A Life that Does What is Required

The Lord made it clear in the Old Testament and the New Testament what He requires of us.

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Only God is good and so to do what He requires of us we must have Him in our life. He will live this kind of life through us.

Mark 10:18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

Righteousness and justice is the foundation of His throne.

Psalm 97:2 Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

He loves righteousness and justice.

Psalm 33:5 He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

His throne is established in lovingkindness and He seeks justice.

Isaiah 16:5 A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; Moreover, he will seek justice And be prompt in righteousness.

He will give the person who walks humbly with Him the wisdom in how to do justice and love kindness. This word for humbly is only mentioned twice in the Old Testament and here in Proverbs is the second time.

Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom.

The Lord spoke to the religeous leaders that they were not putting emphasis on the weightier things of the law.

Matthew 23:23  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

This word faithfulness means submissive obedience to walking a life of faith in God or in other words, to walk humbly with your God.

**It is important to understand that none of us have ever done what God has required and that is why God sent Jesus Christ to die for our failing to do what God requires, and that is perfect righteousness. Jesus Christ fulfilled God’s requirements and took our failures upon Himself so that we might have His righteousness. Whoever receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior also receives what Jesus Christ did, and that is, His righteousness is credited to us. He took our sins and offered His righteousness, which is fully fulfilling God’s requirements. This is what it means to be saved by grace through faith. Grace is the invitation to come to Him and faith is coming Him. When we do so, then we receive forgiveness and the gift of salvation.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:1-9

A Life that Is Clean Within

Whenever we sin we feel dirty on the inside. We can wash ourselves and clean the outside of our bodies but we can not clean the inside. Just as it is such a good feeling to be clean on the outside after we have become dirty even so it is even sweeter to be clean on the inside after we have sinned. All of us have sinned and need to be cleansed from within.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

However, the Lord offers cleansing to all who come to Him.

Ezekiel 36:25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

After Jesus Christ cleanses us on the inside He then gives us a new heart that wants to obey and please Him.

Ezekiel 36:26-28 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.

Not only does He cleanse us and give us a new heart but He also saves us from our uncleanness and blesses us. He also removes our shame. The Bible says that sin is a shame to everyone who does it and the Lord removes our shame.

Ezekiel 36:29,30 Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.

We will also loathe what we did earlier when we sinned against the Lord before we came into a relationship with Him.

Ezekiel 36:31 Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations.

Not only does He cleanse us completely from our sin and gives us a new heart but He continues to cleanse us when we sin again, which we will do, but now we will hate it when we sin. However, His Word has a cleansing effect and for this reason when you do sin then you need to get into His Word.

John 15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

When you sin you need to confess your sin and He will forgive you and cleanse you.

I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It is crucial that you spend time with the Lord after you sin so that you might be restored in your fellowship with Him. Your sin does not break your relationship with Him because once you become His child then you will always be His child. However, our sin breaks our fellowship with the Lord and we need to be restored.

Psalm 19:7a The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;

When you are forgiven, cleansed and restored then you will once again see the Lord.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

When you see Him then you will see that He loves you and longs to bless you. You will long for Him.

Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.

You will also see Jesus in His beauty and you will get a glimpse of that sweet heavenly home that we will one day go to and be with Him forever.

Isaiah 33:17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;
They will behold a far-distant land.

 

 

 

 

 

A Life in Secret

There are three things that the Lord says that we need to do in secret. Again, He loves to reward His children when they do what pleases Him so He offers great rewards for these three matters of obedience. The Lord says that He sees in secret and He knows what we do in secret. He says that He will reward us openly. If you read the lives of the great men and women that God has used you will learn that they had their secret life with the Lord. Those who are not faithful in their secret life with the Lord eventually fall just as a tree whose roots are shallow or whose inside is rotten will fall. Your roots must go deep into his Word and into the soil of His love. If they do then your spiritual life will be nourished and you will prosper.

Jeremiah 17:7,8 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
And whose trust is the Lord.
For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.

First, when you give, you are to give in secret. You are to give to those who can not pay you back. You are to give to the poor.

Matthew 6:3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Second, when you pray, you are to pray in secret.

Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Third, when you fast, you are to fast in secret.

Matthew 6:17,18 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Just as roots are not seen but produce the fruit on the tree for all to see, so you too, when your roots go deep with the Lord, the Lord will be glorified by the fruit of your life as you bear His fruit.

