Tag Archives: God’s Love

Missing the Point

Posted on by

0

One of the more interesting books in all the Bible is 1 Timothy.

In this book, Paul is writing to someone who is his “son.” Not actually his son, in the biological sense, but in the spiritual sense. Timothy is a young man who Paul helped mentor in the faith.

He was someone who Paul walked beside, that Paul taught, that Paul helped to grow in the faith and become a leader. He was someone who Paul really loved, and he was someone who really looked up to Paul.

So, Paul wrote him this letter as a way to share with him what he knew to be important. Paul knew that Timothy was a preacher and a teacher, and that Timothy would be leading others in the way of Jesus and would be teaching them about what was most important.

Paul knew that Timothy needed to know what those most important things were to share with his people. This letter is Paul’s way of sharing with his spiritual son what was most important.

We see Paul share some key things in chapter 1:

The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. But some people have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions.

Paul tells him that the point of it all is to be filled with that love that comes from a pure heart and clear conscience. That’s what God wants for us and from us.

As we are filled with His Spirit and His love, we will be impacted by God and will be able to impact the world in amazing ways.

That’s what matters most. That’s what is most important. Being filled with God so that we can know Him better and show His love to all persons. Being filled with His power, His love, His vision, His passion – being filled completely with God.

Everything else misses the point. That’s what it is all about. Knowing God and being known by God. Loving God and being loved by God.

And loving each other with that love of Jesus.

Let’s not get bogged down in the things that miss the point. Let’s focus on Jesus, on knowing Him better each moment and being filled with His power and presence.

That’s what it is all about. That’s what matters. And let’s focus on that.

Today, and each day.

He Delights in You

Posted on by

0

I was reading in one of my devotionals one morning, and the writer said something that stuck with me.

He was talking about how frustrated we can be when we are seeking after God and we fall down.  Or how frustrated we can get when we are seeking God and it seems like He is so far away.

Are we not doing it right?  Is God not there?  Is God upset with us?

The writer said no. The very fact that we are seeking after God makes Him happy.  Even if we aren’t doing it perfectly or achieving everything we’d like to, we are seeking Him.

And God delights in those that seek Him. Those that seek Him give Him great pleasure.

Listen to what the Psalmist says in Psalm 147 today:

He is not impressed by the might of a horse;
he has no pleasure in the strength of a man;
But the LORD has pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who await his gracious favor.

The Lord has great pleasure in those that fear (respect) Him and that await His favor.

Today, the very fact that you desire to know Him makes Him happy. The very fact that you desire to see His face delights Him.

Today, just the fact that are you someone who wants to know more about who God is, that fact delights our God.

So, in other words, God delights in you. God smiles upon you. God loves you.

Today, no matter what others think, no matter what others do. To those of us that seek God, He delights in us.

Even in our imperfections.  Even when we miss the mark. Even when we aren’t perfect.

If we seek Him and desire to know Him. He delights in us.

Today, live in that knowledge! God delights in you!

 

 

Who We Are

Posted on by

0

Who are you?

That’s an important question, huh?  How do we define ourselves?

Does our job make us who we are?  Are possessions?  Our status?  Our bank account?

Our church?  Our friends?  Our hobbies?  Our . . . .  whatever?

Listen to what the Psalmist says today in Psalm 95:

Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
the flock under his care.

Who are you?  Above all in your life, you are one of His sheep.

You are under His care.  You are a child of His.  You are His.

That matters above all else in your life.  More  than work. . . . popularity. . . . or reputation.

More than anything else in life.

How do you define who you are?  What defines what you value?  Where do you get your identity from?

Where ever it is, it needs to be from God.  You are His.  You are one of the sheep of His pasture.

Remember that.  Remember who you are.  You are a beloved child of God.

Never forget.

He Delights

Posted on by

2

Someone once said that we should read 3 Psalms and 1 Proverbs a day, and it will really enrich our life and our faith.

I don’t quite do that, but I do try to spend some time in the Psalms each day, and each day something different or new jumps out at me.

Something that I didn’t see before. Something that was unexpected.

Today, I was reading though part of Psalm 18, where the Psalmist writes this:

20 He brought me out into an open place; *
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

The part that just really spoke to me today is the reason why God rescued the Psalmist, why He rescues us . . .

He delights in me.   He delights in you.  He delights in each of us.

That same joy, that same just awesome rush you feel towards your kids, your grandkids, those in your life that you love, that’s the exact same way God feels towards you right now.

Except more so. God delights in you. God loves you.  God takes pleasure in you.

You are His prized possession.  You are His treasured creation.  You are His joy.

He delights in you.

And because of that, He will rescue you.

Rejoice in that. God  Delights in you.  No matter what’s happening, what has happened, what will happen.

God delights in you today.  Live with that knowledge.

What Does God Want?

Posted on by

1

What does God want?

That’s a big question.  It’s something we all wonder.  It’s something we all struggle with.

Something we all feel like we need to know to live the way that He wants us to live.

We have passages like Micah 6:8 – God wants us to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

Jesus tells us throughout the Gospels that the whole law is summed up in one command – love the lord your God with all that you are, and love your neighbor as yourself.

We see several different commands and points that we are supposed to live by.

But, we see where it all starts today in Psalm 50:

14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving *
and make good your vows to the Most High.
15 Call upon me in the day of trouble; *
I will deliver you, and you shall honor me.”

The sacrifice that God most demands from us is one of a broken and thankful heart.

Broken in terms of understanding that we are not the people that we ought to be. Broken in terms of understanding that we miss the mark over and over again.

Broken in terms of understanding that for our sins He suffered in died.

Broken in understanding who we are.

But, thankful, most of all, in knowing that we are loved. We are forgiven. We are treasured by God, no matter what.

Yes, we have all done wrong. We have all sinned. We all fall down.

