God wants me to be real with myself

Keep me from lying to myself; give me the privilege of knowing your instructions. PSALM 119:29 NLT
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. PSALM 51:6 NASB
Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD. LAMENTATIONS 3:40 NLT

God wants me to know he made me beautiful

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 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. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! PSALM 139:13-18 NLT

God wants me to know sin has made me broken

For I was born a sinner — yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there. PSALM 51:5-6 NLT

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. ROMANS 3:23 NLT

Gods want to heal my brokenness through Jesus

He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. 1 PETER 2:24 NLT

God wants to unleash my strengths with his Spirit

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. EPHESIANS 3:16 NLT

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. 1 PETER 4:10-11 NLT

Community Group Discussion Guide

1. Which is harder for you; to see your beauty or your brokenness?
2. Do you agree with what scripture teaches that there is beauty and brokenness in every human?
3. How might a church, or a Christian, become unhealthy if they only agreed with one truth and not both?
4. Do you have an idea about which person you most (1-9 types) you most closely connect with?
5. How did the message help you to be real with yourself?
6. Close group time in prayer asking God for deep inner strength from Him this week!

Personal Reflection Guide

Joy is the evidence that God has given each of us strengths to be used as a way to love others. Joy differs from happiness in that joy doesn’t depend on our circumstances. As you consider your strengths, take some time to remember where you’ve experienced joy in your service to others. What did you do? How did it make you feel? Where does that connect to your strength? Pray and ask God to give you opportunities to share your strength with others.