Knowing vs Experiencing
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1 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.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and great commandment.
QUESTIONS
What are some big areas the enemy uses to attack your peace/joy and why are those areas effective for attacking your peace/joy?
If your peace or joy has been taken what has gone wrong?
What are some strategies for getting that peace or joy back?
When you think about your past, before you gave your life to Christ, vs your life now, what does that teach you about God?
What is something you struggle with fear about or you are currently experiencing fear about?
What would you say is the root belief behind that fear? In other words, what belief do you have about God, yourself, or your future that is scary?
Ask God to speak to that belief, imagine what He would say, then write down what He speaks to you.
Everything about life teaches us something about God.
We are on this earth to know Him.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
In every situation, we need to ask, “What can I learn about God from this?”
There’s no reason for Grace to exist, unless we need it.
Romans 8:1
Our mistakes, failures, and weaknesses teach us about God.
It is BECAUSE of our failures that we understand the incredible, limitless depths of God’s forgiveness, patience, and love for us.
Now, because of our failures, we experience His limitless acceptance, love, and patience. Without them, His patience and forgiveness would only be something we hear about, but couldn’t experience.
Do you just know about God’s Grace? Or have you experienced it?
When you only hear about God’s grace you would think, “Oh wow! So I can do a ton of evil things and get away with it?!”
When you experience God’s grace, you think, “I cannot help but love Him! I want to tell people about Him! I want to spend time with Him! I want every blockage taken out of the way!”
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Jesus gave us commandments, but we follow them out of love. Not out of fear or His anger.
Why? We are under grace!
Should we intentionally go out and do evil so we can keep learning more about God’s grace? No!
7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.
Parents. Many parents have problems with their kids making bad decisions.
As parents, it’s easy to feel like you have to step in and stop it. And the Bible says, “spare the rod, spoil the child.” But think about your own life. What worked on you? Thinking that someone was constantly angry and disappointed in you? Or someone giving you love and acceptance?
Parenting is a balance between discipline and acceptance and cheering on your kids.
Parents who try to be nothing but their kids friends, find out that their kids don’t respect them and many times end up rebelling against them.
Parents who are over-controlling and try to make sure every thing their kid does aligns with exactly what they want them to do, find the exact same thing, their kid rebelling.
So what’s the solution?
The solution is love. All across the board. Love that is difficult when your kid is making bad decisions, but love that lets them know they’re always loved at home. Combined with giving it to God.
Kids and young adults, i have found, LOVE boundaries! They love seeing that their parents and the adults in their lives have standards for them!
But they don’t want to feel like if they don’t measure up, they’ll be rejected and abandoned.
This is the same attitude we have to have with ourselves, and it’s the same attitude God has with us!
His grace teaches us that no matter what we’ve done, or how far we’ve wondered, or how long it’s been, we will never be rejected, we’ll never be abandoned, and we’ll never be mocked.
We cannot fulfill the first commandment if we only hear about God but never experience His forgiveness.
This is also the same attitude we need to have with others!
The second commandment is to love others as WE LOVE OURSELVES!
If we don’t love ourselves, how could we love others?
Our attitude towards others should be the same as God has with us and as we have with ourselves and as we would want God and others to have with us!
