[1]

8 studies

VIEWINGThe Wheel provides someone with categories for understanding the complexity of the Christian life in a simple format.

EVALUATINGIt acts as a tool to analyze the various parts of a Christian’s life and a guide for prayer and accountability purposes.

DEVELOPINGA grid used to impress the Christian faith adn gospel to another in an illustrative and systematic way.

Lens for viewing, evaluating, and developing the Christian life

WHE

EL O

F LIFE

[2]

© 2012 Andrew Knight and Campus Outreach

Wheel Diagram design by Andrew Knight

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.

All rights reserved.

All logos, icons, and images courtesy of Mysitemyway Design Team.

[3]

# 1 CHRIST

# 2 GOSPEL

# 3 WORD

# 4 PRAYER

# 5 COMMUNITY

# 6 EVANGELISM

# 7 DISCIPLESHIP

# 8 MERCY MINISTRY

APPENDICES

What we think about God is the most important thing about us because it determines what we think about everything else. Therefore, it really matters what we think.

Each study contains a Questions section, Refelecting

section, and an Application section

CONTENTS

The gospel saves us from self, to God, and for others. We are liberated from self-absorption to enjoy God as the gospel’s supreme gift to us. Therefore, with our problems solved, we involve ourselves in the lives of others.

We believe the Bible not because it sounds good or just that its convincing, but because its true. Its truth is the greatest testimony to its goodness.

Prayer is our daily communication with God. Its a process of asking, confessing, thanking, and praising. What keep us from praying more? Most often we are too okay with the status quo. If we would be a little more disatisfied then we would pray more often.

Everyone is kind of like a chameleon. We change and adjust according to our surroundings. If that’s the case then it matters who we spend time around, because chances are we will end up a lot like them. You become who you are around.

How will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

A process by which a believer with a life worth emulating invests himself in another over a period of time with the hopes that they would continue this practice into another third spiritual generation.

Looking to meet felt and urgent needs all around us. It is providing for someone physically in hopes that their spiritual need will be satisfied in Christ either directly or indirectly.

[4]

Questioning, Reflecting, ApplyingThis study will filter the subject of Christ through each of these categories.

CHRISTStudy 1 “Life begins by asking,

“Who is God?” Everything emanates from this hub-question. Therefore, what we think about God determines what we believe

about everything else.”

WHAT WE THINK ABOUT GOD IS...the most important thing about us because it determines what we think about everything else. Therefore, it really matters what we think.

This study will take a look at the nature of God. It will give you a glimpse of who God is in his trinitarian person (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit). It will begin by asking you questions about your personal understanding of God and then give you a list of exercises that will help you gain a biblical understanding of God through study and reflection. After giving you an overview of who God is in each distinct person: Father, Son, Holy Spirit, the study will draw out a unique paradox about the nature of God found in his Son Jesus Christ. The study will end by looking at a study on the parables which will give us a

better understanding of who our God is and what he wants. We will look to get a grasp of our God (to know him and understand him) through his Son Jesus Christ because of John’s reference to him in John 1:18 (which says of Jesus) “the only God, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” We look to Jesus to know and learn of our God. The author of Hebrews also reinforces the theme, ‘get to know God by knowing Jesus:’ “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son...” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

It starts with your hub. What is

at the center of your wheel? What does

your life revolve around?

[5]

VIEWING: GODQUESTIONSAuthor A.W. Tozer says, “What we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Why? Well, for one thing, our view of God determines our outlook on most every other subject. For instance, your “God-view” will determine how you respond to a natural disaster, a gift, a divorce, a friendship, or even death. Is God loving, wrathful, just, or sovereign? Could he have prevented/created these things? Or are these events an accident/self-willed?

Do you/why or why don’t you believe in God?

In your opinion, “Who is God?” How did you arrive at this view?

What are other common notions about who God is?

REFLECTIONS I Every view of God finds its origin in some authoritative source. Christianity finds its knowledge of God in the Bible.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2

Timothy 3:16-17).

