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We’re going to read chapter 1 and 2 this week, so today I wanted to lead those of you who are ready to go with me to the next chapter.
From Chapter 2, A Confident Heart
“Jesus knew Sam’s (the Samaritan woman’s) story and He knows yours. The Greek word for “know” is yada. It means a deep emotional experience; a bonding between two people when one truly feels the emotions of the other. Jesus knows your pain, fears, doubts, and disappointments. He understands your dreams and desires.
Although some of us feel uncomfortable that God knows so much about us, it is good to be known, to be listened to and not judged. Jesus is the only One who can meet our deepest needs to be accepted and delighted in simply because of who we are. We can offer nothing but our presence, and He will desire us just the same…”
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Our word this week is “Known”
Our verse of the week is Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…” (NIV)
This week’s video message is below. Please click the arrow to watch it – all the way through. You’ll be so glad you did.
(from video script)
I WANT TO BE KNOWN
I want someone to look at my face
And not just see two eyes, a nose,
a mouth and two ears
But to see all that I am, and could be
all my hopes, loves and fears…
And YOU know me
You actually know me
all of me and everything about me
Every thought inside and hair on top of my head
Every hurt stored up, every hope, every dread
My past and my future, all I am and could be
You tell me everything,
You tell me about ME
And that which is spoken by another would bring hate and condemnation
Coming from Youu brings love, grace, mercy, hope and salvation
I’ve heard of One to come
who could save a wretch like me
And here in my presence, You say
I AM HE…
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Today’s Assignment:
- Download Free Printable PDF of this week’s word and verse — or find it here in a Word doc format. Please print it and post it everywhere so you can remember God KNOWs YOU and He loves you!!
- Read this week’s memory verse (Jeremiah 1:5). Ask God to remind you all week that He knows the way you long to be known, pursued and loved!
- Start or continue reading chapter 2. If you already did or you are just starting, read it slowly and highlight or underline sentences that resonate in your heart. Journal your thoughts if you want the lessons to stay with you.
Connect in Community:
What about today’s video or sentences in Chapter 2 resonate most with you?
- Please click “Share Your Thoughts” below this post and do just that. (REMEMER: If you are reading this via email, you will need to click here to go to my blog to watch the video and share in the comments section.)
- Optional: If you are on Facebook and/or Twitter, I’d love for you to share your favorite quotes on our Confident Heart Community Facebook Page and/or share them with me on Twitter (@reneesswope) I’d love to retweet them! Also let’s use #AConfidentHeart as our hashtag. 🙂
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I think this was a retelling of the woman at the well. It was powerful! I loved these phrases: “You tell me about Me.” “To be known is to be loved and to be loved is to be known.” It is awesome that God knows everything about us. We can go to him, and He already knows what it is we are going to talk about. Noone else in our life has this ability, and noone else in our life cares as much as He does! What a great and loving God we have 🙂
The phrase “Maybe you are like me; you have believed in Him for years – but you haven’t really believed him completely. At least you don’t always feel like His promises are true for you…….” That paragraph really hit me between the eyes. I lead small groups, work in ministry, yet struggle with perfectionism. I tell others they don’t have to be perfect and about the love of God… BUT, I don’t always apply it to my life. I don’t let down around people, I test their reaction with small things, to see if they are interested, but… then back off if I THINK they don’t really want to know. But to be reminded that God knows and God cares and that it DOES relate to me. It’s something I need to continue to let sink in… in a refreshed and new way. This was a good chapter for me and I look forward to what the next ones will be. Thank you!
I really need this book. I have been dealing with this issue my whole life. My entire thought process about myself is constantly negative. I am really dealing with this issue right now. I am a landman.Basically I research mineral interest in property for oil companies. I have a broker who looks for jobs for us. Today we were told the company we are working for is letting us go. I cannot help but wonder what I could have done to have kept my job. I feel as if the loss of this job is because I have done a bad job in some way. One of the landmen for the company we are working for emailed me today. We were already in contact with one another about some issues with a file I have been working on. He complimented me and told me I would make a good landman in the future because I was diligent. But it really doesn’t comfort me to know that he thinks these things. I often pray that God give me his eyes so I can see what he sees. Because I feel my problem might be solved with seeing what he sees in me because obviously my vision is messed up.
