Bible Truth Foundations
Part 3 of 3: Serving in Christ
Please begin by answering this question honestly in your own words.
Think of a time you felt a sudden, unexplained pull to help, comfort or speak to someone you barely knew. What did you do with that prompting, and what stopped you or moved you?
Philemon 1:6
That the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
Read this slowly before moving on. The flow this lesson describes starts here: with acknowledging what is already true, not with manufacturing something new.
The central idea of this lesson
God’s love is not something you work up. It is something already placed in you by the Holy Spirit, waiting to be acknowledged and released.
Every believer already has "every good thing" in Christ Jesus placed within them. The starting point is not manufacturing love or compassion through willpower; it is recognising what the Holy Spirit has already deposited. Andrew Wommack describes this first step as being like "ringing a bell" rather than building something from nothing.
1 John 4:7-8
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
God’s love, once poured into the heart, is meant to move outward, not stay contained. This is not a suggestion for especially spiritual believers; it is the ordinary nature of anyone born of God.
Not every strong feeling toward another person is the divine flow. Supernatural compassion can be told apart from ordinary sentiment, sympathy, or self-interested attraction by testing it against the description of love in 1 Corinthians 13.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil.
Going Deeper
Wommack’s teaching draws a careful line between emotional sympathy and the divine flow. Sympathy can be self-focused; it often centres on how the situation makes you feel. The divine flow is always aimed outward, toward the other person’s genuine good, and it is tested by whether it actually looks like 1 Corinthians 13 in practice, not merely by its intensity.
Jesus modelled the divine flow constantly. Before He acted, He felt something first.
Matthew 14:14
And Jesus went out and saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
Feeling compassion is the start of the flow, not its completion. The flow is not finished until it is released in a word, a touch, or an action, the way Jesus released His compassion in healing, and the way He released forgiveness itself from the cross.
Luke 23:34
Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
Note
The flow is designed to reach the other person, not stop at recognition. Withholding the word or deed once prompted leaves the flow incomplete, whatever was genuinely felt in the moment.
Work through these on your own before your group meets. Type your answers directly into the table below. Your answers are saved automatically in your browser.
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| Question | My Answer | Group Discussion Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Describe a specific moment when you sensed a prompting to show love or compassion to someone. What did you do? | ||
| How would you use 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 to test whether a feeling is the divine flow or something else? | ||
| Philemon 1:6 says "every good thing" is already in you in Christ. What does that change about how you approach showing love to others? | ||
| What is one prompting you have felt recently but not yet acted on? What would completing that flow look like this week? |
These questions are designed for open conversation at any level of experience. There are no trick questions and no single correct answer.
The divine flow is not a truth to admire from a distance; it is meant to move through you into someone else’s life this week.
| Context | How I Apply This |
|---|---|
| Personal life | Before your next opportunity to help someone, pause and name what you are sensing: is this compassion that matches 1 Corinthians 13, or something else? Practise the discernment, not just the doing. |
| Church community | Choose one prompting you have been sitting on and follow it through in a word, a touch, or a practical act, however small, for someone in your church community this week. |
| Difficult seasons | When compassion feels hard to access in a difficult season of your own, read through one Gospel account of Jesus healing or helping someone and let His pattern, compassion first, then action, recalibrate your own. |
| Scripture to carry | Memorise Philemon 1:6: "That the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." Carry it as the reminder that the flow starts with acknowledgment, not effort. |
Tap each card to reveal the answer.
What is the "divine flow"?
Philemon 1:6
"That the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus."
Philemon 1:6
What is God’s own nature, according to 1 John?
1 John 4:8
"He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."
1 John 4:8
What test distinguishes divine compassion from self-interest?
1 Corinthians 13:4
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up."
1 Corinthians 13:4
What did Jesus feel before He healed the multitudes?
Matthew 14:14
"And Jesus went out and saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick."
Matthew 14:14
What did Jesus pray for those crucifying Him?
Luke 23:34
"Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’"
Luke 23:34
Why do we love, according to John?
1 John 4:19
"We love Him because He first loved us."
1 John 4:19