So, if the Bible is God’s revelation about himself. What does it say about him? Write down a few things that you think the Bible says about Him. List at least 2 questions/problems/reservations you have about the nature of God?

1. _________________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________________

[6]

REFLECTIONS II One learns about God by learning about his personality, traits, and characteristics. Below you will see a list of attributes that the Bible ascribes to God. Match them with the appropriate words and verses below.

Good Omniscient ImmutableGracious/Merciful Omnipotent TrueHoly Omnipresent TriuneFaithful Glorious TranscendentSovereign Eternal Intimate

#1. ________________ = Everywhere

“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in

the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:7-10)

#2. _______________ = Desirable

“You are good and do good…” (Psalm 119:68)

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:11)?

#3. _______________ = Committed

And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6)

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape that

you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

#4. _______________ = Unchanging

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from God above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17).

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

#5. _______________ = Forgiving

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8).

[7]

#6. _______________ = Uncomprehendable

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your waysand my thoughts than

your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8, 9).

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has

been his counselor” (Romans 11:33, 34)?

#7. _______________ = All-knowing

“Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge,and showed him the way of understanding” (Isaiah 40:13)?

“...for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (I John 3:20b).

#8. _______________ = Right; Real

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good” (Numbers 23:19)?

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)

#9. _______________ = Absolute Rule

“The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103:19).

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matthew 28:18)

#10. _______________ = Timeless

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13)

“Before the mountains were born, or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God” (Psalm 90:2).

[8]

#11. _______________ = 1 God, 3 Persons; Relational

“according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood” (1 Peter 1:2).

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”(John 1:1).

#12. _______________ = Beautiful

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

#13. _______________ = All-Powerful

“Our God is in the heavens and does whatever He pleases” (Psalm 115:3).

#14. _______________ = Set-apart; other

“To whom then will you compare Me, that I should be like him? Says the Holy One” (Isaiah 40:25).

“To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with Him” (Isaiah 40:18)?

#15. _______________ = Closeness

“Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of

men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-8).

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Both…Can God be all these character attributes at once? Are there contradictions in his character? How would you diagram how God’s love, justice, wrath, holiness… fit into his being. Come up with a visual that illustrates this for a visual learner.

[9]

REFLECTIONS IIIRead the following names of God and use the context of the verse to determine its meaning and write it beside each name. Remember, what is the significance behind each name? How are God’s names different from our names? Under each name list a specific way in which God has fulfilled this role in your life. Helpful Link: http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/name_god.html#link8

#1 YAHWEH (Exodus 3, John 8:58) ____________________________________________

#2 YAHWEH NISSI (Exodus 17:15) ____________________________________________

#3 YAHWEH TSIDKENU (Jeremiah 23:6) _______________________________________

#4 YAHWEH MEKADESH (Exodus 31:13) ______________________________________

#5 YAHWEH JIREH (Genesis 22:14) ___________________________________________

#6 YAHWEH ROPHE (Exodus 15:26) __________________________________________

#7 YAHWEH SHALOAM (Judges 6:24) _________________________________________

#8 YAHWEH SABBAOTH (1 Samuel 1:3) _______________________________________

#9 YAHWEH SHAMMAH (Ezekiel 48:35) _______________________________________

#10 YESHUA _______________________________________________________________

Everyone of God’s names have to do with his relationship to humanity except one. Which one is it and why?

What does Jesus say about God the Father…Jesus is the clearest message on the being of God that we have. He is the exact representation of his nature (Heb. 1:3), the fullness of his entire deity in bodily form (Col. 2:9), and He is God’s word to us in the flesh (John 1:14). What do we learn about God through the words of Jesus?

