Our Father -2 Corinthians 6:16-18, 7:1

This is such an amazing promise...I read it today, and instantly knew that I wanted to share it.

"And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people." Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty."

The beginning of the next chapter really summarizes what our response should be to all of the promises we've seen in 2 Corinthians.

"Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

 

Understand the Lovingkindness of God -Psalms 107:39-43

"When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow, He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way; Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock. The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth. Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the LORD."

Sons of the Living God -Romans 9:25-26

"As He says also in Hosea: "I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to to them, 'You are not My people,' there they shall be called sons of the living God."

Hope Does Not Disappoint -Romans 5:1-5

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

According to His Mercy -Titus 3:3-7

This is such a powerful passage...

"For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Heal our Backsliding -Hosea 14:1-4

This the first of two posts....I really like this chapter in Hosea.

"O Israel, return to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; Take words with you, And return to the LORD. Say to Him, "Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, 'You are our gods.' For in You the fatherless finds mercy."

I love God's response to this:

"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him." 

I few phrases really stand out to me.

• "Assyria shall not save us..." -the idea that we can't rely on anyone or anything else to rescue us...Jesus is the only way.
• "Nor will we say...to the work of our hands, 'You are our gods." -Not letting anything in our life get a higher pedestal than God does.
• "For in You the fatherless finds mercy." -Just really like the wording...that only in God we find mercy.
• "I will heal their backsliding." -He will put us in a right standing with God!
• "I will love them freely." -God's Love is no longer withheld from us! 

Hold on to these promises! If we repent and turn to Him, not only will God heal and forgive us, we will experience His love.

His Song Will Be With Me -Psalms 42:8

"The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me - A prayer to the God of my life."

God's Love -Zephaniah 3:16-17

Happy Valentine's Day! In honor of the day, I thought I would share a verse that talks about God's Love.

"In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak. The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.""

Wow. God tells us here to not be afraid...because God is with us. He goes on to say that God will save us, He will rejoice over us, and He will quiet us with His love.

Now this love isn't just any love. This love passes all understanding, and is far greater than the love we as human beings show towards each other.

And God promises to quiet us with this perfect love that He has.


Wow. All I can say is, rest in the Lord! True peace comes from Him.

God's Love Manifested -1 John 4:9

"In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."

 We see God's love through Him sending His only Son to die on the cross for us!

The Lord Loves You -Deuteronomy 7:6-8

"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."

I think these verses can be applied to us as Christians...God didn't choose us because we were anything special, He chose us because He loves us, and because He keeps His Word, the promise He made to Abraham years ago.

As A Father Pities -Psalms 103:13-14

"As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust."

Not Always Striving -Psalms 103:9

"He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever."

Redeeming My Life -Psalms 103:4

This post is a continuation from last night's post...

"Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,"

Love of God Perfected -1 John 2:4-5

"He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him."

Standing at the Door...Revelation 3:20

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

God promises fellowship to those who hear Him and let Him come into their hearts.

Being Dead -Galatians 2:20

There is comfort in being dead.

No, my goal is not to be morbid. But as Christians, we can gain comfort from knowing that we were dead in our sins, but through Christ we have become alive. Christ lives in us!

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

I also love the last part of this verse, where we see Jesus' sacrifice for us in more depth. He loved us and gave Himself up on the cross for us.


If that's not inspiring to fight the good fight of faith, I don't know what is.

While We Were Still Sinners...Romans 5:6-8

 "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

 It easy for us as Christians to see our sin as separating us from Christ. I'm encouraged to know that even though I fail time and time again, God didn't save me when I was obedient.

However, what God did do is demonstrate His love for me by dying on the cross for my sins...a gift which I totally did not deserve.

No Fear -2 Timothy 1:7

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

The Power of God's Love -Romans 8:35-39

We can't do it on our own...without God, we really are lost.

As you read the following verses, I encourage you to think about God's love towards us, and the power of that love which is at work in our lives...when we come up against attacks and temptations from Satan, we can know that nothing will keep us from His love towards us.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:  

“For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Nothing can separate us from God's Love.