

would be more in number than

_______________

the sand. (Ps. 139:17-18)

_______________

For you are the temple of the

_______________

living God. As God has said:

_______________

“I will dwell in them

_______________

And walk among them.

_______________

I will be their God,

_______________

And they shall be My people . . .

_______________

I will be a Father to you,

_______________

And you shall be My sons and

_______________

daughters,

_______________

Says the LORD Almighty.”

_______________

(2 Cor. 6:16-18)

_______________

As you have read through the verses in this chapter, how have you felt yourself responding to the Lord, who desires so deeply to communicate with you and to develop a close relationship with you? Have you felt His loving call to you from His Word?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit today?

LESSON 7

OUR RESPONSE

TO GOD’S LOVE:

A PASSION TO

KNOW GOD

God knows everything about you. He knows your strengths, abilities, and accomplishments. He knows your desires, dreams, hopes, and goals. He knows what thrills your soul and what breaks your heart. He knows your past, present, and future. And He loves you as fully as He knows you!

But what do you know about God?

Do you know Him well? Do you know His strengths, abilities, and accomplishments? Do you know what God desires? Do you know what pleases God and what breaks His heart?

As believers we are to have a passion for God. In the world today, “passion” is often related to sexual desire, but the true meaning of the word is “an overwhelming, strong desire,” which can be a strong desire for matters of the spirit. Believers are to have an urgency, a fervor, a zealous desire for the Lord and everything related to Him.

The apostle Paul expressed his passion for the Lord as a “pressing” toward the “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). Paul was determined to know Christ, completely “forgetting” his old life and reaching toward all the things that the Lord had for him in the present and the future. He said of himself, “I was zealous for God” (see Acts 22:3).

Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and the grandson of Aaron, the priest of the Israelites, was a man noted by God for his zeal. Read God’s promise regarding him:

Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel. (Num. 25:12–13)

• In your life, have you had times when you truly felt a zeal, a passion for God and the things of God? What other words might you use to describe your relationship with the Lord in those times?

What the Word Says to Me

What the Word Says to Me

I press on, that I may lay hold of

_______________

that for which Christ Jesus has

_______________

also laid hold of me. Brethren, I

_______________

do not count myself to have

_______________

apprehended; but one thing I do,

_______________

forgetting those things which are

_______________

behind and reaching forward to

_______________

those things which are ahead, I

_______________

press toward the goal for the

_______________

prize of the upward call of God

_______________

in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us,

_______________

as many as are mature, have this

_______________

mind. (Phil. 3:12-15)

_______________

It is good to be zealous in a good

_______________

thing always. (Gal. 4:18)

_______________

Be kindly affectionate to one

_______________

another with brotherly love . . .

_______________

not lagging in diligence, fervent

_______________

in spirit, serving the Lord. (Rom.

_______________

12:10-11)

_______________

• How have you felt as you have read these Scriptures?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit?

Our Knowledge of the Lord

Our passion to know God is rooted in a desire to understand who He is, how He works, and what He desires. This is not “head knowledge” alone, but knowledge that bears itself out in our experiences with the Lord. It is not a knowing about the Lord, but genuinely knowing the Lord—anticipating what the Lord would say or do in any given situation, feeling the presence and power of the Lord operating in us and through us, and responding to life in our attitude and beliefs as the Lord Himself responds.

The apostle Paul called the Colossians to pursue such a knowledge of the Lord. He prayed that their “hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:2–3). He longed for the Colossians to be “rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith . . . abounding in it” (Col. 2:7).

Those who have a passion for the Lord place top priority on knowing Him. They value their relationship with the Lord above all other relationships. Even more than their passion for a spouse or children, a job, or a ministry, they have a passion to know Christ Jesus as intimately and as fully as possible. Paul wrote:

I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. (Phil. 3:8)

• What insights do you have into these passages from Colossians 2 and Philippians 3?

Knowing the Greatness of the Lord

Those who have a passion to know God are those who have a growing understanding of the greatness of God. They are able to grasp, increasingly so, the vast, incomprehensible, mysterious infinity of God’s wisdom, power, presence, and love. And the more they know the greatness of God, the more they value the love that God extends toward them. They have a growing joy in their hearts and a greater capacity to proclaim, “What a God is He who loves me!” King David blessed the Lord before the Israelites, saying:

Blessed are You, LORD God of Israel . . .

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness,

The power and the glory,

The victory and the majesty;

For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;

Yours is the kingdom, O LORD,

And You are exalted as head over all.

Both riches and honor come from You,

And You reign over all.

In Your hand is power and might;

In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all.

Now therefore, our God,

We thank You

And praise Your glorious name. (1 Chron. 29:10–13)

• What insights do you have into King David’s prayer?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Among the gods there is none

_______________

like You, O Lord;

_______________

Nor are there any works like

_______________

Your works . . .

_______________

For You are great, and do

_______________

wondrous things;

_______________

You alone are God. (Ps.

_______________

86:8-10)

_______________

Great is the LORD, and greatly to

_______________

be praised;

_______________

And His greatness is

_______________

unsearchable.

_______________

One generation shall praise Your

_______________

works to another,

_______________

And shall declare Your mighty

_______________

acts.

