Let’s take a minute and go back to the cross. Do we as believers take this sacrifice merely as something Jesus had to do? Or grudgingly did for us? Or how about another history lesson? Can we grasp the fact that our Father’s love is so deep and wide that He died in the ultimate sacrifice just to show us how much He loves us?
Now apply it personally. He died for YOU, yes you— If you were the only soul here for Him to show His love to by dying on a cross, He would without a doubt do it just for you. You are the 1 out of the 100 sheep that ran away, and His love is running after you. His heart longs and aches for you to come into a relationship with Him.
When I was Your foe, still Your Love fought for me!
You are beautiful in His sight. He intricately knit you together in your mother’s womb, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. He laid your life out, beginning to end before you were even thought of. We may be surprised at things that happen in our lives, but He isn’t. He has factored in every little thing, in hopes that you will come to know Him personally. He already knows every sin you’re going to commit and yet He still died on the cross for you. He even knows if you’re going to choose Him or not. I think one of my biggest revelations from God was that He sees me according to my purpose. Let me explain that a little better– He doesn’t look at me and see my many mess ups and failures, He looks at me and delights in me because He sees me finishing my race. He sees me fulfilling my calling and being Victorious in Christ! And guess what? God sees you that way too!
You shaped me first inside then out; You formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank You, God–You’re breathtaking! You know me inside and out, You know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, You watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you. The days of my life all prepared before I had even lived one day.
God knew what He was saying yes to when He made you
PSALM 139:13-16
My friend recently told me a revelation they had from God and it just really stuck with me. Imagine a girl or a guy in a prison cell, hunkered over with chains around their wrists and ankles, not being able to move. Now imagine that cell and those chains all being see through, as if they weren’t really there. This is what the enemy does in our minds. He puts thoughts of doubt, condemnation, fear, guilt, shame; you name it, and we begin to believe it. We don’t take those thoughts captive and they become like a record in our minds. Thoughts that make us wonder if God really loves us or really forgives us. Thoughts that make us doubt our purpose here or shaming us for our pasts and not seeing how God can ever use us because we’ve “gone to far.” The physical chains aren’t really there, but they might as well be. They begin to separate us from God because we’re not seeking the truth that counteracts those lies in our minds.
I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed. I remember it all– oh how well I remember– The feeling of hitting the bottom. But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope. God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, His merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great is Your faithfulness!
LAMENTATIONS 3:19-24
But let me tell you something, God is love. Such a simple, yet such a powerful statement. God’s love is beautiful, kind, forgiving, and pure. But it is also powerful and fierce. It is faithful. It heals the brokenhearted. It breaks EVERY CHAIN and stronghold in your life. It softens the hardest of hearts. It gives you endless second chances, far above what you deserve. It never forsakes you. It is complete. It runs after you. This isn’t a love you have to earn!
I pray as you read this, these words aren’t just words on a page. I pray that the Holy Spirit opens your heart and lifts the veil off of your eyes to see YOU are worthy of this love. That you will not only read it, but you will truly believe it. The Lord fights for your heart. He runs after it, He wants you to come home. All at the price of your life surrendered to Him. How beautiful is that? He loves you so immensely that He wants to take all your burdens and chains of shame away, so that you can be FREE. He wants to give you life in abundance. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a pretty good deal to me, a deal I definitely don’t deserve. But because of His love and grace, I get to have!
I desire to see a generation free of shame from their past. To show them they can be redeemed and FULLY free. They can be made NEW by the Savior who died to take their sin and shame off of them. To let them know of a love so deep and so wide that it can radically transform them from the inside out. To let them know of the What and Who that can soften the hardest of hearts and fill their deepest void. The Way, the Truth, the Life.
The God I serve knows only how to triumph!
I lived a lot of my years believing in God, but thinking I was the exception to this love that I had heard about. That He probably didn’t love me as much as He did others, that I was His “least favorite,” I lived in chains not knowing that He wanted to set me free from that bondage, not knowing if He really forgave me or not. I let the enemy have dominion in my mind for so many years. So this is why my heart longs to tell you of this beautiful love, this wonderful freedom I get to experience every day. That you too, can experience this! You are not the exception: To His unfailing love, to His grace extended, to His mercy and goodness each morning, to His sacrifice on the cross, blood shed, forgiveness, to His promises.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
2 COR. 5:17