John 15:8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

May your trust in the Lord grow through maintaining your secret life with the Lord through prayer and meditation, fasting and giving.

Psalm 1:2,3 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

 

 

A Life of Prayer

Prayer can be outlawed but it can never be stopped because the Lord made us to pray. It is a human instinct to pray. Sometimes people may get confused as to the One and only True God and so they will pray to a god that they have made, either in their minds or with their hands. However, there is only One God who hears and answers. There is only one group of people that He attends to their prayers.

I Peter 3:12 “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Don’t get discouraged in your prayers. He hears them and answers them but He is not limited by time. It may just be a matter of time before you see the answer.

Luke 18:1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,

We are to ask the Father in Jesus name and He will hear us.

John 16:23 In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.

The Lord wants us to devote ourselves to prayer.

Acts 1:14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer,  along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

Our prayers for the nonChristian should always be for their salvation.

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

We should pray for our spiritual leaders in our churches and missionaries.

Romans 15:30 Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,

Pray for other Christians.

Ephesians 6:18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

Pray for yourself. He cares for you.

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Always remember to give thanks in your prayers. He has done so much for us.

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Pray for everyone and especially for your leaders.

I Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

Pray that the Lord will save you from death, not just spiritual death, but death to your soul.

Hebrews 5:7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

If you are struggling in your Christian life then go to one who can pray for you. The Lord has called us to pray for each other.

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Finally, the end is near and you want to be found faithful in prayer. Prayer is talking to the Lord. Just talk to Him from your heart. He would rather you pour out your heart to Him then not pray at all or struggle with saying the right words. He knows your heart and He loves you. He wants to hear from you and He will hear you.

I Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

 

 

 

 

A Life that Speaks Forever

The Bible says that those who listen to the truth will speak forever. After you are gone then what will be the legacy that you leave behind for others to follow? If you listen to the truth then your words will speak forever and bring life and light to those who hear. Listen to the truth so that the words you speak will be truth.

Proverbs 21:28 A false witness will perish, but the man who listens to the truth will speak forever.

Whatever you listen to is what you will speak. You can tell how a person spends their time and who they listen to by what they say. Let your words be truth and let them be said in love.

Luke 6:45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

Let your speech be as it were the utterances of God and then the Lord will be glorified. Your words will give grace to those who hear and you will be more like your Lord, for He was full of grace and truth.

I Peter 4:11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is made known to the world through our lives, words and actions. Let others behold the Lord in you and let you be a fragrant aroma of Him to the world. They will behold His glory.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Guard what goes into your heart with all diligence. For from your heart flow the springs of life. Just as you guard what goes into your mouth knowing that it will either give life to your body or death. So also, what goes into your heart will give life and health to your whole body.

Proverbs 4:20-23 My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your sight;
Keep them in the midst of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them
And health to all their body.
Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

Your words will feed your soul and will also bring life or death to those who hear what you say. You are the one who will eat the fruit of your words. Have you ever chastised yourself for what you said and wish that you could take your words back? That feeling of regret is death to your soul. Have you ever spoken kind and good words to someone and then you were the one who was blessed?

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

How many times have you thought of the words that someone said to you years ago and they were just what you needed for that moment. A mother’s words will either bless her children or they will bring them grief. Let your words bring life to those who hear them even long after you are gone. Learn now God’s wisdom and fill your heart with His Words so that they will speak forever to the hearts of the listeners.

Proverbs 31:26 She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

 

A Life of Faith and Love

The most exciting life is a life of your faith and His love. You will be amazed at His faithfulness and so in love with the Lord when you see Him be true to His Word. A life of faith is a prerequisite to seeing His faithfulness. When you declare, by faith, His lovingkindness in the morning then you will see His faithfulness at night.

Psalm 92:2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness by night,

A life of faith is taking Him at His Word. There is no limit to experiencing His love for you other than your unbelief. Fearing Him is respecting Him in an all consuming way where you believe His Word so much that you know that it is true and will do what His Word says to do. Fearing Him is obedience. You can fear Him now voluntarily by faith or you can wait until you see Him and how true His Word is to what He says will take place and then you will really fear Him but that kind of fear is one of a terrifying fear.

