Grace for the Pharisee

There is grace for all of us, even the Pharisees..

I know because I've been a Pharisee and judged others, and I can still be critical and judgmental at times..So I want to say thank You, Papa, that You've got grace and love in Your heart even for religious and legalistic people, for I've been one and You loved me and saw behind the condemning attitude to a hurting person who felt she must live up to some high standard and felt she never would, felt You were disgusted with her..

Maybe all critical attitudes simply come from this lack of seeing that one is beloved, that there is no standard to have to measure up to..that one is loved without any conditions and accepted even with all the failures..

I know this Pharisee was healed by love and grace, and I pray that all that struggle with condemning and critical attitudes can also be just washed and overwhelmed and healed by His love and grace, too! And that if there are any hurts or wounds from the past, that they would all be healed in every way by His grace washing over, like a fountain of love and tenderness! That every lie making anyone feel unworthy, unlovable, 'not good enough,' alienated, alone, uncared for, or shameful would be silenced and melted into nothing by the love shining from His face, the tender delight in His eyes for all of us!

Grace and peace to all the Pharisees and hurting people out there, you are loved as you are, you are accepted whether you ever change or not, you are His dear and precious children and are totally embraced right now, wherever you are at, no need to measure up, no standard to keep, no requirements put upon you...you are perfect to Him just as you are and always have been! 

So please don't call yourself a Pharisee, that's not who you truly are, it's a lie and false identity you may sometimes take as your own, but it isn't really you!...You are His dear little innocent child, loved without regard to right or wrong, good or bad, what you do or don't do, just plain loved because you are His very own and daddies love their little ones... Don't even worry about changing all your attitudes, seeing the truth more clearly or anything at all...Everything is going to be okay, He won't reject you, He won't hurt you, He won't leave you - Papa loves you, He's got you, and He won't let you go!

It's Not Really About Me and My Faith, It's All About God and His Grace!

In the past I have worried that I didn't have enough faith, or that my faith wasn't complete, or that I would lose faith..and all this focus on my faith made me unsure of my standing before God, unsure of where I was with Him on a day to day basis and also unsure of my eternal destiny.  If it was so important and all about my faith, what if I lost faith or didn't have enough at any one time?  Would that meant that I would lose blessings, help, His favor, or..worst of all, my salvation and place in heaven?  It scared me so much.  I used to cling to verses like Phil. 1:6 because they gave me some hope that somehow God would get me through to heaven, since I felt my faith wasn't so hot!  I instinctively knew that if it was 'all up to me and my faith' to get to heaven, be blessed, have healing or get God's favor and work in my life, then I was in trouble because I was not capable on my own of having perfect faith!  I couldn't handle the responsibility, and it made me feel insecure and troubled and afraid.

Then God began to open my eyes to something wonderful, something I had never really been taught before...He opened my eyes to grace!  He showed me that it wasn't all about me and my faith to make things happen, it was all about HIM and HIS GRACE and He had already made things happen and would bring them all about!  Since it was all about Him and His responsibility to come through for me, my favor and acceptance with God, His work in my life, and my eternal destiny were thus absolutely certain and secure - for HE never fails, HE never wavers, HIS plan is always carried out, HIS work is always finished!  I was able to stop worrying and start resting.  I was able to start enjoying my life with God and looking forward to an eternal heavenly future that was for sure!  The Holy Spirit testified deep within me that this was so.  Oh what joy filled me up!

Now God is showing me something even more beautiful, helping me understand it all even better - He is showing me that in the eternal realm, salvation is already DONE!  That means I am not waiting to get to heaven, I am ALREADY there!  I've died with Christ, been raised with Christ, ascended with Christ, and have been seated with Christ at the right hand of God the Father in heaven - already!  This happened 2000 years ago in our time, but really in God's time it happened before creation!  For God said that the Lamb Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world - and I was there in Him, it happened to me, too, way back then!  Before we even had a problem, God solved it.  Before I even initiated anything, He initiated redemption and made everything okay for me.  Before I even sinned, He took away my sin at the cross.  Before I was lost, I was found by Him!  Before I took one step out of line, He put me back together!  Before I withdrew from relationship with Him, He connected me with Him eternally!  Before I lost faith, HE had faith on my behalf.  Before I even needed rescue, He saved me!  Wow!  My salvation has been secure since before time began - now THAT'S eternal security!

But what about faith?  I know it is great to have faith, and faith is a natural response when we hear this good news that God has saved us.  Yet I realize now I was putting so much emphasis in the past on "my faith" that I wasn't realizing that I was making faith into a work.  Faith isn't a 'thing I do' to make something happen, like blessing or salvation.  Faith isn't something I must do to 'get' God to be favorable toward me or do something for me.  Faith is trust.  It is what happens when you discover someone is trustworthy.  You discover someone is trustworthy by seeing what they've already done for you to prove their love and loyalty to you.  When you see that someone has made a big sacrifice for you to help you, you see they really love you and you're able to trust them to take care of you.  And when you see that someone loves you even when they know the worst about you, even when you reject and mistreat them, then you are able to open up and trust them to accept and not reject you.  And that's just what Jesus did at the cross - He proved His love for us by giving up His own life to free us from sin's hold.  And He loved and did this for us when we were at our worst - in fact, we humans killed Him, and He asked His Father to forgive us and even came out of the grave with His arms stretched out in love and forgiveness for all, taking no revenge, just going on as if we hadn't killed Him at all, loving us and being open and friendly towards us just the same!!  THAT is a God we can trust!

Faith doesn't make something happen.  Faith is what naturally occurs when we see what has already happened to us through God's love and Jesus' finished work.  So faith doesn't bring salvation.  Faith sees that salvation already happened!  Faith is simply seeing reality!  All these years we may have thought God was angry or distant, thought we had to earn our way with Him, thought salvation was all up to us, thought we were being graded by our performance...and now we discover that wasn't reality, that was all a lie!  We discover the truth, we see reality - that God is pure love and ONLY love, that He always loved and accepted and embraced us, no matter what wrong things we did, that we never had to earn our place with Him, that salvation was all up to Him and He already succeeded in doing it - for Jesus freed us from sins through bringing us with Him through death and brought us into life and fellowship in the Trinity by bringing us with Him out of the grave and up into heaven and plopping us right into Papa's lap! - that we are SAFE and SECURE and LOVED and ACCEPTED forever no matter what, we are HIS children, always were, always will be!  God awakens us out of the nightmare of Satan's lies, and we SEE reality, His reality, the eternal and only REAL reality!  That is all faith is to me now, not making something happen but seeing what already happened, what already IS!

