Your True Story E-Book

Susan Freese

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 485

Beschreibung

Your life can change in 50 Days. This ALL-IN-ONE Bible Study tool contains a lifetime of discipleship essentials for new Christians worldwide (no western examples). It’s hard to have a close relationship with God and fulfill your purpose without a clear understanding of His story and your part in it.

These 50 daily readings reveal a LIFETIME OF FAITH ESSENTIALS to bring depth to your friendship with Jesus & equip you with PRACTICAL SKILLS to be His follower. 

Learn what mature believers have known for years in 50 Days through this simple but life-changing journey. 

Week 1:     God’s Story—Discovering the overarching story of the Bible

Week 2:     Your Story—Embracing your new identity in Christ

Week 3:     Your Purpose—Fulfilling your life purpose

Week 4:     Abiding—Staying Connected with God

Week 5:     God’s Word—Listening to the Author of Life

Week 6:     Prayer—Talking with the Author of Life

Week 7:     Holy Spirit—Living Your Story in God’s Strength

Each week you’ll learn more of the narrative woven through the Bible.

You’ll discover secrets of the Christian life, like how to abide in Christ, work through doubts, resist temptation, and worship God during seasons of suffering.

You’ll also learn practical ways to study your Bible, share your faith, make disciples, and pray. If you have not started a relationship with Jesus, you’ll have an opportunity to take that step.

Each day closes with a Great Commandment approach using Scripture, questions, prayer, and a place to process your next steps.

THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU IF YOU:

- Are a new believer in Jesus seeking next steps to grow your faith,

- Are a Christian looking to be discipled or to disciple others,

- Are exploring Christianity and want to know how to become a follower of Jesus.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:

“A LIFE-CHANGING journey.” Scott Ray, IMB

“One of the BEST DISCIPLESHIP TOOLS I have ever read.” Chris Price, Pastor of Chets Nocatee

“I know it will ENCOURAGE YOU.” Dr. Richard Blackaby, co-author of Experiencing God

“A MUST-READ for new Christians, yet CHALLENGING for the most mature Christian.” Mac Heavener, Trinity Baptist College

“Comprehensive, EASY-TO-UNDERSTAND, theologically sound.” Kelley Hastings, Minister to Women

“Weaves together gospel discipleship and a transferable FIELD MANUAL FOR DISCIPLE-MAKING.” Bob Bumgarner, lead missional strategist

“It is a DEEP STUDY that will answer many of your questions about your spiritual journey.” Betzaida Vargas, founder of Samaritana del Pozo

YOUR LIFE HAS A NEW STORY TO TELL:

Experience authentic faith and joy as you apply sacred truths to change your life. Meeting Jesus is just the beginning. Following Him--that's how your true story unfolds.

--Keywords, daily personal reflection and weekly group discussion questions included.

--Written for a global audience with no western examples.

--10,000+ research hours, 3 theological reviews, 1,400+ Biblical references, 50+ Beta Readers = 1 Life-Changing Journey.

More info at yourtruestorybook.com
 
Each book sold will provide a translated copy to an under-resourced believer in a developing country. 

Leseprobe

This book is dedicated to Jesus—the Hero of our story.

100% of the net proceeds from this book will support ministries helping marginalized women and children around the world.

© 2021 by Susan Freese

All rights reserved worldwide. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Jacksonville, Florida, by All In Ministries Books.

Titles by All In Ministries Books may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email [email protected].

Any Internet address, ministry, company, or product information printed in this book is offered as a resource and not intended in any way to be or to imply an endorsement by All In Ministries International, nor does All In Ministries International vouch for the existence, content, or services of those sites, companies, or products beyond the life of this book.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.TM

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.

Cover design by Danita Brooks

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021900138

ISBNs:

978-1-7358780-0-3 (trade paperback)

978-1-7358780-1-0 (ebook)

978-1-7358780-2-7 (hardback)

