When is the last time you were watching your favorite game? Were you watching the game in person, or were you watching from the television? Did your team win? Were you still a fan of your team regardless of the outcome? My guess is that you remained a fan, win or lose, because that is what it means when you are for someone. While cheering for our teams is fun, being cheered on and having someone rooting for us is equally as special and encouraging. Did you know that Scripture teaches that God is for us? He's rooting for us, cheering for us, fighting for us, and working for our good and His glory every day. In our study today, we are going to look at what it means for followers of Christ that God is for us.
What is your favorite team to cheer for?
Bible Study Questions
1. Why is having people rooting for us so important?
2. Read Romans 8:31-34. What is the significance of God being for us?
Romans 8:31-34 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Romans 8:31-34
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
3. Based on these verses, what is the evidence that God is for us?
4. Read Romans 8:35-39. What are the implications of being loved by God?
Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
5. If you were to change your mindset to the idea that God is for you, how might that affect your decisions? How does this shift in mindset free you up?
6. When you read Romans 8:35-39, what stands out to you the most in these verses about God and His love?
7. What is one way that you are feeling overwhelmed right now? How is God's love greater than your adversity?
As a group, you all get to cheer each other on in your faith. As you cheer, you become a tangible reminder to each other that God is for you. He is cheering you on. How can you as a group encourage each other well this week? Maybe you need to spend time this week specifically praying together or sending encouraging verses to read throughout the week. Whatever that looks like for your group, make a plan to intentionally encourage each other and remind each other that God is for you.
Ephesians 6 is a thorough and effective battle plan on how to fight the spiritual battles we face throughout our lives. Over the next several weeks, we will explore the armor of God and how to use it to be effective in these spiritual battles. Interestingly, the armor of God description in Ephesians 6 in some ways mirrors a modern military operational order, aka OPORD. An OPORD has five sections or paragraphs. The first paragraph is called SITUATION, and within the situation is the identification and assessment of enemy forces. You have to know WHO you are fighting before you can plan HOW to fight them. Paul does the same thing when he describes the armor of God in Ephesians 6. Before he teaches about the armor of God and how we are to use it, he tells us WHO our enemy is, which also tells us who our enemy is NOT.
Ephesians 6:12 says: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Of note here, your enemy is not flesh and blood. Your struggle is not against people. This is surprising because it sure feels like the bulk of our pain, grief, and frustration can be attributed to people. But as followers of Jesus, we are not to fall into that trap. Instead, we are to look beyond the person to the real battlefield in the spiritual realm. And the big deal with this redirect is that we stop assessing others as targets to eliminate. Instead, we see them as hostages, as casualties. Now, we can fight FOR them. We'll get into how we do that in the coming weeks. But for this week, we need to understand the battlefield and who's on it.
Let's take a few minutes to look at what Scripture has to teach about the spiritual battlefield.
First, let's identify the enemy.
Read Ephesians 6:10-12.
Knowing who is on our side is just as important. Let's see what Scripture teaches about who is on our side.
Look back at Ephesians 6:10-12.
God is fighting for us, and this is the best news. One of the reasons is because we are never left alone on the spiritual battlefield. After all, God is all-powerful. Biblical scholars refer to this as omnipotence, which means "all-powerful." Because God is omnipotent, He is the One we want fighting for and with us.
Read Romans 8:38-39.
It's true, we have an enemy, and it is not the people around us or the circumstances we face. We battle against Satan. In light of this understanding, we need to remember to focus on the right enemy. Additionally, we must recognize that we are fighting with the omnipotent God, and nothing at all can stand against us. Spend some time right now praying with your group. Thank God that He, the all-powerful one, is fighting for us.
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John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
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