We can rest, because salvation in the end is all about God and His grace, not all about us and our faith!  What a relief to know that we are in the arms of the God of grace and that He will never let us go!

Silent Night...

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Grown Up Christmas List

Grown Up Christmas List

(by Linda Thompson and David Foster, sung here by Amy Grant)

Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies

Well, I'm all grown-up now
And still need help somehow.
I'm not a child
But my heart still can dream

So here's my lifelong wish
My grown-up Christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree
Well heaven surely knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth?
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, oh

This is my grown-up Christmas list
This is my only life long wish
This is my grown-up Christmas list

Our Good Shepherd Always Finds Us - A Wonderful Quote by Simon Tugwell

This is one of my favorite quotes, and I wanted to share it here.  It is from 'Prayer' by Simon Tugwell.  My favorite part is where he says, "Our hope is in His determination to save us, and He will not give in."  That is such a comfort to me!

Jesus the Good Shepherd Who Looks For Us And Finds Us               (Simon Tugwell)

"Another picture that our Lord loves to use is that of the shepherd who goes out to look for the sheep that is lost (Matthew 18:12).  So long as we imagine that it is we who have to look for God, then we must often lose heart.  But it is the other way about: he is looking for us.  And so we can afford to recognize that very often we are not looking for God; far from it, we are in full flight from him, in high rebellion against him.  And he knows that and has taken it into account.  He has followed us into our own darkness; there where we thought finally to escape him, we run straight into his arms.

"So we do not have to erect a false piety for ourselves, to give us hope of salvation.  Our hope is in his determination to save us.  And he will not give in!

"...we can let ourselves off that desperate question, “Am I in the right place?”  ”Have I done the right thing?”  Of course, we must sometimes acknowledge sins and mistakes and we must try to learn from them; but we should not foster the kind of worry that leads to despair, God’s providence means that wherever we have got to, whatever we have done, that is precisely where the road to Heaven begins.  However many cues we have missed, however many wrong turnings we have taken, however unnecessarily we may have complicated our journey, the road still beckons, and the Lord still “waits to be gracious” to us (Isaiah 30:18)."
                                                                                                                  Simon Tugwell

I love this quote!  It really reminds me of our security in Him and how He has got this whole salvation thing wrapped up in His perfect work and faithfulness!  His is the initiative, His is the work, His is the responsibility, and His is the resolve...so we are safe, we are secure, we are assured that we'll forever be snug and cozily at home with Him!   He will not fail us!  We may think we've just fallen too far to ever come up again, yet right in the deepest pit of all we find that God is there with us!  We suddenly find that by His grace, the pathway that seemed to be going down is actually going up, and the hellhole turns into heaven!  Because HE is there!  HE is with us, no matter where we end up, and HE keeps us!  He makes the dark places light and the crooked places straight, flattens mountains into plains and turns the storm into calm!  No matter what, He makes it all come out for good!  Thus, we cannot get lost, because anywhere we go or even run from Him, there He is, holding us, saving us, blessing us, keeping us, carrying us to heaven!!  It's like Rob Rufus says, grace is an UP escalator, and no matter how many times we fall on this escalator, it just keeps going UP! 

So we can fail and still be safe and secure, for it's all by His grace that we are fine and well and safe, not by our own doing or keeping!  We are free to be ourselves, admit our weaknesses, have problems and issues.  We are free to take risks, free to try new things and sometimes not succeed, free to be fallible and free to be wrong, free to not understand everything, free to even have erroneous beliefs or doctrines about some things!  And free to be human, to be weak, to be emotional, to be real, to be genuine!  For no matter what we do, where our thoughts and acts take us, what lies or traps we fall in, what confusion we have, or what lies we believe, He is determined to save us, He is able and willing to save us, He DOES save us, He HAS saved us!  And therefore we ARE safe, forevermore!

"Don't Forget Where You Belong" by One Direction

(This is post is going out in honor of my wonderful daughter, Sara!) Here is a great song that is new to me...My daughter loves this group, and this is a song she played for me from their new album...I love it and think it is such a song of God's grace and love!  No matter where we've gone, we've always belonged with Him, He's always been our home, and we've never been alone, for He has been there with us all along! 

Are We Undeserving or Unworthy of His Love?

I have heard many times the definition of grace as 'undeserved favor' ..that even though we don't deserve it, God loves us.  That grace is God's love for the undeserving, His favor given to those that don't deserve such treatment. 

Yet I recently read a post on facebook that said something different and intriguing.  The person said that really, in God's eyes, we actually DESERVE love and favor because we are His dearly loved creations and any good father would say that his children deserved love and blessings! 

That was new to me and such a joy to think about, that HE thinks I deserve to be loved, accepted, helped, blessed, etc.! I think it goes along with the idea of worthiness, too - that we are worthy, we have His very worth in and upon us as His very own offspring!  In fact, because Jesus gave His own life for us, God giving up His own Son for us all, that shows we are worth just as much to God as Jesus is - talk about being worth a lot, being worthy!

We are worthy, and we are deserving, just by being His children, His dearly loved creations!

We are worth loving, worth saving, worth redeeming, and we deserve all the love, help, affection, care and good things a Perfect Father would give!

Scary Judge or Loving Papa?

