Jesus People: A 6-Day Devotional by Danny GokeySample

HE BELIEVES IN YOU: God Believes in ME?

The idea that we are supposed to believe in God is a pretty common one. But what about the idea that God believes in YOU? 

Some years ago, I was walking through a season of discouragement and doubt. One evening, I went to church searching for a touch from God. The service consisted of great worship and solid teaching, but I didn’t get anything out of it and left feeling even more defeated. I questioned God’s love for me. Why had He not shown up in the way I needed? Deepening darkness crept in and I cried out from the depths of my heart with a simple, desperate prayer.

“Lord, please help me! If you don’t help me now, I’m not sure I’ll recover.”  

The response I heard in my spirit shocked me. “I believe in you.”

Did God really believe in me? And if so, what did that mean? 

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1a)

I searched the scriptures and began to realize that in the same way a parent believes in a child, God believes in His children. He created us in His image and likeness, entrusting the Earth to our care (Genesis 1:26-31). You don’t entrust something to someone you don’t believe in. While we failed in the garden, and have failed time and time and time again throughout history, we are never too far gone. He still chose to give His only Son on our behalf so we could partner with Him in the fulfillment of His will. 

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20 NLT).

The reality is that God could have done all of this by Himself but instead, He calls us higher, uniquely gifting each of us to represent Him, and “each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms" (1 Peter 4:10). The good news is, we don’t have to do this in our own strength. Rather, “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose' (Philippians 2:13). Through us, “To them God has chosen to make known … the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in [us], the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

The One who took the cross for you

He believes in you

He wouldn’t put you through the fire 

If He couldn’t take you higher

Gotta remember He is still for you

Calls you His daughter, calls you His son

There’s no mistake that could ever take that away

He’s for you, He’s for you

When the lies try to pull you under

When you’re desperate for something true

Let your heart hear the voice of the Father

Cause He believes in you 

No matter how difficult things might seem, God is still for you. God believes in you. God is counting on you. Will you let that truth sink into your heart so deeply that it not only changes your own life but also compels you to carry that message of hope to others who need to hear it?