Contents

Welcome

Global Audience

Navigating the Bible

Commitment

PART I: Discovering Your Story with God

Week One: God’s Story

Day 1: You Are Invited

Day 2: God’s Perfect Creation Displays His Glory

Day 3: Sin Ruins Everything

Day 4: Jesus Rescues Us, Forgives Us, and Leads Us

Day 5: God Makes All Things New: Re-Creation

Day 6: Life After Death

Day 7: God’s Story—Focus on Jesus

Receive Jesus Today

Week 1 Discussion Questions

Week Two: Your Story, Your Identity

Day 8: You Are Chosen

Day 9: You Are a Worshiper

Day 10: You Are Forgiven and Made New

Day 11: You Are Adopted

Day 12: You Are Never Alone

Day 13: You Are Holy

Day 14: You Belong to God

Week 2 Discussion Questions

Week Three: Your Story, Your Purpose

Day 15: Embrace Your New Purpose

Day 16: Represent Jesus Christ as His Ambassador

Day 17: Look Down to Disciple Generations

Day 18: Look Out to Reach Neighbors and Nations

Day 19: Look Up to Glorify God

Day 20: Glorify God in Worship

Day 21: Worship God Through Pain

Week 3 Discussion Questions

PART II: Living Out Your Story with God

Week Four: Abiding—Staying Connected to God

Day 22: Know God as Your Friend

Day 23: Rest In, Rely On, Release All to God

Day 24: Receive from God—Grow Deep Roots

Day 25: Bear Fruit as You Abide

Day 26: Resist Temptation

Day 27: Fight with the Armor of God

Day 28: Enter God’s Rest Through God’s Word

Week 4 Discussion Questions

Week Five: God’s Word—Listening to the Author of Life

Day 29: Cherish God’s Word

Day 30: Receive God’s Word—The Parable of Seeds and Soil

Day 31: Trust God’s Word—Reasons to Believe

Day 32: Tour the Bible—Book by Book

Day 33: Study the Bible—Step by Step

Day 34: Memorize God’s Word

Day 35: Review and Practice—God’s Word

Week 5 Discussion Questions

Week Six: Prayer—Talking with the Author of Life

Day 36: Talk with God, Change Your Heart

Day 37: Pray and Listen

Day 38: Avoid Hindrances to Prayer

Day 39: Fast in Prayer

Day 40: Pray God’s Word, Discover God’s Will

Day 41: Pray for Others—The Great Reach of Intercession

Day 42: Pray First. Pray Always. Pray Now

Week 6 Discussion Questions

Week Seven: The Holy Spirit—Living Your Story in God’s Strength

Day 43: Know the Power of God in You

Day 44: Be Filled with the Spirit—Surrender

Day 45: Be Purified for Resurrection Life—Sanctification

Day 46: Grow in the Spirit—Serve

Day 47: Grow in the Spirit—Share

Day 48: Grow in the Spirit—Suffer

Day 49: Wake, Watch, Work—Jesus Christ Is Coming

Day 50: Celebrate Your True Story

Week 7 Discussion Questions

Acknowledgments

Weekly Gatherings Outline

Appendix: Tools to Share Your Faith

Bibliography

Welcome

This book is for those who desire a closer relationship with Jesus. It’s for those who want to apply a lifetime of sacred truths to their lives—without taking a lifetime to learn them all. It’s for those who do not want an ordinary, one-day-a-week, stale religious faith.

The pages within this book hold life-giving treasures wrapped in words waiting to be opened. It has taken me nearly 50 years to collect these treasures, live these lessons, and now share them with you. Whether you are starting your relationship with Jesus or starting over, I invite you to take this 50-day faith journey to guide you on your next steps with Him. You will not hear personal stories (except true stories from God’s Word) because this is not about someone else’s faith journey. It’s your faith journey.

Each week you’ll learn more of the narrative woven through the Bible. Part 1 starts with a wide scope of the overarching story of God. Then, we’ll narrow our focus to your place and purpose in God’s Story. This life-changing foundation will stabilize the faith essentials covered in the second part of the journey. At this point, Part 2 also becomes a resource guide you can return to as life’s unexpected circumstances come your way. You’ll discover secrets of the Christian life, like how to abide in Christ, work through doubts, resist temptation, and worship God during seasons of suffering. You’ll also learn practical ways to study the Bible, share your faith with people, and pray. If you have not started a relationship with Jesus, you’ll have an opportunity to take that step. My prayer in sharing these life lessons is that you will encounter God’s love, embrace your part in God’s Story, and learn from my mistakes.

Growing up, I trusted Jesus as the forgiver of my sins but did not know to follow Him as the leader of my life. That ignorance cost me—in worldly pursuits, unhealthy thinking, and selfish living. Although I loved Jesus, my incomplete understanding of His role in my life left me restless and joyless. My career kept me distracted, and my shallow faith left me spiritually starving.

But through that wilderness season, God sustained me and revealed what I had been missing all my life: a daily relationship with Him . . . but more than that, an intimate friendship with Him.

I wish I could tell you I surrendered everything to Him then and began trusting Jesus not only for my salvation but also in every part of my life—but I hesitated. I feared what would happen to my children if I gave God leadership over my life. Would my children suffer for my surrender? Would they be taken away from me if I offered everything to God? Then, a woman at church gently shared with me how God loved my sons more than I ever could. I realized that my greatest responsibility as a mother (or in any other role in my life) was to love God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength (Mark 12:30)—to give Him my all because He has given me His all.

Everything changed when I invited God to take over my life. I saw life no longer through a dark lens of worry or selfish ambition but through eyes of faith. Those steps of obedience and trust drew me closer to God. I wanted more of Him, and I wanted Him to have more of me. Through this journey, I discovered who God is, why I was created, and how to live well. I found my story in God’s True Story.

As my story unfolded, God led me into full-time ministry and seminary. He gave me opportunities to share what I was learning in various settings and countries. No matter where I would serve, the need was the same—an authentic relationship with Jesus. By God’s grace, the results were the same as well—beautifully transformed lives. With my husband and pastors’ encouragement, All In Ministries International was born, and it grew. Local churches and missionaries asked for the material in written form. But I hesitated again. God used a conversation with Dr. Henry Blackaby1 to encourage me to take this step to write—to place into one book everything I wish I had known when I started out with Jesus. My prayers for help were answered in each step to create Your True Story. This book is not meant to be comprehensive, but it contains life-giving truths that changed my life and the lives of countless others.

Now, it’s your turn. I invite you to come with me on this journey through Your True Story in 50 daily readings—a carefully chosen chapter in God’s Story and soon to be in yours, I pray. It won’t always be easy or painless, but unfolding your true story is worth the work. Change is uncomfortable, and you get to choose how you will respond to it. Trust God in these next steps or stay the same.

As you choose to trust God through these brief chapters, you will experience passionate love, incredible joy, and supernatural peace. This transformation will help you live each day in oneness with God and prepare you for eternity. At last, you will know your true story as a part of God’s True Story.

Then, I pray you will be like that woman at church who gently shared the truth with me. I pray you will gently invite another and then another and then another on a journey to discover God’s great love and plan for His creation. That is how God designed our lives: to be changed and to bring change to others.