Matthew 5:48 John 6:44

Matthew 7:11 John 17:6, 7, 10

John 10:29 Matthew 9:13

Luke 12:32 John 9:3

John 6:40 John 8:54

[10]

REFLECTIONS IVTwo attributes of God that seem contradictory, but nevertheless true are his Transcendence and Immanence. In other words, he is Ultimate & Intimate. This is the Paradox of God. Transcendence—God is radically different than us; other; incomprehensibleImmanence—God is close and intimately involved with his creation; knowable

Find other verses that describe

these attributes of God

The Person of GodGod is both Ultimate and Intimate at the same time? How is this? In what ways does God’s Son Jesus Christ display the Ultimacy and Intimacy of God?

Write “Ultimacy” or “Intimacy” next to each verse, describing what it most accurately reflects. Which ones include both?

Matthew 28:18-20 John 16:33

John 15:4 Colossians 2:9

John 14:3 Colossians 1:15-18

Hebrews 1:1, 2 2 Corinthians 8:9 Philippians 2:6-8 Luke 19:10

Philippians 2:9, 10 Matthew 11:28-30

John 15:58 Mark 14:62

Apply the Gospel = the story of Christ and the CrossIn what ways does the Gospel show God’s Transcendence/Otherness?

In what ways does the Gospel show forth God’s Immanence (closeness to us)

!Transcendent

(ultimate) Isaiah 55:8, 9 Isaiah 46:9… !

!Immanent (Intimate)

John 1:14 John 3:16… !

!Paradox—something!that!is!seemingly!contradictory,!but!still!remains!true.!

How!does!Psalm+136+show!this!dichotomy?!

[11]

REFLECTIONS VThe deity of Christ is one of the most disputed topics among religious skeptics. Why would religious skeptics attack the deity of Christ? If they can prove that Christ was in fact, not God, then what cannot possibly be true?

Read John chapter 1, verses 1-18. What is the main point of these verses? Why must John persuade his audience in this direction at the beginning of his gospel? HINT: read his thesis statement (John 20:30, 31). Why does John, unlike Matthew not include a family genealogy for Jesus?

Read the verses below and write what is unattainable if Jesus is not God:√ John 1:14; 14:7√ Hebrews 1:3√ Colossians 1:19, 20√ 1 Cor. 15:17√ Mark 2:5-12√ John 10:29-30√ John 14:11

John 5:30-47Make a list of all of the witnesses of the Deity of Christ = Jesus is God. Why is Jesus so intent on listing these witnesses? “Who” and “What” bears witness to his Deity. There are 7 of them:

1. __________________________ 2. __________________________3. __________________________4. __________________________5. __________________________6. __________________________7. __________________________

If you were forced to make a Biblical defense for the divinity of Jesus Christ, what verses would you call to mind?

[12]

APPLICATIONJesus answered many questions about Himself and the nature of God by communicating through short stories using natural, real world examples called Parables. A Parable is a story, illustration, or analogy that is used to communicate one main spiritual truth usually by means of a single point of comparison.

Jesus often gave these parables as responses to questions asked of him. Luke chapter 15 gives us a glimpse of truth Jesus taught about himself and the nature of God.

Answer the questions below on the parable of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Son:

Background

1. Who is gathering to hear Jesus? Who became upset with this?

2. What do the frustrated assume about the nature of God & Jesus Christ?

Luke 15

3. How did Jesus respond to their statement?

4. In each parable, who is the God figure represented as? Lost Sheep—

Lost Coin—

Lost Son—

5. What three characteristics do we learn about the God figure in each parable?a. ____________________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________________

How has your view of God changed as a result of this study?

[13]

Why we must think rightly about God? A. W. Tozer (taken from the book The Knowledge of the Holy (Chapter 1).Reprinted by permission HarperCollins Publishers (in process)

