Inviting God- Week 1 / Creation

Week 1 – Day 1: Created for Communion  

Read: Genesis 1:26–31  

Hey there, friend. As we begin this journey together, I need you to grasp a pretty big theological truth—a truth humanity has struggled to understand forever. But I believe understanding this is the key to unlocking a spiritual breakthrough. Ready? 

Here it is: God loves you and wants to spend time with you! You, just as you are right now—without any change—God wants to spend time with you.  

That’s a radical concept for most of us. We think we need to clean ourselves up for God. Or make a long list of changes before we can start spending time with Him. But that’s not the gospel. The Bible is clear. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God; we need Him to do it for us.

It’s also clear that God loves us so much that that’s precisely what He does—He comes to us. Even in the midst of our sin and rebellion, He invites us into relationship, meeting us right where we are. This concept will be crucial for you on this journey. If you don’t understand that God loves you and invites you into relationship as you are, then you will find yourself avoiding spending time with Him. So, write this down (seriously): God loves me. And no matter my daily success or failure, He wants to spend time with me!

It’s true! Let me show you by examining the creation story more closely this week. The first verse of the Bible packs a powerful punch! “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” 

That means that before the Earth or the universe existed, there was God. He is beyond time. Eternal in nature. When we combine the Genesis account of creation with John chapter 1, we see that Father, Son, and Spirit were all actively involved in creation. 

God the Father is speaking. Jesus the Son is the creative agent (John 1), and the Holy Spirit’s presence is actively hovering over the surface of the waters (Genesis 1:2). 

This understanding is vital because it reveals something powerful to us. The eternal God of the universe, who has existed forever in perfect unity and fellowship as Father, Son, and Spirit, consciously chose to create the world and humanity. It was a deliberate decision on God’s part to make us. 

In other words, He chose us! Verses 2-25 of Genesis 1 tell the incredible story of God creating a perfect world where everything is very good (exceedingly beautiful). And the most important creature in that world, you and I. Seriously. Read verses 26-31 carefully. We were made in God’s image. God blessed us. And then He gave us a purpose (we will talk more about that tomorrow).  

If you carefully read the creation account through the lens of relationship, it seems like God creates Adam and Eve and then says to them, “Come and see. Look at all I’ve made. It’s good. I want you to enjoy it with me.” Honestly, tell me you don’t see it. 

As we begin this journey of discovering and reflecting God’s heart for people, I pray you start here: God loves you and wants to spend time with you! Seriously. And He feels the same way about the people He has put in your life. He loves them too! He made them as well. He longs for them to be in His presence, too. And as you will discover along this journey-He wants to use you to help make that a reality. He wants them to see His heart through your life and interactions.  

Prayer: Father, help me understand the depths of your love for me. So often I doubt the truth of what I’ve learned today. I wonder how you could love me, or if you want to spend time with me. But your Word is truth! God, you made me, and you made me to be with you. That’s your heart. Help me believe it! Father, please start doing this now. And as you do, as I daily begin to believe that you want to spend time with me, help me also see that you long to use me to help others understand that you long to spend time with them, too. You are an inviting God! Amen. 

Reflection: 

1. God didn’t just make you in His image—He made you for Himself. He wants to be with you. Why do you think that’s so hard for many people (maybe even you) to believe? How would your life look different if you truly lived every day as someone God longs to spend time with?(MULTILINE)
2. If God created you to walk closely with Him, what habits or distractions have made that closeness harder lately? What needs to change?(MULTILINE)
3. Think about someone in your life who may not realize God loves them. Why do you think God has placed them in your life right now?(MULTILINE)

Application:  

Set a timer and spend five uninterrupted minutes in God’s presence—no requests, no distractions, no phone. Just be still and be with Him. Reflect on this truth: “God made me to be with Him—and He delights in me.” Talk to Him about that. Ask Him to reignite your heart with wonder for how precious it is to spend time in His presence. 