Kelly,
I know what you are talking about. I used to be my worst critic, I probably still am but God and I are working on it. My husband and I were just talking about this today. Whenever someone compliments me, or tells me I am doing something well, or even thank you. I follow up their comment with a “yeah, but….” I feel/felt like I don’t deserve their compliment, or they wouldn’t say that if they knew this or that, or don’t thank me yet I might still screw it up. I realized that God was trying to open my eyes to my self rejection. I reject others because I have been rejecting myself. God loves me, and He loves you. I pray that God will show us how He sees us, and will help us believe Him.
Trying to refuse to follow up compliments and love with a “yeah, but…”.
This chapter was really a revelation for me. I’ve always felt like my quiet time with God was for me to get to know God better, and for Him to share with me His desire for my life – for the way my day should go.
I’ve never thought about God knowing me. I mean, I know the verses that say He knows me, but I never thought about it on such a level as my desires, hopes, dreams.
Maybe I also saw it as God rewarding me. When I was good, I received one of those dreams that I had prayed for, but when I failed I felt God would leave me until I fixed myself.
Now I know that isn’t true. The next step is getting it from my head to my heart.
I hear you! I never thought about that either. Just like the idea of being pursued. I also thought like you that I was rewarded when I was good, but left on my own or even punished when I messed up.
My head knows the right thing but getting my heart to believe it and accept it is tough.
After answering the questions in Chapter 1, I realized that I am a confident woman whose greatest fear is making Jesus “LORD of my life. I want to, but ….. I know this will involve “taking up my cross”. This could involve going through trials and tribulations. I know God is always with me and will not “put more on me than I can bear”. My fear is that I will fail God, and not have enough faith to get me through.
Rose, do not fear failing God. Because we have nothing of ourselves to offer Him, we therefore have no expectations on His end that we must fulfill. It is all, everything, Christ alone. Christ in me, Christ through me to others. Many times people give cliches that trials or tribulations come only to test us. This is not true. Sometimes He allows things to come against us to show Himself courageous and Mighty on our behalf. Sometimes it has nothing to do with ourselves, and absolutely everything to do with Him. At least in my own personal life, there have been times I went through some really difficult trials. Ones where I felt so alone that even if I had one or two to walk alongside me, truth be told it was my path alone to walk with my own feet, therefore yes of course i “felt” alone doing so… but in those moments during those specific times God showed Himself faithful to me in ways no human ever could. He was “present” in a deeper level of comfort, of guidance, of wisdom, than I’d ever been able to know otherwise. Not because I showed myself faithful to Him, because i can’t. I never could. I always needed Jesus, I still need Jesus! I DO fail Him every day. that’s WHY I need the sacrifice of the cross every day, to cover my humanity. No matter if I try in great faith and fail MY expectations, or if I don’t try at all… either way, I still need the covering of the cross. Trying or not, I am not and will never be enough on my own. What freedom to know that God knows this and loves and accepts me anyway!!
If you think of the Israelites rescued from Egypt and brought to the wilderness… what was the purpose of the wilderness? I believe God God rescued them to get them out of Egypt, but the wilderness was to get Egypt out of THEM! The Wilderness, though scary and unfamiliar and requiring complete trust in Him wasn’t easy, but it was neccessary for them to come to know this great God again. He showed Himself faithful in providing a pillar of cloud by day (to cover from the heat of the desert) and a pillar of fire by night (to give warmth and light). They were given food everyday, and water that followed THEM, and in those 40 years their clothing never wore out. Not one sandal strap broke! Think of all of that. God so desperately desired to show them His heart, His tender care for them. That He was and is MORE than large showy miracles on their behalf. He is IN the small everyday miracles too. 400 years they had been entrapped in a slavery and didn’t know Him. He wanted them to know His heart again. And could they bring any of this to pass? No, only God could. It’s His doing and our willingness to follow Him there. So don’t fear your crosses. They are meant to show a side of Himself that you would not have the honor of seeing or knowing in any other way. It isn’t always about our failures, many times it’s about His great love. He wants you to see those depths. To know those comforts. To know intimacy.
Amen to all of that!!!
I wish there was a like button here. Thank you, for your words.
