the Sacred echo / session 2

Watch session 2 at RightNow Media and answer the following questions.

>Read Jeremiah 31:3. In what ways have you found this to be true? >Do you think God will ever stop echoing “I love you”? Why or why not? >Read Ephesians 2:4-7. In what ways is God’s love mind-boggling? >Read John 13:34-35 and 1 John 2:10. Why is the command to love others so important?

>Read Isaiah 43:13. What particular phrases within this passage pop off the page to you? Why are they so intriguing, interesting, or meaningful? Margaret describes the first passage of Isaiah 43 as a type of spiritual anchor, a scripture that she returns to year after year. >What scripture has been a type of spiritual anchor to you? What scripture is particularly meaningful to you? In the video, Margaret describes a time of living in “overdrive” with busy demands filling every day. Yet God used an unusual experience to get her attention and draw her heart back to His own.

>Has God ever used something unusual to remind you of the importance of your relationship with Him?

Margaret says, “When God says “I love you” it’s an invitation to a relationship. He echoes because he wants to be with us in thought and word and deed. The scripture says that in him we are to move and live and find our being, but that is impossible without a real connection to God. That’s why when you open the Bible, you’re hard pressed to read very long before encountering our bighearted God and his love. Why use 66 books and thousands of years of history to say three simple words? Because “I love you” is not just a slice of information, or a onetime revelation, but an invitation to transformation.”

>In what ways have you found this invitation to be true in your own life? In the video, Susan shares the story of her rebellious teen years, pregnancy, abortion, and abusive marriage. Her poor decisions and pain lead to feelings of shame, making her feel unlovable. She was able to pinpoint multiple events in her life that showed her that God still loved her.

>Have you ever felt unlovable? How has God shown you that He still loves you?

Read Mark 12:41-44. In the video, Margaret says she now sees this story as more than a lesson in giving, but as a love story.

>In what ways do you agree with her assessment? In what ways do you disagree? >How does truly knowing that you’re loved by God—not just giving mental assertion but allowing that love to flood your spirit, soul, mind and heart, transform you?

>How does it affect your attitudes? Your actions? The way you interact with others?

Margaret writes, “Through prayer, I discover the darkness of my sin and recognize the brightness of God’s redemption and restoration. During prayer, my eyes shift from self-focus to God-awareness, and I find myself with a heavenly perspective that is not my own. Looking at life through God’s perspective changes everything. When my eyes are set on him, I discover a God who is not only bighearted but also outrageously generous, abundantly kind, and surprisingly talkative.”

>What changes do you notice in your own attitudes and perspectives when you pray? >What steps can you take to increase the time you’re spending in prayer this week?

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Going deeper: Select at least one activity below to complete during the next week.

—Take a moment and prayerfully reflect on some things you’ve been praying about. Have any answers slipped by you that you didn’t even notice? Sometimes God answers our prayers and in the busyness of life we forget that we asked in the first place. Spend some time thanking God for all He has done and is doing in your life as well as the lives of those around you. —Write Zephaniah 3:17 on an index card and memorize it. Each day this week, pray that God confirms the truth of this verse in your own life. —During the upcoming week, look for opportunities to share God’s love with other people in an act of service, a gift, or spending quality time with someone. Let “I love you” come alive in your heart by sharing that love in a practical way with those around you.