After your timer goes off, close your prayer time by asking God to bring to mind one person who needs to know their Creator deeply loves them. 

 

Week 1 – Day 2: Invitation to Life With God 

Read: Genesis 2:4–25 

Yesterday, you started to realize the incredible truth that God truly loves you and desires to spend time with you. The eternal God, the creator of everything, who has always existed in perfect unity as Father, Son, and Spirit, chose to create humanity because He wanted a relationship with us! It’s mind-blowing if we’re honest. 

And because of this, and since it’s hard to understand, we need to spend a little time today exploring the creation story more deeply. Let’s see just how involved God wants to be in our lives and how much we are involved in His plan.  

When we get to the detailed account of creation in chapter two, we immediately discover a fantastic truth. God doesn’t just want to know us; He wants to bless us and to live with Him and for Him! 

God creates Adam and Eve and places them in the Garden of Eden, a literal oasis where everything is perfect and good, and they truly have everything they need. There is no death, no disease, no divorce—only the beauty and splendor of God’s creation and the awe-inspiring wonder of perfect relationships. They enjoy a perfect relationship with God (who walks with them daily in the cool of the evenings – Genesis 3:8) and with each other (Genesis 3:21-25). 

Think about that for a moment. Being made by God to live with God in perfection! What an invitation! It’s mind-blowing. But it gets better. 

God doesn’t just invite Adam and Eve into a relationship – He invites them into a partnership! God asks Adam to name all of the animals that He creates (Genesis 2:18-23).  

This is a huge deal. God doesn’t point to each one and say, “Now Adam, repeat after me, this is a tiger.” No! God points at the animal and says, “Adam, what do you think we should call this one?”

It’s an invitation to be a co-worker with God!  

And that astounding invitation still stands today. We don’t get to help name species (unless we discover one previously unknown to mankind), but God still invites us to be His co-workers. 

The phrase is one of the Apostle Paul’s favorites. He frequently refers to working with God, or to others working with Him and for the Kingdom of God. 

And of course, there’s the Great Co-mission (emphasis mine) in Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus sends us out on His mission. To make disciples. To be ministers of reconciliation. To share the Good News, that in Christ, God is no longer counting men’s sins against them, but that through faith He is inviting them into a personal relationship with Him through adoption as Sons and Daughters.

Does it get any better than that?  

An invitation not only to relationship but also to join Him—working side-by-side with the God of the universe and inviting others into the same mind-blowing reality! 

Prayer: God, I don’t understand it, but I want it. I desire a deep, personal relationship with You. I want to walk with You and talk with You regularly. Please help me, Father. Reorganize my life. Open my eyes to the reality that Your invitation to meet with me is always open. Help me grasp the truth that You have invited me to join You in Your work—Your mission to invite others into this glorious Kingdom and family. Amen. 

Reflection: 

1. God created the world and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden as a perfect home for relationship and partnership. How does understanding that God invites us to work alongside Him change how you view your daily life and purpose?(MULTILINE)

2. Adam was invited to name the animals, showing God’s desire for partnership. In what ways do you feel God is inviting you to be His co-worker today? What might that look like practically?(MULTILINE)

3. The Great Co-mission calls us to invite others into relationship with God. Who in your life needs to hear about this invitation? How might God want to use you to be part of their story?(MULTILINE)

Application:
Today, ask God to open your eyes to one person in your life who might be ready to hear about the invitation to know Him. Pray for courage and a clear opportunity to invite that person to church, a Bible study, or simply a conversation about faith. 

 

Week 1 – Day 3: Even in Sin, God Comes Calling 

Read: Genesis 3:1–9 

On day 1, I mentioned that I needed you to understand a significant theological truth—one that I believe is crucial for unlocking an important spiritual breakthrough. 

That truth: God loves you and wants to spend time with you! You, just as you are right now—without any change—God wants to spend time with you.  

