The law, grace and truth (19)

Father, we thank you for Your love for us. Today, we receive a deeper revelation of Your love for us. May it carry and lead us to where You have appointed and purposed for Your glory in the name of Jesus, Amen. Thank you LORD.

I have found that I understand the depth of my mother's love better as an adult. It was not that her love was not present or that it changed over time, but as I matured, I started to understand it better and even deeper in Christ. As a child, you are always receiving. The parents give, children receive. Whether parents give good or not so good things, a child will receive what they are given. Jesus says to us, that if you will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child, you will by no means enter it (Mark 10:15). We clearly have a lot to learn about receiving that is found in the simplicity of 'child-like' faith as God's children.

Today, I'm sharing on the love of God, the Father because when we fully understand God's love, we will be able to receive it and fully mature in our personal relationship with Him. If you are around children, you will notice that they usually do not need to be told twice about receiving anything especially good things. They are always ready and in fact expectant to receive good things from their parents. In fact, if they do not, its almost an anamoly to them which maybe a downside if left unchecked.

I do not know about you but as an adult, I find that as I reflect on my mother's love, I appreciate it better.

I also realize I received my mother's love much better as a child when I did not have the language or the words or the understanding of what love was or what it meant but I received the love in her presence, her actions, her self sacrifice and her undivided attention towards us, her children. It seems that we may understand and receive love the most when we are in our most vulnerable state because children in their nature are vulnerable as well.

Isn't it amazing that the love your parents shower you with as a teenager and even as you grow over the years, is beautiful though at the same time, there is something about a parents love when the child is still developing in their younger formative years.

I find it is the same with God, that at our most vulnerable and weakest moments we are most likely able to experience and appreciate a deep sense of His love for us. At the same time, if you consistently seek God by His grace through the high and low moments of life, you will find that He is not just the God of the valley but of the mountain tops as well just like earthly parents.

Now was my mother a perfect mother, maybe not. But she was perfect in my eyes. Was I the perfect daughter, far from it but I was her daughter and there was nothing that was going to change her mind about her love concerning me.

Now you may be reading this and thinking, I did not grow up with a mom or dad, may you be comforted in God's unchanging love for you. In Isaiah 49:15-16, the LORD says, "Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;..." Child of God, your name is written on God's palms because that is how much you mean to Him.

Currently, my mom is home in heaven with the LORD and I'm thankful because God used her physical absence on earth to give me a deeper revelation of the Father's love.

The point is if we imperfect people know how to love our children. How much more God, the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is perfect and the One who created us.

Jesus in Matthew 7:8-11 NKJV says, "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what son is there among you who, if his son asks for bread,will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him!" Please note, the word good things in this Scripture. Our Father gives good things. We also see that God not only gives good gifts to His children, He gives perfect gifts. James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." - Amen, thank you LORD.

When we look at the different stories in the Bible especially under the law and before the law came in place, God's heart of love is unfaltering and consistent all through generations which includes this day. I'm humbled to see that one of God's names is the God of Israel, (whose name was formerly Jacob), who on the outside may have looked imperfect. However, in God's eyes, Jacob's heart was perfect before God. Friend, when we decide to look at things through God's love, we see that God's love overlooks our flaws as opposed to human love that may be critical or self-focussed. When we look at Israel's descendants who on their way to the promised land, strayed from God's ways and His law, God's mercy never departed. For instance: at one point, the children of Israel made an idol out of their jewellery and worshipped that idol as their 'god' who rescued them from Egypt (Exodus 32). I guarantee you, they were disciplined by God's righteous judgment but at the end of the day, manna still fell from heaven the next day. God's provision and protection concerning them never ceased because they were still God's children, loved and blessed by the LORD because they were Abraham's seed. To this day, the children of Israel, Abraham's seed, know and understand they are God's chosen people who were and still are deeply loved by God. In Deuteronomy 4:35 NKJV, Moses speaks to God's people, "To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him." - Amen.

Today, God opens up this invitation of love not only to Abraham's seed but to everyone who will receive God's love that is found in Christ Jesus. Just like we saw earlier on, our response as God's children is to receive His love and all that He has blessed us with that is found in Christ Jesus. John 3:16 is the epitome of love and it says, for God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son and that whoever would receive Him would receive eternal life. We can all agree that eternal life is a good thing, it is a perfect gift and it lasts forever. John 17:3 says, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

We also see that God did not wait for us to get our act together, He sent us Jesus while we were still imperfect, indifferent to Him and sinners. God's grace gave us what we never deserved because love cannot be earned. Romans 5:8 NKJV to this effect says to us, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

We see then that God has not given us His grace and love found in Christ to manipulate or tailor it to our personal preferences for God cannot be mocked as seen in Galatians 6:7. Grace through faith in Jesus is a perfect gift that has been given by the Father to establish and settle His children deeper in His love for His glory. "For eye has not seen, nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). Child of God, you are loved. God loves you...ALOT and He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

Jesus says in John 15:9-10 (NKJV)

9. "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

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."

Amen, thank you LORD.

Invitation to salvation: God is love and He loves you and His arms are open wide just to receive you. Jesus in Matthew 18:12 says, that He would leave the ninety nine to go find that one lost sheep. There is no need for perfection because Jesus Christ was made to be perfection on your behalf by God, the Father. If you would like to receive this free gift of salvation that is found in God's Son, Jesus Christ, the hope of glory;

"I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that; Jesus Christ, the Son of God came in a human body to die for my sins so that I could have a new life where I am dead to sin and alive to God. I repent of my past sins and enter the Kingdom of light where I choose relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and with God as my loving Father today and forever. Thank you Father that because the Son has made me free, I am now free indeed." AMEN.

HALLELUJAH, PRAISE GOD! YOU ARE OFFICIALLY REDEEMED. PLEASE FIND A CHURCH AND GET WATER BAPTIZED!