The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel Youth

['In February 1974, I had an encounter with Jesus Christ that totally changed my life. I understood he had died for me. I experienced his love. I knew God was real. I knew the extraordinary blessings of a relationship with Jesus. But almost immediately afterwards I experienced what Paul speaks about in this passage: ‘A huge sorrow... an enormous pain deep within me’ (Romans 9:2, MSG).\nI longed for everyone to experience and know what I had only so recently experienced. I longed for my family and friends who were not yet Christians to know Christ.\nThe apostle Paul cared so passionately about his own people that he was willing to be cut off from God and the people whom he loved, if they would be saved. He writes, ‘I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ [a definition of hell] for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel’ (vv.3–4a).\nYet at the same time Paul trusted that God had the whole situation under control. God is sovereign. He rules and reigns in his universe.\nHow do we balance this anguish and passion for those we love, with a trust in God’s ultimate sovereignty?', None]

In February 1974, I had an encounter with Jesus Christ that totally changed my life. I understood he had died for me. I experienced his love. I knew God was real. I knew the extraordinary blessings of a relationship with Jesus. But almost immediately afterwards I experienced what Paul speaks about in this passage: ‘A huge sorrow... an enormous pain deep within me’ (Romans 9:2, MSG).

I longed for everyone to experience and know what I had only so recently experienced. I longed for my family and friends who were not yet Christians to know Christ.

The apostle Paul cared so passionately about his own people that he was willing to be cut off from God and the people whom he loved, if they would be saved. He writes, ‘I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ [a definition of hell] for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel’ (vv.3–4a).

Yet at the same time Paul trusted that God had the whole situation under control. God is sovereign. He rules and reigns in his universe.

How do we balance this anguish and passion for those we love, with a trust in God’s ultimate sovereignty?

['I sometimes struggle to believe that God really loves me. I can be tempted to feel a sense of failure and self-condemnation. It is relatively easy to believe that God loves everybody else, but it is much harder to believe that God loves me.\nThe love of God, Paul explains in Romans 8, starts with ‘no condemnation’ (v.1) and ends with no separation: nothing ‘will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (v.39). John Stott describes the truth of this passage as ‘a pillow on which to rest our weary heads’.\n‘God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love,’ wrote St Augustine. If you were the only person who had ever lived, Jesus would have died for you. And if it is true of you, it is also true of me. God loves me and you.', None]

I sometimes struggle to believe that God really loves me. I can be tempted to feel a sense of failure and self-condemnation. It is relatively easy to believe that God loves everybody else, but it is much harder to believe that God loves me.

The love of God, Paul explains in Romans 8, starts with ‘no condemnation’ (v.1) and ends with no separation: nothing ‘will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (v.39). John Stott describes the truth of this passage as ‘a pillow on which to rest our weary heads’.

‘God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love,’ wrote St Augustine. If you were the only person who had ever lived, Jesus would have died for you. And if it is true of you, it is also true of me. God loves me and you.

['Until it actually happened to me, I would not have believed it was possible. But the moment I saw him, I experienced an overwhelming love. This tiny baby, who to others must have looked like any other baby, was my son. The moment a parent first sees their own child is unforgettable. The love a parent feels for a child is almost indescribable. Yet this is the analogy God uses of his love for you. You are a child of God. The love he has for you is even greater than that which parents feel for their own children.\nKnowing who you are will have a big impact on your life. Know that you are a deeply loved child of God. This should be the basis of your confidence, security and hope.', None]

Until it actually happened to me, I would not have believed it was possible. But the moment I saw him, I experienced an overwhelming love. This tiny baby, who to others must have looked like any other baby, was my son. The moment a parent first sees their own child is unforgettable. The love a parent feels for a child is almost indescribable. Yet this is the analogy God uses of his love for you. You are a child of God. The love he has for you is even greater than that which parents feel for their own children.

Knowing who you are will have a big impact on your life. Know that you are a deeply loved child of God. This should be the basis of your confidence, security and hope.

['One of my most frequent prayers is ‘Help!’ It is also one of the most common prayers in the Bible. It is a prayer you can pray every day, in any and every situation. You can cry out to the Lord for help. God’s desire is for you to have a relationship with him that is real and from the heart.', None]

One of my most frequent prayers is ‘Help!’ It is also one of the most common prayers in the Bible. It is a prayer you can pray every day, in any and every situation. You can cry out to the Lord for help. God’s desire is for you to have a relationship with him that is real and from the heart.

['At the age of eighteen, Billy Nolan ran away from the merchant navy. He was an alcoholic for thirty-five years. For twenty years he sat outside HTB drinking alcohol and begging for money. On 13 May 1990, he looked in the mirror and said, ‘You’re not the Billy Nolan I once knew.’ To use his own expression, he asked the Lord Jesus Christ ¬into his life and made a covenant with him that he would never drink alcohol again. From that day on, he didn’t touch a drop. His life was transformed; he radiated the love and joy of Christ. I once said to him, ‘Billy, you look happy.’ He replied, ‘I am happy because I am free. Life is like a maze and at last I have found the way out through Jesus Christ.’\nSt Augustine wrote that God was the master ‘whom to serve is perfect freedom’. This is a great paradox. Many people think that if they serve God they will lose their freedom. In fact, it is the very opposite. Living for ourselves is, in fact, a form of slavery. Serving God ‘in the new way of the Spirit’ (Romans 7:6) is the way to find perfect freedom – free to have a relationship with him and to be the kind of person that deep down you long to be.', None]

At the age of eighteen, Billy Nolan ran away from the merchant navy. He was an alcoholic for thirty-five years. For twenty years he sat outside HTB drinking alcohol and begging for money. On 13 May 1990, he looked in the mirror and said, ‘You’re not the Billy Nolan I once knew.’ To use his own expression, he asked the Lord Jesus Christ ¬into his life and made a covenant with him that he would never drink alcohol again. From that day on, he didn’t touch a drop. His life was transformed; he radiated the love and joy of Christ. I once said to him, ‘Billy, you look happy.’ He replied, ‘I am happy because I am free. Life is like a maze and at last I have found the way out through Jesus Christ.’

St Augustine wrote that God was the master ‘whom to serve is perfect freedom’. This is a great paradox. Many people think that if they serve God they will lose their freedom. In fact, it is the very opposite. Living for ourselves is, in fact, a form of slavery. Serving God ‘in the new way of the Spirit’ (Romans 7:6) is the way to find perfect freedom – free to have a relationship with him and to be the kind of person that deep down you long to be.