_______________

I will meditate on the glorious

_______________

splendor of Your majesty,

_______________

And on Your wondrous works.

_______________

Men shall speak of the might of

_______________

Your awesome acts,

_______________

And I will declare Your greatness.

_______________

(Ps. 145:3-6)

_______________

[Jesus taught His disciples to

_______________

pray,] “For Yours is the kingdom

_______________

and the power and the glory forever.”

_______________

(Matt. 6:13)

_______________

Knowing the Goodness of the Lord

Those who have a passion to know God discover and rediscover the goodness of the Lord in countless ways, in countless situations, in countless times. The more they discover the goodness of the Lord, the more they see that God’s goodness and God’s love are inseparable—He loves us in good ways, and His goodness is always expressed with love toward those who seek Him with all their hearts.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

_______________

For You, Lord, are good, and

_______________

ready to forgive,

_______________

And abundant in mercy to all

_______________

those who call upon You. (Ps.

_______________

86:4-5)

_______________

Whom have I in heaven but You?

_______________

And there is none upon earth

_______________

that I desire besides You.

_______________

My flesh and my heart fail;

_______________

But God is the strength of my

_______________

heart and my portion forever . . .

_______________

It is good for me to draw near

_______________

to God;

_______________

I have put my trust in the

_______________

Lord GOD,

_______________

That I may declare all Your

_______________

works. (Ps. 73:25-26, 28)

_______________

For I know the thoughts that I

_______________

think toward you, says the LORD,

_______________

thoughts of peace and not of

_______________

evil, to give you a future and a

_______________

hope. ( Jer. 29:11)

_______________

They shall utter the memory of

_______________

Your great goodness,

_______________

And shall sing of Your righteousness.

_______________

(Ps. 145:7)

_______________

• As you look back on your Christian walk, how has your understanding of God’s goodness changed?

Knowing the Lord Through

Identification with Him

The main ways we know the Lord are not only through prayer, praise, and an understanding of His Word, but also through our identification with the Lord’s life—His struggles and sufferings, as well as His victories.

A Knowledge of His Suffering

The longer we walk with Christ, and the more intimately we come to know Him, the more we are likely to experience rejection and alienation by the world. We are going to be misunderstood and ridiculed just as He was. We are going to be criticized as He was. We are going to be tempted as He was— tempted to pursue those things that satisfy self, including power, fame, and the adoration of others. We are going to be persecuted for our faith, sometimes in very painful ways. And some of us are going to be martyred for our faith, just as Christians have been martyred through the ages.

Perhaps no other person ever identified so completely with Christ as the apostle Paul. Was his life immune from trouble? Far from it! For Christ’s sake, he was persecuted often. He wrote to the Corinthians:

From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches . . . And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor.11:24–28; 12:7–10)

• What new insights do you have into these passages from 2 Corinthians?

Christ does not immunize us from troubles and struggles— rather, the Holy Spirit empowers us to confront, overcome, and endure troubles and struggles victoriously. Great rewards go to those who overcome! (See Rev. 2–3 and note the repeated phrase “he who overcomes.”)

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

[Jesus taught,] “Blessed are

_______________

those who are persecuted for

_______________

righteousness’ sake,

_______________

For theirs is the kingdom

_______________

of heaven.

_______________

Blessed are you when they revile

_______________

and persecute you, and say all

_______________

kinds of evil against you falsely

_______________

for My sake. Rejoice and be

_______________

exceedingly glad, for great is your

_______________

reward in heaven, for so they persecuted

_______________

the prophets who were

_______________

before you.” (Matt. 5:10-12)

_______________

[Jesus said,] “Remember the word

_______________

that I said to you, ‘A servant is

_______________

not greater than his master.’ If

_______________

they persecuted Me, they will also

_______________

persecute you. If they kept My

_______________

word, they will keep yours also.

_______________

But all these things they will do to

_______________

you for My name’s sake, because

_______________

they do not know Him who sent

_______________

Me.” (John 15:20-21)

_______________

• How have you felt as you have read these verses?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit?

A Knowledge of His Victories

The more we seek to know the Lord and have a passion for living out His life on this earth, the more we are also going to know victories and triumphs in the spirit realm. Jesus told His disciples about the life they would experience after His resurrection and His sending of the Holy Spirit to them:

Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. ( John 16:23–24)

Jesus promised His disciples that they would

• experience great personal protection against evil and power over evil. (Mark 16:15–18)

• have power to loose people to receive God’s blessings. (Matt. 18:18)

• receive great answer to their prayers. (Matt.18:19–20)

• have effective and fruitful ministries marked by works that would exceed His. (John 14:12–14; John 15:16)

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

[Jesus said,] “Go into all the

_______________

world and preach the gospel to

_______________

every creature. He who believes

_______________

and is baptized will be saved; but

_______________

he who does not believe will be

_______________

condemned. And these signs will

_______________

follow those who believe: In

_______________

My name they will cast out

_______________

demons; they will speak with

_______________

new tongues; they will take up

_______________

serpents; and if they drink anything

_______________

deadly, it will by no means

_______________

hurt them; they will lay hands on

_______________

the sick, and they will recover.”

