Here’s a message I had an opportunity to share!
I want to talk about the Father’s love today. From the beginning of the month until now, God has been putting a message on my heart that I want to share with you today. You are deeply loved by the heavenly Father and He has and always will be madly in love with you. There aren’t any strings attached, just 100% unconditional love because you are worthy of that kind of love.
But sometimes we have roadblocks that prevent us from experiencing the full depth of His love, and I wanted to touch on some of those topics and share some stories from the Bible. This book is full of God pouring out His love on people like us. He relentlessly pursued them no matter what, and He’s been pursuing you since the day you were born.
Psalm 139:13-14
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
You were created for a purpose. Hand sewn and knit, you are not some manufactured person like everyone else. You are unique, one of a kind, a hidden gem. You were born to experience all the love the Father has for you, each and every day!
You may feel that you are not worthy of such love. You feel under qualified, not good enough, and when people look at you it’s like they see right through you. I want to share the story about the woman at the well from John 4. This woman was looked down upon by the rest of her village. She came to the well at the hottest time of day because no one would be there to bother her. Except for Jesus. He always had His eye on her. He lovingly approached her and pursued her when no one else did. She hadn’t felt loved. She had 4 previous husbands, and the man she was with wasn’t her current husband. But through His words, Jesus melted her heart with the truth. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that He loved her. He loved her so much that she even ran off without her water which is the whole reason she came to the well. A love like this causes us to stop what we’re doing and run and tell everyone about it which is exactly what this woman did! You are worthy and loved, not because of the things you do or what other people say. It’s because it’s who God created you to be. Be alert to the ways He is pursuing you in the times when it feels like no one else is!
Maybe you feel like you’ve already used up all your chances with God. You’ve seen all that He’s done for you, but just spat in His face and took everything and left and you can’t dare come back because He’ll never except you back. That’s how the prodigal son felt in Luke 15
This son took his share of inheritance and everything that was his and left his father. He squandered all his money until there was nothing left and he sat eating the scraps for the pigs. He planned to go back to his father, offering to be a servant in his house. However, when the father sees his son walking down the road, he runs after him and throws a big banquet welcoming his son home. This is exactly how God sees you. There is nothing you could ever do to make God love you any less. Even if you’ve walked away from Him several times, He will always be there waiting to run towards you when you decide to come home. His arms are open wide, so just come home. Experience the party with Him and let Him shower you with His overwhelming love.
Lastly, maybe you’re just too far gone. Maybe you think that you’re the worst human being on this earth. You hate Christians, and God, and maybe even want them dead. How can God love you? I want to share with you about Paul from the book of Acts. He was exactly like you. He hated God, hated Christians, and even killed them. But God was still madly in love with Paul and chased after him. He caused a blindness to come over Paul and spoke tenderly to him. God used a man named Ananias to speak truth into Paul’s life and heal his blindness. From that day forward, Paul experienced the overwhelming love of God, and like the woman at the well, he couldn’t help but share it with everyone he met. There is nothing you can ever do to separate yourself from God’s love.
The sin from eating the forbidden apple in Genesis 3 caused a big separation between God and us, and He just couldn’t fathom being apart from you. Jesus committed the greatest act of love for you and for me. He came to this earth and lived a perfect life just so He could die a painful death on the cross. But it was so worth it for Jesus, because He gets you. You were His prized possession, the person He couldn’t live without. This sacrificial act was due to God’s overwhelming love for you. He couldn’t imagine living a single day without you.
You are His pride and joy, and He is the ultimate Father. He may say no to things that you ask of Him, but it’s because of His great love for you. The whole time you’ve been longing and asking for something small when He wants to pour out the full extent of His love by giving you something bigger and better!
Wake up and realize the Father’s crazy love for you! Circumstances may happen and seasons of your life may be extremely challenging. But He is right there crying with you like He was with Mary when Lazarus died in John 11. He will always be there for you. When it seems like God has thrown you into the pits and left you. Turn around because He’s right there with you. His love for you is too great to let anything come between you.
Romans 8:37-39 says:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 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.
You are so loved! Do you know that? There is a Father in Heaven who is madly in love with you. And it has nothing to do with you, and everything to with Him. You are His beloved child, and there’s nothing you can do to ever lose His love. You are loved simply because you were born. You being alive is all you need to experience His love. So cast your cares, your worries, your anxieties, your anger and frustration, your hurts on Him because He cares for you and wants to demonstrate His love for you in all the highs and lows.