Seriously. As you are. Now, I’m not saying that God doesn’t want to work in your life or that He doesn’t want to call you out of sin and into the freedom He offers. What I’m saying is He wants to, and will, meet you where you are.

Go back and read that again if you need to, but that’s the truth of the gospel. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves good enough for God. That’s not even His standard for accepting us anyway (His standard is perfection). That’s why God ultimately sent Jesus—to make a way for us to have a relationship with Him.

So, we need to get this out of the way early. No amount of sin you have committed lately could cause God to not want to meet with you. That kind of thinking is a lie from the devil.  

If you ever wonder if the guilt you feel is from God or not, here is a quick test. The Bible says that Godly guilt is meant to lead us to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). That means, if what we feel is from God, we will feel the need to turn to Him, not away from Him. We will understand that He loves us and longs to forgive us. That God knew that we would sin, and that’s why He sent His son Jesus in the first place. Godly guilt leads us to Him, not away. 

But the devil takes godly guilt and twists it and weaponizes it into shame. He tries to use our actions to condemn us and force us away from God instead. He tries to convince us that we are what we’ve done. And therefore, we are not good enough for God. God won’t accept us because of our actions. Any feeling that drives you away from Jesus and His “throne of grace” isn’t from God – it’s from the enemy. Satan, the father of lies. The accuser. 

What I’m saying is that your failures should never make you want to run from God, but rather, they should make you run to Him!

That’s why today’s reading from the creation story is so essential. It’s from humanity’s worst day. The day that Adam and Eve’s sin ruins everything! The day that all of creation is cursed as a result of their disobedience.  

They had everything they could ever need, but it still wasn’t enough. Satan lied and convinced them that God was holding out on them by not letting them eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And they fell for it. The consequences are devastating. Death enters the world, along with distance. Humanity can no longer live in God’s presence because they no longer meet His standard of perfection. 

Yet notice what God does in this text. Observe His heart for Adam and Eve. Even amid their sin, He invites them to Himself. Genesis 3:9 says God called out to them, “Where are you?” 

That’s an invitation. Now, listen, God isn’t surprised by what’s happened. He’s all-knowing. He already knows they’ve blown it. Yet, here He is—calling out to them anyway and pursuing them despite their mistreatment and rebellion against Him. 

And this is a picture of what God does with us, even today. Whenever we blow it and feel too dirty for Him, He still calls us—inviting us back to Him and telling us how He will make things right.  

And this truth must influence our daily lives in two powerful ways. First, it should change how we respond to God when we fail. No more running, hiding, or believing Satan’s lies. Even during our spiritual setbacks, we should accept God’s invitation and start running to Him instead of away. Second, our view of others must change. If God calls out to those who have messed up, then we should also reach out to those same kinds of people—those we might have written off, thought were too far gone, or too unworthy. 

Because even on our worst days, God comes calling! 

Prayer: Lord, I need this truth etched deep in my heart. Help break the pattern of hiding from you in my failures instead of running toward you. In the depths of my soul, let the resounding cry be, “God is an inviting God! He wants to meet with you. Not because of your performance, but because you are His.” Father, help me believe this personally, and please let that belief change how I view others, too. Please give me your eyes. Let me see and share your love for people today. Amen.

Reflection:
1. What stands out to you about God’s response to Adam and Eve after they sinned? How does His question, “Where are you?” shape your understanding of His heart? 

(MULTILINE)

2. When you feel shame or guilt, do you tend to run toward God or away from Him? How can you begin recognizing the difference between godly conviction and the enemy’s accusations?

(MULTILINE)

3. Think of someone you’ve considered “too far gone.” How might God be inviting you to call out to them with grace the same way He called out to Adam and Eve?

(MULTILINE)

Application:
Write down one area of your life where you’ve been hiding from God—whether out of shame, fear, or guilt. Spend 5 minutes in honest prayer, bringing that part of yourself into God’s presence. Let His invitation—“Where are you?”—draw you back into relationship, not push you away. 

