God is Love
Your loving obedience toward God today will affect the lives of your children tomorrow.
“Know therefore that the Lord your God…keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.”
Deuteronomy 7:9
LOVING AS JESUS DID
We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made
perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:16-17).
Note the last part of this passage. John tells us we are now living as the Lord
lived: forgiving and loving our enemies.
There is nothing left in us of revenge,
of grudges, of racial prejudice—nothing to condemn us. And now we must know
and fully believe the love of God toward us.
“Herein 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).
Do you see what Johnis saying?
Our love for God is a given, but perfect love also means knowing and
believing God’s love toward us.
Moreover, John says, there must be no fear in this love, no doubting it.
Why?
*Because if we doubt his love for us, we’ll live in torment: “Fear has
torment” (4:18).
Believing in God’s love means knowing he is patient with our failures, day in and day out. He hears our every cry, bottles every tear, feels our anguish of heart, and is moved with compassion at our cries.
This aspect of God’s love is vividly illustrated in Exodus, where the Lord
sought to reveal his loving nature to his people. He told Moses, “I am going
to deliver Israel,” and Scripture says: “They cried, and their cry came up
unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning” (Exodus
2:23-24).
“The Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in
Egypt…for I know their sorrows and I am come down to deliver them” (3:7-8).
Do you believe God sees your need and condition, just as he did with Israel? We
often glibly say, “Christ is all,” yet when we face a crisis—when one
thing after another goes wrong, our prayers seem unanswered, and hope after hope is dashed—we descend into fear.
Indeed, we succumb to fear. But the fact is, God never forsakes his children in their time of anguish, even when things seem absolutely hopeless. We can always trust Him!
When we choose God’s Will over our own, God often fulfills the deepest desire of our heart. It might take ten days, ten weeks, or even ten years, but we need to trust His perfect timing.
“Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 37:4
Right now, the world is drowning in fear. Humankind trembles over global warming, terrorism, nuclear warfare, a shaky economy, AIDS, mass murders, the rise of Islam, political chaos, widespread addiction to drugs, alcohol and porn.
I ask you:
* How can we make any impact for Christ if we are beset with the same spirit of fear the world has?
*What kind of hope can we offer—indeed,
*what kind of gospel do we preach—if it doesn’t change us and deliver us from fear?
God brought in the New Covenant to assure his church of his love and full pardon of sin…to bring us into the knowledge of his delight and gladness over us, that we might know his heart of love for us and live all our days without fear.
Greet each other with Christian love.
Peace be with all of you who are in Christ. 1 Peter 5:14
Dear Lord, you are my shield and you are my protection. I know and believe
Lord that you will take care of me and I know that I don’t have to look to anyone. Teach me your ways Lord, teach me your laws. Show me how to walk right before you, cause me to live holy. I want to live a life that is completely pleasing in your eye sight Father. I want you to look at me Lord and say “there is my child in whom I am well pleased” I want to be pleasing to you Lord. Help me Jesus. Lord I love you I will live in confidence in you. Thank you Lord for Your Promise this Day: “”Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful”. In Jesus name I pray. Amen