Part 4
There is a widely held belief among behavioral scientists that the way you see yourself has a direct correlation to how you perceive the world around you.
Series Thesis: We want to shape the way we see ourselves around the way God sees us and who we are in Christ so that we can have a healthy, godly perception of ourselves and our world.
(Proverbs 4:23 GNB) Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.
Old Testament Relationship with God:
- God was with them.
(Isaiah 41:10 NKJV) Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
(Psalms 46:1-3 NKJV) God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. (2) Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; (3) Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
(Psalms 91:14-15 NKJV) “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. (15) He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
(Genesis 39:1-3 NKJV) Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. (2) The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. (3) And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand.
- God was for them.
(Psalms 118:5-6 NKJV) I called on the LORD in distress; The LORD answered me and set me in a broad place. (6) The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
(Psalms 124:2-3 NKJV) “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, When men rose up against us, (3) Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their wrath was kindled against us;
New Testament Relationship with God:
- God is with us.
(Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (19) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
(Hebrews 13:5 AMPC) “… He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] [Jos 1:5]
- God is for us.
(Romans 8:31-39 NLT) What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? (32) Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else?
But to the Old Testament believer, the Presence of God was way far off in the Tabernacle or the Temple; wherever the Ark of the Covenant was.
(Matthew 6:9-10 NKJV) In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. (10) Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
When we hear this phrase, “Our Father in Heaven…”, our thinking immediately goes to God being way far off in the place called Heaven, wherever that is. God is a Spirit, eternal, no time nor distance.
God is:
- Omniscient – All knowing
- Omnipotent – All powerful
- Omnipresent – Can be everywhere at the same time
But Jesus went a step further when He was raised from the dead and paved the way for us to be Born Again.
Your sins aren’t just forgiven. You are a New Creation! He opened the door for another level of relationship with God:
- God is in us!
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT) (19) Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, (20) for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
(2 Corinthians 6:14-16 NKJV) (14) Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? (15) And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? (16) And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”
(1 John 4:15 NKJV) Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
If you are Born Again, the Holy Spirit is living and abiding in you; in your spirit!
- When we begin to know Who is in us, we become fearless warriors.
(1 John 4:4 NKJV) You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
As soon as we become God-inside conscious, we will begin to depend on God inside. It takes us out of the failure-realm and puts us over into the realm of success.