Kay Arthur - God, Are You There?: Do You Care? Do You Know about Me?

KAY ARTHUR

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

All Scripture quotations in this book are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )

Maps and charts in this book have been adapted from The New Inductive Study Bible, 2000 by Precept Ministries International.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Cover photos ; Tom Henry / Koechel Peterson & Associates

GOD, ARE YOU THERE?

Copyright 1994 by Kay Arthur

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Arthur, Kay, 1933

God, are you there? : Do you care? Do you know about me? / Kay Arthur.

p .cm.

Includes the New American Standard text of the Gospel of John.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7369-1828-2

ISBN-10: 0-7369-1828-0

1. BibleStudy and teaching. 2. BibleIntroductions. 3. Bible. N.T. JohnCriticism, interpretation, etc. I. Bible. N.T. John. English. New American Standard. 2006. II. Title.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

06 07 08 09 10 11 /BP-KB/ 6 5 4 3 2 1

God, what are You like?

Who are You?

Do You even exist?

Do You care about me?

God, do You even know about me?

Have thoughts like these ever crossed your mind? Have you ever wondered who God is and what He is like? Or if He even exists?

If you have, dont dismiss these thoughts lightly. They are important. Just the fact that you have these thoughts means something. It means that God is drawing you to Himselfthat He wants you to know the truth about Him.

How do I know that? Because I know God. And I want you to have an opportunity to know Him, too, and to find Gods answers to your questions.

To find His answers to these questions, there is only one place to go. If you want to find the truth about God and what He says, you need to read the Bible.

People can tell you that God exists and that He knows about you and cares about you, but how do you know whether what you are hearing is true? Maybe its just something they think is true, or maybe they simply feel it is true.

But what if their thoughts or their feelings are twisted or even wrong? After all, they are human beings, and all human beings dont think and feel the same way. Sometimes they are right, and sometimes they are wrong.

If human beings can be wrong, where can you go to find the truth about Godand be absolutely sure it is true? Only one place. In the one book that claims to be, and has been proven to be, the Word of God. The Bible.

What if God can give purpose and meaning to your life even if you or someone else messed it up? What if He can show you how to liveno matter what your situation or circumstances? And what if He has promised to love and care for you and give you the wonderful gift of eternal life so that you can know for certain that the very moment you die you will find yourself in His presence to live with Him forever as His dear child?

Surely you would want to know how you can have that kind of relationship with Goda God who cares that much about you, whoever you are, wherever you are. Wouldnt you?

Well, my friend, that is what this book is all about. Its designed to help you know and understand the Bible so that you can see for yourself what it says about God, what it says about you, and what it says about becoming part of Gods family.

The Bible is a book that claims to be different from every other book that has ever existed. Its different because it is the very Word of God, inspired by God. Inspired means that men wrote down exactly what God wanted them to write. The word inspired actually means God-breathed.

In fact, let me quote what the Bible says about itself:

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate [complete], equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:1617).

In this verse God is telling us that the Bible came from Him and that it teaches us what to believe and how to live. (Righteousness means living the way God says we are to live.) The Bible also shows us where we are wrong (that is what reproof means). But it doesnt just leave us there!

The Bible tells us how to take what is wrong and make it right. What is wrong can be corrected, the Bible says, if we will listen to God and obey what He says! Isnt that encouraging? Plus, the Bible tells us how to live so that we can know how to handle every situation of life.

You know, just before Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of mankind, He prayed for everyone who would ever believe in Him. And in that prayer He asked that God would sanctify every believer. Sanctify means to set apart, so Jesus was asking that every believer would be set apart by God for God.

Then Jesus told us how God would set us apart. He said, Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth (John 17:17). Jesus said that Gods Word is truth. Thus, when you know truth (the Bible) and live by what it says, you will be different from the rest of the world. Obeying Gods truth sets you apart for God!

Therefore, my friend, you need to know what the Bible is and what it says. And to understand what it says, you need to know how to read it and study it for yourself. This book will help you learn how to do that.

You are going to be so excited about what you learn, but you have to remember that it is going to take some discipline on your part. Discipline is never easy, but in this case it is worth it, for it is a matter of lifelife on the best level.

Now, on to the next logical question

The Bible, which claims to be the Word of God, is a book made up of 66 separate books. These 66 books were written by more than 40 men over a period of about 1400 to 1800 years. God inspired these men to write these books in a way that tells us exactly what He wants us to know and believe.

The Bible has two major parts. The first part is called the Old Testament, and the second part is called the New Testament.

The Old Testament tells us how God created the world, how He created mankind, and how the first man and woman disobeyed Him. Eve chose to listen to Satan rather than God and ate of the forbidden fruit. Eve gave the fruit to Adam, who disobeyed God and ate of it also. As a result of this disobedience, mankind got into terrible trouble (God calls it sin). But because of His great love, God made a way for us to be restoredto once more be His friend and have a personal relationship with Him. The Old Testament tells us what He did to make that possible.