Publisher's Synopsis
Victory Fellowship Groups Workbooks guide us into fulfilling what has always been God's plan - that we, the Body of Christ would be instruments of His love in action giving, relating, praying, forgiving, helping, serving, healing, accepting, trusting, confessing, breaking bread, sharing our stories and growing in His Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. VFG is an inspirational, transforming series of workbooks/discipleship tools for small Christian groups, couples and families. Each VFG workbook integrates Christian Fellowship and Safe Communication Skills with Scripture, creating a safe, supportive environment where each person's thoughts and feelings are validated, each person is accepted and valued, each person senses a worthiness for love and healthy relationships. This personal validation and sense of self-worth strengthens our trust, faith and confidence, inspiring us to more earnestly explore scripture and apply it to our character growth and to our relationships.
God is love (1 John 4). Jesus, God in flesh (John 1: 1 & 14) thus, is love and the Bible refers to us as the Body of Christ. Thus we the church, the Body of Christ, we are to be love - serving, caring for, loving others, all others. God's spirit living in us, the Body of Christ, is His spirit of love and truth. This is a beautiful aspect of who we are, being designed/created (Genesis) by God (Love) in His image (Love). We will never experience personal fulfillment, nor find enduring peace outside of sincere love relationships (Romans 12: 4-21). Love is our highest expression of who we are and why we exist. The problem is, there is a constant battle going on between love and fear.
Fear is the underlying root cause of most of our self-centered behaviors and unhealthy emotions. Our victory is that God's love, which lives in us, drives out fear (1 John 4: 18). We, the Body of Christ defeat fear in each other with love, forgiveness, grace, kindness. There is no fear in love (1 John).
The way, the answer is Jesus, love, encouragement, kindness, compassion - not how well we perform, who has status, who is correct nor who has the most knowledge. Education, intelligence, status, wealth, beauty, talent, eloquence; all is inferior to love. Love is patient and kind; it is neither critical nor controlling. Jesus, love, is the way, the truth and the life.