_______________

(Mark 16:15-18)

_______________

[ Jesus said,] “Most assuredly, I

_______________

say to you, he who believes in

_______________

Me, the works that I do he will

_______________

do also; and greater works than

_______________

these he will do, because I go to

_______________

My Father. And whatever you

_______________

ask in My name, that I will do,

_______________

that the Father may be glorified

_______________

in the Son. If you ask anything in

_______________

My name, I will do it.” (John

_______________

14:12-14)

_______________

[ Jesus said,] “I chose you and

_______________

appointed you that you should go

_______________

and bear fruit, and that your fruit

_______________

should remain, that whatever you

_______________

ask the Father in My name He

_______________

may give you.” (John 15:16)

_______________

[ Jesus said,] “Assuredly, I say to

_______________

you, whatever you bind on earth

_______________

will be bound in heaven, and whatever

_______________

you loose on earth will be

_______________

loosed in heaven. Again I say toyou

_______________

that if two of you agree on earth

_______________

concerning anything that they ask,

_______________

it will be done for them by My

_______________

Father in heaven. For where two or

_______________

three are gathered together in My

_______________

name, I am there in the midst of

_______________

them.” (Matt. 18:18-20)

_______________

• How have you felt as you have read these verses?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit?

To know the Lord is to identify so fully with His life that you experience what the Lord experienced on this earth—sufferings and great victories. It is through our total identification with His life that we learn the lessons that mold our nature and character for all eternity. It is through our total identification with Him that we learn even more about God’s great love for us—that God loves us always, regardless of the circumstances around us. We learn the sustaining and encouraging power of God’s love!

• What new insights do you have into the depths of God’s love?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit today?

LESSON 8

OUR RESPONSE TO

GOD’S LOVE:

A PASSION TO

OBEY GOD

Those who know the greatness and goodness of God—and those who seek to identify fully with Christ’s life—have a great passion to obey God. To know God is to serve God.

Obedience is active, not passive. It is a “living out” of what we know to be true, right, and good. It is to follow the Lord daily, saying and doing what Jesus would do if He were living our lives today. It is displaying the truth of God in the deeds of our everyday lives. Obedience is a total submission to what God desires, not what we desire out of our sensual lusts, greed, and pride.

Our heavenly Father places high value on obedience. He prefers it even to sacrifice—or to the outward expressions of worship (1 Sam. 15:22). In fact, the obedient way in which we live our lives is the ultimate expression of worship and service (Prov. 21:3). He desires that we not only be hearers of His Word, but that we also be doers of it (James 1:22).

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Thus says the LORD of hosts . . .

_______________

“This is what I commanded

_______________

them, saying, ‘Obey My voice,

_______________

and I will be your God, and you

_______________

shall be My people. And walk in

_______________

all the ways that I have commanded

_______________

you, that it may be well

_______________

with you.’” ( Jer. 7:21, 23)

_______________

Has the LORD as great delight in

_______________

burnt offerings and sacrifices,

_______________

As in obeying the voice of

_______________

the LORD?

_______________

Behold, to obey is better

_______________

than sacrifice,

_______________

And to heed than the fat of

_______________

rams. (1 Sam. 15:22)

_______________

To do righteousness and justice

_______________

Is more acceptable to the LORD

_______________

than sacrifice. (Prov. 21:3)

_______________

Be doers of the word, and not

_______________

hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

_______________

For if anyone is a hearer

_______________

of the word and not a doer, he is

_______________

like a man observing his natural

_______________

face in a mirror; for he observes

_______________

himself, goes away, and immediately

_______________

forgets what kind of man

_______________

he was. But he who looks into

_______________

the perfect

_______________

law of liberty and continues in it,

_______________

and is not a forgetful hearer but

_______________

a doer of the work, this one will

_______________

be blessed in what he does.

_______________

(James 1:22-25)

_______________

[Jesus taught,] “If you keep My

_______________

commandments, you will abide

_______________

in My love, just as I have kept

_______________

My Father’s commandments and

_______________

abide in His love.” ( John 15:10)

_______________

A passion to obey God is generally expressed or manifested in a Christian’s life in these three ways:

1. a passion to know the Bible

2. a passion to live in righteousness

3. a passion to receive daily direction from the Lord

Ultimately, these three desires—for God’s Word, righteousness, and daily guidance—work together. The more we know God’s Word, the greater our understanding will be of righteousness and how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. The more we trust the Holy Spirit, the more He reminds us of God’s Word and leads us into paths of righteousness. The more we desire to live in “right standing” before the Father, the more we will want to read His Word and listen for His voice.

A Knowledge of the Bible

For us to know what God requires of us, we must know what God has commanded His people to do. God’s commandments have not changed through the ages; they have not been altered according to culture, custom, or technological advances. God’s Word is absolute, and it is enduring.

You can have a great desire to obey the Lord, but unless you know what the Lord has commanded His people to do, you will fail in your obedience.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

The people said to Joshua, “The

_______________

LORD our God we will serve, and

_______________

His voice we will obey!” (Josh.

_______________

24:24)

_______________

I will meditate on Your precepts,

_______________

And contemplate Your ways.

