“For I am convinced that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, not principalities, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38
“Love Never Fails”
1st Corinthians 13:8
“Hatred stirs up strife, But love
covers ALL transgressions.”
Proverbs 10:12
The verses above are some of the most
cliche and overused verses in the bible. I think with good reason
though. They matter. They are truth worth clinging too. We must walk
in these truths to remember there is hope in the midst of
destruction. That there is a reason to sew into impossible
situations.
Everyday in Pattaya I walked down one
of the worst streets in the city to do ministry. I saw girls out and
ready to find customers at eleven in the morning. I saw men, looking
for a good time, intimacy, or an easy relationship. I watched as
girls who couldn’t be older than 13 try to win the attention of men
quadruple their age. I saw the enemy in the eyes of captive people. I
saw destruction, devastation and and to an unbeliever a hopeless
situation.
I would walk down these streets, and
on the beach and would pray for these people. I would ask God to
intervene, to act, to rescue. The Holy Spirit would whisper to me, My
Love OVERCOMES! God literally would whisper this to me 50 times a
day.
I would have conversations with people
who were held captive by their sin, who saw no other options, who had
no hope. People who had made horrible choices, who had horrible
things done to them. The Spirit would then whisper My Love is DEEPER.
see once on this earth. Some of them I would get to see a few times. I spent two weeks in Pattaya
and was filled with sadness when it came time to leave. I was in
Bangkok for ten days and I silently wept as I drove to the airport because I
deeply love our ministry contacts. I have loved deeper in the last
month than I have most of my life.
For a long time now I have known God’s
love is deep and wide, and unconditional and the key to restoring a
broken world, and the thing that compels people to come into
relationship with Him.
God has spent the last month simply
revealing to me a new level of the depth of His love. I used to think
the verse from Romans was true, but cheesy. Now it is life giving to
my spirit and the truth I cling to when I look at a hopeless
situation and I know that nothing can fix the brokenness I see. Today
I know that God’s love is deeper, and that it overcomes all things. I
know I change nothing but He changes everything. I know that I am
very capable and I can make things happen. I know God is the only one
that makes good happen. I know that the condition of the human heart
is hopeless, but God does impossible things. (Matt. 19:16) These are
all truths, I have learned before, and will learn again. I am
thankful for the revelation of these truths and the hope that comes
with them.