O Lord God Almighty, not the God of the philosophers and the wise but the God of the prophets and the apostles; and better than all, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, may I express Thee unblamed?        They that know Thee not may call upon Thee as other than Thou art, and so worship not Thee but a creature of their own fancy; therefore enlighten our minds that we may know Thee as Thou art, so that we may perfectly love thee and worthily praise Thee.        In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.        The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshipper entertains high or low thoughts of God.        For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most

revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God.      Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes into your mind when you think about God?” We might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow.       Without doubt, the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the thought of God, and the weightiest word in any language is its word for God. Thought and speech are God’s gifts to creatures made in His image; these are intimately associated with Him and impossible apart from Him. It is highly significant that the first word was the Word: “And the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). We may speak because God spoke. In Him word and idea are indivisible.       That our idea of God correspond as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him. Our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are

we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.   A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect thoughts about God. It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity.1 All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him. The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems, for he sees at once that these have to do with matters which at the most cannot concern him for very long; but even if the multiple burdens of time may be lifted from him with a weight more crushing than all the woes of the world piled one upon another. That mighty burden is his obligation to God. It includes an instant and lifelong duty to love God with every power of mind and soul, to obey Him perfectly, and to worship Him acceptably. And when the man’s laboring conscience tells him that he has done none of these things, but has from childhood been guilty of foul revolt against the Majesty

[14]

The gospel can lift this destroying burden from the mind, give beauty for ashes, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and no burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.   Among the sins to watch the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is — in itself a monstrous sin — and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness.   Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.   A god begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart will quite naturally be no true God. “Thou thoughtest,” said the Lord to the wicked man in the psalm, “that I was altogether such an one as thyself.2” Surely this must be a serious affront to the Most High God before whom cherubim and seraphim continually do cry, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbath.”  Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous

notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place. “When they knew God,” wrote Paul, “they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Then followed the worship of idols fashioned after the likeness of men and birds and beasts and creeping things. But this series of degrading acts began in the mind. Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true.        Perverted notions about God soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long career of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church is a lofty concept of God that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church confirms it.   So necessary to the Church is a lofty concept of God that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church with her

worship and her moral standards declines along when it surrenders its high opinion of God.        Before the Christian Church goes into eclipse anywhere there must first be a corrupting of her simple basic theology. She simply gets a wrong answer to the question, “What is God like?” And goes on from there. Though she may continue to cling to a sound nominal creed, her practical working creed has become false. The masses of her adherents came to believe that God is different from what He actually is; and that is heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind.   The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worth of Him — and of her. In all her prayers and labors this should have first place. We do the greatest service to the next generation of Christians by passing on to them undimmed and undiminished that noble concept of God which we received from our Hebrew and Christian fathers of generations past. This will prove of greater value to them than anything that art or science can devise.  

1. Where does Tozer say the source of idolatry lies? Why? What verse does Paul write that backs this point up?

2. What causes a lot doctrinal error and even failures in Christian morality?

3. What quotation influenced you the most and why?

4. What problems can arise for a person who view God wrongly?

[15]

View Finder: God-view determines World-view

One of the first steps a student must take is to investigate the nature of God. All other beliefs are contingent upon it. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance. From the character of the Christian God flows everything. Do you view him as He is? (Andrew Knight)

By Jessica Cline (used by permission)

Tracey Meeks had a choice: Either she could believe God to be sovereign, good and loving—or not.

Four years into her marriage, Tracey's husband, Dave, was diagnosed with cancer. "Going through this stripped me of everything I thought I knew about God," says Tracey. "In some ways I had to start over with a lot of things. How do I pray? Do I pray 'Thy will be done'? Do I pray for healing?"

For three and a half years Dave fought the cancer, which slowly robbed him of his ability to communicate and think. It eventually took his life.

The newly single mother of two was left to wrestle with the unanswered questions, the pain and that choice—should she change her view of God?

Many Christians can list words that describe God: He is merciful, powerful, righteous, holy and just. But when life is tough, do we still describe God in the same ways?

Like Tracey, we have a choice to view God correctly or not. In the midst of her incredibly real pain and sorrow, Tracey worked hard to have a correct view of Him and to

align her life with that view. This is essential for us to do as well. But why is our view of God so important?