Psalm 103:11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

When you live by faith then His lovingkindness is what will describe your life. It will be the explanation for who you are and everything in your life because He loves you so very much but you must take Him at His Word to see that love.

Psalm 25:10 All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

The Lord will be your boast and in Him you will glory. You will not be able to stop talking about Him and all of the incredible things that He has done for you.

Psalm 89:24 “My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted.

You will anticipate each new day and what His great lovingkindness holds for you. No matter how much you mess up the day before His lovingkindnesses and compassions are new every morning.

Lamentations 3:22-25 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.

Everything that the Lord does for you is done in His faithfulness. Trust Him and let Him direct your steps. He is good.

Psalm 33:4 For the word of the Lord is upright, And all His work is done in faithfulness.

Underneath are the everlasting arms and He has destroyed the enemy from before you.

Deuteronomy 33:27 “The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!’

Will you trust Him again as you did when you first became a Christian? Of if you have not yet trusted Him with your life then today is the day to begin. You can begin with the prayer that the person prayed, “Lord, I want to believe, help me in my unbelief.” He is more than willing to help you. He wants to give you this incredible life that is overflowing but first you must trust Him.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

There are only two choices in life…one of a life that is ultimately destroyed or a life that is saved. These two choices go into eternity but are made by you here on earth. Do you choose the destroyer or the Savior?

A Life that Is Fruitful

The promise of a fruitful life is made to the person who abides in the Lord and God’s Word abides in Him. The word abide means to live in, therefore you are to live in God’s Word and He lives in you.

John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

The Lord wants you to be fruitful and He knows that you must abide in Him if this is to happen. He, the vine produces the fruit and you, as the branch, bear the fruit.

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

The sooner you realize the truth that you can do nothing apart from Him the happier you will be and the sooner you will quit striving on your own to bear fruit. The branches bear the fruit, they do not produce the fruit.

Galatians 5:22,23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The fruit is produced through vine. You can not make yourself love someone. He will love through you if you abide in Him. In the same way, you can not produce joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control. He must do it.

John 15:7 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

You will not have to prove that you are a Christian. Your fruit will bear witness that you are a Christian.

Matthew 7:16-18 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.

The Lord loves us and wants us to abide in his love. When we abide in His love and in His Word then our spirit will be nourished and His Spirit in us will produce the fruit that the world will see.

John 15:9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

The way that we abide in his love is to keep his commandments. Is there anything that you know that He has commanded you to do and you have not done? There is nothing that is worth keeping us from his love.

John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Jesus kept His Father’s commandments and abided in His Father’s love. He went before us and showed us how it was to be done.

John 15:12,13 This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus Himself chose us to bear fruit and instructed us on how it was to be accomplished.

John 15:16,17 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.

Jesus spoke these words to His disciples and to us so that our joy may be made full just as His joy was made full.

John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

 

 

 

A Life that is Faithful

At the end of your life there will only be one thing that matters and that is God’s judgment of you. What will you hear Him say? It will not matter how pretty you were, how much money you had, whether you came from a well off family or from a family that struggled to make ends meet. It will not matter if you had two parents or one parent or no parents around. It will not matter what others thought of you, whether you were “accepted” or not. There is only One who will determine if you are accepted and what He will say to you will echo in your ears for all of eternity.

Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

What is His will? What will he be looking for in you?

John 6:40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Very simply, God’s will is that you believe in Jesus Christ who He sent into the world to save you from your sin…to die for you, to be raised from the dead and to ascend into heaven.

John 6:39 This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

Now this belief is not merely an intellectual belief. You can look at a chair and believe that it will not fall apart if you sit in it but it is not until you actually sit in the chair do you believe that it will hold you up. In the same way, you can believe in Jesus but if you are not reading His Word and doing what He says to do then you are only giving intellectual assent to his claims. You are believing with your mind but not with your heart. Those who will come to him on the last day and say, “Lord, Lord” and He rejects them did not believe with their heart but only with their mind.

Matthew 7:22,23 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

They did not obey.

A Life of Enjoying Love

Everyone wants to enter into the joy of love. That is what enjoy means, it means to enter into the joy of something. However, few people really know how to enter into the joy of love. Love is the most basic need of a person’s soul, that is, to love and be loved. When a person is loved then they thrive spiritually, emotionally and physically. God made everyone to be loved and to love others.

