Week 1: Who God Says You Are

Today’s truth: I am never alone.

Brant Hansen used to feel like a spiritual misfit because he doesn’t usually feel God’s presence. In fact, he wrote a whole book about it called Blessed Are the Misfits. In today’s video, Brant helps us understand how to know for sure that we are never alone, even when we feel lonely.

How does Brant know he’s not alone? He says, “All the way through the Bible… there’s this constant reminder, “I am with you always, I am on your side, I am with you. Be at peace, don’t fear, I’m with you always…” He wouldn’t have said that over and over if it wasn’t normal for humans to start to wonder, “Are You with me?”

… If you’re a believer, you’ve accepted God’s proposal, but there’s this engagement and this separation for the time being. You’re together, but not yet! … In the meantime, He said, “I am with you. I’m leaving you with my peace. I’m going to prepare a place for you…” I have to remind myself of that.

I think He anticipated this. I don’t think I’m alone… but we do need to know, we’re not alone! This is who we are! We’re not just ping-ponging around in an empty space… I know we feel that way, but that’s not who we are. God loves us. And He hasn’t abandoned us. And He wouldn’t have said over and over and over “Don’t worry, I’m with you,” if we weren’t going to feel like that.”

In week 1 of the World’s Biggest Small Group: Identity, we’re exploring and solidifying the truths about who God says we are. Here’s a verse to think on this week as we learn:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!

(Psalm 139:13-17)