I feel that the question is coming up in my mind recently, am I going to keep on seeing Him as Scary Judge as I'd been taught or am I really going to see Him as Loving Father!?!  Without realizing it, in the past I'd seen Him as a Scary Judge, whose bottom line was grading me on my performance, and thus I never could feel totally safe and secure around Him, because I wondered if He really approved of me, wondered if He was going to be disappointed with me or reject me because of some failure on my part to act, think or believe right...Yet now I am learning more and more that He is really a Loving Father!  He is not all about performance but is all about relationship!  His way is not law but grace!  His language isn't demands, pressure, rewards and punishment; it is actually acceptance, delight, freedom and gifts!  He is a loving Daddy who loves to dote on His kids, in whose eyes they can do no wrong, who would never think of disowning them, who wouldn't want to even exist in a universe where they did not exist, who would gladly give up His own life to save them from harm, who would protect them from anything, who always thinks they deserve the very best, who thinks they are the greatest and most wonderful beings ever!  He always sees past the wrongs they do to the hurts that may have caused them to act that way, always sees not the wrongs they might do but the needy, vulnerable little son/daughter dependent on Him for everything, needing so much to be loved.  He will never turn His back on us, never stop loving us, never reject us based on some poor performance or mistake, never see us as anything but His dearly loved, precious children!

So I feel myself coming to a point where I am asking myself, am I ready to just let go of the old ideas and go forth bravely with the new?  Do so can feel a little scary, because one is dropping old traditional beliefs that have been there for so long.  And yet, a wonderful new vista opens up before me, full of a God who is truly LOVE, who is ALL LOVE, who is nothing BUT LOVE! A God who has no wrath!  A God who does not judge!  A God who isn't punishing but instead restoring!  A God who is safe to be with, not scary!  A Father, not a Judge!

It's freeing to let go of the old ideas about Him, thrilling and also vulnerable and new, like stepping into the unknown but feeling deep down that it's going to be a great ride! I feel Him saying that whatever He shows me about Himself, whatever new things He reveals, that all of it will only be better and more wonderful than what I believed before!

YES!!  It's time to follow my heart and see Him as my loving, doting Papa who would never harm me, cast me out, punish me, or forget me! I am so safe with Him! I may not understand some of the passages in the Bible about Him, but I know what my heart tells me, and I think the Spirit in me witnesses in agreement!

What a Wonderful Salvation - Believing Doesn't Make It So, It Just Helps Us Enjoy It!

Since everyone was included in Adam's sin, everyone was included in Christ's righteousness!
Since in Adam all died, in Christ all are made alive!

Believing this good news that He saved us from sin and death allows us to relax and enjoy the journey home that we are guaranteed to complete! Our spirits are already there, seated with Him in the heavenly realms, and our bodies are sure to catch up - the Holy Spirit within us testifies to this very fact and guarantees the redemption of our bodies, guarantees that we'll be resurrected with glorified bodies!

Believing doesn't make any of this true or make it happen...believing allows us to relax, rest and enjoy the reality we've been brought into already, the relationship we've been included into already - Jesus has picked us up out of the gutter of sin and death and put us on the Father's lap in heaven, in union and life! We can be at peace and have joy, enjoying wonderful and unhindered fellowship with God as we walk through life together..

We are saved from the heartache of thinking He is far away or angry or punishing, saved from fearfully withdrawing from Him and trying to navigate life alone, saved from the emptiness of thinking we are unwanted and unloved, saved from trying to fill the need for unconditional love with unsatisfying and hurtful things, saved from feeling we must earn approval and saved from fear that something we do will bring rejection, saved from bondage to the LIE that says we are inferior and alienated - because we have been shown the truth - we are loved, we are approved, we are accepted, we are embraced, we are SAVED!

We have found out who He is and who we are.. We don't have a punishing God, we have a forgiving and restoring God.. We aren't unlovable rejects, we are beloved children.. We aren't trapped and hopeless, we are rescued and free!

Now we don't have to go through this life afraid of death, afraid of God, afraid of punishment, afraid of rejection, afraid of anything! His perfect love casts out all the fear of torment or punishment, because we find that He is LOVE that saves, not HATRED that retaliates! "With God on our side like this, how can we lose? He who did not spare His own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things! Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!" (from Rom.

What a wonderful God, and what a wonderful salvation!

LOVE Is How He Always Acts Toward Us!

Not only is God loving, but actually God IS Love...Love is who He is, Love defines Him, Love is His nature, He is Love in a Personal Being!  It is such a relief to me that God is Love!  God being Love means that God is ALWAYS Love and He is ONLY Love - He just doesn't ever act any other way than Love!

I started thinking about the different verses on love in the Bible, and it helped me so much to think about them in relation to how God treats us:

Love keeps no record of wrongs, so God, being Love, is never keeping track of the wrongs we do!  Our sin never enters His mind, for He promised to remember our sins NO MORE!  His thoughts concerning us are never about sin but always and only about how good and perfect and righteous and beloved we are.

Love is patient, so God, being Love, will never lose patience with us but will instead endlessly and untiringly teach, help and encourage us, no matter how many times we mess up, and He will consistently support and accept us, even if we never improve, change, get the victory, or 'overcome.'

Love does no harm, so God, being Love, will never harm us!  He will never hurt us, and He will never send anything our way that would be damaging, hurtful or painful to us..He will never send sickness, depression, pain or suffering on us!

Love thinks no evil, so God, being Love, never has a bad thought about us, never plans anything negative for us!  God's plans for us are only good, and His thoughts about us are only positive! 

Love gives up one's life for his friends, and God, being Love, was willing to become a man and die for us even while we were yet sinners!  Love reconciles the world to himself.  We were calling ourselves God's enemies, but He was calling us His friends and dying for us!  He didn't demand that we change, straighten up, or believe right first, He just went ahead and gave up His life for us before we ever made a move in His direction!  In fact, we were running from God in many ways, and He chased after us and caught us up in His loving embrace! 

Love believes all things, and God, being Love, will never give up on you, never stop supporting you, never stop believing in you!  He is your biggest supporter and encourager and will always stick up for you, believe in you, and be proud of you!

Love endures all things, and God, being Love, will endure everything in relationship with you.  You can't make Him leave, He will never reject you.  You can't drive Him away by anything you do or don't do. You can't fail, doubt or rebel your way out of His arms.  He is in this relationship for keeps. He's got you and He's never letting go!