God’s glory is our reward,

Susan Freese

John 3:30

Global Audience

This discipleship resource is for all people within all Christian faith communities worldwide. While our worship styles are diverse, we are united in our beliefs: Jesus Christ is Lord, the whole Bible is wholly true, and every believer has an important part in God’s Story. This study complements the disciple-making workshops offered by All In Ministries International. For more information and free tools, visit www.allinmin.org.

Navigating the Bible

This study will feature a tour of the Bible and how to study it in Week 5. We use several reliable Bible translations to help you clearly see God’s truth. It will be helpful for you to have a Bible ready for each day’s study.

When referring to Bible passages, the book of the Bible is listed first, followed by the chapter number and then the verse(s) within the chapter. For example, John 3:16 refers to the Gospel of John in the New Testament (not to be confused with 1 John), chapter 3, verse 16.

John (Book) 3 (Chapter): 16 (Verse)

Commitment

Your life can change in 50 days, especially when you’re committed to the journey. Before we begin, I’d like to challenge you not to miss a single day’s reading. You set yourself up well when you schedule an appointment on your calendar. By signing your name and designating your time, you show the seriousness of your commitment, and your results dramatically improve.

With God’s help, I commit the next 50 days of my life to discover my story in God’s True Story.

Your name

Set a daily time (30 minutes recommended) and place to read and respond to one chapter each day:

Invite Your Friends

Journeys are better when we’re together with friends. You will gain the most benefit from this faith journey and strengthen friendships if others join you. The fact is we follow God best with others. God gives us a family of faith—the church—to walk with us as we walk with Him. He never meant for us to be alone (Gen. 2:18). A wise man once said, “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble” (Eccles. 4:9–10). Let’s not fall alone.

Pray and ask God to lead you to those who can join you through this study and beyond. I suggest you meet once a week to discuss what you learn. You can use the group discussion questions found at the end of each week as a guide for your gathering. List the names of the people God has led you to invite on your journey below:

Set a day, a time, and a location to meet weekly in person or online:

DISCOVERING YOUR STORY WITH GOD

You saw me before I was born.Every day of my life was recorded in your book.Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.Psalm 139:16–17

What if I said, “You are the reason this book was written”? What if I told you that you have an appointment with God right now? You may question if that’s true or wonder why God has you on His calendar. But look around—is anyone else reading this book? Maybe not; so why you? Because God wants you to know He wrote you into His story. Perhaps you have an extraordinary journey to take to experience Him. Or, perhaps there is another person looking to you for answers. Either way, God planned this moment—at this time, in this place—for you to discover your true story as part of God’s True Story.

No matter who you are or where you live, the one true God is loving you right now. He has an important purpose for your life. You might ask: How is He loving me? Why is my life important? How should I respond? These are all good questions. We invite you to take this 50-day faith journey to start answering them. Why 50 days? God set apart 50 days in the Bible for a special purpose. Once the Hebrew people began celebrating Passover (we’ll study that in Week 7), God gave them another festival called the Feast of Weeks, later called Pentecost.1 The one-day celebration took place seven weeks and one day (50 days) after Passover. Pentecost was a day of celebration and revelation. It commemorates the giving of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) to Moses on Mount Sinai. After Jesus’s time on earth, He gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to the disciples in Jerusalem on Pentecost. There is something significant about the fact that God chose the same fiftieth day, both in the Old Testament and New Testament, to give the gifts of Word and Spirit. Word and Spirit combine to bring us greater revelation.

God can use these 50 days in your life in a special way, too. Why put in the effort? Because your life matters, and your life story makes a difference. Our Creator made you on purpose, for a purpose. He has written a story for you—a story full of meaning that impacts eternity. But to understand your purpose—your true story—you need to know the Author. You need to encounter the one true God.

What is God like? Why did God create me? How can I know God?

Many of us have asked these questions. Do not ignore them because you fear you won’t find the answers, or you are afraid you will not like the answers you find. God planted these questions in your heart to bring you on a faith journey closer to His heart. So, ask them.

You’ll find answers in the Bible—also known as God’s Word or Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16).1 But more than answers, you will find God Himself. One of my prayers is that over the next 50 days you will experience how God is real and the Bible is true. Together, we’ll answer some of your questions with truth from God’s Word. Whether you are reading it for the first time or have studied it for years, God’s Word is always perfect and fresh.

This study heavily quotes Scripture and refers you to Bible verses (including more than 1,400 references) so God’s Word can speak for itself. I suggest you set aside thirty minutes each day with an open Bible to meet with God as you go through these brief chapters. Pray before you read to invite God to reveal Himself to you. Interact with what you discover. Mark up the pages as you wish and write your thoughts in the margins. Read one chapter a day so you can think and act on what you read.

As we learn to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength (Mark 12:30), we’ll approach this faith journey with Jesus’s command in mind. You’ll find four steps to complete at the end of each day:

1. Read Scripture related to the day’s topic in “Let the Bible Speak.”

2. Answer questions to process what you read in “Let Your Mind Think.”

3. Start your conversation with God in “Let Your Soul Pray.”

4. Record what steps God may be leading you to take in “Let Your Heart Obey.”1

Please work through these four steps to absorb and apply each day’s lesson. This is important. Knowing new information will not transform our lives, but the application of biblical truth with God’s help will.

