On our last night in South Africa Poppy,
Trey and I were hanging out around the fire. We spent the month at a
backpackers campsite and they were hosting a big drum festival the weekend
after we left and people were already starting show up. As we were sitting
around the fire, a man named Simon came up and started talking to us. Simon
sports blonde dreads down to his waist, his face is aged from years of drug
abuse making him to look much older than his 34 years, but in his eyes there is
hope. As we sat talking we were joined by three other men and Poppy started
playing some chords on her guitar, soon we were worshipping. Singing praises to
our Father, singing of His love, 
His endless affection for us, and His
relentless pursuit of us. The songs were simple and soon our new friends were
singing with us, they were singing truths over themselves. They weren’t
believers, they were high, yet they were singing, “You’re never giving up,
You’re never giving up, You’re never giving up on me.” I began to prophesy over Simon, he knew God to
be a disappointed Father full of anger and disappointment, but His Father in
Heaven was full of love and affection for him. He was singing songs of love and
freedom over him, pursuing him with a relentless, furious love. With tears in
his eyes Simon began to just say thank you, thanking God for not giving up. He
wasn’t ready to receive God’s love completely that night, but he is changing.
God’s love is changing him and I believe that the Father’s relentless pursuit
of him is going to continue to bring people into his life that will tell Simon
what God’s heart is towards him.
I love that. I love that God pursues each
one of his children with a furious love, that he never gives up on us, and that
he brings people into our lives to let us know how He feels. That even in the
midst of our sin, we have a Father who loves us, and that His love is based on
nothing that we have done or can do. He just loves us. He is love. And we are
called to be his love…with skin. Who in your life needs to hear what God is
saying about them? Who can you be a representation of LOVE to today?
