How do I know God wants to be my friend?

Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 

Psalm 100.3

 

You can be sure that God is interested in being your friend because that’s the whole reason why he made you. There are many places in the Bible where God calls you his sheep and tells you that you belong to him. Not only that, but God sent his Son, Jesus, to Earth because God wanted you to have a shepherd to care for you. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep”(Jn 10.14-15) God sent Jesus to give his life on the cross for you. God cares about you very much. In fact, he is your best friend. 

 

Draw a flock of sheep and then read John 10.14-15. Think of all the ways a shepherd helps sheep, and all the ways that Jesus, our shepherd, helps us. 

Jesus and two women day 4

  

God sure asks a lot of questions.

Adam, where are you?” Does God really not know where Adam is? Or is God playing dumb? 

“I’m over here hiding in the bushes because I’m naked.” Adam had been naked since the day God made him, but now all of a sudden it’s a big deal. 

“Who told you that you’re naked? Did you do something I need to know about?” 

One time Jesus was walking with His disciples and they got into an argument about which of them was the greatest. Jesus turned and asked, “Hey, what are you guys talking about?” Like He didn’t know. 

“Why don’t you go get your husband,” He asked the Samaritan woman, knowing full well that she had been married five times, was 0-for-5 on the marital front and was shacked up with a guy now. 

“Oh, I don’t have a husband,” she replied, and tried to leave it at that. She’d been talkative up to that point, but now — faced with the truth about herself — she found the value in brevity. 

“Where are your accusers? Is there no one left to condemn you?” He asked the woman caught in adultery. 

“They’ve all gone, sir,” she said, trying to cover her shame. 

Where are you? Who told you you’re naked? Have you eaten from that tree? What are you guys talking about? Where’s your husband? Does anyone condemn you? 

Why does God insist on asking questions? He’s obviously not looking for information. He already knows the answer before He asks. Here’s why, He wants to know if we will come out of hiding and step into the light. Or will we retreat further into darkness? See, Jesus can handle anything you’ve got. There’s no mess so big He can’t fix it. But He lives in the light, and if you want to deal with Him, well, that’s where He is. When you’ve sinned and your life is in shambles, you have two basic options.

You can deny, cover up, stall for more time and (more than likely) end up digging yourself an even deeper hole. 

Or you can confess, come clean, be honest about how helpless you are in the situation and ask for Someone to show you the way out.

 You can stay where you are. You can hold on for dear life and Jesus will go away eventually. But then there will be no healing, no restoration, no forgiveness. The question God always asks is this: Will you come out of hiding? 

 

Prayer 

 

Lord God, You know me from the inside out, and there are no thoughts I can have that are not fully evident to You. Nor can I escape Your manifest presence; You are always with me. The realization of these truths would be overwhelming to me if it were not for the righteousness of Christ that was credited to me when I received the gift of new life through trust in His Person and work. In Him, I no longer need to hide from You or try to cover up my faults. Thank You for the holy relief of being able to approach Your throne of grace with confidence and open access in times of need. You have loved me with an everlasting love, and in Christ, nothing can separate me from that love because it is uncaused and unmerited by me. I thank You for the assurance that Your penetrating gaze purifies me as it invites me to live in the reality of my new identity in Your Son.

In Jesus’s name, Amen

 

How do I know I’m going to heaven?

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

John 14.6

 

Good question! In fact, such a good question, Jesus’s best friends asked him the same thing. Jesus said there is just one way to get to his Father’s home in heaven, and he is it! Jesus declared that he is the way. 

It may seem strange to think of a person as a path, but Jesus is saying, ‘If you want to get to heaven, the only way to get there is by believing in me.’ Jesus made a very special promise to his followers. He said, “I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life.” (John 5.24) He was saying that if we believe in God and follow Jesus, we’ll live forever! Those are directions you can count on to get you to God’s home!

 

 

Jesus has sent each of us an invitation to heaven. We are invited to believe in Jesus and trust him to give us eternal life. Going to live with Jesus in heaven forever will be like going to a party that never ends. 

