God Is There
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in [the grave], behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:7-10 )

God is there, wherever you are. There is nowhere you could go where God would not be with you. Whether you are in a foreign country, on a boat in the middle of the sea, or in an empty old house all alone – God is there.

Maybe you feel lonely or upset and need comfort. God is there. No matter where you are, God is always with you – to guide you, to comfort you, to befriend you. He cares for you. He will lead you and hold you and carry you through difficult situations.

Maybe you are trying to hide from God. Are you committing secret sins that you think no one knows about? God is there. He sees everything you do. He even understands your thoughts. You could never get yourself out of God’s presence, even if you wanted to. God’s eyes are always upon you.

You cannot see God with your eyes, but He is there – guiding, protecting, keeping you, and watching everything you do. What a comfort to think that, even if you were to flee (run away) to the farthest part of the world, God is there.

God is always there, no matter where I go.

My Response:
» Am I forgetting that God is with me today?
» Are there ways I can show that I believe God is there, wherever I might be?

“Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.” (Psalm 116:5)

When God flooded the whole wide world, He was being fair.

When God told Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son Isaac, He was being fair.

When God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross, He was being fair.

In the Hebrew language, another word for “fair” is righteous – a word used often to describe God. Psalm 11:7 begins, “For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness.”

Truth is, God is fair. God is always fair.

When your life is good, God is fair. When you feel sad, God is fair. When you make your parents happy, God is fair. When you fail a test, God is still fair. He knows about your problems even before you pray. God allows you to face your hard times, as well as your good times – not because God is unfair or unloving – but because He is righteous. Everything God does is right, because it is God Who does it.

Eight years ago, a man named Steve was killed in a car accident. The accident happened on Steve's first wedding anniversary. Steve had a wife. He had parents. He had a little sister. When he was killed so unexpectedly, Steve left behind many family and friends who were very sad and wondering if God was really being fair!

Why does God allow bad things to happen? Why does it often seem like God Himself causes tragic things to happen? Isn't God a loving God? Isn't God an all-powerful God? Couldn't He make it so only happy things happen? Couldn't He take away all the bad things? Maybe you have asked that same question about something hard in your life.

The answer is simple, even if it is not simple to understand or simple to get used to. The answer is this: God allows bad things to happen for the same reason He allows good things to happen to us – for His great glory and for our greatest good. We do not deserve good and wonderful lives, but God in His lovingkindness can look ahead and see what is ultimately best for us, and He works those things out, for His own glory and for our own good. He never makes mistakes, because He is God. God wants what is best for our lives – and that is fair.

God cannot be unfair because God cannot be wrong.

My Response:
» Am I having a hard time accepting something that God is doing in my life right now?
» How can I change my heart responses and my words and actions to show that I am trusting a perfect God Who never makes mistakes?

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Description of GodGod Blessed Forever
Romans 9:5 "Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen."

 Question & AnswerDoes God give us these commandments to keep us from fun and pleasure?
No. Deu 6:24 -- And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

 BIG Christian WordDoctrine – (DOK-trin)

A "doctrine" is something that is taught about a particular topic. It is a teaching. Some examples of Bible doctrines are the teachings of God's perfect attributes; the Trinity; Creationism; Scripture's inspiration; humankind's sinfulness; and Jesus Christ's ability to be the perfect Prophet, Priest, and King. Every biblical doctrine is important because God's Word is how He teaches us about Himself – Who He is, what He is doing, and what He expects of us. 2 Timothy 2:15 – "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

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God Is Listening
“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.” (Isaiah 59:1)

Imagine spending an entire day with a tape recorder strapped to your back so everything you said could be recorded. If you argued with your mom, it would be on the tape. If you lied, your lie would be recorded on there, too. If you complained, those words would also become part of the tape.

If there really were a tape recorder with you all day, would you think twice before speaking?

Well, guess what! You are heard by something (Someone!) far more powerful than any tape recorder. God hears everything you say – which can be a good thing, or a scary thing.

When you are upset or frightened, and you call out for help, God hears you. Psalm 34:17 says, “The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” You can be sure that God will always hear you and take care of you. Even above the noise of a crowd, or even when you are alone, or even when you "call out" silently, your voice can be heard by God.

You can also be sure that God hears you when you sin. Every lie, every mean thing, every insult you say is heard by the God of Heaven. God is omniscient – which means that God knows everything. That is how great our God is! Nothing is hidden from Him.

What would it be like to spend a day with a tape recorder on your back? You may never know. (Let's hope you never know!) But you can know for sure that you do have a God who is listening – so be careful what you say!

God hears more than just our prayers – He hears everything.

My Response:
» Do I think carefully before I speak?
» How can I show with my words that I believe God is omniscient (knows everything) and that He also hears everything?

God Has Done Wonders
"And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you." (Joshua 3:5)

Did you know that there are said to have been "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World"? They were: The Great Pyramid of Giza (in Egypt), the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (in Iraq), the Temple of Artemis (in Turkey), the Statue of Zeus at Olympia (in Greece), the Mausoleum of Maussollos (in Turkey), Colossus of Rhodes (in Greece), and the Lighthouse of Alexandria (in Egypt). The only one of these wonders that has not yet been destroyed (by earthquakes or fires) is the Great Pyramid in Egypt. If you wanted to see one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, you would have to go all the way to the continent of Africa!