"Everything about our lives—our attitudes, motives, desires, actions, and even our words—is influenced by our view of God," wrote Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, in God: Discover His Character. Simply put, our view of God directly influences what career we pursue, who we choose to marry or how we raise our children—the big decisions of life. Our desire to make the right choice leads us to choose based on who we understand God to be. But our view of God also influences everything else—our intentions, actions and opinions—even if only subconsciously.

A.W. Tozer, writing in the early 1960s, acknowledged the pervasive importance of an accurate view of God. "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us," he wrote in The Knowledge of the Holy. Because it affects every choice we make and everything we do, he compared a right concept of God to the foundation of a building. "Where it is inadequate or out of plumb," he wrote, "the whole structure must sooner or later collapse." Tozer believed that, little by little, the church had surrendered a once-lofty view of God for a low one.

This isn't a new problem. Even God's chosen people yielded to incorrect views of Him. After the Israelites had been in slavery in Egypt for many years, God led them out of their bondage and through the parted Red Sea. Each morning He provided manna that rained from the sky for them to eat. Yet when they couldn't find water, they doubted God as their provider: "They grumbled against

Moses and said, 'Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?'" (Exodus 17:3). Time after time God provided, but the Israelites failed to trust His goodness and provision.This misconception can be dangerous because it leads to idolatry, or, in other words, the worship of something false. "The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is," wrote Tozer, "and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness." When we don't view God correctly, we risk worshipping Him not as He truly is, but as whom we've created Him to be. We may not brandish a golden calf like the Israelites, but we quietly build more subtle substitutes.

God wants for you to have a correct view of Him: "Let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me" (Jeremiah 9:24). Here are a few practical suggestions for developing a correct view of God:

Be willing to grow. The first step to change is being open to change. "God is only truly known in the soul as we yield ourselves to Him," wrote pastor and Bible teacher Arthur Pink in The Attributes of God.

Ask God for help. On our own we can't begin to correctly view God. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you view Him correctly and to identify the lies you believe about God's character. "We must learn to measure ourselves, not by our knowledge about God, not by our gifts and responsibilities in the church, but by how we pray and what goes on in our hearts," writes theologian J.I. Packer in Knowing God.

Evaluate your views. "Some people think of [God] as a big bully, a cosmic policeman, or a divine

[16]

Often we don't realize that our views of God are skewed.

To analyze your views, make a three-column list. First write words that come to mind when you think about God. In a second column give an example of how your life reflects each truth. For example, do you say, "God is good" only after something great happens, or after the difficult times too? In a third column match your words to what God says about Himself in Scripture. How do the lists compare?

A word of caution: Pursuing a true view of God—really knowing Him—is not the same as understanding why He does or does not do something. God is very clear that His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9), so we need to fight the temptation to reduce life to cause-and-effect. Good and bad circumstances aren't exclusively to teach us lessons.

Study God's Word. God has given us His Word as the clearest description of who He is. In the Old Testament, God reveals His character—His love, righteousness, wrath, justice and promises. In the New Testament, God reveals Jesus—His character in the flesh.

In the midst of her pain, Tracey Meeks found a clear picture of God's character in Scripture. Each day after Dave's death she would search for a new verse to hold onto. "I had just lost the person on this earth who most adored me and I thought I'd never be adored like that again," says Tracey. "But I knew that God adores me far greater than Dave ever could." God affirmed this by leading her to several verses, including "I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her" (Hosea 2:14) and "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you" (Isaiah 62:5).

Surround yourself with those who strive to have a correct view of God. Tracey and Dave had an older couple who encouraged them and helped them through the difficult times. "They would speak the truth of the Lord to us," says Tracey. "My friend Holly would tell me, 'Hold on to the truth, Tracey. Hold on to the truth.'"

Choosing to hold on to the truth—aligning her thoughts to an accurate view of God—did not change Tracey's circumstances. But it did provide authentic hope in the midst of great despair.

God wants us to know Him. As John says in his Gospel, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent" (John 17:3). We all have a choice—to align our view of God with truth, or not. Our choice influences everything.