lost...

Luke 15:4-9

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'…

"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' "

The actions of God in His care and His love for the believer are not dependent on what we do. The parable of the lost son is not to be manipulated into a story of a son who is repentant and thus earns favour with his father. The three ‘JJ Abram’ (everything’s Lost? Get it? Probably not…) parables present to us an overwhelming body of evidence of a God that loves and restores at any time.

What does the sheep do to deserve the shepherd coming out to rescue him and bring him back to the fold? What does a lost coin do to deserve being searched for at great effort?

I think of the times that I’ve forced myself to repent. Or times I’ve tried to force others to repent. But if repentance is forced, how true a repentance could it be? Romans 2:2 reminds us it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance, not our self-realisation.

Even though God has so many following Him, He still notices YOU.

Even though God has every treasure, He still values YOU.

Prayer for the week: Father, how great is the love you have poured out that you now call us children. You are a perfect father whose perfect love drives me to trust and rely on you alone. I can look forward to the best because you gave your best.

best...

1 John 3:1-3

How great is the 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. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

I’m looking forward to a year that is my best yet!

There are so many things that I am believing God for, many things I look forward to and many things I want to leave behind. The key to this is what I have hope in. Do I have hope in myself as a mere man or do I have hope in myself as a child of God?

Your heavenly Dad lavished love on you in Jesus for a great reason – that he could call you His child. And that is what you are! As a child of God you become an heir to all He has (Romans 8:17). Don’t be like the brother of the prodigal son who didn’t see that everything the Father had was His (Luke 16:31)! Let this year be one where you see yourself as the Father sees you.

Just pause for a moment and believe on this.

He pours love on me. I am a child of God, a co-heir with Christ.

Prayer for the week: Father, how great is the love you have poured out that you now call us children. You are a perfect father whose perfect love drives me to trust and rely on you alone. I can look forward to the best because you gave your best.

loved...

Romans 1:7

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do you identify yourself as a Christian? How do you define others as Christians?

The Bible primarily identifies Christians not by what they had done for God but what God had done for them!

I think back to the times that I have tried to bring people back to relationship with God by telling them how to change their behaviour so they were once again acceptable before Christ. Soberingly, it only ever pushed them further away.

Or perhaps today, you feel far from God and you just can’t find the time or heart to ‘get serious’ about Him again.

God would remind you and me today that He loves you and has called you. No time and effort from you made you a child of God.

He calls out to you right now. In the midst of busyness, spend a moment to receive grace and peace from your Father.

Prayer for the week: Father, how great is the love you have poured out that you now call us children. You are a perfect father whose perfect love drives me to trust and rely on you alone. I can look forward to the best because you gave your best.

nothing...

Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is a rLOVEution! Welcome to a 2008 where the fullness of God is for you to grasp in love.

We have a Father and Creator who didn’t create a single thing that could stop me from being loved. He has never changed His position of love towards me.

Moving away from a God that we thought was angry, disappointed and frustrated at us, we’ve all tried to find love somewhere else; anywhere else. If I’m honest, so much of my teenage years and early uni life, regardless of where I spent my Sunday mornings, was spent on trying to find something/someone/somewhere that would love me more and give me a greater sense of acceptance and value than I thought my God did.

But my God isn’t disappointed with me. And He’s not looking for something in exchange for His love.

He didn’t need me to love Him.

He wanted to love me.

Prayer for the week: Father, how great is the love you have poured out that you now call us children. You are a perfect father whose perfect love drives me to trust and rely on you alone. I can look forward to the best because you gave your best.

this is...

this is love

this is revolution