Knowing God: Lesson 1 | Day 3

In your Bible study time this week, you looked at the stories of David, Elijah, and Hezekiah. You saw that they began to know God better as they relied on Him. This is a pretty good practice for us too.

Spend some time today rereading over one of the stories.

David’s story is found in 1 Samuel 17:1-58.

Elijah’s story is found in 1 Kings 18:20-36.

Hezekiah’s story is found in 2 Kings 19:8-19.

Once you have read the story of your choice, answer the following questions:

• How did the person rely on God?
• How did God respond?
• How can I rely on God like the person in the story today?

Don’t look at the characters in the Bible as fictional people, or as outdated examples. Think of them as people just like you. Their lives are recorded in the Bible to serve as models for you. Don’t miss the chance to learn from them.

Knowing God: Lesson 1 | Day 2

In this week’s lessons, you saw stories of God at work in people’s lives. There is power in a story of what God has done. Write a story, a true story, about what God has done in your life or in the life of a friend or family member.


Now, take this story and share it with someone today to encourage him or her in his or her faith.

Knowing God: Lesson 1 | Day 1

“Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.”  Exodus 29:45

Is God real? Can we really know God? The only way for us to know God is through Him revealing Himself to us. We can see who He is by seeing what He has done for others in the past through His Word and by experiencing Him working in our own lives. Knowing God gives us strength when we are faced with people who question God’s existence or challenge us when we try to share our faith. People can argue theories and ideas, but they cannot argue with someone who truly knows God because he or she has experienced Him personally.

In your Bible study lesson from this week, you probably talked some about the importance of knowing God personally instead of merely hearing about experiences others have had with Him. Your challenge for today is to continue to wrestle with the question that came at the end of this week’s lesson:

Have I personally experienced God, or am I simply living off of my parents’ faith?

Spend some time today considering your thoughts on that question. Think about it as you drive around in your car, or between classes at school. Don’t be too quick to answer. The question is pretty important.

Patience

Perhaps you are writing a paper for class while listening to your iPod, checking Facebook and fending off annoying complaints from your mother, who is asking if you’re concentrating on the paper that’s due tomorrow. You have it under control until you try to access a website recommended by a friend on Facebook, and your Internet access decides to take its own sweet time.

David in Psalms 13 complains: “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide Your face from me?” (Psalms 13:1). We are not King David, and downloads are not matters of life and death.

Yet in our impatience, we feel persecuted: “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” (Psalms 13:2).

As Christians, we can pray bold prayers as David did: “Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’ and my foes will rejoice when I fall” (Psalms 13:3-4).

However, we tend not to pray, but to complain. If this paper weren’t due tomorrow; if this computer would work like it’s supposed to; if Mom wouldn’t nag; if I could land a job; if he/she would just like me; if I were more like them...

David prayed a prayer of faith, and he learned patience: “But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for He has been good to me” (Psalms 13:5-6). David trusted in the Lord before he saw answers to his prayers.

I recognize that I am impatient, expecting the Lord to hand me answers to my prayers on my schedule. We expect life at our pace, but the Lord is not in a hurry.

How do I react when a website does not download quickly?

Am I annoyed at my mother for nagging me about homework?

When annoyed, do I pray with faith as David did?

Can I trust the Lord to answer my prayers?

Could I be more patient than I am?

Self-control

Self-control is the discipline of delaying impulse or gratification for a greater purpose or cause. When we exercise self-control, we are saying "no" for the sake of a bigger and better "yes." We are trading something in the here and now for something greater in the future.

We teach our children self-control when we make them eat their vegetables before dessert. We implore our teens to practice self-control for several years after puberty in order to honor marriage (Hebrews 13:4). Yet the greatest reason believers practice self-control is because we choose Christ over the world (Mark 8:36-37).

Our desires tempt us every day. The Bible says, "For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world"  1 John 2:16

In order to develop self-control, we must first be honest with ourselves about our weaknesses. Each one of us is different. Some of us are tempted by overeating, others by greed or gossip. By being aware of what tempts us, we can take our struggles to God. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, and we have self-control when we "keep in step" with the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25). He empowers us to overcome temptation.

Peace

"And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful."  Colossians 3:15

God’s guidance system in our lives is often as simple as a peace in your heart. When your praying about a certain decision your facing, ask God to help show you which choice is the one He wants you to do.

He often will show you the right decision by giving you peace about it. Sometimes the other choices seem better but it’s best to go with the peace in your heart. The Bible says in Proverbs to not lean unto your own understanding. That’s how peace often works. It might not even completely makes sense going in the direction that you feel peace, however you just know that it’s the right decision.

You’ll always want to balance out your decisions first and foremost with the Bible. God will never lead you in a direction through peace that does not line up with other principles He’s clearly already spoken on in the Bible.

Today if you are facing a tough decision, is there a particular outcome that you just have more peace on the inside about? This can often be a good indicator that God is helping to lead you towards that.

Love

You’ve probably heard at church or youth group at some point that you should love others. But you may have wondered, what does that look like? What does it really mean to love others, and what does it look like to love your enemy?

The answer to that question is that love looks different. It looks different than what you see on TV. It looks different than what you hear in the hallways at school. True love, the way God meant it, looks way different than the way we see it portrayed. Many times, the definition of love on TV or at school goes something like this: I’ll love you if you can do something for me, or if you can give something to me. However, this isn’t the meaning of loving others that the Bible describes.

"This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins." 1 John 4:10

This verse in 1 John describes love as something different than what we see at school and on TV. It shows us that God defines love differently. God didn’t wait for us to be able to give Him something for Him to love us. God loved us first. He loved us and gave before we even knew Him. Then God challenges us to take the love He gave to us and show that love to others.

Loving others isn’t based upon how others treat us. Its based on God’s love and grace which empowers us to then love others. We are to love others and value them, not because they have done anything to deserve it, but because its the example God showed us first. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it this way:

“The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behavior must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus; it has only one source, and that is the will of Jesus.”  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

So choose to love others. Treat them with respect and love, not based on what they can do for you, or how they treat you, but rather based on how God treated us!