Tag Archives: love

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God is love


God is love.

God is good.

Your experience might currently be contrary to these statements. I can’t know what is happening in your life, but I know that these two statements are true even when I don’t understand. They aren’t just true because they are in the bible. They aren’t just true because I, and perhaps you, have experienced the truth of them.

I have and yet I didn’t think I did.

There have been times when I experienced His provision or protection, or healing and I was so sure that He is love and that He is good.

But then there were other times that I didn’t. And I felt alone and forgotten and forsaken. I’m not going to lie. Those times were very hard and very confusing. I wish I could say that I never lost my faith and hope but I very much did. Maybe not lost but it seemed very small and shriveled like it would never recover. I drew very far from Him because I was angry and hurt that my prayers weren’t answered the way I thought that they should be and the way that I thought that He would. It took me several years to recover from the time that I felt thrown away.

4 years ago, I was at a bible school that very much believed in healing and operating in the gifts of the Spirit. They frequently taught on and had guest speakers that operated in the gift of healing. I saw people healed.  I had previously been healed of cervical pre-cancer, so I fervently believed in Gods power to heal. I guess I forgot about His omniscience, immutability, and sovereignty.  I forgot that sometimes the answer to prayer is not now, or even no. God knows the end from the beginning. He knows the plans He has for me and how He needs to help me achieve the level of maturity to be able to consistently and unwaveringly walk in all that He has for me.

I can look back over the last 4 years and see His hand moving in many areas of my life. While during that time He and I didn’t have the same level of intimacy and communication that I previously had, I can now see that He was calling me into another level of trust in Him and a deeper level of intimacy. Offering me the opportunity to overcome my disappointment and use it as the floor to my next level with Him. To “level up” as it were.  

Isn’t that what a good Father does? He loves us into new levels of maturity. So that we can walk in the confident assurance that He is good and that His love never falters or fails.

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Overcomers


imageRevelation 12:10-11 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of The Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

I got the word from The Lord yesterday morning that I was going to write on overcoming but when I typed it into my bible gateway concordance I was surprised at what I found. Beginning in Revelation 2 there are interesting promises for “he who overcomes” I will list them for you below.

Revelation 2:11 he who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

Revelation 2:17 to him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who received it.

Revelation 2:26 and he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.

Revelation 3:5 he who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Revelation 3:12 he who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

Revelation 3:21 to him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

What does it mean that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony? You wouldn’t be reading this and I wouldn’t have written it if there were no blood of the Lamb. We were redeemed, from the sin we were born into, and the sins we committed and will commit, by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1 Peter 1:18-19) So that we could testify of Him and the ways that following Him have enriched our lives. We testify about Him in every action that we make. Everything we say. Everything we do. Once you have identified yourself as a Christian people are watching. It reminds me of the quote from Gandhi “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike Christ.” While Gandhi was in South Africa he tried to attend a church service but the elder at the door would not grant him access based on his ethnicity. This was before he went on to lead India out from under the bonds of English rule mainly through non-violent rallies and marches. He was called the father of the Indian nation. It makes my stomach turn to think about all the lost people of India that could have been saved if those Christians that he encountered had encouraged him rather than blocking his entrance to church. And while we probably won’t have that kind of influence we do still influence all the people we come in contact with each day.

If Christian means little Christ then we are supposed to be acting like Jesus Christ…right? What did Jesus do? He loved people. He ate with sinners and tax collectors. He healed people. He was a servant who put other peoples needs above His own. And He told us to do the same. Jesus did not come to judge the world but to save it (john 12:47). If that man that denied Gandhi access to the church service had known what it means to be a Christian he wouldn’t have judged him.

Are you judging the world or loving and serving the world?

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Love…actually.


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God loves me. It’s true He does. I’ve known it for a long time but I’ve never really acknowledged it. God loves me. Jesus loves me. Just like the children’s song…you know it…we have all sang it as children growing up in church.
“Jesus loves me this I know. For the bible tells me so. Little ones in Him belong. We are weak but He is strong…”
How is it that you can know something and not “KNOW” something? Like knowing water is wet, fire burns, and you don’t lick a metal pole when it’s below freezing outside. I knew God loved me. It was just something that IS. Did I feel loved… Did I act loved… Did I reciprocate… Not often and definitely not consistently. You would think that if the Creator of everything that is loves me and I know it I would take better care of myself. Not be so cavalier with myself. Not be so self destructive.Not only does He love me, He has a plan for my life. It has been told me in a variety of ways in the last 14 years. I am to preach and teach. Ok so if God loves me, Jesus loves me, and They have a specific plan for my life aren’t I special. To Them I am. So if I’m special to them shouldn’t I, at least be special to myself? I don’t treat myself special. I have a hard time forgiving myself. I don’t take care of myself. I don’t monitor what I eat very well therefore I have gained 30 pounds in the last year. I don’t get enough rest. I don’t spend enough time with the One Who loves me unconditionally. There are specific things Debbie, my counselor, has told me I need to do to get better. Why am I not doing them? All I can figure is that I’m not ready to be well. Is that true? If that is true it has to change today! I can’t continue this life the way I’m going.It is like the man by the pool that Jesus asked “do you want to be healed?” Well, Marianne, do you want to be healed? Do you want to be set free to accomplish that which the Creator of everything has set for you to do? Yes I do. I want to be happy, healthy, whole. I want everything that God has for me. So what do I do now? Well, I guess I should start by doing the things that Debbie says will make me better. I am physically getting better after the cancer. Now its time I start taking better care of myself. Lord, I know you love me so please help me to recognize things that I do that are harmful to me. And once I recognize them help me to act according to Your will for my life. I realize that I can’t do this on my own but I also know that I’m not on my own. You are with me. You never leave me or forsake me. You are unchanging.  And Your love is unconditional.

thank your Lord.