Thank you for reminding me that “we have nothing of ourselves to offer Him. I know IT IS ALL JESUS. In chapter 2 Renee says, “The only way we’ll have a confident heart is if we move beyond knowing about God to KNOWING and relying on Him – to depend on His Word with our whole heart, mind, and soul …….” I do not want to be like the rich young ruler who was not willing to give up everything and have eternal life. (Mark 10:17-22) I am saved, but I have not given up everything Jesus told the rich man to. I believe we do have something to offer God, that is to put God above everyone and everything we love. Just like Job did. The trials he faced were not from God, but Satan. Job endured to the end. My fear is that I won’t be able to “endure” like Job did.
I believe this is God’s perfect will for all who have been saved. I believe we do have something we can offer Him – ourselves “completely”. Jesus expected this from the rich man and from His disciples. Why shouldn’t he expect it from us, too?
Rose Ann
“…but we are worth His love because He chose to give it to us.” I loved this in Ch. 2.
The thought of God knowing everything about me is comforting but it is also shameful for me. To think that He knows EVERYTHING I have ever thought, done, said etc makes me want to crawl under a rock. I try to hide it all away but He knows. I am ashamed and I can’t seem to get past my past. I don’t know why I hold onto it. It only makes me doubt.
Today, Lord, I am releasing my past to You. I give it to You. I give You all the ugly. I give You all the sin, all my pain, my doubt and my shame. Please fill the voids in my heart. Help me to accept Your perfect love and grace. I know that I am not worthy but You want me anyway. So, I come to You, flaws and all. Fill me with Your love and mercy. Help me to stop doubting Your love and forgiveness. Help me to accept that perfection is unattainabIe. Help me see that nothing I can do will earn or take away Your love. You won’t turn Your back on me. Help me to give up on trying to to win You over. My deeds are nothing. All You want is all of me. Here I am Lord.
“For to be known is to be loved and to be loved is to be known”. I am relaxing in this thought today.
Amen!
Good for your Sarah!
Amen! Thank you so much for sharing this, Sarah! God bless you richly!
I just love reading about this but feel like as a new Christian
( less than 5 yrs), I need a constant reminder as I go back to my habitual ways of thinking. Self absorbed, pathetic and hopeless at times. Alot of times I am joyful and try to glorify Him as I know He is the reason. But when I am so exhausted and lonely, i get caught up in those emotions and forget Who’s I am. I am hoping this study helps me. Thanks Renee!
I remember growing up and the misconception I had of my Heavenly Father. I was certain I could never keep all of the “rules” that were laid out by my church. I often viewed God as a harsh taskmaster whom I could never please, let alone have a deep personal relationship with. Therefore, I was destined to end up rejected by Him, because of my many failures. UNTIL….He revealed to my heart that I was not a step-daughter, but a daughter. I was not a slave that worked for Him, but I was a joint-heir to all He had. I no longer had to use the rear entrance into His house, but my “daughter-ship” (is that even a word?..LOL) gave me rights to walk in through the front door! I am glad He KNOWS me!!
Sorry…two other thoughts. It is AMAZING how God will speak to you with your own words. Last week in Sunday School I said “As Christians, we are supposed to be different and some people just can’t handle it.”. Hello!
This week, a co-worker was confiding in me because her long term boyfriend left over something stupid. She is still so heartbroken. One of the things I said to her (thank you God!) was “Boys leave, men stay.”. What an eye opener!
While I still have periods of doubt, especially when I am alone, God is healing me. I had read”A Confident Heart” a few months ago, but this bible study is needed more because I need healing through HIM. Thank you Renee for not only writing this book, but leading this study to help us HEAL.
The video…WOW! To have her to say, ” to be loved is to be known.” hits hard and home.
One day not too long ago, I was crying to my best friend because of my breakup with my boyfriend and one of the things I said to her was, “I feel like the Samaritian woman at the well”. One thing she pointed out to me was “Sam” left her water pot at the well, she didn’t pick her burdens back up and carry them back with her. Leave that old mess behind, she says! Simple? Well, sometimes.
I love how we are using the arts to reach others with such powerful words. I shared this video on FB for others as well. To be loved and known so deeply is what we all really desire. Unfortunately we look for it in the wrong places and with the wrong people(myself included!). How wonderful would it be to look to God to fill this need and be filled by Him?! That is what I am working on at this point in my life and feel I need most at this time in my life. I was married for 25 yrs, have 4 beautiful children and just ended a battle of a divorce that took 7yrs. I have been questioning so much and looking for acceptance in all the wrong places and ending up hurt every time. I love the fact that God knows me, my faults, my sins, my heart and He still loves me and is so patient with me as I grow and learn. Even if it seems I am growing and learning very slowly! lol It is comforting and freeing that I don’t have to pretend to be perfect or someone I’m not to please Him or for Him to love me, And I love that!!! Thank you for doing this study. I do feel God lead me to this to help me understand Him more!