Love never fails, and God, being Love, will never fail you.  He will carry you through anything and everything, whether you always trust right, think right or act right OR NOT!  His love will hold you. His love will sustain you.  His love will be there for you, no matter what, and He will be faithful to carry you all the way home to heaven.  You are so safe and secure in this unconditional love.  For truly, you can't extinguish or ever get to the end of this infinite Love that is God Himself!  He has intertwined Himself with you forever!

Thank You, Papa, for being such Perfect Love!

You Are My God by Jesus Culture Music (Emerging Voices)

"You Are My God"

CHORUS
You are my God, You are my King
To You alone my heart does sing

You are all I ever wanted
You are all I ever needed
You are my God, and You're my King

VERSE
And You are always faithful and true
And You have given me life and placed by Your side forever

BRIDGE
All my days I will live
To seek Your face
To know Your heart

Grace Is For Us Even When We're At Our Worst...

Grace means you don't have to have it all together to be loved, accepted, included and safe in His family circle..you can fail mightily, and still be IN..you can even struggle, rant and rave, doubt and get confused, and He will still hold onto you..you can get distracted, lose hope, get stuck in addictions, and still have blessings come pouring over your life..you can be at the lowest point you can go and be as 'far' from Him as you could imagine, and find Him right there beside you, hugging you, loving you, understanding you, helping you..because grace is love that is FREE, given with no strings attached, therefore everyone - no matter what their lives may look like, no matter what their track record may be - 'qualifies' for grace because you don't have to be 'qualified' to receive it! It just comes freely, with no stipulations, no requirements, no obligations..what wonderful grace!

Even after our very worst sin, when we've sunk lower than we ever thought possible, even then, ESPECIALLY then, He is telling us: NOTHING has changed in our relationship! We are just as close as ever, and I am just as committed to you - and to us - as ever! Our sins and failures don't sway God's opinion, resolve, commitment or stance toward us - how can they, when Christ already took them AWAY and God has promised NEVER to remember them!?!

His forever stance toward us, no matter what, is the stance of the Perfect Father, the stance of the Perfect Husband, the stance of the Perfect Friend! Through Jesus He showed us just how strong and committed He is to us, sending His Son to die for us at our very WORST moment, so lost in sin! He came down, tied Himself to us, reaching down and picking us up from the gutter, and pulled us up to the heavenly places where He reigns! If He went through all that to get us back when we were at our WORST, do you think He is ever going to give up on us now that He has transformed us into His BEST, into a complete and beautiful Bride for His Son? No way! His love, His loyalty to be there for us, in relationship with us, is here to stay, and nothing we do could change that! For Love never gives up on you, no matter what..

It is as if God were saying through Jesus: "I will NEVER leave you or forsake you! You can't change that! You can't change My love for you, My faithful commitment to you! You can't drive me away with your inconsistencies - they don't even EXIST in My mind! I have committed Myself to stick with you forever, to love you forevermore!"

We just can't get away from this Wonderful Love, this Wonderful Lover, that will not ever let us go!

Grace - the unconditional love and acceptance of God that pours over you at all times and that has given you everything through Christ, without you having to do a thing! Before we could do a thing, He loved us...He loved us as we were, in the midst of our sinfulness, and He plucked us out of our sinfulness into His marvelous light through Jesus' finished work! Oh, what wonderful grace! 

Christ's Work of Grace Defines Your Life!

God gave us grace before time began, and Christ the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world...so what does that tell us? 

It tells us some wonderful news:

Before we ever fell, God had already picked us up! 

Before we ever committed sin and became guilty, Christ already cleansed us and made us righteous! 

Before we ever got lost, He had already found us! 

That is His eternal reference to us - what Christ did and the grace He poured out on us through that act of love!!

Christ's finished work is the true center of our lives around which everything revolves. 

Everything that has happened to us in this time and space arena called mortal life is subordinate to what Christ did for us, for that stands before, beyond, and outside of time itself!

God's final word about you is Jesus and everything He did for you, everything He is for you!

God's final word about you is:

innocent, 

clean, 

pure, 

lovable, 

righteous, 

included, 

accepted, 

chosen, 

held! 

God's ultimate reference about you is His beloved child, and the cross proves it is so, for through it He showed we are so loved, so valuable to Him, that we are worth dying for....And through it He came and rescued His own from the clutches of the enemy and brought us home, all before time even began!

The Good News Is That It Is Already Done!

The good news, the gospel of grace, is that we are loved, accepted, home-free, righteous, and safe - forever - all by God's doing through Jesus' finished work, without us having to do a thing...
His work really is finished and done!  The work is really over, it has really all been done for you by Jesus.  So there is no 'try' or 'must' or 'you should do this' or 'you need to become more that' - there is only the wonderful message that all you've wanted to be, you already ARE, and the place you've wanted to be at, you already ARE at - you are His beloved and precious child, safely tucked into His arms, and He will never let you go.

Since you are already in His arms, you don't have to do anything or become anything to get in His arms!! You don't have to fear anything...You don't have to worry about anything...You don't have to 'do' anything!  Hallelujah, what a Savior!

The message of Grace, of Christ's complete and finished work on our behalf, is the only thing that truly brings relief to our weary hearts...We find in Him true REST for our souls!  

Unlosable Grace..

You cannot run so far as to get away from His grace...
You cannot slip so far as to slip out of His grace..
You cannot doubt so much as to lose His grace..
You cannot fail so much as to forfeit His grace..

You are IN grace and you are never going to be OUT!
He is always going to be there for you, always going to love you, always going to keep you, always going to hold you!
Grace has brought us safe thus far and grace will bring us home..
Safe forever with Him, hallelujah!

Grace is for the broken, the messed up, the unqualified, the ruined, the confused, the doubtful, the failure - grace is for me and for you!
Grace is for those who are running from God, not seeking God, rebelling against God, confused, blind, and hurting - grace is for me and for you!
Grace runs after the least, the last and the lost, runs after the rebel, the selfish, the proud, and grace overtakes us all and wraps us in His arms!
Grace goes into every ditch and hole and pit we have dug for ourselves and grace lifts us up into His embrace forever!

We don't have to qualify for grace or do anything to get it..our failures qualify us for it, and it comes to us constantly through no effort of our own!

