SONG: I LOVE YOU LORD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKF7sBxv1-o
PRAYER: Father God we bless you in this day. We thank you for this time. Help us to REST in your love as we look at scripture together. Thank you that you know each of us intimately and our every need. In Jesus name amen.
Tonight I am going to share something I wrote in 2011. Recently a lot of the things I wrote during that difficult season of my life have been popping up as “memories” on FaceBook of all places.
Usually somehow they are just perfect for me that day. And I remember that God has indeed been faithful and has taken good care of me too.
After we listen to/read it, we are going to look at scriptures that validate it.
From the Heart of God Today, 11-9-11
Beloved..I love you.
I care about you.
I AM with you.
I am aware of you, even when you are not aware of Me.
More than that, I am aware of you even when you are not aware that I AM aware of you.
Nothing separates you from My love.
I am zealous in My love.
I do rejoice over you with singing.
I delight in you.
Will you spend this day delighting in Me?
Will you spend this day aware of My love for you?
Will you choose this morning to move through this day
(Which by the way is the day I have planned in advance for blessings)
In awareness of My love?
Will you choose to remember,
Regardless what the moments of today bring,
That you ARE My beloved daughter/son?
Often the things I write during a prayer time begin with…Beloved. This started, Beloved..I love you.
An author said, “God's love is the only love that never falters and never fails. Take comfort in your faith and knowing that God truly loves you, now and forever. "
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. “How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
1 John 4:7–8 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Dodi Note: The love God has for us is so “otherly” that we can scarcely understand it. The most we can do is receive it and rest in it.
God loves, because God is love personified. Personally, I don’t think we can even begin to love others until we have spent time simply letting God’s love wash over us.
Psalm 36:5-11 is neat. It says:
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.
Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
Dodi Note: Isn’t that lovely? Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Imagine love that never wavers not for one second. Love for each of us that is so vast it extends into space and is also faithful and sure.
The next verse says: Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord.
Dodi Note: I think this means we really can not fathom the extend of his saving love. If God holds the entire universe together and he does, then what do we have to fear? We simply can not ever be “unloved”.
Then again it says: How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Dodi Note: Have you learned to take refuge in His love? Have you ever thought about the preciousness of His love and that he calls us “precious”? I love the image of taking refuge in the shadow of his wings. When we are hurting, or scared or angry or any other negative emotion, we can KNOW that our Abba Father is right there ready to shelter us.
Next portion: They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
Dodi note: we receive all we need from the ABUNDANCE of God’s own house and we can drink from the RIVER of His DELIGHTS.
There is another verse that tells us to: Delight yourself in the Lord,and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4). This implies that as we spend time just delighting and cherishing time with God, the things our heart wants will also change.
Then the Psalmist remembers: For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.
Dodi Note: It is true isn’t it? When we can remember to run to God for all our needs, especially when our heart is hurting…we do encounter that “fountain of life”.
Then out of us will flow springs of Living Water. Do you know people like that? I do and when I grow up (ha ha) I want to be just like them too.
Then the Psalmist prays really:
Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
Dodi Note: Kind of an if…. then clause hidden in here. If we know, really know, as in intimately know God, then he will continue His steadfast love toward us and keep the wicked from making us desire to avoid Him. Because truthfully, sometimes we may be tempted to avoid God or not actively desire His presence with us…Like for example when we kind of want to push the speed limit just a little.
Another verse you hear me refer to a lot is Zephaniah 3:17. It says: The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
Dodi Note: This is so vividly true. At the end I will give you a link to a song that tells a pretend story but one at least in part we are all tempted to live out. It is called Daddy’s Song. It is long but well worth listening to and allowing the Spirit to touch your heart.
God literally I believe REJOICES over us with loud singing. And I am absolutely that whenever we let him, He quiets us with/in/by His love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcbtPEQUUsE
2 Chronicles 6:14
“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.”
Dodi Note: Yet again…an implied if…then promise, isn’t it?
But the truth is there IS NO GOD like ours, no false “god” even begins to match up. And God DOES keep all his covenants (promises) and DOES show STEADFAST love to us.
Because we ARE his servants and we do, or I think we all do, walk before him with all our hearts. You know we won’t ever get life perfectly, but as best we can…we do choose and try to live life God’s way. Right?
Romans 8:31–32
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
Dodi Note: Don’t you love this reminder about the depth of God’s love for us? And the question “If God is FOR us (and he is) who can be against us? Well literally plenty can be against us but they will not win/prevail over time because God is always with us. Always loving us.
As we age and as we have a history with God, we can look back over difficult seasons and clearly recognize that indeed God has been with us. After all, we are all alive and able to study his Word together tonight.
Galatians 2:20
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Dodi Note: Another great reminder. In the Spiritual realm we have been crucified with Christ and we are new people. We now live by faith in Jesus. I think we will camp out here for the rest of our time.
I went to Gotquestions to help us understand what crucified with Christ means.
They said:
Galatians 2:20 is a key passage: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
The context of Galatians 2 is how the believer is made right with God. False teachers were telling the Galatian churches that faith in Christ was not enough.
To be saved, they said, believers must also be circumcised and become “Jewish.” Only then would they be wholly right with God.
Now a days, we have different versions of legalism based on which church we go to. You can probably think of some.