Now, ask God to show you one person in your life who may be hiding too—someone who needs to know that God is still calling out to them. Reach out with compassion this week. Extend an invitation—into conversation, community, or even church—reflecting the same grace God has shown to you. 

  

Week 1 – Day 4: God’s Invitation Made Flesh 

Read: John 1:1–14 

It’s day four, and we’ve already heard twice that we can come to God as we are. That, in truth, we have to, because there is nothing we can do on our own to meet God’s standard of perfection. We cannot clean ourselves up enough to be in His presence. And that’s why Jesus came down. John chapter one is the perfect picture of just how much God longs to meet with you and me. We can’t go up. We can’t make ourselves perfect. We can’t meet God’s standard, so instead, the perfect Son of God comes down to us. He willingly chooses to step out of Heaven and into humanity’s hurt and brokenness. Born of a virgin. The Word of God becoming flesh forever – the God Man. 

And the Bible tells us this about Jesus… it says He is the perfect reflection of God. He completely reveals God’s true nature and heart. Hebrews 1:3 states, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” 

That means if we want to understand how God truly feels about us, all we need to do is look to Jesus. When we do, we see a God full of grace, mercy, and compassion. A God who constantly invites the weary, the broken, and even the unfaithful into His presence. Meeting them where they are, but loving them too much to leave them there. 

We see these truths throughout the gospels, but they are most clear in two passages. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” It’s a powerful invitation to the hurting people He chose to be around. While on earth, Jesus didn’t spend much time with the religious leaders; instead, we see Him regularly eating with people they labeled as sinners. He did this so often that they called Him a “friend of sinners.” But Jesus revealed that this was intentional. His mission was to seek the lost and to heal the sick. He came to those trapped in sin, overwhelmed by life, and those who knew they couldn’t make themselves right with God or meet the standards set by the religious rulers. To that crowd, He offered Himself freely. 

That same invitation stands ready for you and me today, and every day. No matter our performance—whether we have a good day or a bad one (spiritually speaking)—Jesus is ready to meet with us. He wants to meet with us.

Yesterday, we saw that even on humanity’s worst day, God called out to Adam and Eve. He invited them to come in their brokenness. He clothed them and made them a promise that He would eventually fix what their sin had broken. But sometimes that story is hard for us to grasp. It just seems a bit too distant. So, I want to close our time today by sharing one more story. It’s the story of Peter.

Peter reminds me so much of myself, it scares me—passionate and fiery in his love for and pursuit of the Lord. But that passion was like a roller coaster; it had lots of highs but also some pretty bad lows. The worst, of course, was his denial of Jesus after He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

When they came to arrest Jesus, Peter did the most Peter thing ever – he cut off one of the guard’s ears (John 18:10). Jesus told him to put away his sword and healed the man, of course. But then Jesus is arrested, hauled away for a mock trial. He will be beaten, spat upon, and eventually crucified the next day.

Most of the disciples run away in fear, but Peter follows at a distance. That same day, he promised that even if all the others fell away, he never would (Matthew 26:33). However, as he follows the Lord that night from afar, something happens. The crowds start to recognize him. They publicly say things like, “isn’t this man one of His followers.” And Peter cracks. Despite his earlier passionate plea, he denies even knowing Jesus—not once but three times—the text seems to indicate that he even curses at one point (Matthew 26:74). Upon the third denial, the rooster crows, and Peter realizes that Jesus was right (Matthew 26:34). 

The whole event, along with Jesus’ crucifixion, crushes Peter. So much so that it seems that after Jesus’ death, the “fisher of men” returns to just being a fisher of fish. And that’s where Jesus meets him—in the midst of his failure. In the midst of his falling back into his old ways, Jesus meets Peter and invites him to breakfast. He calls him back to his mission—to fishing for men. Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him. The first two times, he uses the Greek word Agape— which refers to God’s steadfast, unchanging love. Peter replies each time that Jesus knows how much he loves Him. However, Peter uses a different word. He uses the Greek word Phileo— which refers to a passionate, emotional love.  