We are upheld by an indestructible life, an unconditional love, an unlosable grace - Jesus Himself, Mr. Grace, upholds us in His loving arms always, for He is the same yesterday, today and forever!! We are safe forever in His arms!

No matter what we do, or don't do, His grace upholds and keeps us and is FOR us! For grace doesn't depend on us in any way, therefore nothing we do, or don't do, could cause that grace to stop being there for us!

He will never fail us..
And He will never let us totally fail!
We are safe in His arms, upheld by unlosable GRACE!
We cannot fall out of those arms, we cannot be lost from His love!

Law/Religion is unwinnable...
Grace/Love is unlosable!     

Christ IS Our Life! A Wonderful Post by Gregg Gibbons

This is a wonderful post by my friend, Gregg Gibbons, of Journey in Christ..He has a weekly grace devotional called Gregg's RestStop..check it out sometime, I think you would love his thoughts on God's grace and love!  This post is part of one of his recent devotionals, on how Christ is our life!  So beautiful that our joy, peace, life, hope, etc. is a Person, Jesus Christ!

"Below are Scriptures that attest to our union and intimate relationship with Christ.  I don't claim to understand how to most practically walk out these truths.  However, there are two truths that I am most confident:

 

(1) These Scriptures are God's Word, and God's Word is precise, precious, and true, and

 

(2) I no longer walk alone separately from Christ, even when it feels that way.

 

Hear these Scriptures through your relationship with Christ.

 

CHRIST IS YOUR HOPE

 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

by the commandment of God our Savior

and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope...

(1 Timothy 1:1)

 

Christ in you,

THE hope of glory.

(Colossians 1:27)

 

CHRIST IS YOUR LOVE

For the love of Christ compels us.

(2 Corinthians 5:14) 

 

For the love of God

has been poured out in our hearts

by the Holy Spirit

who was given to us.

(Romans 5:5)

 

And the fruit of the Spirit is love...

(Galatians 5:22)

 

CHRIST IS YOUR JOY

Jesus prayed,

"that they might have My joy

fulfilled in them."

(John 17:13) 

 

And the fruit of the Spirit is...

...joy.

(Galatians 5:22)

 

CHRIST IS YOUR PEACE 

Jesus said,

"MY peace I give to you."

(John 14:27)

 

For He Himself

IS our peace.

(Ephesians 2:14) 

 

CHRIST IS YOUR WISDOM

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus,

WHO became for us wisdom from God.

(1 Corinthians 1:30)

 

CHRIST IS YOUR STRENGTH

I can do all things THROUGH Christ

WHO strengthens me.

(Philippians 4:13)

  

CHRIST IS YOUR WAY

Jesus said, "I am THE way..."

(John 14:6) 

 

Jesus said, "I am the good Shepherd...

...My sheep hear My voice,

and I know them,

and they follow Me."

(John 10:11, 27)

 

CHRIST IS YOUR TRUTH

Jesus said, "I am...THE truth..."

(John 14:6)

 

Jesus said, "And you shall know the truth,

and the truth shall set you free.

And if the Son sets you free,

you shall be free indeed."

(John 8:32, 36)

 

CHRIST IS YOUR REST

Jesus said, "Come to Me,

all you who labor and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest."

(Matthew 11:28)

 

There remains therefore a rest

for the people of God.

For he who has entered His (Christ's) rest

has himself also ceased from his work

as God did from His.

(Hebrews 4:9-10)

 

CHRIST IS YOUR NAMESAKE

For to you it has been granted

on behalf of Christ,

not only to believe in Him,

but to suffer for His sake.

(Philippians 1:29)

 

Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do

for the brethren and for strangers.

Send them forward on their journey...

...for His name's sake.

(3 John 5-7)

 

CHRIST IS YOUR LIFE

Jesus said, "I am...THE life..."

(John 14:6)

 

When Christ who is our life appears,

you also will appear with Him in glory.

(Colossians 3:4)

 

Jesus said, "I am (the life) of the vine,

you are the branches,

he who abides in me and I in him

bears much fruit,

for apart from Me you can do nothing.

(John 15:5)

 

 

  CHRIST IS YOUR FULFILLMENT

And of His fullness

we have all received,

and grace for grace.

(John 1:16) 

 

Amen and amen!"                    

Gregg Gibbons

God Asks, "Do You Believe What I Believe About You?"

 

I love this wonderful song!  The song says God thinks we're amazing - !  It amazes me that I amaze God! That He could think I am wonderful!  Yet He really does, how beautiful is that!  I want to see myself more and more as He sees me, not put myself down, not think ill of myself, for He NEVER does!  

 

His ONLY thought when He thinks about us is LOVE!  We can see our bad performance and equate our identity with that performance (I know I do this sometimes); God, however, only sees LOVE when He looks at us!  When He looks at us, His mind is never on sin but on how much He loves us and how amazing we are as His beautiful and precious children! 

God Is For You

God is for you...He is never against you!

God is on your side...He is never opposing you!

God is there for you...He is never abandoning you!

God is supporting you...He is never letting you down!

God is carrying you...He is never failing you!

God is working things out for you...He is never leaving the responsibility on your shoulders!

God is blessing you...He is never cursing you!

God is doing good things for you...He is never causing you pain!

God is in you...He is never leaving you!

God is loving you...He is never tossing you aside!

God is faithful to you...He is never giving up on you!

God is accepting you...He is never rejecting you!

God is approving you...He is never condemning you!

God is encouraging you...He is never criticizing you!

God is affirming you...He is never judging you!

God is enjoying you...He is never disappointed with you!

God is embracing you...He is never dropping you!

God is noticing you...He is never forgetting you!

God is valuing you...He is never bored of you!

God is enjoying you...He is never frustrated with you!

God is resting with you...He is never struggling with you!

God is freeing you...He is never restricting you!

God is for you...He is never against you!

