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“Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.” – Luke 10:38-40.

There’s a trend in the U.S. housing market, albeit a very small one. Drawn to the prospect of financial freedom, a simpler lifestyle, and limiting one’s environmental footprint, more buyers are opting to downsize in some cases to spaces no larger than 300 square feet- people are buying into the tiny house movement. One of the most significant challenges is the limited space. Adapting to a smaller living area means you have to be extremely selective about what you keep, often leading to difficult decisions about which possessions to part with. Making room by finding creative storage solutions is a constant challenge.

If Jesus was coming to stay in a room in your house, how would you get that room ready for Him? If you had a tiny house, it would be a matter of carving out some additional room in an already cramped space. You would first move the stuff that already occupies that space, vacuum, dust, and maybe add a few homey touches like flowers in preparation for a divine guest. If Jesus showed up without notice, I think He would be waiting for some time before he had access to the room.

If you have ever watched the Tiny House Nation TV series, you know the people who build the tiny houses take the buyers’ wishes and work tirelessly and creatively to translate those wishes into a small footprint. They are proud of their work and can’t wait to open the doors and show their handiwork to the new owner. In the same way, we should be excited to open up our hearts and make room for Jesus. When we open our home to a guest, we’d never think of inviting them in and ignoring them. We would never think of telling them to go sit in the corner until we are ready to talk to them for our obligatory 15 minutes. Instead, we offer food, conversation, and relationship.

In the same way, Jesus is often waiting for us to make room for Him in our lives. Jesus should have access to the entire house, not just one room. We should tell Him, “go wherever you want, Jesus; there’s no room or closet closed off to you.”

The Lord wants us to make more room for Him in our daily lives—in every area of our lives. We need to slow down from so many activities and projects and spend more time with the Lord. The more we make room for Jesus in our lives, the more the Holy Spirit will lead us to intentionally make more room for Him.

God doesn’t want to be compartmentalized to a day of the week or a holiday. He wants you to invite Him and say, “Come, Lord Jesus. Be Lord of my life.” My whole life.

Discussion Questions:

1. Which area of your life do you have the most trouble making room for Jesus? 

“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” – Psalm 139:7 (ESV).

Experiencing the presence of God sounds like both an epiphany and a mystery. It sounds too good to be true, and this should not be expected or something you place your hope in. We associate God’s presence with something supernatural, such as lights going off and music playing in the background. Fortunately, we can experience God in a way that goes beyond just knowing some facts or truths.  We can experience the presence of God in a personal way through prayer, meditation on scripture, acts of service, and by actively seeking a close relationship with God.

Psalm 27:4 says, “The one thing I ask of the LORD— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.”  This pursuit, this action of seeking the living God, never returns void. You will encounter God when you seek Him because He is already with you. His presence is always available. He’s not a friend who walked away, ghosted, betrayed, and ignored you when you needed them. “I will never leave you nor forsake you” is a Bible verse in Hebrews 13:5 and Deuteronomy 31:6. It is a promise that God will always be with His people. There is nowhere you can go and nothing you can do to shake the love of God.

We must remember that God paid the ultimate price by sending His Son, Jesus, as a mediator between us and God.  So, how do we encounter the presence of God? How do we experience His nearness? Encountering God is similar to encountering another person. I don’t seek an experience with a friend; I seek to know Him by spending time with Him and gaining knowledge. I don’t seek to hear the voice of a friend; I engage in conversation with Him as an act of wanting to know Him and hear His voice as a result. The only thing about seeking God that makes it different is that He is spirit rather than flesh. John 4:24 says, “For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” While that sounds foreboding, it is not. It is the reason we can experience His presence. Scripture is clear that God is everywhere and that the Holy Spirit dwells within us. His presence is already with you.

We serve a God who longs to be encountered. Our God is not distant. Every morning, there is an open invitation to experience the presence of the living God. God longs for you to know Him. Our Creator longs to be encountered by His creation. It is hard to understand why God makes Himself available to us, but it is true nonetheless.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does God show His presence?
2. How do you enter into God’s presence? 