There are also Seven Wonders of the Natural World, and Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Human beings like to make lists of unique, amazing things around them. All of these "wonders" are called "wonders" because they are unusual and hard to believe. It is difficult for us to imagine the amount of work and planning that must have gone into making a monument as large and long-standing as the Great Pyramid of Giza. To stand in front of it, or to reach out and touch it with our hands – this structure that was built over 2000 years before Christ was born! That would be something very special. We would probably look up in wonder and awe at the Great Pyramid.

When the LORD explained to Joshua how He was planning to bring the children of Israel over the Jordan River and how He planned to help them conquer the wicked people living on the land there, Joshua understood that the LORD was going to fight for them and do great miracles for them. He was right. God was preparing to do great wonders on behalf of this group of people. They were not a large nation (in comparison to the nations they were fighting, their armies were small). They were not trained soldiers. And there were many things they could not do on their own – like crossing rushing rivers without drowning or losing all their belongings.

God told Joshua to lead the people across the Jordan River, and He told him how to do it. The evening before the crossing, Joshua got up in front of all the people. He told them they needed to sanctify themselves (consecrate, purify, prepare themselves spiritually), because the LORD was going to do great wonders for them!

How would you have felt if you were an Israelite the next day? What if you waited in a crowd and watched the priests set their feet in the river's current? What if you were able to see the waters start to pile up into a giant heap? What would it have felt like to walk across the riverbed on dry ground while God Himself – the same God Who created the universe and you yourself – held back the entire river? Surely you would agree with your leader Joshua: The LORD was doing wonders for you.

One reason the Old Testament tells us stories like this one is to remind us that the God Who created the world, and the God of the Israelites, and the God of all the prophets and poets and kings – He is the same God we have today. The God of the Bible is a wonder-working God. His wonders are more numerous and more marvelous than anything ever thought of or created by mankind. What a good and great Creator-Redeemer we have!

The God of the Bible is a wonder-working God.

My Response:
» Do I believe the stories I read in the Bible about God's greatness and goodness?
» Do I prepare myself spiritually when I am praying for the LORD to do great works?
» How can I magnify the goodness and greatness of my God in front of other people?

The LORD Is a Present Help
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." (Psalm 46:1)

Do you know what a "first responder" is? There are teams of men and women who are trained to be able to come help in an emergency situation. They are supposed to be always ready in case an emergency happens nearby them. They practice, and they stay alert so that they can be the first people on the scene if there is a car accident or another kind of crisis where somebody might be seriously hurt. First responders are trained to give medical help to people right after an accident, so that they are taken care of until they can be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

We can be very thankful for first responders. Paramedics, firefighters, EMTs, and all kinds of people are trained to act in an emergency, when people need help most desperately. If you call 9-1-1, someone will respond to your call for help. They will come right away. They will come as soon as they possibly can. And they will come faster than any other help can get there.

But you know what? They are not already there. Do you realize that God is always already there? The Bible says He is "our refuge and strength," a "very present help" when we are in times of trouble. To be a "present help" is to be right there already. Even the fastest first responders cannot reach you in an emergency faster than God can. We don't even have to dial 9-1-1 in order to cry out to God in an emergency. He is already there, because He is always present with us.

What a comfort it is to know that God is always with us! Even when we have to wait for other people to come help, or if we just feel alone and need someone with us – God is already there. Are you living like you believe that God is a "very present help in trouble"?

Because He is always with us, God is already there when we need Him.

My Response:
» Do I feel worried or lonely when my friends and family are not around me?
» Do I forget that I can trust God to be there for me when I need Him?
» How can I show in my own "first responses" that I am trusting the LORD more than anyone or anything else?

The LORD's Word Is Tried and True
“As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God. The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.” (Psalm 18:30-31,46)

Have you ever gone to the store with your parents and seen little tables where the store workers are giving away free samples? If a store is just beginning to sell a special new dipping sauce, for example, they might have a big bowl of chips out, and they might invite anyone to grab a chip and dip it in the sauce. Or maybe a bakery has a new cookie recipe, so they want everyone to know how good their new cookie is going to taste! Everyone is welcome to stop by the table and try a cookie (or at least a bite). If you go to an ice cream shop, and you cannot decide what flavor of ice cream you want, a worker might dip a little spoon into a flavor you aren't sure about, pull out the spoon with a bite of ice cream on it, and hand it to you. Then you can see (taste!) for yourself whether you really like that flavor enough to get a whole scoop of it.

What did the psalmist mean when he wrote that God's Word is "tried"? Does that mean some people have tried it out and decided they liked it? Well, in a way that's true. The Word has been tried, or tested, and proven to be true. It truly is the Word of God. God Himself says so, the Word itself says so, and many people have come to believe by faith that God's Word is what He says it is.