We're Already There! (Son by Godfrey Birtill - "Be Still"

How wonderful that our efforts aren't necessary, we're already there, already where we always longed to be, on His lap, snuggled into His arms, close to His heart, completely and eternally ACCEPTED and LOVED!  How wonderful to just be able to be still and enjoy His heartbeat of love for us!  We don't have to try to please Him, we are already so pleasing to our Daddy!  We are already ALL we were ever meant to be - we are ONE with Him, LOVED by Him, HELD by Him for all eternity!  Safe, like a little child in the Father's arms!  Nothing can touch us there, nothing can harm us, nothing can pull us away from Him - He won't ever let us go, His love will never stop pouring out upon us...we are home!

We're In!! And We're Never Going To Be Out!!

We're in, we're in, we're in Christ Jesus, included in the beautiful dance of the Trinity forever!
(song by Godfrey Birtill)

Grace Says We Are FREE!

But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.                        James 1:25

It is amazing that in the new covenant, we have been completely taken out from under law.  The 'law' that we find ourselves under in this wonderful new covenant is called the law of liberty.  How is it described by the NIV above?  As the perfect law that gives freedom!  Wow, what kind of amazing law is this that actually gives freedom!

Usually when you think of laws being put on people, what kinds of words come to mind?  For me, thoughts of bondage/being bound, pressure, fencing people in, rules, requirements, being tied down, being compressed, structure, force, compliance, should and must - these are the words and images that come to my  mind on hearing the word "law"..thoughts of obligation and things being demanded of me, or else something negative will happen.  Yet the verse above says the new covenant law of liberty gives freedom!  How can that be, when law seems to denote restriction and loss of freedom?

I was thinking about this, and I realized that there is another use of the word 'law' in scripture - it can mean a defining or overarching principle, a description of how things work.  Sort of like the law of gravity. What does the law of gravity tell us?  Does it 'demand' that we not float off into space? No!  It describes what is always true of us, tells us that we will not float off into space because we are held on the earth by an overarching force keeping us 'grounded.'  I think the law of liberty may be kind of like that!  This 'law' explains the state we are in now as new creations in Christ - we are in a place of freedom, and we won't be  in bondage to rules anymore, we are free in grace!

What did Jesus free us from?  He freed us from sin, from the effects of sin (death), from the bondage to the law, from the curse, from our futile way of life handed down to us by religious tradition (a performance-based way of life where we thought we had to earn blessings or do certain things to avoid cursing, and it was all up to us, all based on what we did).  Jesus set us free from all this!

We are free from sin's reign in our lives:  Sin doesn't have any control or hold over us, it can't make us do wrong anymore! We are free from sin's bondage!  It doesn't have any power over us!

And we are also free from the rules and regulations of the old law:  The law doesn't have any jurisdiction over us!  The law cannot make demands on us (demands that we could not keep and were doomed to fail at anyway).  The law cannot condemn or curse us or hold a verdict of guilty or a punishment/penalty of death over our heads! 

We are free from living by performance:  We don't have to earn blessings by our good acts, thoughts, words or even beliefs!  And we don't have to worry about incurring curses by our bad acts, thoughts, words or even beliefs!  We will never get all those things completely right, and God knows that.  That is why in the new covenant everything is based on Christ's perfect acts, thoughts, words and beliefs, not our own!  His work is perfect and is already completed on our behalf, and we get all the benefit of it - all blessings, no curses - completely for free, right from His loving hand!  Now that's what I call freedom, that's what I call a glorious new covenant, that's what I call grace!

So what does all this tell me?  We have been so freed from sin's rule over us, law's rule over us, performance-based thinking's rule over us.  One thing it means to me is that we are not under any obligation today.  What a relief this is!

What does it mean to be without obligation?  It means you don't owe God anything.  Nothing is required of you.  God makes no demands on you today.  He is not pushing you.  He is not forcing you to do anything.  There is nothing you have to do, or else He'll be disappointed, withdraw from you, stop working in your life, or stop blessing you! Nothing you do could stop Him from loving and blessing you, because He does those things out of who He is, not based on your performance!  There is nothing YOU have to do, HE does it all; and also there is nothing you HAVE to do, there is no pressure on you to change, measure up, get better, improve, meet a standard, be a good Christian, be more spiritual, or perform in any way!  There is no requirement put on you!

God isn't struggling with you today, wishing you would just shape up or clean up your act!  God is at total peace with you right now.   He is not judging you.  He is not evaluating you.  He is needing nothing from you.  He is completely satisfied with you, just as satisfied with you as He is with His Son Jesus!  If you did nothing at all for God ever again, never even prayed or looked His way ever again, He would be loving you and blessing you just the same!

This gives such relief and rest!  For this means you don't have to 'try.'  You can cease the strivings, you can relax, you can be..you do not have to try..not even try to have more faith or understand grace better or seek His face or ANYTHING..you can rest!  He will do it all.  He will bring you to see who you are in Him.  He will take care of everything that concerns you.  He will manifest your new creation life without your help!  Wow!  You are really free to stop trying to become and just BE your beautiful self that you already are, perfect and lovely and beloved!  You can simply BE and just enjoy life!

You are really free to do anything you wish and it will not change you status with God one bit, because it is totally based on the finished work of Christ.  You are so secure it's beyond words!  You cannot fall out of His grip.  You cannot even fail! Yes, wow, with grace, you cannot fail! Failure will make no difference in your relationship with Him!  Because He bases that relationship totally on His loving nature, Christ's finished work, and His commitment to you, not on anything that you have to do or be.  He is holding up this relationship from beginning to end - and there is no end to it, yay!   You are in Him for all eternity, safe within Him!  So if you fall, the safety net of His grace catches you every time!  He is holding on to you and won't let go!

As R F Capon says, "You can't get away from a love that will not let you go."  That's grace, the love that just won't let us go!  The love that makes us safe and free to be ourselves, free to relax and even do nothing, free to expand our horizons and discover new things, free to ponder and ask questions, free to feel and not be rebuked for the way we honestly feel, free to make mistakes and still be accepted, free to spread our wings and fly!

The new covenant law of liberty describes your state in this new creation realm - in this realm, you are free!  Free to do and be anything!  The question is, what do you wish to do?