Read John 14.6 or 5.24 and choose some words from them to design and decorate an invitation to God’s eternal home. 

How did Jesus come back to life?

Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit. 

Romans 1.4

 

When Jesus came back to life, it was an event that was completely different from anything that had ever happened. A dead person had never before had the power to come to life and leave his grave. Lazarus had come out of his grave.(John 11.38-44) But he hadn’t done it alone, it was through Jesus’s power. 

After Jesus’s body was placed in a tomb, we can be sure what happened, Jesus left the tomb, so it was empty. We know all about who did it, our Saviour, Jesus. The Bible clearly explains why Jesus came back to life, this event provides proof of who he is. But how did Jesus do it? That’s a mystery. In fact, it’s a miracle! The Bible does say that God the Father raised up Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is the only power in the world big enough to win the battle over death. 

 

 

We don’t have to understand exactly how God raised his Son, Jesus, from the dead to know that Jesus is truly alive. Most of us don’t really know how cars work, yet we ride in them. Most of us don’t have a clue how computers work, yet we use them and sometimes crash them! Even if we don’t always understand the working of the Spirit, the amazing news is that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will raise us to life in heaven!(Romans 8.11)

How come I can’t feel the Holy Spirit living in me?

When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Galatians 5.22-23

 

You can’t see the wind, but you can see it sway the trees. You can’t see the Holy Spirit, but you can tell that he is at work inside you. His presence in everyone who believes in Jesus is a fact.(Eph 1.13)

And look at some of the great ways you can watch him help you grow. He makes you sure that God loves you.(Rom 5.5) He helps you know Jesus better.(Eph 3.19) He sets you free from sin.(Rom 8.2) He teaches you right from wrong(Jn 16.8) and builds character in you.(Gal 5.22-23) He equips you with talents, abilities, and spiritual gifts so you can serve God.(1Cor 12.4,11) When you see those things beginning to happen in you, that’s proof that the Holy Spirit is present in your life.

 

If you want to see more of the Holy Spirit’s work in you or your family? Pray the following prayer from Ephesians 3.16-19.

“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources God will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvellous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how high, and how deep his love really is... Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

Jesus and two women day 3

 It’s a familiar fairy-tale storyline. Once there was a beautiful girl, born to be a princess. Her heart was pure. Her love was true. But, alas! She fell into the evil clutches of some malevolent villain who placed her under a curse. Now trapped, her only hope was for a handsome prince to set her free. 

This prince, when he arrives, is not only physically strong, but also spiritually pure, he has to be to defeat her oppressor and win the fair maiden’s hand. 

Just as she begins to despair, he appears. With bravery and cunning, the prince lays siege to the tower where she is held by the curse and breaks the icy grip of the sinister force holding her captive. Blood is shed, and more than once the prince appears overmatched. But he is valiant and relentless. Eventually, all is well in the world. The dragon is slain, the villain destroyed. The object of his heart’s desire is rescued. 

They ride off to his castle on the hill where they live happily ever after. 

This story — or some variation of it — is buried deeply within our collective conscience. Every little girl dreams that one day her prince will come. Little boys intuitively rehearse their parts with cardboard paper-towel tubes, jousting with one another in preparation for the day when they will be called upon to dispatch some real enemy. No one has to tell children these stories. Somehow, this idea is already in us. The brave man risking life and limb to rescue the beautiful woman is as close to universal as it gets. 

And that’s why there are few times more devastating in the life of a woman than when she is told the opposite — that she is not valued. She is not wanted. No one is willing to fight for her. She is no man’s treasure. Rather, she is ugly and unloved. 

What happens to a woman who hears these words? The worst things you can imagine. And she’s likely to tell herself that she deserves them. A little girl who has been abandoned or abused is often willing to do nearly anything as an adult to get the attention she mistakes for love. She will endure insult and assault, and it may never occur to her that she deserves anything else. 

Deep down, she believes that the hero will never come. She has been compromised. She does not deserve a prince, for she is no princess. 

It is for two women who fit this profile all too well that Jesus came. They had sinned and been sinned against. They had been hurt and made cynical by life. They were guilty and embarrassed. One deserved to die. The other may have wished to. 