In Galatians 2:15–16 Paul counters that idea: “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”
Dodi Note: “Works” do NOT save us. We are saved when we come to faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. BUT if we have had a true conversion, we will see changes and we will begin to produce fruit.
Paul says, “Through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God” (Galatians 2:19).
While Paul was trying to please God by keeping the Law, he was not really living for God. (In fact, for a portion of his life he was thinking he was keeping the law by killing Christians. Until he met Jesus personally.)
The more he tried to keep the Law, the more he saw how much he failed. It was only when he gave up trying to achieve righteousness on his own and accepted the righteousness of God by faith in Christ that he truly began living for God. Justification by faith actually makes it possible to live for God.
Dodi Note: Isn’t that an interesting thought? And isn’t it true for us today as well? Being a Child of God is not about any specific religion, but it is totally about a relationship with Jesus and Father God and Holy Spirit.
The author said when Paul “gave up” he began really living for God. Once we “give up” in all our self ways to “get it right” and realize our utter dependence on God, we too can begin living life to the fullest as God designed us to live.
Does that make sense to you? Questions? Comments?
Laura Story has a new book out called “I Give Up”. I have read most of it and found it compellingly good.
Being crucified with Christ means that we are no longer under the penalty of the Law.
That penalty was paid by Christ on our behalf. When Christ was crucified, it was as if we were crucified with Him.
The penalty was fully paid—just as surely as if we had been crucified for our own sins.
Dodi Note: Neat. Loved how they stated this truth. Now to remember it.
When Christ rose from the dead, we rose, too. Now the risen Christ empowers us to live for Him in a way that pleases God. We used to seek life through our own works, but now we “live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20).
Being crucified with Christ means that we are new creations. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2Corinthians 5:17). The old life is dead and gone. We walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
Being crucified with Christ means that we have a new love. The lusts of the flesh and the love of the things of this world have been crucified (Galatians 5:24).
Now we love Christ, though we have not seen Him (1 Peter 1:8).
1 Peter 1:8 says: Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory…
Dodi Note: Have you ever experienced that sort of joy? I have but for me it can be fleeting until I read something and remember.
Being crucified with Christ means that we have a new commitment. We are dedicated to the service and glory of the Lord, and that dedication destroys selfishness and surpasses ties to family and friends.
We have taken up our cross to follow Him (Matthew 10:38). And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Being crucified with Christ means that we have a new way of life. At one time we “followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:2).
But that way of life was nailed to the cross. Now we follow Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and we seek to please Him in every way (Hebrews 12:2).
Dodi Note: Hebrews 12:2 is a verse I hold dear in my own heart. Especially when life is handing me a difficult moment or day or season. Then I remember this verse and that Jesus suffered all he did in JOY or for the JOY of making a way for us to enter fullness of abundant life.
It says: looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
The idea of being crucified with Christ emphasizes our union with Him and His death on our behalf.
****We trust in Christ’s crucifixion as payment for our sin penalty, and we rely on His power to live in a way that pleases God.****
The emphasis is on what He has done for us, not what we have to do for God.
Dodi Note: Important distinction.
Too often, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is Christ who lives in me” becomes “I need to crucify my sinful desires and try harder to live for God.”
When this becomes our perspective, we have slipped out of grace-living and back into law-living, and we minimize the power of Christ’s death for us.
We are relying less upon the power of Christ and more upon our own power—and that will never work out well!
In short, Galatians 2:20 tells us how we escaped the penalty of sin to live a life that pleases God.
Knowing that we are “crucified with Christ” should give us great encouragement in our Christian walk. We have the power to say “no” to sin and “yes” to God.
https://www.gotquestions.org/crucified-with-Christ.html
A few more verses about this amazing wonderful love of God. I can’t remember the source to quote it. But I liked the way they quoted the verse and then added “The Good News”.
1 John 4:9–10
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Micah 7:18
“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.”
The Good News: Our God is the God of forgiveness, ever willing to offer us a chance at redemption. It is never too late.
Romans 5:5
“And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
The Good News: God’s love justifies our lives and fills us with hope for the future.
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
The Good News: Even death has no dominion over those who love and are loved by the Lord.
Romans 8:28
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
The Good News: With God’s love in our hearts, all our actions will be directed toward good.
John 14:21
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
The Good News: Our love for Jesus the Son is answered by divine love and care from Father and Son alike.
Romans 8:38–39
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Good News: There is nothing in our future, not even our own deaths, that can keep us from the love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
John 15:9
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
The Good News: Jesus loves us, just as God the Father loved him; in this truth we can rest secure and at peace.
Romans 5:8
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Good News: Though we be sinners, Christ sacrificed his life and suffered on the cross for us. There is no greater love than this.
John 16:27
“For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”
The Good News: Faith and love go hand in hand, as does our love for God and His love for us.
Romans 8:35
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”
The Good News: There is no calamity — physical or emotional — that can separate us from the love of our Lord.
Ephesians 2:4–5
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”
The Good News: Our God of love is also a God of life; in our faith we come alive and exist joyfully.
I hope your heart was able to absorb and rest in God’s love and His loving provision for us tonight. May he richly bless us as we go through the life he has given us to live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcbtPEQUUsE