Category: I Love You

GOD, THE FIXER UPPER
Read Isaiah 44:22
What has God done with your sins? The word redeemed has two meanings. Those two definitions work together to give the total meaning to what God has done for you. Today, you are going to learn the first part of the definition of the word redeem. Redeem (verb): to overcome and fix faults of someone or something. This is exactly what God did for you through His Son, Jesus. You were born into sin and it is a problem in your heart. Could you imagine a heart surgeon doing surgery on their own heart? No way! The same is true for your sin. You cannot fix the problem of sin yourself. God loved you so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life without sin and die the death you deserve so He could fix your faulty, sinful self.
GOD’S POSSESSION
Read Titus 2:14
What did God redeem you from? Why did He do it? The second part of the definition of “redeem” also explains what God did for you through
Jesus: Redeem (verb): to gain possession of something in exchange for payment. God’s Word tells you that He saved you from lawlessness (that’s just another word for sin). He did it so you could be pure. You cannot hang out with Jesus if you are not pure because He is pure and cannot be around sin. Because of Jesus, you can be pure. He redeemed you so He could call you His own! He loves you so much and wants you to be with Him… forever.
THE EXCHANGE
Read 1 Peter 2:24
What did Jesus do for you? Fill in the blanks: “By His ___________________ you are______________________.” Yesterday, you learned the second part of the definition of the word “redeemed.” Read it again today. Redeem (verb): to gain possession of something in exchange for payment. You learned that God, by making you pure, is able to call you His own. You are His possession. Today, the verse explains that there was an “exchange” for you. When you buy something, you have to exchange money to get it. Jesus didn’t use money to purchase you, He used His own life. He had to fix you and make you pure so He paid the penalty for sin. He loves you so much that He exchanged His life so you could have true life. Your sinful heart is healed because of Jesus’ death on the cross.
GOD ADOPTED YOU
Read Galatians 4:5-7
God redeemed you so you might receive what? Fill in the blank: You are no longer a slave but a ________________________________. Fill in the blank: If you are a son, then you are also an _______________________________. What can you call God? This verse can seem really hard to understand but it’s really simple. The Ten Commandments was the law in the Old Testament, but the people had a hard time following them. In fact, it was impossible to follow the law perfectly because people are sinful. God gave them the law so they would understand that they couldn’t fix themselves. Then He sent Jesus to die for people’s sins when it was time. When you believe in Jesus, God adopts you as His son (or daughter). You become a part of God’s family because of Jesus. Sin does not control you anymore and you are God’s child! Since you are God’s child, you get His inheritance… eternal life forever!
CHILD OF GOD
Read John 1:12
If you believe in God, what right does He give you? Do you know someone who is adopted? You probably do, or you might even be adopted yourself. When a person is adopted, you do not live with your biological mom and dad. Instead, you live with the mom and dad who adopted you. In other words, you have a mom who carried you in your belly and you have a mom who carries you in her heart. Even though the adoptive parents are not the biological family of their son or daughter, they love their kiddo just like they truly are their own. The same is true for your adoptive Heavenly Father. Because you are human, and come from the family of all sinful humans, you need Jesus. If you believe in Him, He will call you son/daughter and treat you like His own!
GIVE IT A TRY!
The people of the Old Testament couldn’t obey the Law. It wasn’t because people were worse than they are today, God just used them to show that it’s not possible to be perfect on your own. The plan was always Jesus. Here is your challenge. Write down the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and try to follow them all perfectly for 10 days. To be perfect, you can’t mess up on any of them. You can’t be jealous of someone else’s stuff, you can’t disobey your parents… not once. AND Jesus said that someone who thinks angry things towards another person is the same thing as murdering.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Write Romans 3:23-24:

GOD FAITHFULLY FORGIVES
Read 1 John 1:9
What is God faithful to do? What must you do? Jesus created the opportunity to forgive you by dying on the cross. Forgiveness of sins is what He gives, but you must see that you are a sinner and want God’s forgiveness. It’s like a Christmas gift at Christmas. Your mom and dad did the work to buy and wrap your gift and it is sitting under the tree. It’s yours, but you won’t experience all the fun of what it is until you open it up. You don’t have to be afraid that you have done something so bad it cannot be forgiven. If you tell God your sin and are sorry for it, He loves you and will always forgive you no matter what bad thing you have done
GOD GIVES ANOTHER WAY
Read Psalm 103:10.