_______________

I will delight myself in

_______________

Your statutes;

_______________

I will not forget Your word. (Ps.

_______________

119:15-16)

_______________

Your word is a lamp to my feet

_______________

And a light to my path.

_______________

I have sworn and confirmed

_______________

That I will keep Your righteous

_______________

judgments . . .

_______________

I have inclined my heart to

_______________

perform Your statutes

_______________

Forever, to the very end. (Ps.

_______________

119:105-6, 112)

_______________

Teach me to do Your will,

_______________

For You are my God;

_______________

Your Spirit is good.

_______________

Lead me in the land of

_______________

uprightness. (Ps. 143:10)

_______________

• As you reflect back over your Christian walk, can you see a trend toward desiring greater and greater obedience to God’s commandments?

A Desire for Righteousness

Throughout the Bible, we find the word righteousness. Very simply, living in righteousness is doing what is “right” before the Lord. It is keeping His commandments and statutes. It is turning away from sin and toward what is holy and acceptable to the Lord.

The writer to the Hebrews encouraged believers to:

Lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

(Heb. 12:1–2)

Sin produces guilt, which is a terrible burden to the soul. Sin is also a snare to us, taking us captive and holding us back from doing those things that would bring God’s blessing into our lives. It is up to us—and within the ability of our wills—to choose not to sin. Once we have made this decision within our wills, the Holy Spirit enables us with consistency and power not to sin.

To lay aside sin and to pursue what God says is right is righteousness.

• How do you feel about the word righteousness? What other words do you associate with it? Is your definition truly what God considers to be righteousness?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Eternal life to those who by

_______________

patient continuance in doing good

_______________

seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

_______________

but to those who are selfseeking

_______________

and do not obey the truth,

_______________

but obey unrighteousness-indignation

_______________

and wrath, tribulation and

_______________

anguish, on every soul of man who

_______________

does evil . . . but glory, honor, and

_______________

peace to everyone who works what

_______________

is good. (Rom. 2:7-10)

_______________

You who love the LORD, hate evil!

_______________

He preserves the souls of

_______________

His saints;

_______________

He delivers them out of the hand

_______________

of the wicked.

_______________

Light is sown for the righteous,

_______________

And gladness for the upright

_______________

in heart.

_______________

Rejoice in the LORD, you

_______________

righteous,

_______________

And give thanks at the remembrance

_______________

of His holy name. (Ps.

_______________

97:10-12)

_______________

The wicked covet the catch of

_______________

evil men,

_______________

But the root of the righteous

_______________

yields fruit.

_______________

The wicked is ensnared by the

_______________

transgression of his lips,

_______________

But the righteous will come

_______________

through trouble. (Prov.

_______________

12:12-13)

_______________

The fruit of the righteous is a

_______________

tree of life. (Prov. 11:30)

_______________

• As you reflect back over your Christian life, can you identify specific ways in which you have grown in your desire for righteousness?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit?

Trust and Obey the Holy Spirit

To have a passion for obedience is to have a deep desire to receive direction from the Holy Spirit daily. To obey is to “walk in His ways” step-by-step—trusting that God is leading you and that He will correct you should you make an error in hearing His voice clearly.

Our reliance upon the Holy Spirit requires two things of us:

1. Observing what God is doing. Many Christians go through life with tunnel vision. They fail to catch the “big picture” of what God is doing in their personal lives, in the lives of others around them, and in the world as a whole.

2. Frequently asking God, “What’s my role?” As we catch a glimpse of the good work God has done, is doing, and desires to do in us and through us,we need to ask frequently,“What do You desire of me, Lord? . . .What should my next step be? . . .Where do You want me to go? . . .What do You want me to do and say?”

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Show me Your ways, O LORD;

_______________

Teach me Your paths.

_______________

Lead me in Your truth and

_______________

teach me,

_______________

For You are the God of my

_______________

salvation;

_______________

On You I wait all the day. (Ps.

_______________

25:4-5)

_______________

Now all the captains of the

_______________

forces . . . said to Jeremiah the

_______________

prophet, “Please, let our petition

_______________

be acceptable to you, and

_______________

pray for us to the LORD your

_______________

God . . . that the LORD your

_______________

God may show us the way in

_______________

which we should walk and the

_______________

thing we should do.” . . . They

_______________

said to Jeremiah, “Let the LORD

_______________

be a true and faithful witness

_______________

between us, if we do not do

_______________

according to everything which

_______________

the LORD your God sends us by

_______________

you. Whether it is pleasing or

_______________

displeasing, we will obey the

_______________

voice of the LORD our God to

_______________

whom we send you, that it may

_______________

be well with us when we obey

_______________

the voice of the LORD our

_______________

God.” ( Jer. 42:1-3, 5-6)

_______________

Set a guard, O LORD, over

_______________

my mouth;

_______________

Keep watch over the door of

_______________

my lips.

_______________

Do not incline my heart to any

_______________

evil thing,

_______________

To practice wicked works

_______________

With men who work iniquity . . .

_______________

But my eyes are upon You,

_______________

O GOD the Lord;

_______________

In You I take refuge;

_______________

Do not leave my soul destitute.