It is for men and women who fit this profile all too well that Jesus still comes — our conquering hero, strong and pure, risking life and limb to break the chains of oppression and set us free forever, to demonstrate once and for all that the pertinent issue is no longer the sins of our past but the God of our future. And one day (it may not be long), we shall ride with Him to His castle on a hill where we will all live happily ever after. 

On one hand, it’s important to remember that Jesus looks at you like the hero looks at the beautiful damsel in distress. That’s how much He values you. He would rather die than live without you. 

On the other hand, it’s equally important to remember that Jesus looks at your neighbour the same way. The irritating receptionist, the traffic cop, your mother-in-law, the woman who stole your husband — Jesus died for them, too. 

He doesn’t just value good people, He values all people. And He calls us to do the same. 

 

Prayer 

 

Dear God, You are the Rescuer and Deliverer of my soul. Through Your Son, You stooped down in order to lift me up. I was dead in my trespasses and sins; my mind was blinded by the enemy to keep me from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ and I was held captive by the snare of the devil to do his will. But Jesus came to overthrow this bondage and to liberate me to be His beloved. You have graciously offered these gifts to all who call upon Your Name and receive the life that is in Christ Jesus. Just as You have accepted and forgiven me, may I also accept and forgive those who have sinned against me. Because You have liberated me from my captivity, may I also seek to be Your agent and ambassador to the people You have placed in my life. Instead of despising those who have done wrong, may I reach out to them in love and mercy. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen

 

Jesus and two women day 2

 He could have taken a stand. He could have told the Samaritan woman exactly what was wrong with her, how she’d taken her life and thrown it away and how badly she had been misguided in her approach to God. He could have told that woman caught in the act of adultery just how wicked and sinful she was. He could have been the one to cast the first stone, but He didn’t. 

After all, Jesus was better than good, He was the best. He was sinless. He was perfect in thought, in word and in deed. He never told a lie. He never stole. He never gossiped. He never said or did things just to impress or make others feel inferior. He never manipulated or used people. He never harboured a grudge or had a lustful thought. He always did the right thing in the right way at the right time for the right reason. He was the most righteous human being of all time. 

Yet (and this is huge) He had not one whiff of self-righteousness about Him. Rather, He was the most approachable person imaginable. Those who were despised and regarded as riff-raff seemed to enjoy His company, and when they were in His presence they found a level of acceptance and grace they had never experienced before. Maybe that’s the cause and effect right there. 

See, Jesus could have come to earth to take a stand. You know — the kind of stand lots of Christians think they are obliged to take in the world. He could have taken a stand against immoral people. He could have taken a stand against impure people. Being the only perfect person around, He could have thrown lots of stones. 

But He didn’t.

He accepted them with a completely undeserved acceptance. Rather than taking a stand or casting stones, Jesus chose to build a bridge from this sin-sick planet to our heavenly Father. And He did that because He knew something that we seem to have forgotten. Sometimes grace and acceptance can accomplish what judgment and condemnation never can. 

He knew that offering people the kind of dignity they deserve and desire is often the key to real life-change. By refusing to condemn the adulterous woman and the divorced woman, Jesus opened up the opportunity to really speak into their lives, to reach into their hearts and begin the amazing transformational process He came to initiate. His acceptance inspired the kind of change from within that we long to see in ourselves. 

 

Prayer 

 

Father, You have granted me the glorious gift of acceptance and welcome in Christ. Without Him, I was justly condemned and separated from Your holy presence. But through the powerful work of the Saviour, You rescued me from the domain of darkness and transferred me to the Kingdom of your beloved Son. In spite of my guilt and sin, You reached out to me and lifted me out of the abyss. In my desperate need, You gave me the grace to acknowledge my condition and respond to Your loving call. You have declared me righteous in Christ and have reconciled me to You so that now I enjoy peace with You instead of estrangement and alienation. In light of Your great mercies, I want to present all I know of myself to all I know of You. Because of who You are and what You have done, I can trust You implicitly and place all my hope in You.

In Jesus’s name, Amen