What does God not do with our sins? You deserve to pay the penalty for your sin which is separation from God. But if you believe in Jesus, you don’t have to pay it. He is fair and right, and sin still has to be paid for. Because He sent His Son to die on the cross for your sins, He has given you a way out of the penalty you deserve. Imagine that you disobeyed your parents and your punishment is to do the dinner dishes every night by yourself for a week. But one of your siblings steps in and says they have already done the punishment for you, and you get to go free. That is what God’s forgiveness looks like.
GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU
Read Psalm 103:11
How high is God’s love for you? How far is He able to forgive you? The word “steadfast” means something is stable and consistent. When God says His love is steadfast, He means it will never change and it will never grow more or less. God is telling you that He loves you higher than the heavens to begin with, and His love, no matter what you do, will never grow less. Tonight, if it’s a nice night outside, sit in your backyard and look up at the stars. The closest star to the earth is the sun but after the sun, the closest star you see is 4.3 light years away. One light year is 10 trillion kilometers which is 6,213,711,899,999 miles! That is just the closest star; there are trillions of stars much farther away. We don’t know exactly where heaven is, but we know we can’t see it. God says in Psalm 103:11 that the heavens are above the earth and since we can see the stars, it’s safe to say it’s beyond them. Look up in the sky tonight and think about how much God loves you. He loves you beyond the distance of the stars. That’s a lot, and since His love is steadfast, you don’t have to be afraid because the measure of His love will never change.
THE EAST IS FROM THE WEST
Read Psalm 103:12
How far does God move your sins (transgressions) from you? If you and a friend stood back to back, one of you facing the east and one facing west, and then started walking…what would happen? You would walk apart and each step you take would be a greater distance from each other. Because the earth is round, it would be a LONG walk, but you would eventually meet up with each other. God is the God of the universe, so His east and west are different. Imagine you were in space floating back to back with a friend. One goes east and the other goes west. Each “float” would create a greater distance, and since the universe is not round, you would never meet. You would eventually be VERY far away from each other. “As far as the east is from the west” – this is how much God will separate your sins from you. Because God loves you, the wrong that you do will never be known of you because God will separate it from you… really far away.
FORGIVE ME
Read Hebrews 8:12.
What does God do? What does God forget? You never have to be afraid that God won’t love you. You never have to be afraid that God will hold a grudge for something you have done. If you are sorry for your sin, ask Him for forgiveness. He will not only forgive, but will forget. No grudges from God. He loves you to the heavens and is ready to forgive you as much as you need.

I WILL MAKE YOU CLEAN
Read Isaiah 1:18
What will God do for you? Have you ever spilled grape juice on a clean white shirt? Grape juice is almost impossible to get out of a shirt. While the stain might lighten a little, there will always be a stain. Your shirt will never be white again. It is easy to think you will be stained by sin forever, but God is telling you that He can make you clean. You don’t need to be afraid that sin will ruin your life forever. God can get the stain of sin out and will make you as white as snow. Have a parent or friend help you have some fun. Take an old white shirt and rub some grape juice on it. Let it set and dry for a few hours. Afterwards, try to wash that shirt and see if you can get it as white as it was before. When you can’t, be reminded how God can remove the impossible nasty stain of sin!
I WILL MAKE YOU NEW
Read 2 Corinthians 5:17
In Christ, what happens? What happens to the old? If you believe in Jesus, that means you have realized that you need Jesus. God gives you the opportunity to be new. Your old self was all about you giving into your sinful desires which sometimes created hurt and pain. Imagine an old toy that has been beat up and damaged through destructive use. Imagine that toy getting restored to the condition it was when you bought it at the store… brand new. That is what God will do for you. He loves you so much, He makes you new.
DIG DEEPER
Read Galatians 5:22-23.
Write the verse on a card and tape it to your mirror for a week.