“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” – Luke 14:33 (NKJV).

 Is there anything you would not give up for God? Is there anything you are not giving up this very day and hour? True disciples of Christ are willing to forsake all. But what does forsake all mean? Most people immediately think about their belongings, but there is more to it than that.

There is a well-known story in Mark 10:17-31 about a rich young ruler who came to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life. The man said that he had kept all the commandments. He was a “good” man. When Jesus told him, however, that he must sell all his goods and give them to the poor the man went away from Jesus, very sad. His wealth was keeping him from Jesus. He was unwilling to give up all his possessions.

Jesus said, “Go and sell all your possessions…“ which left the disciples astounded. Giving up all our possessions means that if or when a decision must be made between obeying Jesus or seeking wealth over Jesus, we must choose Jesus and His commands.  The reality is that your money is not your own. God gave it to you. Paul tells those who are rich not to put their confidence in the uncertainty of riches but in God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. “ Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17).

And what about your time? Think of your time as a precious gift you can offer to God. When you give Him your best time, you prioritize your relationship with God above all else, demonstrating your love and commitment to Him. When we give Him our best time, even if it’s just a few minutes each day, we are showing Him that He is the most important thing in our lives.

What about our talents? Giving Jesus everything, including our abilities and talents. Our gifts are given to us by God to serve those around us. Take inventory of your life, and prayerfully consider all the things God has given you to steward: your gifts, talents, influence, power and resources. See how God has blessed you and trust Him to use them no matter how they compare to others. “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” (1 Peter 4:10). God calls you to use all your gifts, talents, and influence to serve others. Fight the lie that God can’t use you for His Kingdom.

As you can see, it is more than just physically giving up it is also mentally letting go. We are called to tear down the way we relate to everything and everyone around us and rebuild those relationships in Christ and his Gospel. He asks us to give ourselves wholly to Him, offering our lives as living sacrifices. This is our only reasonable response to who He is and what He’s done.

Discussion Questions:

1. What does it mean to fully surrender to Jesus in all areas of your life?
2. What are the key areas where you might be holding back from complete commitment to Him?
3. How can you practically apply this concept to your daily decisions and actions?

 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,”  –  Colossians 1:15-19.

There is none like Jesus. No one book, or even all books together, can accurately represent the greatness of Jesus Christ. No written word can express the unique and unparalleled nature of Jesus Christ. He is far greater than our most fantastic imaginations. He is fully God but also fully man. He is infinite—immeasurable, unquantifiable, uncontainable, unbound, utterly without limit. We cannot take the full measure of Him no matter how hard we may try. Jesus Christ remains the only person who backed up His claims by a sinless life.  Everything we need is found in Jesus because He has no equals.

Joshua 10:6 says, “LORD, there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power.” Psalm 86: 8-10 says, “There’s no one quite like you among the gods, O Lord, and nothing to compare with your works. All the nations you made are on their way, ready to give honor to you, O Lord, Ready to put your beauty on display, parading your greatness, And the great things you do— God, you’re the one, there’s no one but you!” 2 Samuel 7:22 (ESV ) says, “Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And 1 Chronicles 17:20 (ESV) adds, “There is none like you, O Lord, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.”

Do we look for love beyond our ability to comprehend? There’s none like Jesus in His love. Do we look for a power that can change us and society? There is none like Jesus in what He can do. Do we look for one who knows the future and will lead us into the future? Jesus is the only one who can do that. None is more dependable if you want an anchor for all of life. Jesus is everything you will ever need, and He is more than everything you could desire. He is “all in all” in one person, and there is none like Him.

Revelation 22:20 says, “… I am coming soon…” He came the first time as a lamb, but the second time, He will come as a Lion: every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every sinner, saint, and person from every religion will bow and know that there is none like Him.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does the fact that no one like Jesus affect our daily lives?