Let’s preview the journey for Part 1:

First, in Week 1, you will learn about God and His overarching true story. God’s Story affects every other story. We cannot cover all you might want to know about God in one week. Still, this summary will help you understand the context for your existence, your eternity, and your story within God’s Story. Even if you’ve been a believer for some time, you may discover aspects of God’s Story not widely taught. You will come away with a better understanding of God’s whole story.

Then, in Weeks 2–3, you will learn about your part in God’s Story. In the second week, you’ll discover your identity in Christ (who you are), and in the third week, you’ll find your purpose in Christ (what you do).

Are you ready to begin? First, pause to examine your heart. Are you sincerely seeking God? In Jeremiah 29:13, God says, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Take a few prayerful moments and

• decide now to seek God with all your heart and soul (Deut. 4:29);

• decide to accept what you discover about Him, His Story, and how you fit into it, even if some things you find surprise or bother you in some way;

• pray and ask God to prepare your heart for the journey ahead and to give you friends to walk with you.1

Together, seek truth—seek God—with an open heart. And as you pursue Him, you will discover that He has always, always pursued you.

You Are Invited

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.John 3:16

How does it make you feel when you receive a special invitation? Something profound happens inside you. Knowing someone had you in mind changes the way you see yourself. Someone thought of you, and your presence is wanted. The reality is God is thinking of you, and the Bible is His written invitation. Through the pages of Scripture, God invites you to trust Him with your whole life. His invitation crosses every continent, every culture, every era. And our ability to listen and respond is its only limitation.1

Though written long ago, this story in the Bible is relevant now. It defines and explores our world. It explains why we suffer pain and injustice and promises that one day God will make everything right again. The Bible describes the people of Israel throughout the Old Testament and their relationship with God. But this story is not only for them. This story of redemption and relationship is for the whole world—including you. You will want to listen carefully to what God is saying because He is saying it to you.

When you read carefully, you will discover your true story. Yes, your story is written into the Bible. God created you to know Him and be changed by Him as part of His grand plan (Jer. 9:23—24). He has a divine purpose for your life. But you will only discover God’s unique calling for you by studying His Word and living it out in your life—with His help. In God’s Story, you will find the meaning of your story and every story in the world—past, present, and future.

Even though the Bible is complete, God’s Story is still unfolding all around us. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, shows us what will happen at the end of time. But it also reveals that God’s Story has no end. God invites us to eternal life through Jesus—now and forever (John 3:16). Eternal life is unending friendship with God and trusting Him to write our story as part of His True Story (John 17:3; Heb. 12:2).

For the next few moments write down what your story has been so far. How do you know God?

Just as a book is made up of many chapters that tell one story, the Bible is a collection of books revealing God’s Story for us. Each book—and the chapters and verses within it—works together with all the others to reveal God and His relationship with us. God’s Story leads us to the One who created us, the One who came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. The whole story rests on Him. The whole Bible points to Him.

As we begin our journey together, you and I need to have a greater vision of God’s Story as a whole. It can be divided into four basic parts: (1) creation, (2) sin, (3) Jesus, and (4) re-creation—God’s creation restored. The Old Testament (the first thirty-nine books of the Bible) tells us about creation and sin (and the Rescuer to come). The New Testament (the last twenty-seven books of the Bible) tells us about Jesus (the Rescuer) and re-creation. These four parts provide a framework to understand all the stories of the Bible—and the significance of our lives.

PART ONE: CREATION

God created us and wants to have a close relationship with us.

The Old Testament begins with the story of creation. God made everything from nothing and called it all “good,” with one exception (Gen. 1). When God made people, He made us in His image and then called everything “very good.” He took special care in creating us because He wanted to have a close relationship with us. The reality is God did not need to create us. He already lived in perfect community. The Bible reveals there is only one God who exists in three persons: Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit. God took pleasure in creating us. Best of all, we have the pleasure of knowing Him (Col. 1:10). Our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, lived, worked, and walked with God in the perfect garden of Eden. Joy and peace filled their lives as children of God.

PART TWO: SIN

Because sin separates us from God, we need a Rescuer.

Everything changed when the serpent (Satan, the enemy) entered the story. He twisted God’s words to deceive Adam and Eve. Deception led to discontentment, which led to disobedience. Rather than trust God, they believed Satan’s lie and turned against God. They ate the fruit that God had forbidden. That is what sin is—turning away from God’s will in our attitudes or actions. Sin spoiled God’s good creation, and everything broke. Adam and Eve’s rebellion separated them from God. It introduced the consequences of sin: death, greed, sickness, violence, and pain in the world. Darkness now filled their lives as enemies of God (Rom. 5:10). The rest of the Old Testament tells the story of people struggling because of sin, disobedience to God’s commands, and neglect of His presence—despite the call of the prophets to repent and return to Him. More importantly, it foretells the story of God’s rescue plan. The world needed a Savior, a Rescuer.

Sin:

Turning away from God’s will in our attitudes or actions.

PART THREE: JESUS

Jesus rescues us from our sin and restores our relationship with God.

The New Testament reveals to us our Rescuer: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He came to free us from the grip of the enemy and restore our relationship with our heavenly Father. His mission: to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). The beginning of the New Testament teaches us about Jesus’s life and tells us how He rescued us. God is just, and our sin deserves His judgment and the penalty of death. Out of God’s great love, Jesus took our punishment by taking our place—dying on a cross for us. That was not the end but the beginning of new life. Jesus defeated death and rose from the grave to ensure sin could never again separate us from Him. He conquered sin and death once and for all!

PART FOUR: RE-CREATION–GOD’S CREATION RESTORED

God will make all things new, starting with us.