_______________

Keep me from the snares they

_______________

have laid for me,

_______________

And from the traps of the workers

_______________

of iniquity.

_______________

Let the wicked fall into their

_______________

own nets,

_______________

While I escape safely. (Ps.

_______________

141:3-4, 8-10)

_______________

Our passion to obey God increases the more we experience God’s love at work in our lives. To know God’s love is to know that God will never lead us into any activity, experience, or expression of our creativity that is going to bring us spiritual harm or injury. We can trust God to take us into greater and greater avenues of ministry and a more satisfying and fulfilling relationship with Him and with others who love and serve Him.

In like manner, the more we know God’s love, the more we will desire to obey Him. Our love for God compels us to serve Him. Our obedience puts us in a position to know His love to an ever-expanding depth and breadth, and to experience more and more of His blessings. The result is a cycle of obedience and love that continues to grow from now until eternity.

• What new insights do you have into the nature of God’s love and our desire to obey Him?

LESSON 9

OUR RESPONSE TO

GOD’S LOVE:

A PASSION TO

SERVE OTHERS

Do you receive greater joy from being served by others, or out of serving others?

Those who truly experience the love of God in their lives find great joy in loving others. What God has placed in their hearts they are eager to share with others. And love is far more than a feeling or an emotion—it is an act of giving or serving that is born of the will.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians,

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Phil. 2:5–8)

• What new insights do you have into this passage from Philippians 2?

Serving God is the normal lifestyle of the believer in Christ Jesus. The believer does not live for himself, but rather, seeks to pour out himself to others.

The apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians that while he was with them, preaching the gospel to them, he did not take wages from them as he had other churches. Why? He wrote, “I was a burden to no one . . . in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself.” And then Paul asked rhetorically, “Why? Because I do not love you? God knows!” (See 2 Cor. 11:9, 11.) Paul freely poured out his time, energy, and knowledge of Christ Jesus to the Corinthians because he loved them. He sought to serve far more than to be served. He sought to give far more than to receive.

• In reflecting back on your life, recall several people who have given to you freely, without expecting any return and without placing upon you any burden. How was God’s love manifested through them to you?

The Greatest Servant of All

Without a doubt, Jesus Christ is the greatest Servant who ever lived. No other person has ever given so much to so many, so generously and so sacrificially.

In all ways, Jesus is our role model for loving service to others. Read again the account of Jesus at the Last Supper, when He literally took on the garments of a servant and performed the tasks of a servant in ministering to His disciples:

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

And supper being ended . . . Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.

After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded . . .

So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” ( John 13:1–5, 12–17)

•What new insights do you have into this passage from John 13?

As believers in Christ Jesus, we are called to serve others as Christ served the disciples—even if it means giving up our pride and selfish desires, or doing something for another person that we might consider menial, undignified, or “beneath us. ”Service to others is self-sacrificial. Paul reminded the believers of this in writing to the Romans: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).

• How do you feel when you hear the word service? What other words do you associate with service—both the service you receive from others, and the service you give to others?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

[Jesus said,] “Whoever desires to

_______________

become great among you shall

_______________

be your servant. And whoever of

_______________

you desires to be first shall be

_______________

slave of all. For even the Son of

_______________

Man did not come to be served,

_______________

but to serve, and to give His life

_______________

a ransom for many.” (Mark

_______________

10:43-45)

_______________

[Jesus said,] “Remember the

_______________

word that I said to you, ‘A servant

_______________

is not greater than his

_______________

master.’” (John 15:20)

_______________

• In looking back on your Christian walk, can you cite ways in which God’s love has motivated you to have a greater desire to serve others?

The Nature of the Service We Give

The service we give to others in the name of the Lord should always have these characteristics:

• Humility. The true servant gives to others in kindness and humility. He knows that all of his abilities are an outpouring of God’s love in his life, and he delights in using his talents and gifts to help others as an expression of both his love and God’s love.

• Expressed with righteousness, peace, and joy. Those who serve others in Christ’s name do so because it is the right thing to do before the Lord. They serve with peace in their hearts and joy on their faces. They give, seeking nothing in return from the person they serve, but rather, they serve as if serving the Lord Himself, with reverence and awe.

• Expressed with a desire for good in the other person’s life. Those who serve the Lord out of their love for the Lord always seek the will of God for the other person, which is whatever promotes an eternal blessing and benefit in that person’s life.

• An expression of love for our heavenly Father. A love for the Father was what motivated Jesus to serve others. This same love for our heavenly Father should be what motivates us to serve. In serving others, we are literally “pouring out our lives” before God as a living sacrifice, just as Jesus Christ poured out His life as our sacrifice on the cross.

