Mike Novotny - GOD Is Here! Even If You Struggle
There are three words that God used to change my life. Three words so powerful that I wrote a whole book about it, called "3 Words That Will Change Your Life". If you want to get a copy of the book, you can jump over to timeofgrace.org/3Words But for this week I hope you enjoy this series. A couple years ago, I unpacked exactly what those three words were and how they can change your life just like they changed mine. I hope you enjoy this week. God bless you. And we'll talk to you soon. I still can remember her heart-breaking words. A woman from my church confessed, "Pastor Mike, I feel like God is way up here and I'm way down here. And I'm reaching up. I'm trying to get to Him but I'm never good enough". And it was heart-breaking to hear that. Like, she was trying. She was coming to church. She was praying. She was confessing her sins. But she struggled so much with so many things. She always felt like she fell so far short of God's approval, God's love, of God actually being here with us.
This week I've been telling you about this sentence that can transform your heart. "GOD, a big glorious GOD is right here". But maybe some of you feel like that woman did. You feel like God is not here. Like God is there with "those" people who have better lives than you do. Who improve faster than you do. Who change and get past their sins instead of sitting in them day after day and year after year. Maybe part of that belief is logical. The Bible does say in Isaiah 59, "Your sins have separated you from God". That's what sin does in relationships between people and, with God, when we sin, we put this wedge and we drive people apart from each other.
And so maybe you think about your sins and you wonder if, because of them, God is separate and God is not here. Maybe it's that one sin you just can't stop thinking about in your past. The thing that you did. The abortion that you had. The one that you paid for. The addiction that you fell into. The thing that landed you in jail. The sexist jokes that you told. The things that you said about people of other races. The assumptions you jumped to so quickly. You pause, and you know more now and, you become so ashamed of it that you think, God must be so disgusted, so distant from me. Or maybe it's something you're right in the middle of. You just can't get past that controlling behavior.
That when things get heated and emotional, you always have to get the last word. Why you keep score, why you can't love people who are not that loving in return. Why you worry about finances day after day, even though you know the promises of God. And you put all of it together, the past and the present, and you start to question that beautiful sentence: Is God actually here? Well, if you wrestle with that, if something in your heart tells you that God is distant, he's not here with a person like you, I want to read some words from Jesus' friend, Peter.
In 1 Peter, chapter 3, he writes these incredible words. He says, That one time on the cross. When righteous Jesus suffered for unrighteous people like us, he did it to bring you to God. So there would be no distance. So that every sin would be removed. So there would be no barrier pushing you and God apart. So, I want to tell you this with the authority of the word of God. Whatever you've done, however much you've struggled, what Jesus did was enough. Enough that you can believe that God is not just here to be disappointed, to shake his head and to shake his finger. Instead, God is here as a loving father with compassion in His eyes. The God who you delights in you. So, don't believe the lie. Don't let the devil convince you. Instead, believe that what Jesus did is true for you. That because of Jesus, GOD is here. Would you pray with me?
Dear Jesus, we pray against the devil today. He is the father of lies. He can't undo what you did at the cross. So he wants to make us think that it's not true for us. And so we pray today, God, a prayer of faith. We believe what You say, that you love the whole world. That you sent Jesus. That you loved every single person. That you didn't forgive just some sins. But Jesus said, "It is finished" on the cross. God, Your presence is the key to peace and happiness and joy that can't be touched. Don't let us be deceived to think that your presence is for other people but not for us. Help us to believe that amazing promise that you, a compassionate God, are right here with us. We pray it all in Jesus' name and for Jesus' sake. Amen.