Seeing Ourselves As HE Sees Us

There is a place where all our strivings cease..it's in His eyes of love! We look into those eyes that have been adoring us from before the creation of the world, and we see that all we ever wanted we already have in Him - all the love, acceptance, security, friendship, understanding and belonging we could ever want is in Him! And we see ourselves as He does - perfect, innocent, beautiful, flawless! And all the struggles to 'become' somebody better just cease, because we already ARE! We already ARE all God ever wanted us to be! We are just like Jesus to Him! God isn't struggling with us today! He is looking at us as He always has and always will, with perfect delight, absolute affection, and unending joy! You make His heart sing! Let's never listen to any lie that would tell us otherwise! Let's see ourselves as He has seen us since before He even made the world!  We are the treasure of His heart!  We make His heart flutter!  He holds us, He protects us, He understands us, He celebrates us!  We are His PRIDE and JOY!

Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to!                       E[ph. 1:4-6  Living Bible

What Wonderful Good News is the Gospel of Grace..

The gospel of grace is that we are loved, accepted, homefree, righteous, and safe - forever - all by God's doing through Jesus' finished work, without us having to do a thing..and this wonderful good news brings relief, rejoicing, REST! Since you are already in His arms, you don't have to do anything or become anything to get in His arms!!

What good news that it's all already done by His grace:  we're already home and sitting in the Father's lap, already perfect before Him and in spirit to Spirit oneness, without any bit of our effort required... What wonderful rest this brings...we were always meant to live from a position of perfect acceptance, unending love, and unceasing rest! And that is just the position we find ourselves in because of His grace toward us through Jesus!

There is no 'try' or 'must' or 'you should do this' or 'you need to become more that' in this gospel - there is only the wonderful message that all you've wanted to be, you already ARE, and the place you've wanted to be at, you already ARE at - you are His beloved and precious child, safely tucked into His arms, and He will never let you go!   

Hallelujah!  What a wonderful Father, what a wonderful Savior, what a wonderful indwelling Spirit, what a wonderful gospel of grace! 

You Don't Have to Work to Regain Something You Never Lost..

There are times in my life when I get distracted from who I am in Christ..and I start to wander into worrying about my spirituality, or thinking I am not good enough and need to improve..I start feeling bad about my Christian walk and start feeling shame and guilt..and I feel empty and out of sorts..at those times, sometimes it seems like I need to 'do something' to get back the feeling of spiritual strength, closeness with God, or focus on Christ.  It feels like I need to work to start thinking more spiritually or work to 'be better, do better.'  It feels like it will be hard to get back to a 'close walk with God'..

AND YET!

And yet, nothing has really changed!  I haven't fallen away, fallen short, lost my connection with God, become distant from God, become less spiritual, or become less of a Christian.  Actually, I am still just as close to God as ever and He is just as close to me, which is really close - in fact, we are so close we are in union!  My spirit is ONE with His Spirit - now that is close! 

And the reason that nothing has changed in my closeness with God or my status before Him is because that isn't based on my performance, but on the perfect performance of Jesus Himself!  Wow, it was Jesus who established the union I have with God before time even began, and it is Jesus who is sustaining that union.  I am so tied to Him I can't get loose!  So even if I fail, even if I forget about spiritual things for a while, even if I get distracted, forget my identity in Christ and start living like an 'old creation' instead of a 'new creation', nothing changes in my relationship with God or my identity before Him.  I am just not strong enough to change Jesus work - nothing I do can undo what Jesus did, and what He did was make me perfect and one with God forever!

So we don't have to work to regain something we never lost..our union with God, our perfect relationship with Him, and our identity before Him as clean, perfect, beloved sons and daughters..That is set in spiritual concrete through the perfect and finished work of Christ!  And it is all sustained not by our faithfulness but the faithfulness of Christ, who is the same yesterday and today and forever! 

You Have Never Been Alone...

There has never been a time in your life, no matter how dark, no matter how wayward, no matter how abyssal, where God wasn't there. He has always been with you, through everything you've faced. And He always will be.

I have been through deep waters when my little baby daughter was in the hospital, having major surgery, and in that hospital room, at the moments when all seemed scary and hopeless, when I felt the whole world was crashing around me - He was there! His presence was there ministering peace to me, without me even praying, believing, looking to Him, or doing anything!

We don't have to do anything to make God come and help us, for He is ALREADY here helping us now, and now, and now!! He will never leave our side, whether we pray to Him or not, whether we rant and rave at Him or not, whether we believe all the promises right or not, for our 'doing' isn't required for Him to be there, to be active - He is forever by our side and on our side, and He is faithful...that's all that matters! You have never been alone and never, ever will be!! His arms are holding you now, holding you up, carrying you through! Peace and blessings to all of you, my dear sisters and brothers!

Redeemed!

I read recently that one meaning of the word 'redeem' is 'to claim what is your own'...and that made me think of what Jesus did in His redeeming work:

Jesus came to this world to claim what what already His own - US! 

We belong to God, we came from God's heart, He is our origin and source of life, we are truly His created children in His image and likeness, we truly belong in His family...and no matter how confused we got or what lies we believed about who we were, no matter what mental bondage or hurt believing these lies produced, the truth remained about who we are and whose we are!! That never changed! 

The enemy had come and deceived us into believing his lies, lies that we were orphans, that we were unloved and unwanted, that we were all alone in the world.  And Jesus came and reclaimed His own, came and claimed His brothers and sisters and took back what the strong man had stolen away - our minds! He has freed us from the bondage of lies to be able to see and live out of the truth, His truth, His reality that was always the only TRUE reality...

Now we see the truth, and it's like waking up from a bad dream:  the mental fog lifts - we were HIS children all along! He never left us, never forsook us, never rejected us..He created us in His image, He is our Daddy and has always loved us! We always belonged with Him, He always accepted us, we always had a home, we were always special and wanted by Someone - God Himself! 

Oh, what a relief to be redeemed! We were prisoners trapped in a wrong perception, and Jesus came and opened the prison doors and looked in our eyes and said, "That one is MINE! That one belongs in freedom, in the Father's house, at His table, with Me! That one belongs on my throne with me! That one is royalty! That one is beloved and well-pleasing to the Father, adored and wanted, just like ME!"

