We mustn’t lose heart when we fall! God wants us to get back up and persevere in His strength.
Women's Community Bible Study -
We all know people who seem to be closer to God than others. We can usually rightly assume that these men and women spend more time alone with God. In the third installment of an eight-part series on knowing God’s will, teacher and Bible commentator Nancy McGuirk explains that as we spend more time with our heavenly Father, we come to love Him more deeply and trust Him more fully. When we seek to live a God-centered life, He frees us from the shackles of perfectionism and insecurity
We find a marvelous promise in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be closer to God than others? The answer most likely lies in the fact that they spend more time alone with Him. How much time do you spend with God? The truth is that the more time we spend with Him, the more we get to know Him. The more we know God, the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we trust Him. The more we trust God, the more we obey Him. And the more we obey Him, the more satisfied we are.
God wants us to love Him and to love others. I have found it helpful to think of the cross as a reminder of this truth. The vertical portion of the cross represents our love for God. The horizontal part of the cross represents our love for others. As we experience God’s unconditional love in our own lives, we can give that love freely to others.
All of us have something that we consider the most important thing in our lives. For some, it’s the approval of other people. For others, it is our position in life. For many, it may be our possessions. But we can become enslaved to any one of these concerns because they all grow out of self-centered living. God-centered living is focused on God—on knowing His desires, acquiring His riches and gaining His approval.
People who are God-centered have an intimate relationship with God. They experience freedom because His truth has set them free. They are free from the bondage of perfectionism, insecurity and busyness. They know that Christians aren’t perfect—just forgiven, and they believe that God is always ready to forgive them and to lift them up when their hearts are truly repentant.
In order to please God we must remember that in our Christian walk, the important thing is not how many times we fall, but how many times we get up again and press on in God’s abundant grace.
(See below for more articles related to this subject.)
Nancy McGuirk - Bible commentator, small group facilitator, and intercessor - is the founder and director of the Women's Community Bible Study International. Nancy ministers to thousands of people each week in person and through a video and audio tape ministry. The focus of her work is evangelism, discipleship and intercessory prayer. For more articles by Nancy McGuirk, go to her website at Women's Community Bible Study, a Christianity.com ministry partner.
