God With Us – Week 1

 

Psalm 139:1-10

 

Have there been times in your life when you felt that God was just a passive viewer? How did that play out?

 

 

 

Pastor Josh made the point, “He is close when you are close and close when you are far.” He was with you in your best times and in your worst times.  He is with you at your highest moments and with you at your lowest. He was caring for you in all times.

 

Share with the Group when you have experienced God’s presence during your best and worst times in your life.

 

 

 

Read 139:9-10 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.


What are the differences between a guide and a taskmaster. How does this play out with God in your life?

 

***For Leaders – You’ll receive various answers. Overall, a guide is gentle and wise with your best interests at heart. God will guide us, whereas, Satan will attempt to be a taskmaster that is harsh every time we fail.

 

 

Read Col 1:22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

AND

Read Rev 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last—salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth—the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

We are faultless in God’s presence yet Satan accuses us before God. How do these truths collide in our hearts and minds during our daily lives?

***For Leaders – Satan is a liar (John 8:44) who accuses us with lies. What is his #1 target? Our identity. He knows how essential our self-perception is so he lies to us about who we are, that God is far from us and we are hopeless. How does that play out? Craig Groschel has some examples:

  • After you yell at your kids, you think “I’m a bad parent.”
  • When you don’t get the job you want, you think “I’m pathetic. I never get any breaks.”
  • When you realize you didn’t read your Bible, you think “I’m a bad Christian.”

More accusations: You are a spiritual failure. You will never amount to anything. You will never change. You don’t have what it takes. You can never be healthy. You can never be pure. You can never have a good marriage. You can never be financially free.

 

What is the difference between an affirmation and an accusation?

***For Leaders – God gives affirmations, and the devil gives accusations. Here are some affirmations from God. You are:

  • Sought after (Isa 62:12)
  • Precious in His sight (Isa 43:4)
  • A new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17)
  • Not condemned (Rom 8:1)
  • Forgiven (Col 1:14)
  • Loved (Col 1:14)
  • Accepted (Rom 15:7)
  • A child of God (1 John 3:1)
  • Corrected because he loves you (Heb 12:6)
  • Jesus’ friend (John 15:14)
  • Free (John 8:36)
  • The temple of God (1 Cor 6:19)
  • God’s reassured possession (Deut 7:6)

 

***As believers, it is important to note the difference in our Spirit between hearing the voice of a guide who affirms as compared to a taskmaster who accuses. The immature believer doesn’t figure out the difference and gets crushed in spiritual warfare. The mature believer recognizes God’s voice in affirmation when God speaks to them in their thoughts and responds with confidence to His direction even if it is disciplinary. (John 10:27-28)