I too shared on FB!
wow! I need to reread chapter 2. That hit way to close to home for me. An amazing chapter filled with words that I needed to hear. It stung, but it needed to. I needed to be reminded of so many things. One of the many lies I, and many others, have grown to believe is “…we find ourselves in the shadows of doubt, convinced that we aren’t worth knowing or pursuing.” In the margin I wrote in big letters “I AM WORTH KNOWING, I JUST HAVE TO LET PEOPLE IN” This is huge for me. Before beginning this study I believed with my whole heart that I was not worth knowing. This is so false! I am worth knowing. We are ALL WORTH KNOWING!
– “He is there waiting for us in the midst of our imperfect lives, when our pain and failures confirm self doubts”. In the margins I wrote that although our lives may seem on the outside imperfect, they are perfect in God’s eyes because this is HOW HE DESTINED IT. HE is the one that knows our mind, knows our soul, knows our heart, and loves us the same. If HE can love us the same after knowing all that He does, we better believe we are worth knowing!
The major point I pulled out, which ties to the above is that to be known is to be loved. If I ever want to experience the love from people I deserve, I have to let them in. If I let them in, I have to be willing to share my life with them. If I ever expect others to love me for me, I have to let them in and see me for me. I can’t hide behind the doubts, behind the what ifs and behind my imperfections.
I honestly wanted to underline everything in this chapter! Great words!!
I felt like I should underline the whole chapter too!
In one of my counseling classes, the teacher gave this metaphor of picturing our lives as an auditorium in which we were standing in the center on a stage. She then proposed the question: “Who is in the audience? Who are you performing for?” The correct answer should ONLY be JESUS, but it rarely is, is it??
Ever since then, my sister and I always rebuke each other with the phrase, “Audience of One!” when we hear the other one getting worked up over how others are perceiving us 🙂
I love that metaphor! Thank you for sharing!! 🙂
You are so welcome! My sister’s name is Erica so I often say, “Audience of One, Erica!” 😉
That’s awesome! I told my husband the metaphor and he loves it too. Like another poster said, we are going to be implementing it into our family as well.
I love this! It’s so hard to explain to your kids that pleasing others is not necessary. Going to implement this in our family!
Gosh I needed that metaphor too!!!
My husband has been struggling with a difficult decision. The reason it was difficult it because he was worried about what others, our friends, would think. I asked him, “Who are you doing this for Jesus, or others?” He knew right then the answer to his delimma. I like your metaphor too!
I was reading the story of “Sam” and noticed some things that I hadn’t noticed before. First of all, Jesus sent the disciples away before He addressed her. I immediately thought about all of the noise in my life that attempts to keep me from getting still and quiet before Him. It was necessary that all of that be gone before He could talk to her.
Sam says essentially to Him, “Please give me this Living Water so that I can stop coming back to this place over and over again! I am tired”- that resonates deeply with my cry out to Him as well. I am so tired of thinking that I have been delivered from myself only to find myself in the same place again and again.
Then, Jesus immediately pointed out the thing that she probably most wished that He would not; her deepest source of shame and pain. She quickly became legalistic and pointed to specifics having to do with worship and even kind of tried to put blame on the Jews for her situation…almost insinuating that because she couldn’t worship that maybe that’s why her life is in such shambles. I think about how people are so angry with the church and other Christians and so often use that as an excuse for why they aren’t growing in their faith or being a part of the Body of Christ. I think about all of the petty arguments and debates over doctrine…all of this serves to separate rather than unify.
Jesus then responds by basically telling her that the real issue of worship was inward and spiritual and had nothing to do with outward rituals of any kind and that she wasn’t understanding.
He didn’t tell her this without providing hope though. He included her in the future description of TRUE worship that was internal and spiritual. He left her with a promise of who HE was and a picture of deliverance!
I wish I had time to read through every comment on this thread. I just don’t, In fact, I am finding it difficult right now to find the time to even read the chapters and still haven’t read chapter 2 yet.
