Lots of people say they believe in God, but they don’t really know who he is.
Suppose one day a little girl named Abbey walked past the place where you live.
"Someone must live there," she thinks to herself.
And she would be right - YOU live there! But then suppose she thought you had long, pointy ears, and yellow teeth, and furry feet; and that you hated dogs; and all you did was sit around all day eating ice cream and playing video games.
That wouldn’t be you at all!
....except maybe for the video games part.
That is sort of God’s problem.
People see the moon and the stars and they think, "Someone must live there!" And they would be right. God does.
But then they get all kinds of different ideas about who God is.
And most of those ideas aren’t really who God is at all.
Abbey and her friends might sit around at lunch and talk about the person who lives in the place where you live, and in one way they all are right. Someone DOES live there. But if Abbey thinks you have furry feet, and one of her friends thinks you are just a kid who likes to play basketball, they aren’t really talking about the same person at all.
That’s how it is for God.
People say they believe in God. But what if one person thinks that God is the all-loving, all-powerful person who created everything there is. Then another person thinks that God is an old man with a white beard sitting up in a cloud somewhere. And then another person thinks that God is the statue of a cat he has sitting on his dresser. They aren’t really talking about the same person at all.
God had to find a way to let us know who he really is.
That’s why God chose Abraham.
God TOLD Abraham who he was.
Abraham and his family became God’s "Chosen People."
It’s not that they were better than anyone else. No, God chose them not because they were so great, but because God is so great.
God chose Abraham and his family to show us who he really is.
When God blesses them with good things, we see that God is good.
When God punishes them, we learn what God thinks is right and what he thinks is wrong.
When we hear the stories of the things God has done, that’s how we know who God is.
And it’s how we know that God is real.
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Do You Know Jesus?Jesus Christ came to earth about 2000 years ago. Through birth He became flesh so He could live with us, even though He was the Son of God. Jesus did and said many amazing things during His lifetime. He taught the smartest men of His day more about God and truth than they could even understand. Jesus was so close to God that when He prayed, He called God "Abba," which means "Papa" or "Daddy" in the Hebrew language.You may have heard about a man that lived many years ago named Jesus. But do you really know Him in a personal way? Does His Spirit live in your heart and guide you every day? If you do not know Him or want to know more about Him, read this page or save it on your computer to read later!
Jesus taught that God had sent Him here to take the punishment for the sins of the whole world -- your sins and mine. He said that He was the Only Way that God had provided to pay for our sins. At the age of 33, Jesus allowed an angry crowd to hang Him on a cross and put nails in His hands and feet. He took all the hurt and pain for us and died. If that were all that Jesus did, then He would be remembered as a good man. But that is not all! Jesus Christ was buried and then He came back to life after 3 days to prove that He was the Son of the Most High God that can give us eternal life!
During His lifetime, Jesus showed His special love for children. And God made His plan for forgiveness easy enough for a child to understand. If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Only True God and that He died for your sins, and you would like to have His Spirit live in your heart, you may say something like this to God and invite Him in: "Hello, Jesus. I know that I do wrong things sometimes and I want to thank you for coming to die for my sins. I do believe that you are the Son of God and that you love me and died for me. Please forgive me of my sins and come into my heart to live. Please help me to live for you. Thank you for loving me." If you have just said this prayer to God and meant it will all of your heart, you are a new creation in Christ. The Holy Spirit now lives inside of you and Jesus is now your best friend. Like any best friend, He wants to spend time with you. It would be a good idea to talk to Him every day and let Him talk to you through reading God's Word, The Holy Bible.