As you have read these traits of loving service, you no doubt have recognized that these are the very traits of Christ’s life and the love He expressed to those He encountered while He walked this earth. As Christ loved and served His heavenly Father, and in turn, His disciples, so we are to love and serve God and others.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

If someone says, “I love God,”

_______________

and hates his brother, he is a

_______________

liar; for he who does not love his

_______________

brother whom he has seen, how

_______________

can he love God whom he has

_______________

not seen? And this commandment

_______________

we have from Him: that he

_______________

who loves God must love his

_______________

brother also. (1 John 4:20-21)

_______________

And a servant of the Lord must

_______________

not quarrel but be gentle to all,

_______________

able to teach, patient, in humility

_______________

correcting those who are in

_______________

opposition. (2 Tim. 2:24-25)

_______________

Be of the same mind toward one

_______________

another. Do not set your mind

_______________

on high things, but associate

_______________

with the humble. Do not be wise

_______________

in your own opinion. Repay no

_______________

one evil for evil. Have regard for

_______________

good things in the sight of all

_______________

men. If it is possible, as much as

_______________

depends on you, live peaceably

_______________

with all men. (Rom. 12:16-18)

_______________

Do not let your good be spoken

_______________

of as evil; for the kingdom of

_______________

God is not eating and drinking,

_______________

but righteousness and

_______________

peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

_______________

For he who serves Christ in

_______________

these things is acceptable to God

_______________

and approved by men. Therefore

_______________

let us pursue the things which

_______________

make for peace and the things by

_______________

which one may edify another.

_______________

(Rom. 14:16-19)

_______________

For you, brethren, have been

_______________

called to liberty; only do not use

_______________

liberty as an opportunity for the

_______________

flesh, but through love serve one

_______________

another. For all the law is fulfilled

_______________

in one word, even in this:

_______________

“You shall love your neighbor as

_______________

yourself.” (Gal. 5:13-14)

_______________

Therefore, since we are receiving

_______________

a kingdom which cannot be

_______________

shaken, let us have grace, by

_______________

which we may serve God acceptably

_______________

with reverence and godly

_______________

fear. (Heb. 12:28)

_______________

Our Service Brings Glory to God

Our service to others is ultimately service to God in that our faithfulness, worship, and loving acts of giving bring glory to God. Our service causes others to have higher regard for God and to worship God with renewed fervor. The person who truly loves God is a person who delights in bringing glory to the Lord!

The morning after King Darius had ordered Daniel to be thrown into the lions’ den—something the king had done reluctantly after having been tricked into signing a foolish law—he went to the lions’ den. There, he cried out “with a lamenting voice,” saying, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Daniel replied from the lions’ den, “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you” (see Dan. 6).

What was the response of Darius to this great miracle? He wrote:

I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom

men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.

For He is the living God,

And steadfast forever;

His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed,

And His dominion shall endure to the end.

He delivers and rescues,

And He works signs and wonders

In heaven and on earth,

Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. (Dan.6:26–27)

Daniel brought glory to God by his faithful service—both faithful service in worshiping God, and faithful service in the performance of his duties for the king.

• What new insights do you have into the way your service to others might bring glory to God?

• In meditating on your Christian walk, can you cite ways in which your loving, self-sacrificing service to another person caused that person to turn to the Lord or to glorify God?

The Lord’s Response to Our Service

The Lord always responds to our heartfelt and generous service to others with an outpouring of blessing. Jesus taught, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38).

Jesus said, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor” ( John 12:26).

The Lord does not love us because we serve Him—He loves us unconditionally—but the Lord does love the fact that we serve Him. He loves our response to His love and the fact that we are giving to others from our hearts. He honors our service with His blessings.

Conversely, we do not serve others because we seek a reward from God. Rather, we service others because we have experienced God’s love and we desire to express God’s love.

When we serve others, we must always do so motivated by God’s love. We must serve expecting nothing in return. At the same time, we can be assured that God will reward our service by giving us an abundance of the very things we need the most, both now and in all eternity. When it becomes our very nature to love others and serve them, we truly are reflecting the nature of the Lord, which is to love and serve. It is from the Lord, and Him alone, that all rewards for service ultimately come.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

Whatever you do, do it heartily,

_______________

as to the Lord and not to men,

_______________

knowing that from the Lord you

_______________

will receive the reward of the

_______________

inheritance; for you serve the

_______________

Lord Christ. (Col. 3:23-24)

_______________

As bondservants of Christ,

_______________

doing the will of God from the

_______________

heart, with good will doing service,

_______________

as to the Lord, and not to

_______________

men, knowing that whatever

_______________

good anyone does, he will

_______________

receive the same from the Lord.

_______________

(Eph. 6:6-8)

_______________

• What new insights do you have into the relationship between God’s love for you and your expressions of love or service to others?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit today?

LESSON 10

OUR RESPONSE TO

GOD’S LOVE:

A PASSION TO

PROCLAIM CHRIST

Those who are in love can hardly keep quiet about the fact that they are in love. They delight in talking about the one they love, and in telling what their beloved says and does—not only to them and for them, but to and for others as well.

Those who have experienced God’s love can hardly keep quiet about God. They delight in talking about Him. They are quick to quote His Word and to tell of His marvelous works— not only in their lives, but also in the lives of others.

The disciples of Jesus could not help but proclaim who Jesus was and what Jesus had done on the cross. Peter and John said to the religious authorities who had detained them and persecuted them for healing a man in the name of Jesus, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

The disciples had a great desire to persuade others to believe in God, to accept Jesus as their Savior, and to open themselves to the healing power of God’s love. Paul said to King Agrippa, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains” (Acts. 26:29). Paul had a burning desire to persuade others to receive and experience all they could of Jesus Christ.

