MY DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES ME, PART 1

Before we even start the Pearls of Wisdom today, let’s confess together the following at least three times:

MY DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES ME.  MY LORD JESUS CHRIST WHO IS MY SAVIOR LOVES ME.  THE HOLY SPIRIT LOVES ME.

Today I am reminded of just how much God Almighty loves me and each person on this earth, whether they have accepted Him or not and whether they love Him or not.  I stand in awe of that kind of love.  Let’s read and confess some of the scriptures that talk about His love.

In Romans 5:5, NEW LIVING TRANSLATION  we read this:

…For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

What a powerful statement.  God Almighty has given me His Holy Spirit, His Spirit, to fill my heart, overflow my heart, pour forth into my heart His love.  I haven’t done anything to deserve it.  I can’t do anything to earn it.  He has simply given me His love as His gift to me.  He has given me Himself.  And what is my part?  I have only one thing to do.  I receive, I accept His love.  And then it is mine.  This is not something complicated or difficult.  Accept.  Receive.

People have a hard time accepting anything for which they have not worked or earned.  There is this concept, particularly in the western world, that everything we get must be earned or gotten as a result of our own efforts.  That is the reason it is so hard for us to simply receive what God has given to us.  Say this after me:

I BELIEVE I RECEIVE ALL THAT JESUS HAS PROVIDED FOR ME.

I BELIEVE I RECEIVE HIS WORD.

I BELIEVE I RECEIVE HIS HEALING.

I BELIEVE I RECEIVE HIS PROSPERITY.

I BELIEVE I RECEIVE HIS HEALTH.

I BELIEVE I RECEIVE HIS WEALTH.

I BELIEVE I RECEIVE ALL HIS GIFTS TO ME.

THEY ARE MINE.  I TAKE HOLD OF THEM AND SAY, THANK YOU, LORD.  I AM SO GRATEFUL.  I HAVE A HEART OF GRATITUDE FOR WHAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME.

STRENGTHENED

Colossians 1:11

Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

In this verse people shy away from the word patience.  What patience means is that we remain steadfast, unmoving, unchanging when we encounter a difficult situation.  Why can we remain

steadfast?  We have confidence in the Word of God working for us personally.  We have confidence in the blood of Jesus speaking life into that situation.  We know that God’s life is bringing life into the deadness of the situation.  His Light is exposing the darkness of those things that are hidden to us in the midst of the difficulty.  His Love is flushing out all fear that satan may be trying to produce in the earthly encounter with a temporal (temporary) difficulty.  His name gives us the authority to stand in His place and speak to the situation to be removed and cast into the sea (Mark 11:23).

We are told in the first verse listed in this Pearls of Wisdom that we are strengthened with all of God’s might (which is His ability or possibility power) according to His glorious vigor, strength, power.  Therefore, we can rest steadfastly and confidently in God and His finished work on our behalf.  We can do it with joyfulness.  Yes!

Philippians 4:13, Amplified Bible

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].

Ephesians 6:10, Amplified Bible

In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].

This is God’s grace which is sufficient for me in any situation because it is His power expressed as strength in me and for me to come through victoriously and walk on successfully.

GRACE IS

Grace is:

The love of God demonstrated to me, for me, on my behalf

The actual demonstration, the actual manifestation of God’s love for me

The releasing of His love (which is all He is, all His ability, character, holiness, everything He is and has)

God’s love sent forth on my behalf for me, to do what I can’t do

It is God doing what He loves to do.

In Ephesians 2:8 we read that we are saved by grace through faith unto salvation.  It is a gift of God lest any man should boast.  We are delivered by God’s love sent forth on our behalf (grace) when we believe God (faith).  It is a gift and no amount of work will bring it to us.  It is not received by good works.  It is received as a gift.  There is no other way to receive salvation.  It is given to us as a result of God’s grace.

I am so grateful that God loves me and released His grace for me to live free from the bondages of the law and its rigid requirements.  I am free to love God with everything in me.  I am free to enjoy life to the fullest.  I am free.  How about you?

GRACE!

WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS

Yesterday we talked about the pathway of righteousness that Jesus has set before us.  He has gone before us and made a way.  He is the way.  His way is righteousness.  In that way there is life and no death.  We must remember that death does not just refer to separation from our physical bodies.  It can mean separation from anything.  Satan wants to separate us from joy and peace and love and blessing of any kind.  He is the king of death.  Jesus is the Lord of Life.  He is our Life.