You do, I do.

And we are loved.  In spite of it all, God loves us.  Forgives us.  Saves us. Make us His.

What does He want from us today?

A thankful heart.

May we be thankful for all that He has forgiven us and for all He has given us.

And may we love others, as He has loved us.

Not Forgotten

Posted on by

0

As I was reading one of my favorite Psalms this morning, it made me think about my son, Thomas’ birthday party yesterday.

Thomas turns 4 tomorrow, and yesterday we had his party.  Lots of fun, lots of kids, and most importantly for every party, lots of sugar.

After the eating was done, the kids were playing at the park. They played on the swings, played football, and just ran around and acted like kids.

Some of them were playing “hide and seek” and they were having a blast not so much hiding, but in the chasing of each other when they found each other.

I always thing of “hide and seek” when I read Psalm 139

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave,you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.

I love this passage because it tell us, we can never hide from God. That notion scares us sometimes. That notion seems bad, sometimes.

If we think God is out to get us.

He’s not.  He loves us.  He cares for us.  He never leaves us.

He has not forgotten us.

Sometimes we think God has forgotten about us.  Sometimes we can think that God doesn’t know about us or care about us.

Sometimes we can think that we don’t matter to God.

That we are unimportant.

This Psalm says – No!  You matter.  You can’t get away from God!  No matter where you go, God is there!

Because He loves you!

No matter how bad, how stressful, how worrisome, how lost and forgotten you may feel – do not fear.

God has not forgotten you.  He loves you.  He cares for you.  He is there for you.

Today, and always.

God Will Take Care of You

Posted on by

0

One of the things that I feel like I have to do is take care of myself and my family.

That’s part of my job in life. That’s part of my responsibility. That’s part of what I’m supposed to do.

As a man, a husband, a father, I’m supposed to do everything I can to take care and provide for those that I love and those that are in my family.

That’s a good thing, I believe.

But, with that said, it a good, good thing for me to read a passage like this today, from Luke’s Gospel:

14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, ‘Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ 15 They did so and made them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

It’s a good thing to remember that the crowd couldn’t feed themselves.  They were following Jesus, listening to His teaching, and they didn’t have the ability to take care of themselves in that place.

What did Jesus do?  He provided for them their needs for that moment.

He will take care of us.  He will provide.  He will not forget.

We see it in this passage, that He took care of those that were following Him.

We pray in the Lord’s Prayer – give us this day our daily bread.

We read in the Old Testament that the Lord sent mana to take care of them in the wilderness.

In life, we are to do our part. Work hard, take care of other people, do our best.

But, even more important than that is to trust.  Trust in the power of God.

Trust in the provision of God.

Trust in the love of God.

God took care of the many in scripture today.

He will take care of you.

Today.

Delight

Posted on by

0

My kids make me really happy.

My reflection is a little later than I anticipated because they wanted to spend time this morning snuggling. And I’m a sucker for that.  Anytime my kids want to snuggle up to me in the morning, or at night, I just can’t help it.

Now, are their times they drive me crazy.  Of course.  Just like there will be times in the future I drive them crazy. And just like I’m sure I drive Holly crazy all the time 🙂

But, I love them. I delight in them at all times. And outside of my walk with God, they really are my truest joy in all my life.

And every parent understands that.  Every grandparent, Aunt/Uncle, each of us, we know what it means to delight yourself in that child.

Hear the words of the Psalmist this morning, from Psalm 18:

18 He delivered me from my strong enemies
and from those who hated me; *
for they were too mighty for me.
19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster; *
but the LORD was my support.
20 He brought me out into an open place; *
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

He rescued David this morning because He delighted in David.

This morning, God delights in you.  You make Him happy.  He really does love you.  No matter what you’ve done.  No matter what.  Just as a parent delights in their child, so does God delight in you.

You make His eyes light up.  You are precious to Him.  You are His delight.

Today, no matter what.

We had an awesome Sunday this past Sunday at Asbury, and I knew it was going to be a great day when our first song was “Come as You Are” by the band Pocket Full of Rocks.  It starts off this way:

He’s not mad at you
He’s not disappointed
His grace is greater still,
than all of your wrong choices

God delights in you.  He’s not mad at you.  He loves you.

He delights in you.  Live in that knowledge today and each day.  You are His delight.

May He be our delight.

Nothing

Posted on by

1

If you’re like me, sometimes you enter into your time of prayer weary.  I come before God with the list of all the things I’ve done wrong. . . . .

All the ways I’ve not loved Him with my whole heart. . . . .

All the ways I’ve not obeyed. . . . . .

The the ways that I have done wrong. . . . .

It’s easy to just enter into prayer heavy.  Thinking to God, there’s so much more I ought to be doing. There are so many things that I shouldn’t be doing.  Oh God, I’m not who I ought to be.

I think that’s the thing that stops so many folks from praying.  Just that knowledge, that shame, that, whatever it is.

So today, I read these words from Paul in Romans 8. And, wow.  Just listen to what Paul says.

Really listen:

37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Did you hear that?  Nothing, nothing, nothing in all of creation can separate you from God’s love today.

Nothing.

Nothing you’ve done. Nothing you’re doing. Nothing you’re going to do.

Even if you’re as good as you’d like to be.

Even if you’re not as faithful as you’d like to be.

Even if you’re not doing everything exactly as you ought to be doing it.

Nothing can separate you from God’s love.

Wow. That’s awesome.

Today, don’t live like an abused servant.  Live like a loved child. That’s what you are.  You are a loved child of God.  Nothing can separate you from God’s love today!

Live with joy, with peace, with freedom.  You are loved!

Let go of your burden.  Live light!  Live in the light of God’s love and forgiveness.

Nothing can separate you from that love today.  Wow.  Live in that knowledge.