I started reading the comments, though, and was struck by the conversation about salvation assurance. I too struggle SO much with that. I don’t feel close to God and don’t feel as though I have anything to offer him. I struggle with depression and an autoimmune disease and self hatred and a whole list of other things that I hate that are in my life. Last night I watched a dvd of a James macDonald series and it was on sin and repentance and he asked what was in our lives that we just hate the fact that it is there…then he said once we identify it, to ask God to help us rid our lives of that. I was so overwhelmed with my list of things that I feel that I am too far gone for even God. Yet, I love Jesus and want to do what he wants me to do. This is such a difficult place to be in and I was at least reassured that I am not the only one who feels this way.
No, you are not the only one who feels this way! I have struggled for decades, knowing I am saved, but doubting I am really valuable. My family has had some struggles this past year that have in a providential way pushed me further into the arms of Jesus. And it has been a work of God, and an act of obedience, but I am learning to allow God to really touch my heart, and to heal some old hurts that still have an invisible hold on me. Thank you for sharing “my thoughts” on your post.
I just jumped into this study this week so my book hasn’t arrived yet. I can’t wait to read chapter 2. The video is wonderful.
Thank you everyone for being so vulnerable and open because it gives me permission to be the same. And I so need that. I’ve followed Christ for 40 years now and He has never failed me. However, here I am a grandmother and I still struggle daily with doubts and insecurities. I know God’s word can be depended upon, but can I really hope to gain victory over condemnation, insecurity and a general feeling that I can’t be good enough, once and for all??!!
Thank you Renee (and everyone) for this opportunity to join with you in prayer and growth!
The sentences that effected me are following:
An outcast a failure a disappointment, a sinner.
You whisper and tell me to my face what all those glances have been about
Coming from you brings love, grace, mercy, hope and salvation
These are taken from separate parts of the poem, but when combined I feel like they tell my story. I was thinking about the humiliation I felt when I was publicly embarrassed and criticized when I was in junior high by my best friends father. He did not do it himself, he encouraged someone else to do it. I have carried around a feeling of shame for years. I am now 33, but as an adult I realize it was not even a big deal. I felt like I was being told I was not good enough to be his daughter’s friend. I think that was my first rejection. We tried to remain friends, but I did not trust her family anymore. I felt like her father was upset when he saw me in his home. I have been shown that it was not me, but her father’s insecurities and fear that caused him to sabotage our friendship. But he is just a person, he is not God. His opinion of me does not cause it to be true. No person’s opinion of me is as important as what God says of me. For many years I have believed I am not “good enough”, I don’t “deserve” compliments, I even insult and degrade myself. I now listen to Jesus, and what He says about me. Like this poem, even when I did/do sin, the conviction from Him is not condemning, but is full of love, grace, mercy, hope and salvation.
Oh, that’s good…it reminds me of a line in “Hinds’ Feet on High Places”:
“Love is beautiful but it is also terrible- terrible in its determination to allow nothing blemished or unworthy to remain in the beloved” “When she remembered this, Much-Afraid thought with a little shiver in her heart, ‘He will never be content until He makes me what He is determined I ought to be,’ and because she was still Much-Afraid and not yet ready to change her name, she added with a pang of fear, ‘I wonder what He plans to do next, and if it will hurt very much indeed?'”
In reading chapter 2 I’m reminded of something one of my daughter’s professors at college said, ‘He loves me just the way I am, but too much to leave me that way’. I repeat that to myself often.
I’m doing my chapter 2 questions, and on number 5, I’m really struggling. I am nobody special. I don’t help me community, I don’t volunteer, I just work and take care of my family. I don’t have any special talents that I can use to help people. I’m just me. So why would Jesus care so much about me? I am mostly content to stay invisible. Well, maybe not, since I’m here and doing this study! But if I never do anything good, why does Jesus want to pay attention to me? Why would he waste his time like that? There are billions of other good people, innocent people, children, all over that really deserve his time more than I do! I know I am not saved by anything that I have done or will do. I just don’t get why I’m so important.
Oh, and I’m not sure that I want to be known that fully.
He knew your worth before you were ever born, you are the only person who can be you. You are the only one who can care for your family. You have talents and abilities that you are not seeing, ask Jesus to reveal them to show them to you to help you not only recognize what the are but to help you build upon them, explore them and to trust him to apply them where he wants. Keep studying Gods word and ask God to show you through his word, why you are so important to him, and why HE DOES LOVE YOU!!
Be blessed!
Kristina the above response is for you!