That pathway of righteousness is a pathway designed for each of us individually.  I think it is so neat that God works with us personally on an individual basis and yet we are all one of the same Body of Christ.  He is interested in us personally.  He wants to help us fulfill the destiny that He has designed for us as His children.  Each one of our destinies has been divinely created or designed for us and given us or imparted within us when we were placed in our mother’s womb.  God had you and me in mind before we were ever born on this earth.  He has a special place in His heart for each one of us.  It was carved out before the foundation of the earth.  What an awesome thought!  Meditate on that for a while and it will take you out of your doldrums.

Ephesians 2:10 is one of my favorite verses.  It so clearly lays out what God has in mind for each one of us.  Let’s look at it in the Amplified Bible.  It is really self-explanatory.

For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned before hand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

You and I are born again, or born anew by the blood of Jesus Christ.  He made it possible for us to become God’s children and be reconciled to our Heavenly Father once again.  We are restored to our rightful relationship with Him.  What a privilege and a blessing!  Now we are equipped and anointed to walk in the path that He has prepared for us to walk in.  The best part of all of this plan is that we live the good life which our dear Heavenly Father has already prepared for us.  Living with the Lord and living for Him is the best life.

I AM LIVING THE GOOD LIFE WHICH GOD PREPARED FOR ME AND WALKING IN THE PATH THAT HE LAID OUT AHEAD OF ME!

RIGHTEOUSNESS REIGNS

SPECIAL NEWS BULLETIN!  REJOICE!  RIGHTEOUSNESS HAS COME!

When Adam sinned, death came and ruled over mankind as a dictator.  Then God sent Jesus as His gift of grace (His ability) to give us the gift of righteousness (Being right with God), and now we reign in this life, triumphing over sin and death through Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:21 and 17 tell us that sin reigned unto death.  Now grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life.  We who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness do reign as kings in this life through Jesus Christ.

Sin no longer has dominion over us.  It does not rule us.  Grace, righteousness, and life have the complete right of way in our lives.  We live by grace, God’s ability working on our behalf to bring about what we pray and ask.  We are righteous; we have been given the right to be God’s children with all the rights of the Father’s household.

Psalms 85:13, KJV

Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

Amplified Bible—-Righteousness shall go before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.

Rotherham’s Bible—-Righteousness <before him> shall march along,–that he may make, into a way the steps of his feet.

New Living Translation—-Righteousness goes as a herald before him, preparing the way for his steps.

Do you see it?  Jesus’ footsteps carve out a pathway for us, a road of righteousness.  Righteousness goes before Jesus and makes the steps of His feet the way in which to walk.  He is the way; He is the truth; He is the life (John 14:6).  His way is the way of righteousness because of grace.  Wow!

Finally, Proverbs 12:28 tells us this:  In the way of righteousness life and the pathway no death.

The Complete Jewish Bible states it this way:  In the road of righteousness is life; no death is in its pathway.

Here it is:  YOU HAVE BEEN MADE RIGHT WITH GOD.  ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ACCEPT THAT WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FOLLOWING HIM.  IN HIS PATHWAY IS LIFE AND THERE IS NO DEATH.  HE SAYS:  COME, FOLLOW ME!

Rights

Everyone who believes God and accepts Him is given the right to become a child of His (John 1:12-14).  Whoever receives the Lord into their lives has the privilege of being God’s child.  This birth comes from God.  We call it being born again.  And being born again gives us rights (righteousness) in the Father’s household.

Jesus bought our freedom from the law of sin so that we could be God’s children, so that we could be adopted as God’s own children (Galatians 4:5-7).  The Father sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we could call Him our own dear heavenly Father.  He is Papa to His children.  The Holy Spirit has filled our hearts with our Father’s love.  God is love.  We know how much God loves us.  He loves us and wants us to spend time with us.  He has given us the right to come into His presence and sit down and enjoy Him.  He wants us to talk with Him and share our lives with Him.  He can’t wait until we come and share our day with Him.  He absolutely loves it.  We have that right as His children.  He has poured His love into us so that we can love Him and enjoy Him as much as He loves and enjoys us.  What a privilege!

We are no longer slaves or servants.  We are God’s own children.  As His children, everything He has is ours.  It belongs to us because He has given it to us.  It is such a joy to be a member of Father’s household.  He daily loads us with benefits.  They are so vast and so innumerable.  Let’s enjoy what He has given to us.

I AM A CHILD OF GOD AND I ENJOY ALL THE RIGHTS HE HAS GIVEN TO ME!