I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART
Read Ezekiel 36:26
What will God give you? What will God remove from you? Imagine having an actual heart of stone inside your body. You would die. Your heart pumps the blood to your entire body so it cannot be hard and unable to pump blood. Not only that, but if your stone heart could beat, you would damage all the other important organs around it. It would be like throwing rocks at your lungs 24 hours, 7 days a week! Living a sinful life is like having a heart of stone. Sin is not life giving, it’s life damaging. When you believe in Jesus, God takes away your heart of stone and gives you HIS heart. His heart gives you life and you can live forever. Today, carry around a heavy rock with you for a couple of hours. Be reminded that you don’t have to be afraid of having to be damaged by sin and carry its heavy burden. God, through Jesus, gives you a new heart that gives life.
I GIVE YOU A NEW SPIRIT
Read Psalm 51:10-12
God says He will give you a pure heart and renew what? What will sustain you? God not only gives you a new heart, but He also gives you a new spirit. Read Ephesians 1:13 When you believe in Jesus, what do you receive? The Bible says in Ephesians 2 that you have a spirit of disobedience because of your sin. Because of this spirit of disobedience, you want to satisfy all your wants and desires that are not God’s wants and desire. This disobedient spirit will hurt you. God loves you so much that He gives you a new Spirit. That Spirit is called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is His spirit… right inside of you.
GOD RESTORES YOU
Read 1 Peter 5:10
What are the four things God will do for you after you suffer through tough times? God is a God who restores. There are many people out there who love to restore old homes. Old homes are great homes, but they have been through many years and suffered many storms. People will restore the damage to an old home, strengthen the structure of the home, and establish new modern features. When they are done they will confirm the home can once again be a good home. God will use the “storms of life” to help establish your character, strengthen your faith, and confirm to the watching world that He is able to do good things.

GOD REJOICES AND SINGS
Read Zephaniah 3:17.
How is God described? What does He do for you? Fill in the blank: He will take great ________________ in you. Delight means to “take great pleasure” or “to be pleased with.” God takes great pleasure in you because He loves you. He rejoices over you with singing. Think about your favorite song. When your favorite song comes over the radio you get really excited and it brightens your day. You start singing and become really happy. You are God’s favorite song. He delights in you and is always singing over you.
GIVE IT A TRY!
Play your favorite song today and notice how it makes you happy. Now imagine God always singing over you because you are His favorite song.
PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD
Read Psalm 147:11
What does God do for those who know, respect, and place their hope in Him? The definition of fear in this verse is not about being afraid of God, it’s about respecting and knowing Him. A person who knows God should respect who He is and place their hope in Him. God takes great pleasure in being known by you. Why? Because when you know Him, you experience who He is. He is awesome! Do you know God? Write down all the things you know about God. (Remember, you don’t have to know everything… knowing God takes a lifetime.) Do you respect God? Write down all the reasons why. How does God give YOU hope?
THE LORD UPHOLDS YOU
Read Psalm 35:27
What does God do for those who delight in Him? God delights in you because He loves you so much. He asks you to delight in Him. In other words, He wants you to take pleasure in following Him and being obedient. This means He wants you to want to do what He says. He wants you to want to be a light for Him. He wants you to want to be like Him. If you do, He promises that He will establish your steps. In other words, if you delight in God, you will be confident in who you are, how you should live your life, and what He wants you to do.
GOD MAKES STEPS FIRM
Read Psalm 37:23
Fill in the blank: The Lord delights in the ______________________________________________ of His servant. Do you trust that God is looking out for what is best for you? Why or why not? God cares about and loves you. True success is when you live for Him and love others. He will help you be who you’re meant to be with success! He wants the best things for you. You may go through tough times, but even God can use those things to make you stronger. God delights in you. He loves you and is all about what is best for you.
GOD’S GOODNESS
Read Psalm 31:19
How is God’s goodness described? What has God done with His goodness for those who take refuge in Him? Who will see God’s goodness in you? You learned that fearing God means knowing Him and respecting Him. Taking refuge in God means you go to Him for help and protection in times of danger and trouble. It’s comforting to know that God can provide protection and help when you are in trouble. It’s also comforting to know that He has good things in store for you when you run to Him during hard times! This is a promise. What are some ways you can go to God in times of trouble? Do you trust God, who promises to restore, to have good things in store when you go to Him in times of trouble?