If this is your first time to visit this site, please start with this introductory post: Captivated Hearts: Women's Encounter Server Training and then begin the devotions with Week 1, Day 1.
Week 1 Focus: To experience God's personal love and call as the very foundation for our lives.
Week 1 Prayer: That we understand that God alone, His glory and salvation, is the goal of our lives and that everything else in life is but a means to achieve that goal.
Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror or in a photograph and been surprised by how you look? Or maybe you heard someone speak about you and were startled to hear their impression of you. For the better or worse, sometimes we just don't realize how other people see us. We have a picture of ourselves -- our self-image -- lodged in our minds, and sometimes it is so very different from the way others see us!
For the next two days we're going to take a look not at how other people see us, but how God sees us. Today we're going to spend time talking about how God sees us as HIS CHILDREN.
God is our PERFECT HEAVENLY FATHER, and while we were not born as His children, He has chosen to ADOPT us into His family.
Read:
Galatians 4:4-6
Romans 8:15-16
I have a friend who adopted a little girl from Ethiopia. While my friend really loves kids in general, she can't honestly say she loves ALL kids the same way she loves her own. But the moment she laid eyes on Kinzie's picture and was told that this was the girl she would be adopting, she felt a fierce, motherly love for her. She had never met her in person, had never held her or hugged her. But Kinzie was her daughter from that day on.
God has chosen US to be His daughters. Not because He had to, but because He wanted to. As His adopted daughters we are full-fledged members of His family, and because of that we receive:
His love -- 1 John 3:1
His discipline -- Hebrews 12:6
His listening ear -- Psalm 116:1-2
His inheritance -- Galatians 4:7, Romans 8:17
Does knowing that you are a beloved daughter of God change the way you see yourself? How so?
Pray that God will give you a right perspective of yourself in view of how He sees you, and then make sure you take a few minutes to journal your thoughts.
Tomorrow: How God Sees Me (Part 2)
