• http://lockwoodchurch.org/media (Listening time: 25:36)

The singer Carolyn Arrends was warned by her friend not to make a purchase that seemed to be too good to be true. She ignored him and suffered the consequences. Then she began avoiding him because she didn’t want him to know what she’d done. She started thinking of him as someone who was against her, not for her.

The same thing happens between us and God. Our idea of him gets distorted. We start to see him as against us, not for us; as a taker, not a giver.

But God is for us, not against us (Romans 8:31-39). He is not just a giver, he is The Giver.