A new chapter of God’s Story began with Jesus’s empty tomb. We find ourselves in this chapter today: Jesus is preparing a place in heaven for those who trust Him. He has given believers a new purpose on earth and promised to return for us. The rest of the New Testament teaches about the rescue plan spreading into all nations and changing people’s hearts and lives for all eternity. Even now, creation prepares for Jesus to return. When He does, He will make all things new. There will be no more brokenness. Jesus will create a new heaven and a new earth, perfect and untouched by sin. Then believers will worship God and enjoy Him forever in His new creation.

God extends His invitation to trust Him in each part of His Story. For the rest of this week, we’ll look at each part in more detail. We’ll discover how God demonstrates His love for every nation and every person (John 3:16). You and I and everyone else—we were all created by His love, for His love, and to share His love. God’s invitation awaits.

Let the Bible Speak:

Read Genesis 1 (Optional: Romans 5:12–21)

Let Your Mind Think:

1. What does Genesis 1 tell you about God?

2. How does it make you feel to know your story is part of God’s Story?

3. How does knowing God loves everyone change the way you see God, yourself, and others?

Let Your Soul Pray:

Lord, thank You for revealing Your Story through the Bible and inviting me to trust You. Help me as I seek You. Soften my heart and open my eyes to Your truth as I begin this faith journey. I want to know You and my place in Your Story . . . In Jesus’s name I pray, amen.

Let Your Heart Obey:

(What is God leading you to know, value, or do?)

God’s Perfect Creation Displays His Glory

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. . . . Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!Genesis 1:1, 31

Between the Bible’s large size and its ancient languages and cultures, reading it can seem intimidating to a lot of people. Some people think the Bible is too massive to read in one’s lifetime. But actually, if we read it for one hour a day, we could read it all in roughly eighty days. Others think the Bible is too complicated and requires advanced training to understand it. But the revelation of God is just that—His revelation. He wants to be known. We may not understand everything, but God helps us learn many of His timeless truths. Sometimes people assume God’s Word is a rule book, giving us a list of dos and don’ts. But when we read it, we discover the most magnificent narrative of deliverance and freedom in the history of the world. It’s God’s Story.

As we learned yesterday, the Bible starts with the creation of all things and ends with re-creation. It’s for the whole world, but it’s also personal. God’s Story celebrates the wonder of every person’s formation, including yours (Psalm 139). You did not choose your background, but the Bible reveals that God did. It is the starting point on God’s path to your destiny (Acts 17:26–27). But to understand God’s Story and your place in it, you need to first understand that God’s Story does not center around us. God’s Story centers around God and His glory. All things exist to praise His greatness. You will soon discover why that is, but for now, let’s start at the beginning of time.

God created everything—every single thing—for His glory, including you and me. He powerfully spoke all of creation into existence: light, land, sea, plants, and animals. All of creation glorifies God by displaying “his eternal power and divine nature” (Rom. 1:20 ESV). Even the “heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps. 19:1 NIV). From the stars in the sky to the most hidden parts of our bodies, all of creation speaks of God’s brilliance and goodness. Men, women, and children declare the glory of God, too. Like the moon reflecting light from the sun, we reflect God to the world. Our reason for existence—for His glory (Isa. 43:7).

Glory:

One of the Hebrew words for glory (kabod) literally translates as “heavy” and “weighty,” indicating worthiness. Our response to someone whose presence is heavily felt is honor and respect.

Glorifying God means to think, act, speak, and serve in ways that reflect God’s greatness. It’s our life purpose.

Source: Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), 456.

God displays His glory most beautifully in His great love for us. God desired a close relationship with humankind, so He created us with special care—in His image and with His breath. “God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.’ . . . Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person” (Gen. 1:26; 2:7). The God of the universe formed human beings from the dust of the earth. As a potter molds clay, God took personal and intimate care in our design. He did not keep His distance when He created Adam and Eve in the beginning, and He does not keep His distance from you now. He wants to be close to you.

God also created us to enjoy relationships with one another. Right from the start, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). So, God created Eve to be Adam’s partner.1 In this role, God designed Eve as Adam’s essential and equal counterpart to fulfill God’s purposes for humanity. This first marriage provides an example of the closest of human relationships. More importantly, it serves as a picture of our relationship with God. What should marriage be like? Selfless love. Intimate friendship. Shared work. Divine purpose. Faithful presence. That is how we should approach our relationship with God because He delights in us. “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you” (Isa. 62:5 NIV). Regardless of your marital status, remember that your deep connection with your Creator is far more valuable than any human marriage. “Your Creator will be your husband” (Isa. 54:5). God knows you intimately, and He is faithful. He calls His people the “bride” of Christ, fully known and fully loved (Rev. 19:7–9; see also Eph. 5:25–27). Even the best earthly marriage is a shadow of the depth of love God pours into your relationship with Him.

We may better understand God’s extravagant, selfless love if we have children of our own. That may be why God created us to have close relationships with our children. He commanded Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28 ESV) so they could share God’s blessings and His teachings with their offspring (Deut. 6:5–7). Parenting can help us better understand how we, as children of God, can relate to Him as our Father in heaven. Consider how a young child crawls up onto the lap of her mother and rests in her arms. Secure. Loved. Connected. Let’s approach our relationship with God that way. Resting in faith. Sharing our day. Listening for His voice. Trusting Him. Obeying Him. Whether or not you have biological children, God created you to reproduce. When you pass on your faith to the next generation, you have spiritual children—blessed relationships that will last forever. God made us to parent and to be parented by Him.

