Bible Study

February 2005

God stands up for me

By Teresa Stephens

Teresa is the Baptist Campus Minister at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas

The Pharisees bring her to Jesus stripped naked and throw her down in front of him. They try to trick Jesus by telling him that a woman caught in the act of adultery should be stoned according to the Law of Moses.

The Bible says that they persist in asking him what should be done and Jesus stands up and gives them a God answer, “You who are without sin, you throw the first stone.” Then he stoops down to write in the dirt again. One by one, the Pharisees drop their stones and leave. Jesus then stood and approached the woman, asking her who accused her.

“No one, Lord,” she replied.

“Then neither do I accuse you,” Jesus said. “Go and sin no more.”

When Jesus stooped and stood, he stood up for the things that are honorable to God, for the truth of what is right to do and the truth of one whose heart longs to honor him. When I read that and I saw him stoop and stand, I cried out to God, “When you see my heart, Father, do you stoop or stand?” I heard him say to me, “I stand up for you.”

The passage and God’s answer to me reminds me that everything that I’ve ever done or thought or said, even those since I’ve been a believer, is under the blood and forgiveness of Christ. It reminded me that God looks at the intent of the heart and as long as I keep my heart pure before Him and focused on Him, He will gladly pick me back up when I fall. The intent of your heart is primary in God’s consideration.

The woman was not honoring God through her actions, but when He stood before her, she recognized him as Lord. Another example is Saul before he became Paul. I think he was honestly trying to serve God the only way he knew how to do it – by persecuting the Christians whom he thought were blaspheming God’s name. God sure had grace on Saul when he knocked him of that horse on the road to Damascus and basically said, “Saul, you’re searching for me, but you’re going about it in the wrong way.” The intent of Saul’s heart was toward God, even though his actions were against Him.

Our actions are important because they tell outwardly if our heart is toward the Lord or not, but if we are willing to recognize God’s right to convict us and we are willing to repent of our sinful actions, then God knows that our hearts are toward him, even if our actions were sinful.

If you think that God would not stand up for you, compare yourself to the woman caught in adultery. Her actions were detestable – some of the worst sin that we can think of as Christians, but she was willing to recognize Jesus as Lord and to live out her direction to “go and sin no more.” The Enemy doesn’t want us to believe that we are precious to God and that He stands up for us because if we truly believe it, then Satan loses power over us. As long as he can keep us feeling condemned and useless to God, then he has done a lot to paralyze our effectiveness for God’s Kingdom. Call that message of Satan for what it is: a lie. Tell God that you choose not to believe the lie that Satan is feeding you. Tell Him that, instead, you choose to draw near to Him and to resist the Devil so that the Devil will flee from you.

Memorize Romans 8:1 and Galatians 5:1 and repeat them to yourself when the lie comes into your mind that God would not stand up for you. Ask God for confirmation that He stands up for you and choose to stand on the truth of God’s word and not on your emotions or the lies that Satan feeds into your mind.