Oh how He loves us

These are Jesus' words, recorded for the benefit of all who would be His disciples: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you" (John 15:9).

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you."

Can you imagine how much the Father loves Jesus, His only begotten Son, who was with Him from the beginning and never failed to please Him?

Can you imagine that Jesus loves us in the same way? Loves us, those who have deserted Him time and again?

If you can't fathom that kind of love, it's only because we're used to how the world loves. It's time for a renewing of the mind through God's Word. I need this, too.

But first, a few words of advice from Derek Prince:

“If you do not take time for hearing, all you will do is read the Bible. Faith does not come by reading the Bible; it comes by hearing from God through the Bible...When you receive Scripture not as the word of men – not on the same level with human writings and human wisdom, but as God Himself speaking to you – it will do its work in you."

Ready?...

"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

"Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure" (Ephesians 1:4-5).

"The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children" (Psalm 103:8-17).

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish" (Matthew 18:12-14).

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6-8).

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him" (1 John 3:1).

"And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God" (Ephesians 3:18-19).

Let this be our response:

"Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you" (Psalm 63:3).

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us" (1 John 4:11-12).

These songs will open your eyes. Click and listen:
"How He love us" (Kim Walker)
"One thing remains" (Jesus Culture)
"Escape" (Rush of Fools)

Where is your faith?

I just read this statement: "You cannot trust God and be stressed at the same time." (Convicted? I am.) In the storm on the water, when the disciples were anxious and fearing for their lives, Jesus asked them, "Where is your faith?" (Luke 8:25). Their faith was there in the boat - Jesus, the substance of things hoped for (the long awaited Messiah), the evidence of things not seen (the image of the invisible God) - Hebrews 11:1, Colossians 1:15.

The Holy Spirit taught me this lesson while I was in Chile a few years back. I used to go to the ocean shore most nights and sit on one of many boulders, watching the sun set while the powerful waves slapped on the boulders below. One night, the waves weren't the only sound - there was a dog standing on a boulder at the water's edge, barking at the waves. He wouldn't quit! I thought it was hilarious - it was as if this dog thought that by barking he could somehow affect the waves - herd them, corral them, protect the people on the shore from their destructive potential.

Then all of a sudden, I felt God saying to me, "But you do the same thing. You think that by worrying, you can keep life's disasters at bay." I was convicted. I realized that the dog was so focused on the unchangeable force of the waves that he couldn't have taken any notice of the sun in its glorious descent. The disciples were so consumed by their fear of the waves that they forgot the glory of the Son who was with them and His power to overcome. We as God's children are so caught up in our worries about the powers that threaten to destroy us that we forget this fact: "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

The disciples saw Jesus do miracle after miracle - healing the sick, casting out demons, multiplying food. The Israelites saw God do miracle after miracle - parting the Red Sea, providing manna from heaven and water from a rock, defeating their enemies before them. You and I have seen the Holy Spirit do miracle after miracle - [insert your personal testimony here]. Yet we all have a selective memory. We choose to remember the good things we've left to follow Him and the trials we've had to endure since choosing this path. You can't be thankful and stressed at the same time. Stop barking at the waves and lift your eyes. Choose to remember His faithfulness. Focus on the Christ within you. Jesus is the author and perfecter, the very essence, of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Faith is not something you conjure up through your own righteousness - faith is a person. A change in perspective is all that's needed. Where is your faith?

Extravagant Love

How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us that He would make all of Creation in order to dazzle us. Think about it. Though Creation is practical, it is foremost beautiful. The intricacies and fragrance of a flower, the brilliant colors of a sunset, the majesty of the ocean waves crashing on the shore, the sparkling stars in the night sky, the coos of a newborn baby. This masterpiece God entrusted into our care. He knew full well that we would trash it. Every part of His Creation that He has put under our influence is subject to our destructive ways. We over-consume, pollute, cut down, trample. And as if that weren’t enough, we treat with contempt His most prized Creation – ourselves and our neighbors. Yet God is patient and takes delight in our most minimal efforts to steward well what He has given us (Matthew 25:21).

So the Creator entrusts us with His Creation, but He doesn’t stop there. He bestows on us His love and gives us the choice to receive it or to reject it, reject Him. Can you imagine how many times God has been rejected and in how many ways? He knew before He created us that we would not respond favorably to His love but would separate ourselves from Him by our rebellious ways. And He had a plan (Ephesians 3:11, Colossians 1:26-27). He loved us so much He decided before Creation that He would suffer the consequences of our rebellion for us. He would take on our flesh and walk in our broken world among a broken people. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Read that last sentence again. Really, the one in bold, read it again. There is no greater love than this.

His sacrifice wasn't just for the purpose of getting us to heaven. That’s the mistake so many of us make. We think Jesus died so that after we are done suffering on earth, we can go be with God. But Jesus died for more than just a ticket to heaven. He came, obeyed, suffered, died, and rose again to give us the authority to bring heaven to earth. That’s what He prayed: “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). On earth! As it is in heaven! Read your Bible. In heaven, there is no sickness – that’s why everywhere Jesus went, the sick were healed. In heaven, there are no demons – that’s why they were terrified in Jesus’ presence. In heaven, there is no condemnation – that's why He loved the prostitutes and tax collectors.

He carried the Kingdom inside of Him. So did the disciples. So do you. The Kingdom is the King’s domain, and the King lives inside you (Galatians 3:20, 1 Corinthians 6:19). We are seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) and have died to the basic principles of this world (Colossians 2:20). The world is characterized by condemnation, fear, despair, sickness and death, injustice, loneliness, striving. The Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy (Romans 14:17). God is love (1 John 4:16). Jesus came that we might have abundant life (John 10:10). He withholds no good thing from the righteous (Psalm 84:11) - and we are righteous because He dressed us in His own righteousness. We are children of God (1 John 3:1). The One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world, and we were born to overcome the world (1 John 4:4).

It is time to acknowledge God’s extravagant love and start living in the victory that Christ paid for on the cross. It's a promise for the here and now. Start thinking like a victor by writing down who God says you are and what He has promised you. Declare it out loud on a daily basis, and meditate on it throughout the day.

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”