Our relationships extend to the rest of creation. Starting from the beginning of Genesis, we see God at work, fashioning the earth. He then entrusts the earth to us “to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15 ESV). God worked to create it, and we work to maintain it. Right at the beginning of time, we discover the biblical concepts of calling, vocation, and work. We learn that God wants us to enjoy the natural world and allows us to manage it for Him through our work. There are many vocations, and we all have different passions and skills. We might not like the work that we do all the time, but we can choose to be grateful. No matter what we do, we can give God glory in our work because God designed us for it (1 Cor. 10:31).

The first two chapters of the Bible reveal much about God’s Story. Today, we’ve learned that (1) God’s Story centers on God and His glory, and (2) He created all things, including work, to display His glory. God loves us and wants us to have a close relationship with Him. He also blesses us with creation, helps us to create, and invites us to manage His creation. We are created to reflect our creative God.

Let the Bible Speak:

Read Genesis 2 (Optional: Psalm 148)

Let Your Mind Think:

1. What can creation teach you about your Creator?

2. The one true God created us to know Him. No other religion views their god(s) that way. Why is it important for us to know God personally?

3. How does thinking about God as your spouse and your parent change the way you see Him?

Let Your Soul Pray:

Lord, You are worthy “to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (Rev. 4:11 NIV). Thank You for Your perfect creation. As I enjoy Your glory displayed in the beautiful world around me, remind me that Your glory is even more beautifully displayed in Your love for me. Please grow my relationship with You . . . In Jesus’s name I pray, amen.

Let Your Heart Obey:

(What is God leading you to know, value, or do?)

Sin Ruins Everything

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.Romans 3:23 NIV

As the wind blew, a familiar sound in the garden of Eden caused an unfamiliar feeling. Adam and Eve’s hearts pounded with a strange grip of fear. God was there to spend time with His precious image-bearers. But rather than walk with God, they hid from Him in the trees. This was the day sin ruined everything.

Only three chapters into Genesis, and we see how this story unfolds. God looked over all of creation, both seen and unseen, and it was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). People and angels had a perfect relationship with God. He abundantly met all their needs and wants. They also had a choice—a choice to love and trust God or to rebel. They chose to rebel.

But they weren’t the first rebels. No, there was one “anointed . . . guardian cherub” who was “blameless” until wickedness was found in him (Ezek. 28:14–15 NIV). Satan, known then as Lucifer, was beautiful and brilliant, and he knew it. So much pride filled his heart that he wanted to become equal to God (Isa. 14:12–14). He even convinced one-third of the angels to join him in his rebellion (Rev. 12:4–9).

In response to this evil, God—who is both loving and just—punished Satan by sending him away from heaven in disgrace (Ezek. 28:14–18). Satan hated God, so he aimed to destroy what God loved most: His precious image-bearers. That’s you and me.

What started as rebellion in the unseen world led to deception in our visible world. Satan came into the garden as a serpent, tempting Adam and Eve to rebel against God. He deceived them by questioning God’s words to them. Satan asked, “Did God really say . . . ?” (Gen. 3:1). Then he suggested that God’s command not to eat of the fruit of one tree in the middle of the garden deprived Adam and Eve of something good: “You surely will not die! . . . You will be like God” (Gen. 3:4–5 NASB). Instead of believing in God’s love, goodness, and abundant provision for them, Adam and Eve started questioning God’s commands and promises to them.

Image-bearers:

Unlike angels or animals, people—both male and female—are made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27). We think, invent, plan, feel, create, know right from wrong, have memories and ideas, and birth new life. Most importantly, we can worship, know, and love God.

Satan had created doubt, and this doubt led to disobedience. Satan still deceives us today, just like he deceived Adam and Eve. He tricks us into questioning God’s Word and God’s goodness. He stirs up discontentment in our hearts and tempts us to disobey God, just as he did by planting seeds of doubt in the hearts of Adam and Eve. As a result, they both disobeyed God, and sin entered our world (Gen. 3:6).

Sin ruined everything. Because of sin all of creation groans (Rom. 8:22). Along with sin came death, pain, shame, sickness, violence, fear, depression, and every kind of evil. The presence of sin even corrupted how our bodies functioned. Childbirth became more painful. Work became hard. The earth suffered from destructive natural disasters, poisonous animals, and thorns that made it difficult to farm the land. Sin affected even the smallest details of creation, just as sin affects the smallest details of our lives. The perfect relationships God had formed—through marriage, parenting, and work—all shattered. Worst of all, sin destroyed our most important relationship: our relationship with God.

We create a harmful separation from God when we do things our way instead of His way. As you may recall, that is what sin is: turning away from God’s will in our attitudes and actions. Adam and Eve’s sin caused them to suffer spiritual death immediately and face physical death eventually.

After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve realized they were naked because shame follows sin. When we sin, we feel filthy and exposed because we have betrayed our Creator. In our sin, we rebel against the One whose image we bear. We become confused about our identity. Disoriented and ashamed, we often do the same thing Adam and Eve did: we hide from God (John 3:20).

Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together to cover their shame (Gen. 3:7). We try to cover up our sin and shame too, but we don’t use fig leaves. Instead, we might lie to cover up our mistakes, or we do extra good deeds to make up for our failures. None of those efforts last for long because our attempts to cover our sins are as flimsy as fig-leaf clothing. Adam and Eve knew their fig leaves did not cover their sin, yet they still hid from God when they heard Him calling for them in the garden.