• In reflecting back over your Christian walk, can you cite ways in which your experiences with God’s love have compelled you to proclaim Christ to others?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

I will speak of Your testimonies

_______________

also before kings,

_______________

And will not be ashamed. (Ps.

_______________

119:46)

_______________

One generation shall praise Your

_______________

works to another,

_______________

And shall declare Your

_______________

mighty acts . . .

_______________

Men shall speak of the might of

_______________

Your awesome acts,

_______________

And I will declare Your greatness.

_______________

They shall utter the memory of

_______________

Your great goodness,

_______________

And shall sing of Your righteousness.

_______________

(Ps. 145:4, 6-7)

_______________

The Proclamations We Make

The proclamations we make about Jesus Christ and God’s love for us are proclamations we make in both word and deed. Our “testimony” or witness for the Lord is not limited to what we say about Jesus. Our witness is our entire life—the things we do, the things we don’t do, the way we regard strangers and treat family members and friends, the manner in which we make choices and decisions, the associations we make, the tasks we undertake, the ways in which we handle criticism and persecution. Anything we do that is observed by another person is part of our witness for the Lord. Our lives proclaim what we believe as much as our words give “witness” to Christ.

• In looking back on your life, who were some of the most effective witnesses to you about God’s love and plan of forgiveness?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

[Jesus said,] “But you shall

_______________

receive power when the Holy

_______________

Spirit has come upon you; and

_______________

you shall be witnesses to Me in

_______________

Jerusalem, and in all Judea and

_______________

Samaria, and to the end of the

_______________

earth.” (Acts 1:8)

_______________

Though I speak with the tongues

_______________

of men and of angels, but have

_______________

not love, I have become sounding

_______________

brass or a clanging cymbal. And

_______________

though I have the gift of

_______________

prophecy, and understand all

_______________

mysteries and all knowledge, and

_______________

though I have all faith, so that I

_______________

could remove mountains, but

_______________

have not love, I am nothing. (1

_______________

Cor. 13:1-2)

_______________

He who prophesies speaks edification

_______________

and exhortation and comfort

_______________

to men. (1 Cor. 14:3)

_______________

Moreover, brethren, I declare to

_______________

you the gospel which I preached

_______________

to you, which also you received

_______________

and in which you stand, by which

_______________

also you are saved, if you hold

_______________

fast that word which I preached

_______________

to you—unless you believed in

_______________

vain. For I delivered to you first

_______________

of all that which I also received:

_______________

that Christ died for our sins

_______________

according to the Scriptures, and

_______________

that He was buried, and that He

_______________

rose again the third day according

_______________

to the Scriptures, and that He

_______________

was seen by Cephas, then by the

_______________

twelve. After that He was seen by

_______________

over five hundred brethren at

_______________

once . . . After that He was seen

_______________

by James, then by all the apostles.

_______________

Then last of all He was seen by

_______________

me also, as by one born out of

_______________

due time. (1 Cor. 15:1-8)

_______________

• In reflecting on your own experience with God’s saving and loving power, what is it that you feel great confidence in proclaiming about Christ Jesus?

We Must Proclaim What We Have Experienced

The apostle John said about Jesus that He only spoke what He had seen and heard from the Father. John wrote, “He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies . . . He whom God has sent speaks the words of God” ( John 3:31–32, 34). Jesus spoke from His experience with the Father. And so must we.

We are to speak what we have come to know personally about God’s truth and God’s love.

The strongest witness we can ever give for Jesus Christ is to say, “This is what He did for me.” The strongest testimony we can give about God’s love is, “This is how He loved me.” Nobody can argue effectively against what you have experienced of Christ. Take confidence in what you know from experience about the truth of God’s Word, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, and the way in which God expresses His unconditional love.

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

[Jesus said,] “I speak what I have

_______________

seen with My Father.” (John 8:38)

_______________

[Jesus said,] “For a good tree

_______________

does not bear bad fruit, nor does

_______________

a bad tree bear good fruit. For

_______________

every tree is known by its own

_______________

fruit. For men do not gather figs

_______________

from thorns, nor do they gather

_______________

grapes from a bramble bush. A

_______________

good man out of the good treasure

_______________

of his heart brings forth

_______________

good; and an evil man out of the

_______________

evil treasure of his heart brings

_______________

forth evil. For out of the abundance

_______________

of the heart his mouth

_______________

speaks.” (Luke 6:43-45)

_______________

• In what way are you feeling challenged in your spirit today?

We Must Proclaim What God Tells Us to Say

The prophets in the Old Testament all knew that they were required to speak whatever the Lord commanded them to speak, even if it didn’t necessarily please another person. King Ahab once gathered four hundred prophets together to ask them if he should go to war against his enemy. They all said that the Lord would give Ahab victory in the battle. But Jehoshaphat wasn’t satisfied. He asked, “Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of him?” (2 Chron. 18:6).

A messenger was sent to the prophet Micaiah and he said, “‘Now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord encourage the king. Therefore please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak encouragement.’ And Micaiah said, ‘As the LORD lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak’” (2 Chron. 18:12–13).

Regardless of what others may want us to proclaim to them about the Lord or from the Lord, we must always be faithful in speaking what the Lord gives us to say to them. It may be a word of encouragement, or it may be a word of admonishment. It may be a word of wisdom, knowledge, or a prophetic word. Whatever the nature of the message, we must listen closely to the One who gives the message and convey it accurately and faithfully.

When we truly experience God’s love, we have no fear in proclaiming the Word of the Lord. As John wrote, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment” (1 John 4:18).

• In your life, have you ever felt yourself compelled to proclaim a specific word that you knew without doubt the Lord desired for you to speak to another person or group of people?

What the Word Says

What the Word Says to Me

The LORD said to me:

_______________

“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’

_______________

For you shall go to all to whom I

_______________

send you,

_______________

And whatever I command you,

_______________

you shall speak.

_______________

Do not be afraid of their faces,

_______________

For I am with you to deliver

_______________

you,” says the LORD. (Jer. 1:7-8)

_______________

Thus says the LORD: “Stand in

_______________

the court of the LORD’s house,

_______________

and speak to all the cities of

_______________

Judah, which come to worship in

_______________

the LORD’s house, all the words

_______________

that I command you to speak to

_______________

them. Do not diminish a word.

_______________

Perhaps everyone will listen and

_______________

turn from his evil way, that I may

_______________

relent concerning the calamity

_______________

which I purpose to bring on

_______________

them because of the evil of their

_______________

doings.” (Jer. 26:2-3)

_______________

[Jesus said,] “You will be brought

_______________

before governors and kings for

_______________

My sake, as a testimony to them

_______________

and to the Gentiles. But when

_______________

they deliver you up, do not worry

_______________

about how or what you should

_______________

speak. For it will be given to you

_______________

in that hour what you should

_______________

speak; for it is not you who speak,

_______________

but the Spirit of your Father who

_______________

speaks in you.” (Matt. 10:18-20)

_______________

We Must Look for Opportunities to

Proclaim Christ to Others

Our witness for Christ Jesus is not passive. We must actively seek opportunities to proclaim God’s love and His plan for forgiveness to others. We must actively listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His directions so that we are in the “right place at the right time” to give a witness to Christ.

One of the great examples of this in the Bible is the story of Philip, who was told by an angel of the Lord to go south along the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. As he went, Philip encountered a man from Ethiopia who was on his way home after worshiping in Jerusalem. He was sitting in his chariot, reading Isaiah the prophet, and the Holy Spirit spoke in Philip’s heart, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” He asked Philip to come up and sit with him in his chariot, and as they sat there together, “Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture [from Isa. 53], preached Jesus to him” (see Acts 8:26–35). The Ethiopian man believed in Christ Jesus and was baptized that very day!

• Reflect on this story from Acts 8:26–35.What new insights do you have? In what ways do you feel challenged in your spirit?

Are you listening closely today to how the Holy Spirit may direct you to speak to someone about the love of God and His plan for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ?

Are you actively seeking opportunities to proclaim Christ Jesus to the world through your words and deeds?

The fact is, when we truly know the love of God poured into our hearts (Rom. 5:5), we will desire to pour out that love at every opportunity, both by what we say and what we do.We will long for others to know God’s love as we have known it. We will be quick to proclaim His goodness, His love, His mercy, and His forgiveness to all we encounter.

• What new insights do you have into the love of God and our responsibility to proclaim Christ Jesus to a lost and dying world?

• In what ways are you feeling challenged in your spirit today to proclaim God’s love?

CONCLUSION

HOW MUCH

LOVE?

None of us can ever fully grasp the love of God. It is infinite, and as finite beings, we simply can never know the full extent of God’s love to us. Nevertheless, we can be assured that His love is unending, rich, and wonderful. It is out of the unfathomable depths of His love that He gives to His children those things that are “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).

Many Christians believe in God’s love—that God is love, He loves “people,” and He loves with an infinite capacity to love. They have difficulty believing, however, that God loves them, individually and personally. Let me assure you once again that God loves you. With the full capacity of His love, He loves you. With all of His heart, He loves you. With a great desire to be with you, work in you, and work through you, He loves you. With great tenderness and mercy, with great compassion and kindness, He loves you.With a desire for your eternal best, He loves you. And He will always love you.

Once you begin not only to understand with your mind but receive with your heart that God loves you, you truly will begin to experience the transforming power of God in your life. His love heals us, renews us, and makes us whole. His love becomes the ultimate haven of rest for our souls, both now and forever.

Open your heart today to God’s love. Take it into your being. Receive what God so generously desires to give to you. Your life will never be the same.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Our Need for Unconditional Love

1. God’s Love Letter to Us

2. You Are Loved

3. God’s Desire to Be Reconciled to You

4. God’s Desire to Free You from Sin’s Power

5. God’s Desire to Make You Like His Son

6. God’s Desire to Communicate with You

7. Our Response to God’s Love: A Passion to Know God

8. Our Response to God’s Love: A Passion to Obey God

9. Our Response to God’s Love: A Passion to Serve Others

10. Our Response to God’s Love: A Passion to Proclaim Christ

Conclusion: How Much Love?