The third time Jesus asks, He aims to make a point—to Peter and to us. The final time He inquires about Peter’s love, He also uses the Greek word Phileo—as if saying, “Okay, Peter, are you passionate about me?” Then, of course, Jesus instructs him for the third time in a row, “Feed my sheep.” It’s an important and instructive moment for Peter and for us. Jesus, the exact representation of God’s nature, meets us in our failures. He encounters us in our unfaithful, emotional pursuit of Him—and there, He gently invites us back to Himself and to His mission—our purpose. 

The ministry of reconciliation – inviting others to be reconciled with God. 

 

Prayer: Father, I can’t even count how many times I’ve denied you in one way or another. Yet, the truth of this story remains true – you always meet me in those moments. Lovingly ready to restore me to you and to the ministry you’ve called me to. Over the next several weeks, help those moments of restoration break through. Your grace is greater than my shame. Today, I choose to bask in it. I know I’m not where I need to be, but I also know that you have the power to get me there. Take my passion for you and shape it into a steady and consistent walk with you. One where I am so aware of my constant limitations and your unending grace that I refuse to let the enemy win and isolate me from you or your mission ever again. Amen. 

 

Reflection:  

1. We couldn’t make ourselves good enough to reach God, so He came down to us in Jesus—the exact representation of His nature (Hebrews 1:3). And when He came, He didn’t stay distant or angry; He was broken for us, hurt with us, and personally invited us, saying, “Come to me” (Matthew 11:28). How does seeing this picture of God—through Jesus—shape the way you understand His heart toward you today?

(MULTILINE)

2. Peter denied Jesus at His lowest moment—yet Jesus came back for him, met him in his failure, and invited him to breakfast and restoration. How does Jesus’ response to Peter challenge the way you think God responds to you when you fail? What would change if you believed that Jesus still meets you with grace and reaffirms His calling, even after your worst moments?

(MULTILINE)

3. Jesus didn’t just restore Peter—He re-commissioned him: “Feed my sheep.” If Jesus has met you in your brokenness and invited you back in, who around you needs to experience that same invitation? How can your story of grace become part of someone else’s restoration?

(MULTILINE)

 

Application: 

Take a quiet moment today to reflect on a recent failure or moment of spiritual distance. Instead of hiding or disqualifying yourself, picture Jesus—full of grace—coming to meet you there, just like He did with Peter. Let His invitation, “Come to me,” speak louder than your shame. Then ask Him to show you one person in your life who may also feel unworthy or disqualified. Reach out with empathy and hope—offering them the same invitation Jesus gave you: to come, be restored, and find purpose again. 

 

Week 1 – Day 5: Ambassadors—Inviting Others Like God Invited Us 

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 

There may not be a more beautiful picture of how trusting in Jesus brings new life than what we find in 2 Corinthians 5. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” If you’re longing for newness and change in your life, it’s easy for this verse to become your battle cry. 

Please hear me. I don’t want to discourage that in any way. In fact, I would encourage you to write this verse down somewhere and memorize it! I believe this verse can serve as a crucial reminder for believers as they seek to create positive change in their lives. I’ve often recited this verse aloud to remind myself of the powerful work that Jesus has done in me and the truth that I have indeed been made spiritually new through my faith in Christ.  

But, if I’m being honest, while this verse has brought me great comfort, my treatment of it has also caused me some difficulty that I’m hoping I can help you avoid.  

Early in my walk with Christ, I focused so much on my “newness” and what Christ had done for me that I missed the passage’s larger context.  

Reread the entire passage. Beginning in verse eleven, this passage emphasizes that if Jesus has made us new and reconciled us to God through faith in Him, we must now commit ourselves to being His representatives. The text states that if we’ve become a new creation, we also have a new ministry—indeed, a new office or position: we are now ministers of reconciliation. Now, we must go and share with others what Jesus has done for us! We’ve been invited into a relationship with God through Jesus, and we must now carry that same invitation forward, extending it to others. 

