180 Degrees

What this verse means to me is that I am valued by God. He loves me with an ever lasting love.
I have been listening to Back to the Bible online and have found so much comfort from it. Especially with the broadcasts that I have heard. I have begun taking notes.
The question I have is do we need to have a plan of where we read or do we open up the Bible anywhere and just read a few verses. Like today I got up early and read in Isaiah 49 about the servant who will go before Jesus. Hope you can help me with this question. I appreciate it so much. Blessings,Jeanie K.

Just finished listening to 'For Who Am I". It goes right along with todays message. Without Jesus' gift of salvation I am nothing but a pile of sin, a slave to satan. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. By the gift of His Holy Spirit living in us we are one with Christ. satan no longer has control over our lives. God is with us always; guiding, directing, loving us. He bears our pain, our suffering and rejoices with us when we are rejoicing. God is my perfect, loving Father. I am His child whom He loves beyond anything I can measure.

This truth of being God's child means so much to me, personally.

Through adoption, death, and remarriage, my family is a mixed bag, by the standards. To them I have step-siblings, half-siblings, and a step-mother. Blood may be thicker than water, but love is thicker than blood. We don't operate with those prefixes in our family. I have brothers, sisters, and a mother, end of story.

The same principle is true with God's love for His children. God has no step-children. He has no half-children. We are His sons and daughters, with all of the rights and privileges that come with that standing, end of story. What a wonderful truth!

First the status change we see in verse 7 is that we are on the way to heaven instead of Hell where was going. Personally, I know I have a personal one on one relationship with my Father through his Holy Comforter who was sent to abide in my heart. Now and forever I have the insurance package of a Heavenly Father rather a father of lies. My first time on here to comment from Alabama. God Bless.

For me adoption and slave are negitive words. I was adopted and not wanted or loved. So being adopted by God has really bothered me. As for slave, if you read history and how slaves were treated it is not a nice picture. As I have gotten older in this life I am starting to understand that God is different than man and that God's love is much different, it's not for tax perposes. I think that the only way I am able to accept this truth about being adopted by God is telling Him how my stepfather treated me and how it really hurts. I am starting to think He understands but I still struggle with this.

Jeanie,

The important thing is that you are taking in God's Word. However, in my own experience, I typically get much more out of my time with God and His Word when I have some sort of direction ahead of time. That plan can take a number of shapes and I do believe it's important to find something that resonates with you and the way you like to learn. That way you'll want to stick with it and you'll likely learn more. Your plan might be selecting a particular Book of the Bible and reading through it a few passages each day, it could be a devotional of some sort (book or online), it could be a set reading plan (we have a number of those available at www.backtothebible.org and I really like the chronological plan). You're already part of Powered by 4, and if you read along with me each day that can be your plan as well. And, as you know, I always include an application question each day. That's important because reading God's Word is really just step one. We also need to reflect on or consider what we read and then we need to apply it.

Thanks for being part of P4, Jeanie. I hope this is helpful. Tami W.