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God’s love

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning …

by TerryLema

What a beautiful day! Yes, it is a beautiful Sunday. I know that COVID-19 is still making its presence felt in many areas and people are still fearful. I know that schools are struggling to stay open, firefighters are still battling blazes of unimaginable intensity, politicians are blasting away with fearmongering and promises that will never be kept. I know that people are tired of what is happening to in our streets, to businesses, in sports, schools, and in government.

But, oh, what a beautiful day.  Yes, a beautiful Sunday. How can I say that? God reminded me this morning about His love. I spent some time in 1John Chapter 4 this morning. One verse leapt off the page and embedded itself in my heart.

1 John 4:6: “And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.” [CHSB]

I have come to know and to believe the love that God has for me. Read that again. Say it aloud. “I have come to know and to believe the love that God has for [me]!”

 Have you?  Do you genuinely believe God loves you? Or are you evaluating God’s love by the circumstances of life, the troubles that surround, the health or finances or relationships that are struggling?

God loves us. God loves you. God loves me. By knowing that love, we can live our lives in it … knowing that as we do that God remains in us through the power of His Holy Wonderful Life-giving Life-altering Spirit.

Now that makes for one Splendid Sunday!

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That Incredible Truth!

by TerryLema

As I was walking the other day, I thought about how much we are loved by our Father God. The words of Romans 8 began to flow through my mind with each step, with emphasis on the word separate.

“Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, 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 that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Rom 8:35, 38-39 CSB]

As I walked, I thought about God’s love. Paul asked first, “Who (or what) can separate us?” Then he answered his own question … nothing can. There is nothing in this life, nor the next, that is able or will be able to separate us from the love of God that we have seen demonstrated in Christ Jesus our LORD.

Since that walk the other day, there have been several times when the love of God just overwhelmed me—once in the car as I was driving to a prayer meeting, once as I sat leisurely in my big lounge chair reading, another time when I was simply walking around the house. Out of the blue, I could simply sense God’s presence with me. I had done nothing at those moments to seek Him, He simply came to me.

And that beloved, is truly the most incredible of all truths. God seeks us. God wants us. It all originates in Him.

I have been struggling physically. What is going on in my body is not going to kill me … probably. It does, however, make everything I do more difficult. I, like so many others, battle fatigue and pain, and the side effects of medications. Too often that claims my focus. Then, as if a veil parts for only a moment, I sense God’s love and presence overshadow me. When that happens, it all becomes all right. He is with me. He loves me.

To know, to sense, God’s love for us will overwhelm every earthly problem we ever may face. His love is all we need.

 

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Nothing Separates

by TerryLema

I have been staying mainly at home, getting out occasionally. The other day, however, I went to a friend’s house and picked up some masks she made for the church and for my daughter. My daughter is working from home, so I decided to take hers to her. That meant a bit of a ride in the car.

When I spend time in my car, I listen to the Christian radio station. That afternoon I heard a new song – at least new to me. It pierced my soul. Maybe you have heard it, “The God Who Stays,” by Matthew West. If not, there is a link at the end of this devotion.

“You are the God who stays, You’re the One who walks in my direction when the whole world walks away.”

Those few words took my breath away. I began to weep the first time I heard the song, and I weep again every time I hear it.

Yesterday I reminded us of the words of Moses to the Children of Israel as they were ready to take the Promised Land. God gave them the option to choose life or death. When they chose life, they were choosing Him. That choice involved loving Him, listening to His voice (obedience) and holding fast to Him (faith). [Deuteronomy 30:19-20]

That is a beautiful description of our walk with God. But what has me weeping this morning is that part of our relationship which involves His holding on to us. He stays – even when everyone else might walk away – He stays.

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [Deuteronomy 31:6,8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5]

“…nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Rom 8:39]

I know what I am. I know what I would be without Him. I know the blackness in my own heart apart from His grace. So, to know that He loves me, that He stays with me, that He clings to me even when I fight against His touch, is beyond my understanding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPwd_TQpsHY

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Shout it!

by TerryLema

I needed an attitude adjustment from the LORD last week (after expressing my frustration for everyone to see, and ranting about the extension of the Stay-in-Place order by our governor). When you need an attitude adjustment, God does not wait long to bring it!

He brought the words of Psalm 118:24 to life in front of me, “This is the day the LORD has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it,” and with them came a call to repentance. I plan on living and praying in Psalm 118 for a few days and am hoping you will join me.

 Psalm 118 begins (and ends) with the words, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Immediately after introducing that thought, the psalmist calls upon the nation of Israel and the house of Aaron (the priesthood) to also acknowledge that the love of the LORD endures forever. Then to make sure that no one is exempt from acknowledging that truth, he adds: “Let those who fear the LORD say: ‘His love endures forever.’”

God’s love endures; it endures forever. The KJV and NKJV translate it this way, “His mercy endures forever.”

Whether love or mercy, the word means God’s favor, loving kindness, mercy, goodness. Forever means just that, forever. God’s love will not disappear, dissipate, or disappoint. We do not need to beg for it, He gives it willingly to all who fear Him. I need never fear that I will wake up some morning and find God’s love has left me, or that there is not enough mercy for that day.

Because of the greatness of God’s love that remains forever, we are to live lives of thankfulness. We are not simply to be grateful; we are to express that gratefulness. That was where I got off base last week. I had not been thanking my Precious Savior as I should have been. When my voice grew silent, the world’s frustrating messages grew louder. When I began again to voice my thanksgiving, I drowned out the world’s messages.

 

Try that today – it works!

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The Heart of God

by TerryLema

One of my favorite chapters in the Gospels is Luke 15. Jesus tells three parables, the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son (actually both sons were lost, but in different ways.) In each of those parables we see the heart of God revealed in a unique way.

Sheep, I think, tend to wander off – one apparently wandered so far from the flock he became lost. The coin was lost through no fault of its own, someone misplaced it. The son was lost because he willfully walked away from the family in rebellion.

What warms my soul in these three parables is the amazing heart of God. In the parable of the lost sheep, I see God’s love for that single lost soul. Yes, God loves the world so much that He sent His Son to redeem it, but God loves me and you. He noticed when we weren’t where we should be and came looking for us.

In the lost coin parable, I see God’s persistence. That woman swept the house, diligently searching for that lost coin. She wasn’t going to give up until it was found and back in her possession. Neither is our Father God giving up on us.

And of course, in the lost sons parable, I see the yearning in the heart of God for all His children to be with Him, whether they had squandered everything given them and were returning destitute to Him, or whether they had a loveless, legalistic relationship with Him that kept their hearts far from His. He wants them all!

 What compassion God has for His children. He notices when one of us is missing. He diligently searches until that missing one is found. He greets those who will return with expressions of love and delight.

“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” [Luke 15:20]

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