Before we find out how God responded to Adam and Eve’s sin, let’s remember that we cannot blame Adam and Eve for our sin. We all break God’s rules. “No one is righteous—not even one” (Rom. 3:10). The Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:2–17) teach us to love and serve God alone, respect God’s name, honor our parents, and rest in God. They also teach us not to kill, commit adultery, steal, lie, or want what other people have. Jesus made these rules even harder to follow. He taught that persistent anger is as evil as murder and that intentional lust is as evil as adultery (Matt. 5:21–22, 28). God cares about our hearts just as much as our actions. That means that even when we do good things for the wrong reasons, we sin. God commands us, “Be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44–45 ESV). Impossible, we think. And so, we sin, feel shame, and hide from God, just like Adam and Eve did.

But God did not abandon Adam and Eve, and He does not abandon us. God came looking for them, just as He comes looking for us. “Where are you?” He asked (Gen. 3:9). This question was asking about not their physical location but their location in relationship to God.1 We all need to ask ourselves the same question. Adam and Eve admitted their disobedience but used excuses and blame to rationalize their behavior. When we sin, we sometimes make excuses and blame others. But there are no excuses for sin. Deception does not excuse sin. Our wounds do not give us the right to wound others. Adam and Eve could have returned to God with their questions, and we can seek Him with ours as well. Since God’s standards are perfect and He looks at the heart, He did not accept Adam and Eve’s blame-shifting confessions. Sin is always a serious offense. The damage had been done. In God’s perfect justice, a death penalty for that sin needed to be paid. Life is in the blood (Lev. 17:11), and their blood was now spiritually polluted with sin.

God never intended for His beloved image-bearers to pay the penalty for their sin. So, He immediately revealed His rescue plan, a plan that would take the weight of sin from us and place it on God’s only Son, Jesus Christ. God turned from Adam and Eve and spoke to the real enemy, Satan: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen. 3:15 NIV). Satan would be allowed to strike the Rescuer and cause Him pain. But in the end, the Rescuer would succeed in crushing the enemy that seeks “to steal and kill and destroy” so that we might “have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV).

Before God banished Adam and Eve from the garden, He killed an animal and replaced their withering fig leaves with durable leather clothing. This foreshadowed the many sacrifices that would be made to cover the sin of humanity until the complete and final sacrifice of Jesus (Lev. 1–7).1

Yes, Jesus would die to pay our debt instead of us. Inconceivable, but true. God provides a way to cover—atone for—our sin and restore our spiritual life. Through the sacrifices of blood—first from certain animals and ultimately from Jesus, the Lamb of God—our relationship with Him could be restored (Heb. 9:26; 10:4). Clean blood to cover unclean blood. Jesus’s death in our place was a complete and final sacrifice never to be repeated.2

Even in this dark time when sin entered the world, God’s tender love shone even more brightly. He came looking for us. He covered us and promised to rescue us. Oh, how He passionately loves us!

Let the Bible Speak:

Read Genesis 3 (Optional: Psalm 51)

Let Your Mind Think:

1. If God asked, “Where are you?” what would you say?

2. Are you hiding from God in any way? If yes, explain.

3. How does knowing that God is looking for you make you feel (Ezek. 34:11–16; Luke 19:10)?

Let Your Soul Pray:

Lord, “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble” (Ps. 32:7, NIV). May I never hide from You, but instead hide in You, knowing that You will forgive me and protect me . . . In Jesus’s name, amen.

Let Your Heart Obey:

(What is God leading you to know, value, or do?)

Jesus Rescues Us, Forgives Us, and Leads Us

Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God.1 Peter 3:18

Of all the literary genres included in God’s Story—history, poetry, prophecy, letters—mystery is not one of them. But for thousands of years, God’s people may have felt like there were too many unknowns. God promised to send a Rescuer—the “seed” that would crush the enemy (Gen. 3:15 NASB). And Scripture provided hundreds of prophecies so that the Rescuer could be recognized and believed. There were wars and wilderness wanderings to protect God’s seed. But the details of God’s rescue plan remained hidden, which raised many questions: Who could save us from our brokenness and this sin-infected world? How could God’s wrath against sin be satisfied? How could we ever escape the punishment we deserve?

The Bible warns that the consequence for our sins—our attitudes or actions that violate God’s commands—is total separation from God. Forever. But God never intended for our story to end this way. Separation from God would mean separation from everything good, lovely, wise, pure, beautiful, heroic, and true. Every good thing that reflects God would be gone from our existence.

For a long time, it seemed like God’s words were gone too. The Old Testament told of the coming Rescuer—the Messiah, God’s promised Deliverer. For hundreds of years, prophets told God’s people to prepare for the Rescuer by repenting (turning away from their sin and turning back to God). But then, it seemed, God stopped speaking. The Old Testament ended.

Repentance:

Turning away from sin and turning back to God.

Silence . . . and waiting.

Until one day, at the perfect time, and in the perfect way, a perfect Rescuer came (Gal. 4:4). God broke the silence, revealed the mystery of His will (Eph. 1:9), and spoke directly to us through His Son, Jesus (Heb. 1:2). The One who spoke creation into existence showed up in creation to speak to us. He was fully human and fully God. Jesus was called Immanuel, meaning “God is with us” (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23). The Word of God came, not in written form, but in human form (John 1:14). What would the Word of God say?

