Seeing God and Ourselves
The Character of God - Intro
Seeing God makes us see ourselves
QUESTION #1
How would we see God if He wouldn’t reveal himself to us?
This is what Love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.
–1 John 4:10
QUESTION #2
How can we know God’s mercy, love, compassion and kindness without knowing our deep need of Him?
Awareness of yourself and your relationship with God are intricacy related.
—Pete Scazzero
Throw off your sinful nature and your former way of life which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God - truly righteous and holy.
–Ephesians 4:22-24
In order to throw off our sinful nature and our former way of life we need to know what that is.
While experiencing God, knowing Him and have this intimate relationship with Him, we see Him – His nature and character – but we also see ourselves: the darkness within us and the sinful nature that is in us.
We need to know where we came from and where we are going to.
QUESTION #3
What aspect of God’s character and nature did He revealed to you that exposed something about your heart?
WHO IS GOD
QUESTION #4 AND #5
Who would you say God is?
Who does the Scriptures say God is?
Yahweh! Yahweh! A God compassionate and gracious! Slow to anger, and abundant of loyal love and faithfulness, keeper of loyal love for thousands, forgiver of iniquity, transgression and sin…
—Exodus 34:6
… God is patient and kind. God is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. He does not demand his own way. He is not irritable, and he keeps no record of being wronged.. He does not rejoice about injustice but rejoice whenever the Truth wins out. God never gives up, never loses faith, he is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
—1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Unbelief is the root of Sin. However the depth of our unbelief is truly revealed in how we respond to God and others when we fail. If we wallow ourselves off from Him and traffic in self-punishment, we reveal the dark depths of unbelief. For in all our self-punishment we prove that we sensed that our acceptance rested not in the Son of God but rather in how well we could perform.
WE DON’T WORK TO CHANGE WHAT WE ARE.
WE WORK TO BELIEVE AND TRUST WHAT WE ALREADY ARE IN GOD.
Meditate on
What differences do you realize you have between what the Scriptures say about who God is and your understanding about it?
How did you used to see God’s kindness, love, mercy and faithfulness and how do you see it now?
At the light of these passages, how do you see God manifesting His love, kindness, mercy and faithfulness to you?
What this traits about God’s character says to you about God and what they reveal about your heart and understanding of God?
What shall we do bretheren?
Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children and to those far away –all who have been called by the Lord our God.
– Acts 2:38-39
As we grow in faith the less we see bondage and the more we see God.
—Mike Wells
FAITH
Faith is an “organ” of the Spirit allowing us to receive whatever God is doing and wanting. Faith takes away the pressure off us to perform and initiate His works and places emphasis on God, the Creator and Lord of all things. If faith is simply receiving what God desires to do, then do you see how important your concept of God is when it comes to the issues of daily life?
THE HARD PART
Prolonged state of darkness tests us and exposes any unbelief in us. The longer the period of darkness or wilderness and the absence of emotion, the more of us will be exposed. The tendency will be trying a series of procedures to regain our emotional standing, all of which will be telling of what we really trust to bring contentment.
The man of faith never sees bondage to anything but God himself
–Mike Wells
Everything that comes into our lives passes firstly through the loving hands of our Father in heaven. The exact nature of each believer’s course will differ, being tailor-made by a loving Father, but the results will always be the same (Mike Wells)
Meditate on
What or who are you choosing to trust in while going through the present challenges and circumstances?
Challenge yourself to see God (his nature and character) in your current circumstances. What does it like?
How would your life be if you’d choose to trust God instead of yourself or/and your idols?
What does it take for you to trust that God fully love you, that he is fully merciful, compassionate and kind to you no matter what you’d go through?