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. I John 4:16

Love must first be received by one person to be given to others. We love because we have first been loved. The source of all love is God and God expressed His love to the world by giving His Son, Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

When we believe in God’s love for us by believing in Jesus Christ then we receive the gift of God’s love into our heart. God is love and when we abide in love then we will abide in God and God abides in us. Abide means to live within, so therefore, we will live in God’s love and His love will live in and through us when we believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is perfect love. His love is perfect towards us and His love is perfected in us when we love each other.

No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. I John 4:12

When we abide in God then we learn to love with a Godlike love, which is pure, good, unselfish, patient, kind, true, bears all things, believes the best, forgiving and enduring. God’s love will never fail. God’s love is only possible for the one who receives this Godlike love through believing and receiving God into their life through Jesus Christ. God’s love is an unconditional love that is not based on the recipient of the love but comes from the one who loves. God loves because God is love and He wants to teach His children, who are called Christians or Christ-followers, how to love with this kind of love.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. I John 4:7

It is only to the degree that we have experienced God’s love that we can love another. The depth of our love for another is determined by the depth of our knowledge of the love of God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. I John 4:8

We can love God and others because God first loved us.

We love, because He first loved us. I John 4:19

God’s love is expressed to us through Jesus Christ dying for our sins. He took the punishment which we deserved and paid for our sins through dying on the cross in order that He might restore us to a love relationship with God.

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, I Peter 3:18a

God, the Father, raised Jesus Christ from the dead and Jesus Christ is alive today. He who believes this and calls on the name of Jesus Christ to save them from their sins can come into a love relationship with God.

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. I John 3:1a

When a person receives God’s love then He also has his heart cleansed from a guilty conscience. It is a guilty conscience that prevents us from entering into the love of God. It is a guilty conscience that prevents us from experiencing the love of others. It is a guilty conscience that keeps us from being able to love others.

let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience… Hebrews 10:22a

Once our hearts have been cleansed from a guilty and evil conscience then we can draw near to God and experience His love and comfort. As we learn to fellowship with God and spend time in God’s Word and prayer, our hearts are continually cleansed as we confess our sins to Him, so that we might have a clear conscience with God.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9

In the same way, we must have a clear conscience with others. If we have not loved someone else and have sinned against them then we need to ask their forgiveness.

Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Matthew 5:23,24

You can not worship the Lord with a clear conscience if you do not have a clear conscience with others. Your worship of the Lord is an expression of love and devotion to Him. You can not love God if you have not loved others. Your love for others is an expression of your love for God.

for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. I John 4:20b

There are three requirements for entering into the joy of loving others. We need a pure heart with a good conscience and a sincere faith to love and enjoy love. When these are in our lives then others will see the love of God in us.

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. I Timothy 1:5

God’s love is so amazing, satisfying and fulfilling. There is none to compare with Him. God’s love is what changes a person, a marriage, a family, a neighborhood, a town, a city , a nation and the world. God’s love began with God and was expressed through the giving of His Son, Jesus Christ, and His love is alive in the lives of His followers who belong to Him.

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. I John 3:21-23

A Life that Knows Love

There is nothing sweeter than to know that you are loved. When you know that you are loved there is a much greater satisfaction with life. You will see that your sorrows are not so bitter, your joys are much deeper and your burdens are lighter. You have a confidence and a security that just makes life so much greater. However, there is only One who can love us that way and His love never changes.

Mark 13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

He loves us with an everlasting love and underneath us are the everlasting arms.

Deuteronomy 33:26,27a There is none like the God of Jeshurun,
Who rides the heavens to your help,
And through the skies in His majesty.
The eternal God is a dwelling place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;

His love is perfect and will cast out all fear.

I John 4:17,18 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

Are you fearful? Do you lack confidence? Are you insecure? Come to the One whose love never changes and nothing can separate you from His love.

Romans 8:38,39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In everything we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loves us.

Romans 8:37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

You are loved and you are precious in His sight. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. His love will never fail you nor will He ever forsake you.

Romans 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

There is nothing that will separate you from knowing His love, but you. If you don’t come to Him then you will never know His love. If you don’t obey Him then you will not experience His love. He loves you but He wants you to know His love and experience His love.

John 15:9,10 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Life is sweet when you know the love of Jesus and you abide in His love. Your life will not always be easy but it will be much easier when you know you are loved and it is a daily reality to you. Abide in His love.