He who knows us the best loves us the most. When we truly understand God fully sees us, fully knows us and fully loves us it will change our lives!
1 John 3:16-24 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? 18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. 19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. 20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. 22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. 23 And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us. TLB
Pause for a moment and think about how pleased you believe God is with you. On a scale of 1-10 what would this number be? The consider how pleased God is with Jesus. When God looks at you He sees what Jesus has done not what you have done. This means God is as pleased with you as He is with Jesus.
How we feel about how God feels about us is vitally important to our ability to stand confidently before God. God is greater than our feelings (vs 20). If we don’t feel guilty we can come to God boldly (vs 21).
Two different times in the Bible Jesus marveled at someone’s faith. These stories are found in Matthew 8 and Matthew 15:
Matt 8:8-10The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. NIV
Matt 15:22-28 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." 23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." 24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." 25The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. 26He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." 27"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour. NIV
This Centurion Roman Soldier and this Canaanite woman have something in common and it is significant to notice. They were Gentiles with no awareness of the Law.
The Law makes us aware of our sin (Rom 7:7). Grace teaches us to say no to sin (Titus 2:11-12).
The two people with exceptional faith that captured the attention of Jesus were not consciously aware of sin but were consciously aware of Jesus.
If you’ve ever seen a dog that was so happy you came home until you walked into the presence of something the dog had chewed up the mood suddenly changes. All the joy suddenly disappears. I’ve even seen dogs of ours flip over on the floor as if to say, “I’m not worthy of your love because of the mistake I made.” This is how we commonly feel in the presence of The Master when we reflect on our mistakes. To do this is actually a mistake in and of itself.
Gal 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. NAS
When prayer is driven by fear we look for a change and if we don’t see the change we wanted love gets dismissed and we’re reduced to people driven by a problem lacking intimacy with God.
Jesus said don’t fear and don’t worry yet the first thing we do is fear and worry and then we pray. Perhaps you have Googled a symptom and discovered the 39 ways you might die in six weeks.
As soon as we get a symptom we should immediately turn to God to begin thanking him for his love. We live in a fallen world but we serve a risen King. We won’t understand everything we face but we must refuse to abandon what we know about God because of something we don’t understand.
When we move into fear and frustration rather than remaining in faith we identify ourselves by what didn’t change. This is when love gets dismissed and we’re reduced to people driven by a problem lacking intimacy with God. This is also when we start coming from a place of wrong conclusions.
I chewed up the master’s shoe so I’ve lost favor with God or I’d be healed. The enemy waves the shoe in your face reminding you of what you’ve done to disillusion you further.
No! Nothing can separate us from the love of God! (Rom 8:39). Perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).
Since faith works through love we must purpose to identify with the person of God rather than the problem we have or we are driven to a spiritually unhealthy place.
The purpose of prayer is to pursue God not a solution to a problem.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Rehearse 1 John 3:16-24 every day this week, thanking God for how much he loves you.
DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY GROUP LEADERS
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
LEADER’S NOTES: In this season we are addressing the deepest sense of insecurity that exists within humanity. Only God’s love can reach deeply enough into our souls to restore our lives. This is the place where we begin finding confidence and strength to love God and to love others as we love ourselves because we have learned to love ourselves.
THE POINT: We are more sinful and flawed than we care to believe. We are more accepted and loved than we can possibly imagine. God’s love unlocks our lives.
1 John 3:21 Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. TLB
1 Pet 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. NIV
FULLY KNOWN. FULLY LOVED.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
We Bring God’s Presence To Real Life with a GP2RL action point every week. This week is to rehearse 1 John 3:16-24 every day thanking God for how much he loves us.
1. Start by reading these verses and discussing what stands out to you in them about God’s love for us:
1 John 3:16-24 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? 18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. 19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. 20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. 22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. 23 And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us. TLB
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
2. What is our common response when we ask God for something and don’t see it come to pass?
3. Not getting our way is sometimes what is best for us. Do you agree with this? Explain.
Our ultimate purpose is to know God. The purpose of prayer is to pursue God not a solution to a problem. When prayer is reduced to an avenue of pursuing a solution love gets dismissed and we get reduced to people with a problem. God’s love for us is a constant. We live in a fallen world that sometimes doesn’t make sense but we look to our Risen King who always pours out his grace and love no matter what we face. God is love. God is loving. We are fully known. We are fully loved.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
(This is a great question to find out what God is speaking to your group overall.)
4. What is something God has been speaking to you or revealing in Scripture recently