But God's Word does not need the approval of human beings. Even if everyone read the whole Bible through – and even if every human being alive were to decide that the Bible was just another storybook – the Bible would not be any less true, and it would not stop being God's Word. Truth is always true, no matter what people think of it.

"All those that trust in" God do find that He is a buckler (a strong shield) for them. They do "taste and see that the LORD is good." They do come to realize that the Word of the LORD is tried, and that it stands up to any tests. The Word of the LORD is faithful, and that cannot change. Human beings are not always faithful and not always good judges. But God's way is perfect, and His Word is tried and true. Why? Because God Himself is faithful and true. He never changes, and His Word is the same.

God's Word is as faithful as He is.

My Response:
» Do I study the Bible so that I can know truths He wants me to know about Himself?
» Do I take the LORD's Word over what others say?
» How can I show in my daily actions that I believe in the power and trustworthiness of God's Word?

God Is Against the Flesh
"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Romans 8:7-8)

Does your family have a family recipe for salad dressing? Henry's mom had an amazing salad dressing recipe that she made every Sunday afternoon. Henry loved that salad dressing! He did not even like salad if it didn't have his mom's homemade salad dressing on it. He could eat almost anything if that salad dressing was on top!

There was a trick to this salad dressing, though. You had to shake it up before you could pour it out onto your salad! The oil and vinegar in the salad dressing would separate (come apart) if you left the bottle sitting too long on the tabletop. Unless you shook the bottle to mix the oil and vinegar together again, they would stay in two separate parts. If you were to pour the dressing out without mixing it up first, it would come out tasting really gross.

The way that oil and vinegar naturally separate is kind of a picture of the way spiritual things and fleshly things are separate from one another. What is the "flesh"? Is it your skin or your organs? No. When we talk about the "flesh" like it is talked about in the Bible, we are describing sinful human nature. The flesh is what makes us want to give in to sinful temptations. It is a part of every human being, because we are all born with a sinful nature. As we keep turning away from our sins and keep turning toward God, we are walking more and more in the Spirit, and that means we will not do what the flesh tempts us to do.

To be at "enmity" with God means to be at odds with Him, to be against Him, to be His enemy. God and the flesh are enemies! They are opposites, like light and dark. Sinful nature is not something that can be nearby God. God is holy, so He cannot stand sin.

Because we are sinners, and because God is holy, we are born as natural enemies of God. He loves us but cannot stand sin. So Jesus Christ came, took on the likeness of  fleshly nature, and yet He never sinned! That is why Jesus is so wonderful: He is our Bridge back to God! Because Jesus was 100% God AND 100% human, He is the only One Who can change us so that we do not have to be the enemies of God.

Because God is holy, He is the natural Enemy of our sinful nature.

My Response:
» Do I walk in the temptations of the flesh, or do I turn away from them to follow God?
» Am I trusting in Jesus to be the Bridge between me and God?
» Am I choosing to walk in the Spirit like Jesus did when He faced temptations as a human being?

God Gives Mercy Because God Is God
"And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: For the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath. Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token: And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death." (Joshua 2:11-13)

Rahab was a sinner saved by God's grace. She had been a godless woman living in a godless city, Jericho. One day, two spies from the children of Israel came to see Rahab's city, because their leader Joshua had told them to. God was going to help the children of Israel fight and take over the whole city of Jericho.

Of all the houses the spies could have visited, they visited Rahab's. Rahab had a bad reputation. She had done many bad things, and she was a low woman in her city. But Rahab took the spies in and protected them from the leaders of Jericho who came searching for them. She helped the spies, showing them kindness, and gave them guidance for how to escape. Do you know why?

All the people of Jericho had heard about the children of Israel and what their God had done for them. They had heard about how God opened up a dry path through the Red Sea so the Israelites could cross in safety, and then how the Egyptian army was drowned when they followed them and God brought down the waters on them. The people of Jericho had also heard about how God fought with the Israelites. And the people of Jericho were scared that they would be next.

Was Rahab like the rest of her people? Was she scared of the children of Israel and their God? Yes! So why did she show kindness to Israelite spies? Rahab was not just scared of God. She believed in Him. She believed that the God of the Israelites was the one true God, everywhere and over all.

Rahab believed God, and she feared Him. But in spite of her fear, she had the faith to ask for goodness and mercy and deliverance from death. Based on what she knew of the Israelites' God, based on all that He had already done, she asked for mercy for herself and her family. The Israelite spies agreed. They promised that when they came to take over Jericho, they would protect anyone who was in her house.

Even though Rahab knew she was a sinner who did not deserve mercy, she asked for help from the only ones who could help her. She was not asking for mercy based on all the things that she had already done. How could she? But she knew enough about God and all the things He had done. She could ask for mercy, in spite of herself and in spite of her fear, because she trusted that He was the kind of God Who shows mercy to people who turn to Him.

God is the kind of God Who shows mercy to undeserving people who call upon Him for help.

My Response:
» Am I trusting in the God of the Bible, or in myself?
» On what basis can I hope to have mercy from God – based on my own good deeds? based on how well I pray?
» How can I show by my actions that my faith is placed in the one true God?