We're all on a search for God. During this series, we're going to look at some of the things we often find ourselves searching for when it comes to our relationship with the Lord

 What does God think about you?

1. God loves you, and He likes you, even though He knows you.

Ephesians 1:5 NLT "God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure."

Your redemption is God's dream come true.

2. God is not mad at you.

Colossians 1:19-20 NLT "For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross."

Feeling that God is mad at you is not logical in light of the cross. If you feel God is still angry at you because of your sin, you are believing a lie.

Why don't we feel God's approval sometimes?

1. Our conscience is condemned.

Hebrews 10:22 NLT "Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean..."

The Bible talks about having 1. Clean/clear/good conscience—when you're at peace with your behavior, 2. Guilty/condemned/defiled conscience—when you feel conviction over your behavior, 3. Seared/branded/burned conscience—when you don't feel bad about your bad behavior.

Holy Christians are happy Christians. Pure Christians are at peace 

2. We're looking at circumstances.

Romans 8:35 "Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

What's happening around you is not an accurate reflection of how God feels about you.

 3. We're focused on feelings.

How you feel about God isn't an accurate reflection of how God feels about you.

Ephesians 4:26 NLT: "don't sin by letting anger control you."

Emotions must be monitored, because they're not always accurate.

Don't mistake God's silence for God's absence.

 4. We haven't dealt with our past.

The value of a $100 bill doesn't change based on how it was previously used.

God has not only forgiven but forgotten our sin.

Isaiah 43:25 NLT "I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again."

How often do you think about a bill you've already paid? You don't. That's how often God thinks about your forgiven sin: He doesn't.

***Are you searching for God's approval?