Nothing at first, because He was born as a baby—a fragile infant whose birth we celebrate on the day now called Christmas. Instead of choosing a midwife and carefully preparing baby supplies, Jesus’s mother, Mary, spent the last, grueling stages of her pregnancy traveling hard, dusty roads. When she and her husband, Joseph, finally arrived in Bethlehem to be counted for a Roman census, the small city was so crowded that they could not find a place to stay. So Mary birthed her son in an animal stable and placed Him in a feeding trough to sleep (Luke 2).

Unimaginable. But Jesus, King of the universe, was born poor for a reason.

Jesus’s great love for creation caused Him to willingly set aside the royal privileges that were rightfully His. “Though he was God . . . he gave up his divine privileges . . . and was born as a human being” (Phil. 2:6–7). He became poor so we might become rich in God’s mercy and grace (2 Cor. 8:9).

Instead of a royal birth announcement and wealthy attendants, angels announced Jesus’s arrival as a baby to shepherds—the poorest of the poor. Even creation proclaimed the glory of God as a new star revealed the King of kings to the magi—the wisest of the wise. The supernatural and the natural shouted His arrival to the whole world, great and small, rich and poor. The Word of God came for all.

Christ:

God’s “anointed one.” It is the Greek translation for the Hebrew word Messiah.

Why did the Rescuer come in this way? Jesus humbled Himself and became one of us so He could do for us what we could never do for ourselves. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Cor. 5:21). This is the gospel—good news—message in one verse. Take a moment to read it again.

In the ultimate expression of love, God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and suffer the punishment for our sins. He was falsely accused, brutally beaten, and nailed to a cross. In reality, we should have been on that cross, but “he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. . . . Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all” (Isa. 53:5–6). Jesus suffered all the punishment for all our sins, “and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2 ESV). He took our place on that cross. We remember Jesus’s ultimate sacrifice on Good Friday every year. We’re still talking about that event—and people are still martyred for talking about it—more than two thousand years later. But, thank God, His Story did not end there.

Gospel:

“Good news.” This refers to the good news that the death of Jesus provided the full payment for the penalty of sin and anyone who turns to the living Jesus and trusts Him alone for salvation is forgiven, is made new, and has eternal life.

Three days later, everything changed. Tragedy turned into victory! Death was defeated, and Jesus Christ rose from the dead! He appeared to more than five hundred people, instructed and empowered His followers, and ascended into heaven. He not only reconciled His relationships on earth, but He also made a way for us to be with Him in heaven forever. We may lose our physical bodies to death and decay as the result of living in a fallen world. But our spirit/soul will live forever because Jesus conquered death and gives us eternal life through faith in Him.

Jesus’s victory over death gives us victory over sin. His victory is what we celebrate on Easter—Resurrection Sunday. God celebrates too! Our reconciliation brings Him great joy because of His great love for us. “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Reconciliation:

Repaired or restored relationship.

God offers us a priceless gift in Jesus Christ. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23 NIV). Just as any gift can only be enjoyed if it is received and opened, we need to receive the free gift of a restored relationship with God. How? By turning toward Jesus and turning from our sins. We ask God for forgiveness and follow Jesus as our Leader.

Devastatingly, many people refuse this gift. Some do not believe their sins deserve punishment. Some work to become righteous on their own. But the Bible is clear: “No one is righteous—not even one” (Rom. 3:10). No one is good enough because “everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Rom. 3:23). Others reject Jesus because they believe there are many ways to heaven. Still, the Bible is clear: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV). Even Jesus asked the Father if there was any other way to rescue us than by His death on a cross (Matt. 26:39–42). But there was no other way. Jesus had to die. Only through Jesus can we find forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

Righteous:

Just, upright, innocent, faultless, guiltless.

When we ask Jesus for forgiveness, the sin that separates us from God disappears. We now have God’s Spirit living in us, helping us to live for Jesus each day. We begin to change! Sin no longer controls us. God adopts us into His family, and we are His. No more separation, and no more condemnation (Rom. 8). We are loved. Forever.

And this is only the beginning of our true story with God. Tomorrow, we’ll discover what happens when we are made new.

Let the Bible Speak:

Isaiah 53 (Optional: John 19–20)

Let Your Mind Think:

1. Isaiah 53 was written centuries before Jesus. Do you know of anyone else in history who fulfills these prophecies?

2. Have you ever received Jesus’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life? If so, who can you share this gift with today? If not, will you receive His gift now? To learn more about this important decision, read “Receive Jesus Today” at the end of Day 7.

Let Your Soul Pray:

Lord, Your Word says that You came to seek and rescue all who are lost, including me (Luke 19:10). Thank You for this priceless gift, and help me share this gift with others . . . In Jesus’s name I pray, amen.

Let Your Heart Obey:

(What is God leading you to know, value, or do?)

God Makes All Things New: Re-Creation

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.2 Corinthians 5:17–18 ESV

If we stop and think about it, most of us have a few moments in our lives we wish we could do over again. (Some of us have more than a few.) Maybe it was something we said that embarrassed ourselves or another person. Perhaps it was something we did or didn’t do that we regret. If we could go back in time and live it over, we’d gladly make different choices. We’d want a new start.

Only a few chapters into the Bible we see a “new start” theme emerge. God’s epic story opens with creation. But when sin breaks everything, God extends infinite mercy and grace, offering recreation—His creation restored. Yes, in the re-creation, God fixes everything broken by sin. He starts with His image-bearers—you and me. He changes us and restores the most significant casualty of sin—our relationship with Him.

No more hiding from God like Adam and Eve.

Now we run to God.

No more living in darkness imprisoned by sin.

Now we live in the light, free from the bondage of sin.

No more reflecting the wickedness of the world.

Now we reflect God’s goodness to the world.