This new office/position and mission aren’t just for the outgoing folks—they’re for everyone! Early on in my walk with Christ, I failed to realize that becoming a new creation changed my purpose in life. 

Here’s the second area of difficulty I’ve had with this verse. Where the first dealt with the passage’s direct context, this one dealt with the broader context of the gospel and the writings of the Apostle Paul. 

It took me an excruciatingly long time to realize that, as a new creation, I now had two natures: a new nature, the Spirit of God living in me, and an old nature, my sinful flesh. Oh, how I wish someone had explained this to me early in my walk with Christ.  

Take a moment and read Galatians 5:16-25.  

 

What a revelation! It was life-changing when I realized that I was a new creation spiritually living in the same old flesh and that my flesh and spirit were in constant battle for control! Suddenly, I understood that what I was experiencing was a normal part of being a Christian. My failures didn’t mean (as the enemy had whispered in my ear) that I wasn’t saved or that God couldn’t use me. Instead, it meant that what I was experiencing was to be expected and that even the Apostle Paul struggled with this battle between the old nature and the new nature (Romans 7).I cannot begin to tell you what encouragement that brought to my Spirit. I hope and pray it does the same for you. 

The devil will try to highlight every failure in your life and claim that’s who you are. But he is a liar. That’s not who you are. If you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you are indeed a new creation! You have been born again, born of the Spirit of God. Now that you are new, you have a new mission and a new battle to face daily – will you walk in the Spirit, or will you yield to the flesh?  

Along the way, you will experience great victories. God will accomplish things in you and through you that you couldn’t imagine. However, you’ll likely face some significant failures, too. Our old nature won’t let go easily. 

When you win – thank God for His work in you. And when you fail, ask for his forgiveness and remember – you are human. We all struggle. Even the best of us, look at the Apostle Paul (Romans 7:19). Failing occasionally doesn’t mean you aren’t a new creation! And you can’t let it keep you from your new calling – to be a minister of reconciliation. 

Prayer: Father, thank you for making me new. Today, I’ve realized what that means. Help me nail down this truth that even as a new creation, I will have moments when I fail, but those moments no longer define me – you do! Holy Spirit, when the enemy tries to convince me that I am what I’ve done, please remind me of the truths I’ve learned today. Help me overcome my insecurities and live out the new calling you’ve placed on my life as a minister of reconciliation – Amen.  

Reflection: 

1. Have you ever struggled to believe that you are a new creation in Christ because of past or present failures? How does understanding that even the Apostle Paul wrestled with sin (Romans 7:15-25) help you process your own struggles, and how can you remind yourself of your identity in Christ when the enemy tries to define you by your failures? 

(MULTILINE)

2. Paul describes the battle between the flesh and the Spirit in Galatians 5:16-25. Does it encourage you to know that this struggle is a normal part of the Christian life? How can you learn to extend yourself the right measure of grace—seeking God’s forgiveness and leaving the past behind—while still taking your sin seriously and striving for holiness? 

(MULTILINE) 

3. Read 2 Corinthians 5:18-20. As a new creation in Christ, you have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. Is this optional? If not, why do we so often act as if it were? In what ways can your personal experience of God’s grace be used to share the message of reconciliation with others? 

(MULTILINE)

Application:  

Spend time in prayer today asking God to make you a faithful minister of reconciliation. Identify one person in your life who is far from God—someone who may believe they’re beyond His reach. Ask God to open a door this week for you to extend His invitation to them: to be seen, loved, forgiven, and restored through Christ.  

Don’t just pray—plan. Be intentional with a conversation, a text, a lunch invite, or an act of kindness that opens the door to a gospel relationship.  

Remember, Sunday is just around the corner. Who are you inviting to join you at church this week? Have you extended that invitation yet? If not, send a text now. As we learned this week, invitation reflects God’s character and nature.