Part 7- Our Roof, God's Covering Bible Study

Abiding in God’s love leads to joy.

How does God demonstrate His Hesed towards us? (Romans 5:8, Deut. 20:1-4, Psalm 36:7)

We have come to the last key to building home, which is to abide in God’s love.

What does the word abide mean?

In Part 7, we used the analogy of an older couple. How do they actively abide in each other’s love?

When we abide/remain in God’s love, we can find hope and perseverance through each of the seasons of life.  Read John 15:1-11. What is the purpose of abiding in God’s love? (look at vs 4, 7, 8, and 11)

Sometimes, before getting to the how, it is helpful to know the why. The purpose of abiding in God is that we will bear the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience). The second reason is that our prayers are answered when prayed in accordance with his will. Third, God will be glorified, and fourth, our joy will be made complete.

Define joy. What is the difference between joy and happiness?

In the Abide meditation, Journey to Joy, Tyler Boss describes this type of joy, “We are filled with abundant and enduring joy when we are in the presence of God. It is not a joy that is dependent on what you own or who you know. In God’s presence, you can experience the abundant joy that moved David to dancing, that filled Mary’s heart as she rejoiced in God her savior, that gave strength for Paul and Silas to sing hymns in prison, and that filled the disciples when they saw the risen Christ.”

Have you ever experienced God’s joy? Describe that experience.  If you haven’t, how do you think experiencing the fruit of the spirit of joy would help you persevere?

Read Nehemiah 8:10. How does joy bring strength?

We understand that through abiding in God, we can be purposeful, strengthened, and filled with an overflowing joy. Now we get to the how. How do we abide in God? Reread John 15:1-11. In verses 7 and 10, give two ways that describe how we can abide in God’s love.

Thinking and memorizing God’s word, and keeping My commandments are two ways we can abide in his love. Another way to think about this is spending time talking to Him and partnering with Him to do the tasks He has planned for us. (Think of the old couple abiding).

We need to take a tangent to discuss an important issue in this passage. If we don’t keep God’s word in our hearts completely or follow God’s commandments perfectly, will we be thrown out and burned (vs 6)? We cannot take passages like this out of context of the whole Bible, and think we can lose our salvation. (Read John 3:16,36, John 5:24, John 10:28-29). This is a topic for a different day, but essentially the branches are like dead works of a Christian that will be thrown in the fire and burned up (1 Cor 3) or the branch is a person who was never a Christian to begin with, like Judas, who followed Jesus and betrayed him. This passage is not saying that we need to follow God’s commandments perfectly to be saved.

Read 1 John 5:2-3. What do we do when we love God? Are his commandments burdensome?

Read Matt 11:28-30. Reflect on what it means to follow God’s commands in the way that Jesus intends us to follow them.

In summary, we abide in Christ when we hide his word in our hearts and obey his commands. The blessing of abiding in his love is purpose, abundant joy, and strength despite life’s circumstances. When we abide in God’s love, He turns our mourning into dancing. In His love and grace, He removes our mourning clothes and clothes us with joy. (Psalm 30:11)

What are the commandments that God wants us to obey? (Read Matthew 22:36-40)

Now that we have built our home with God, we can live in purposeful joy as we live our lives in freedom following his commands. This joyful purpose can be summed up in two commandments: loving God with all our hearts and loving our neighbor as ourselves.

We are not left to do this on our own strength. God is dwelling in the house that we have partnered with him to build. Through the Holy Spirit, it is God who guides, God who empowers to complete the task, and God who will complete the work in us. (Phil 1:6) In the next blog post, we will discuss how to execute the call to abide in God’s love by loving God and loving others.