When are we scheduled to enjoy these wonderful blessings that God has prepared for us? Only in heaven? No! Today, tomorrow and forever! God has given us His plan for us to receive these unusually good things. (Google image, I Love God)
When we read or hear, You must love God with all your heart, we may have trained our minds to think, "This is a commandment that we must observe whether we understand it or not."
No! God is giving us the key to receiving the things He has prepared for us. He wants us to do whatever it takes to understand how to love Him. He knows we can do this and the joy we will receive from it.
Receiving Jesus as Savior is a giant step forward. Believing in the power of the Holy Spirit is another big step. Then comes a journey of learning how, and doing what we can do, to love God with all our hearts.
There are many ways to know God as The one who is loveable. We learn to love Him because of Who and What He is, just as we love another person by learning to know who and what they are. When we love another person, and they love us, we gradually strengthen the love we have for one another.
A wonderful lesson that I have learned about God is that He is The One who is always working for my good. If the all-powerful Creator of the Universe did not keep His promise to always be working for my good (see Romans 8:28) it would be difficult for me to love him with all my heart.
At first in small things, and then gradually in very difficult circumstances. I have learned to believe that God is working for my good. The more I learn to trust Him, the more I love Him! His love for me causes me to love Him more.
The more I love God, the more I experience and enjoy His love for me. Now I understand why Jesus told us that the most important commandment is to love God!
Of course, Satan lays many traps to get us to doubt God's promises. But when we are steadfast in our conviction that a wise and loving God will always work for our ultimate good, the stronger our confidence becomes.
I urge you to learn as much as you can about the ways that God has provided for you to love Him more. "Thou shalt" means we should do what we can do whether we understand or feel like doing it or not. And, if we choose to ignore His command to give thanks always for all things (see Ephesians 5:20) we may never learn to love him more.
The pathway to loving God is filled with blessings and joy that are indeed greater than anything else we have seen or heard. God often does not give us the things we want, or feel we need, in order to help us grow in faith. Our flesh always wants its own way, but our flesh can prevent us from receiving the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.
If someone says to you, "I have been told that I must love you, so I've decided to love you," how would you feel? We want to look into a person's eyes and see their love. God wants to look into our hearts and see our love for Him.
We cannot just decide to love Him. I urge you to learn more about God's wonderful loving nature. Don't listen to Satan, for just as he told Adam and Eve that God's wasn't fair, Satan will tell you that you have no evidence to believe that God is always working for your good.
During this New Year, practice believing God and enjoy learning more about the wonderful blessings that He has prepared for you.
(Reprint from PRAISE NEWS of the Foundation of Praise paper, January, 2005)
Let's pray-
Father, we understand that receiving Jesus as our Savior is the first step to love You. Receiving and believing in the power of Your Holy Spirit is another big step in our faith walk.
Then comes our journey of learning how to love You, as we find out ways we can love you with all our heart.
When we love another person, and they love us, we gradually strengthen the love we have for one another by getting to know them.
This is how it works with You; we learn of Your love for us, and we in turn learn to love You. As You always are working for our good, and You keep Your promises, we find it isn't really hard to love You.
Help us keep open to all of Your thoughts for us, to bring us into closer fellowship with You, and help us recognize Satan's schemes to undermine our faith, to weaken our devotion to You. As we enjoy the beauties of all You've created, may our hearts be in love with You, Father, in gratitude and admiration for Your great love for us.
We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Today's Bible verses-
Eph. 3:17-19 (CSB) "I pray that you, being rooted
and firmly established in love, may be able to
comprehend with all the saints what is the length
and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to
know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge,
so you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
Psalm 23:6 "Surely goodness and mercy shall
Eph. 3:17-19 (CSB) "I pray that you, being rooted
and firmly established in love, may be able to
comprehend with all the saints what is the length
and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to
know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge,
so you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
Psalm 23:6 "Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life."
Rom 8:37 "In all these things, we are more than
conquerors through Him who loved us."
Today's next 5 posts of 100 things Our God Is . . .
Today's next 5 posts of 100 things Our God Is . . .
26. Our Maker
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27. Our Heavenly Father
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28. The Justifier of the One Who Has Faith in Jesus
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29. Meeting Our Needs through Jesus
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30. Giving Us the Peace that Surpasses Understanding
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Today's quote-
~ Joseph F. Girzone: "When good things happen unexpectedly and for no apparent reason, and at a time when the good was something we needed, that often lights a spark of faith, which can grow into a flame. And when other good things follow that seem to have no natural explanation, it can prompt a person to consider that maybe it is the hand of God.
Today's popular post-
Jean Oathout begins our thoughts on doubts and faith today, with some questions that should get us considering how the one tends to take down the other.
When troubling thoughts come, are we going to realize them as from the evil one? . . .
Today's sermon spotlight-
The Necessity of the Cross and Faith
Speaker: Daniel Paladin
MARCH 10, 2019
Upcoming posts-
#21 In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
19th- Tuesday's post by Samuel Chadwick#22 For the Sake of the Name
21st- Thursday's post by Samuel Chadwick
The Choice
23rd- Saturday's post by Max Lucado
#23 Pray in the Spirit
26th- Tuesday's post by Samuel Chadwick
Jean's blog (Click to see snippets of the 7 recent posts)
Helpful ways the Lord helped me in my marriage.
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