One of the greatest lies that satan will try to get you to believe is that God's love and grace for you is conditional, even difficult to obtain. He will try to keep us bound to the lie that we need to do something to gain and maintain God's love for us.
Let us always remember what I believe is the most quoted verse in the Bible: that our God loves us so much that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Paul mentions in Romans 5:8 that He sent His Son to us even while we were yet sinners, i.e. even when we weren't looking for Him. God gave us His Best even when we were at our worst, so we would have the Best.
Jesus told Phillip a truth that we would all do well to believe in our hearts: that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father - God the Father. (John 14:9). It is my prayer that we would continue to see more and more of the love of Christ with every breath we take, that we would know the deep love our Father has for us.
It is this love that drives us not only to testify in spoken or written word, but it is also this love that guides us in our decisions, it is this love that keeps us even when we make mistakes, it is this love that encourages us to look beyond the physical. God's love assures us of His great promises - God drives us to rise above sin and to declare that His love is all we need.
God's love is His goodness, and His goodness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). He causes all things to happen for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). I believe that if our minds give a single sincere thought to the love of God, we would be eventually led to change our minds about who He is.
Those of us who already know and are empowered by this love project it naturally for the world to behold. It is by the grace of God that we have been saved, and it is by the grace of God that others will be saved.
Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Nothing can ever separate us from the love of Christ. Salvation is through Christ alone, and this salvation covers our past, keeps us in peace in the present, and guarantees our future.
It is not by our work that we attain, much less maintain salvation. It is by Christ's finished work at the cross that we are saved.
More on this tomorrow. God bless you.
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jb.redeemed
email me at jibee@rocketmail.com.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you His Shalom. - Numbers 6:24-26