When We Practice Real Love

1 John 3:11-24 (The Message)

¹¹For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.
 ^12-13We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.
 ^14-15The way we know we've been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn't love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together.
 ^16-17This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

When We Practice Real Love

 ^18-20My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.  ^21-24And friends, once that's taken care of and we're no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we're bold and free before God! We're able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we're doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God's command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.

What Marvelous Love...

1 John 3 (The Message)

 ¹ What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we're called children of God! That's who we really are. But that's also why the world doesn't recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he's up to.  ^2-3But friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the beginning. Who knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus' life as a model for our own.
 ^4-6All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God's order. Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program. No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They've got him all backward.
 ^7-8So, my dear children, don't let anyone divert you from the truth. It's the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil's ways.
 ^9-10People conceived and brought into life by God don't make a practice of sin. How could they? God's seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It's not in the nature of the God-begotten to practice and parade sin. Here's how you tell the difference between God's children and the Devil's children: The one who won't practice righteous ways isn't from God, nor is the one who won't love brother or sister. A simple test.
 ¹¹For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.
 ^12-13We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.
 ^14-15The way we know we've been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn't love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together.
 ^16-17This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

When We Practice Real Love

 ^18-20My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.  ^21-24And friends, once that's taken care of and we're no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we're bold and free before God! We're able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we're doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God's command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.

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Seek

"Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, have never abandoned anyone who searches for you." Psalm 9:10 (NLT) 

We are all seeking for something.  For some it is happiness.  For some, peace.  For some, fortune or fame, recognition for who we are, someone special, someone unique.  We all want to be important.  We all want our lives to mean something.  Many don't even care what it means as long as they don't fade into oblivion.  They act out, show off, cave in, or give up.  Some strike out and do horrible things.  For their five seconds of fame...

This world is a mixed up self centered place for most people.  They have no purpose or direction, no reason for their existence, no peace.  There is a saying that most of you have heard or seen on a bumper sticker.  "No Jesus, No Peace.  Know Jesus, Know Peace."

Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  That is all of us.  Without Him, we don't know what to do when something tragic occurs.  Without Him, we struggle and grasp and try to cope with all of the cruelty, injustice, violence, and sadness in the world. Without Him, we become depressed, confused, hopeless, useless.

Through Jesus, we have everything!  Without Him, nothing.  No matter how little or much you have, you have nothing without Him.  No matter how little or much you do, you have nothing without Him.  We won't find real happiness, true peace, new hope, or our life's meaning without Him.   We need to stop looking in all the wrong places for the answers to the questions that we have.  We need to seek answers from the only source of truth, and love, and peace, and hope that really exists in the world.

"Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing!— came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn't put it out."  John 1:3 (The Message)

"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.  When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."  Jeremiah 29:11-13 (The Message)

"My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live Him. You're deeply rooted in Him. You're well constructed upon Him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving. Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in Him, so you can see and hear Him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without Him. When you come to Him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything."  Colossians 2:7-9 (The Message)

"Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long;  we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:34-39 (NIV)

Dear Lord,  Thank you for what You have done for us.  Thank you that nothing shall ever separate us from Your love.

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This is the Land of the Truly Free...

Please watch the You Tube video also posted today entitled "Did you Feel the Mountains Tremble?" and worship the Lord.  Open up the door and let the music play.  Let the music penetrate your heart and bring you to His throne room.  And then read these verses all of the way through.  Let them speak to you and change you and make you truly free.

"'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has compassion on you." Isaiah 54:10 (NIV)  

Psalm 34

¹ I bless God every chance I get;
  my lungs expand with his praise.

 ² I live and breathe God;

   if things aren't going well, hear this and be happy:

 ³ Join me in spreading the news;

   together let's get the word out.

 ⁴ God met me more than halfway,

   he freed me from my anxious fears.

 ⁵ Look at him; give him your warmest smile.

   Never hide your feelings from him.

 ⁶ When I was desperate, I called out,

   and God got me out of a tight spot.

 ⁷ God's angel sets up a circle

   of protection around us while we pray.

 ⁸ Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—

         how good God is.

   Blessed are you who run to him.

 ⁹ Worship God if you want the best;

   worship opens doors to all his goodness.

 ¹⁰ Young lions on the prowl get hungry,

   but God-seekers are full of God.

 ¹¹ Come, children, listen closely;

   I'll give you a lesson in God worship.

 ¹² Who out there has a lust for life?

   Can't wait each day to come upon beauty?

 ¹³ Guard your tongue from profanity,

   and no more lying through your teeth.

 ¹⁴ Turn your back on sin; do something good.

   Embrace peace—don't let it get away!

 ¹⁵ God keeps an eye on his friends,

   his ears pick up every moan and groan.

 ¹⁶ God won't put up with rebels;

   he'll cull them from the pack.

 ¹⁷ Is anyone crying for help? God is listening,

   ready to rescue you.

 ¹⁸ If your heart is broken, you'll find God right there;

   if you're kicked in the gut, he'll help you catch your breath.

 ¹⁹ Disciples so often get into trouble;

   still, God is there every time.

 ²⁰ He's your bodyguard, shielding every bone;

   not even a finger gets broken.

 ²¹ The wicked commit slow suicide;

   they waste their lives hating the good.

 ²² God pays for each slave's freedom;

   no one who runs to him loses out.  (The Message)

"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;  they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  Lamentations 3:21-23 (ESV)

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."  John 8:36 (ESV)

Amen to that!  Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Thanksgiving holiday!  "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.  His love endures forever."  1 Chronicles 16:34 (NIV)

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Will You be Sleeping?

Please be sure to watch the You Tube video and song entitled "While You were Sleeping" by Casting Crowns also posted today.

Recently, I was thinking and praying and I was struck by the amazing complexity of God's plan of redemption.  I was thinking about the coming Christmas season (which starts October 1st in our house!  We don't do Halloween...) and was thinking about the verses in Micah 5:2-5 which says, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,  though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth.  He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace."  (NIV)

From Ancient times God has had a plan to redeem mankind and He chose to do it in a way that would make the whole world take notice.  He selected a people, from the beginning, and through this people His work would be accomplished.  A savior would come, a ruler of "My people, Israel."  He would be both Son of Man and Son of God and His teaching would be different than any other the world had ever heard.  He would preach a message of unconditional love and forgiveness to every willing heart and then He would die an agonizing death to secure eternal life for the whosoevers of the  whole world.  As it says in John 3:10-21, "'You are Israel's teacher,' said Jesus, 'and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.  Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (NIV)

A band of disciples would begin to follow Him.  They would have very little faith and as they watched Him die on a wooden cross, they would run and hide and even deny that they had ever known Him. When He appeared to them in the upper room after His resurrection, and then appeared to more than 500 others, their faith began to grow.  The day of Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit would bring them comfort and power that they did not previously know.  They became a group of men on fire who would spread the "good news" of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth so that all mankind could be saved.  And they would almost all die a martyr's death (all except for John) so strong was their faith.  See also http://www.ccel.org/f/foxe/martyrs/fox101.htm

Unfortunately, not everyone believed.  False religions, counterfeits arose.  Our adversary, the devil, was at work immediately, trying to thwart God's amazing plan.  It was difficult for me to understand when I was a young believer why he would work so hard when he knew in the end he would fail.  Then I realized that he wanted to take down as many as he could and prevent as many as he could from hearing and understanding the truth in the first place.  Again unfortunately, he has been more successful than I would have imagined.

Last night my husband was doing his Bible study for Bible Study Fellowship and asked me when I thought the last days had begun.  I stated that I believed that the last days had been going on for approximately 2000 years now.  Jesus has promised to return and although the time seems long and every age has thought His return imminent, God is incredibly patient as it says in 2 Peter:8-10,  "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed."  2 Peter 3:8-10 (ESV)

And now, like a theif in the night He will come again:  "Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.  So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him."  1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 (ESV)

"Up on your feet! Take a deep breath! Maybe there's life in you yet. But I wouldn't know it by looking at your busywork; nothing of God's work has been completed. Your condition is desperate. Think of the gift you once had in your hands, the Message you heard with your ears—grasp it again and turn back to God. If you pull the covers back over your head and sleep on, oblivious to God, I'll return when you least expect it, break into your life like a thief in the night."  Revelation 3:1-3 (The Message)  Will you be sleeping?  Will you go down in history as a heart that has no room for its Savior?

Dear Lord,   Make us a watchful people.  Help us to be on the lookout for Your return, not asleep and unaware.  Thank you for the precious plan of Your redemption of mankind.  Help us to be ready and to help others to be ready.  Thank you for Your patience with us and that You desire that none should perish but that all should come to repentance.  Open our eyes to Your love.

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More Than Conquerors

 Romans 8:26-39 (NIV)

 ²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
 ²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.  ³¹What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶As it is written:  "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Dear Lord,  Thank you for these precious promises.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!   Amen, Lord Jesus!

Your Love Broke Through

Sometimes what we really need is just to have the Lord break through the hard enamel we have coated ourselves with. We apply layer after layer until our exterior is so shiny and hard that it feels like we will crack when we try to smile; we feel all shaky and nasty inside and fake on the outside. We keep applying the stuff around ourselves when we are hurt or sad or lonely, when we are disappointed or upset or sinful. We are trying to protect ourselves but all we end up doing is keeping the One who can help us out and all of the bad stuff in. We don't know how to deal with how we feel, so we find some way not to feel it...

When God's love breaks through our self erected walls, I won't kid you, it is painful. We need to ask Him for His forgiveness and for His peace. And the more we have coated or built up around ourselves, the more painful it can be when it all comes crashing down. We need to be real with God and with ourselves. We need to feel the pain and hand it over to God. Once we hand it over to Him, we can get past it but we probably won't ever get over it. Masking the pain is never productive. We mask it, hide from it, run from it, blame someone else for it, get angry over it, sugar coat it, glaze it over and surround it with things that make it look better than it actually is. What we seldom do is deal with it. Honesty is the best policy. First, we need to be honest with ourselves and then we need to be honest with God who sees it all. "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)

"Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart." Psalm 36:5-10 (NIV)

Dear Lord, Let Your love break through to our hardened hearts. Help us to be softened toward You and Your love. Teach us to feel our pain instead of masking it or decorating it. Let us lay everything at Your feet and help us to leave it there, Lord. Forgive us and heal us. Help us to be honest with ourselves, with others and with You...

Redeeming Love has been My Theme and Shall be 'til I Die

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:10 (NASB) The atonement of our sins comes through the precious blood of the Lamb. The debt that we owe fell on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who gladly laid down His life for us. He paid a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.

Feeling like a broken record isn't necessarily a bad thing. God's word says, "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." Deuteronomy 4:9 (NIV) It also says, "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes." Deuteronomy 6:6-8 (ESV) We should be speaking of the great blessings He has poured out on us continually and we should not be ashamed of having the "theme" for our lives be His redeeming love. He wants our lives to be focused on Him. He wants us to focus the lives of others, our children, our families, our neighbors, our friends, our communities, and even those in far off places that we do not know, on Him...

How shall we do this? We must make Him and only Him the center of our lives. We must make His redeeming love the theme of our lives. And we must keep that theme as the very esscence of life for our whole lives. We cannot have Him as the focus and be selfish people. We cannot have Him as the focus and still make unscriptural choices, or be hurtful and mean to others. We cannot have Him as the focus and continue to go out and do things our own way! We have to listen to Him and make things right. We have to ask forgiveness when we make a mistake and live in such a way..."Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16 (NASB) "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." Romans 14:8 (NIV) We need to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit who convicts our hearts of wrongdoing and we should live so the people around us can see the Lord. "But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:7 (NIV)

1 Peter 1:17-19 says, "Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." (NIV)

"Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of Thy countenance. In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted." Psalm 89:14-16 (KJV)

Dear Lord, Make us to walk in the light as You are in the light. Let our theme always be Your redeeming love and let us walk in a manner worthy of the calling You have given us for if You are lifted up, You will draw all men to You.

Who am I?

"What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8:4 (NIV)

"Just as a father has compassion of his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him, for He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust." Psalm 103:13-14 (NASB)

"How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand..." Psalm139:17-18a (NASB)

Who am I that the Lord of the universe would think of me and yet, in Psalm 139, David proclaims that God's thoughts toward us are vast and would outnumber the sand! Okay! I would ask, "The sand on one shore or all the shores in the world??" And God would laugh and say, "Does it really matter? Can you count the sand on even one shore?" He would also tell me that I ask too many questions!

When I would answer the question, "Who am I?" I would more than likely say, "I'm nobody. Who are you? Are you nobody, too?" (Emily Dickinson)or "A voice crying in the wilderness" (John the Baptist). But mostly I feel like these words from Eugene Peterson's book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction ring true:

"The person of faith is not a person who has been born, luckily, with a good digestion and sunny disposition. The assumption by outsiders that Christians are naive or protected is the opposite of the truth: Christians know more about the deep struggles of life than others, more about the ugliness of sin...

We speak our words of praise in a world that is hellish; we sing our songs of victory in a world where things get messy; we live our joy among people who neither understand nor encourage us. But the content of our lives is God, not humanity. We are not scavenging in the dark alleys of the world, poking in its garbage cans for a bare subsistence. We are traveling in the light, toward God who is rich in mercy and strong to save. It is Christ, not culture, that defines our lives. It is the help we experience, not the hazards we risk, that shapes our days." And I would add, answers the question, "Who am I?"

John says, "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." 1 John 4:16 (NASB) When we begin to understand the love a parent has for a child, then we also begin to scratch the surface of God's love for us. As it says in 1 John 3:1, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." God has lavished His love on us! What is our worth to Him? "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" Romans 8:31-32 (NASB)

"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:21-23 (ESV) The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases to amaze me!

Who am I? I am His...

Dear Lord, I love You and I am so thankful that You love me...Thank you that You gave Your Son that I might know who I am in You.

No Matter What Happens, I'll Still be Loving You

Dear Lord, No matter what comes my way, whether it be heartbreak, confusion, disease, disappointment, persecution, poverty, pain, suffering, difficulties, injustice, or death, I'll still be loving You. You alone are faithful and true. You alone will never leave me nor forsake me. You alone will always love me, always save me. Even if I cry tears of sorrow and walk through the dark valley of suffering, You will always be there for me, healing me. You will never turn Your back on me. You will teach me to walk as You walk as long as I continue on Your path. Please let nothing distract me from Your truth and Your love. No Matter what happens, I'll still be loving You...

Life is sweet and beautiful not because it is easy, but because I have a Savior who loves me no matter what.

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:4-9 (NASB)

God is Love

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." 1 John 4:7-8 (NASB)

"Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, 'FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.' But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39 (NASB)

Nothing can separate us from the love of God! That is a promise that I hold on to with all of my might! Won't you hold on to it, too?

Thank you, Jesus, for this assurance! I pray, Lord, that this would be cemented in all of our hearts...

Have a wonderful weekend!