We have been rescued by Jesus from the mental prison Satan had put us in with his awful lies about who we were..we have been freed to enjoy our rightful place as royal sons and daughters, enjoying such sweet fellowship with God, safe and carefree, loved and cherished, at home on the Father's lap!!

God Only Thinks of You withThoughts of Love

God is Love...and that means that He only has thoughts of love toward you!
God is Love...and that means that He only does acts of love for you!
God is Love...and that means that He only speaks words of love to you!

I am finding it is really so simple..He is Pure Love, 100% Love, ever and only Love...There isn't a single itty bitty part of Him that isn't Love..there isn't one single word, deed, thought or intent of God that isn't perfect Love!!!

So when I am faced with an idea about how He acts, I can ask, "Would Perfect Love do or say or think that?" 

He is Perfect Love and would only act in love, so I can ask if those ideas about His actions are in line with Perfect Love, as defined in 1 Co. 13 - kind, patient, not rude, forgiving, hopeful, believing the best about people, putting up with anything, always thinking the best, never ceasing or failing..  So if an idea about Him doesn't fit that definition, then I can see that it doesn't fit my wonderful God of love!

I can just ask would a loving friend or parent or spouse do or say or think such a thing?  And that will tell me if God would be like that, for He is certainly better, nicer and more loving than the nicest friend, parent or spouse on earth!

I can just look at the scriptures and see if that idea that is being given to me is in keeping with the very way He showed us to act, in love toward others.  He has said to do no harm, for love does no harm to a neighbor...He has told us to be kind and tender-hearted toward others and forgive others their faults, without really putting any stipulations on whether they must ask forgiveness first or not...He has told us to not give evil for evil, but to instead give blessing...so wouldn't He act at least as nicely as He asked us to act?

All these questions have helped me so much in seeing just how loving He is, and also in seeing just how many crazy ideas I have had about God that were just not in keeping with His nature of perfect LOVE!  I have in the past believed Him to be harsh, demanding repentance before He would consider forgiving me, demanding me to surrender all my hopes and dreams and be willing to do anything He wanted before He would bless me, requiring all kinds of things from me and getting angry and punishing me if I didn't obey, giving me an impossible standard that I couldn't measure up to, turning away and leaving me if I failed too much...yet none of these ideas is in line with God being Love!  None of them fit in with His nature of love, for 1 John tells us love is the essence of who He is - "God IS Love!"

What a wonderful thing to find out He is truly pure Love, 100%, with no shadows at all!  That means that He is patient, kind, understanding, not rude or pushy, willing to put up with anything, not taking into account a wrong suffered, bearing all things from us, believing in us always, hoping the best for us, planning only good things for us, having our best interests at heart, always thinking of us, always giving to us, never rejecting us no matter how terribly we perform, having no conditions we have to meet to get or keep His love, truly cherishing us, truly valuing us, truly seeing us as worth loving, actually desiring to be with us so much that He would rather die than be without us!  This is who God is!  What a relief that He is not like I feared but instead better than I ever dreamed, hoped or imagined!

God is Love!  Hallelujah!

The Gospel isn't Bad News, it's Good News!

The Gospel isn't the bad news of what is wrong with us, it is the good news of what is right with us because of Jesus!
It isn't the bad news of a scary judge standing against us but the good news of a loving Father standing with us against the enemy and his lies and ruin..
It isn't the bad news that we must somehow placate God's anger and get Him to accept us, it is the good news that God is not angry but instead gentle and happy with us and has already accepted us just as He accepts His Son..
It isn't the bad news of what we must do to get on God's good side, it is the good news that God has always been on our side..
It isn't the bad news that we are far from God and must somehow work our way up to Him, it is the good news that Jesus has picked us up and carried us to heaven and put us in our Papa's lap..
It isn't the bad news that we are lacking and messed up, it is the good news that we are already complete and perfectly whole in Jesus..
The Gospel really is good news...there is NO bad news in the good news! What a wonderful God and what a wonderful gospel of pure grace!

Jesus is our Vindication

"But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
Is. 54:17

At the cross, Jesus disarmed the enemy by nailing the law and and its decrees of punishment to the cross. Now when the enemy tries to accuse us of being bad, guilty sinners deserving condemnation, he hasn't anything to stand on because the law has been taken away at the cross, and there is no more record of our wrongdoing and therefore no justification to condemn or punish us! Thus the enemy is silenced every time! These wonderful benefits of vindication come from God, for our righteousness is from HIM. We have been made the righteousness of Christ, we have been made, declared and proven to be not only guilt-free but actually righteous with the righteousness of Christ Himself..

Vindication means to clear of guilt, accusation, blame, suspicion or doubt by evidence and proof...to uphold, maintain and insist on someone's honor and rights...to prove the worth of! Christ went to the cross and got rid of our sins and the law that was against us...His resurrection is proof that He succeeded in clearing us of sin and guilt and that He made us innocent and righteous (just/justified)! "He was raised because of our justification!" He vindicated us!

Jesus vindicated you - your vindication is from Him! He cleared you of all guilt, accusation, blame and suspicion. He upholds and maintains your cause and your righteous standing. He insists on your honor and rights to eternal life and fellowship with the Father! He proved your worth at the cross! You stand vindicated, proved to be righteous and innocent, cleared of all accusation, with every right to be in God's presence forever, holy and blameless before Him, worthy and affirmed, victorious over the enemy and his lies forevermore!!

God is a Safe Place

 My help and glory are in God
    —granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—
 ...God is a safe place to be.

from Ps. 62:7-8    Message Bible

He is not going to wound our heart. He is not going to be harsh with us. He is not going to berate us for our mistakes. He is not ever even thinking about our mistakes! He is not going to mistreat us. He is not going to reject us in any way. He is not going to be ashamed of us, withdraw His favor from us, or turn away from us in disappointment. He is not going to ever, ever withhold His presence, His blessing or His love from us!

He is the Safe Place where we can open up and be ourselves. He is going to comfort us. He is always going to be understand us. He is always going to hug us to His heart. He is always going to have a refreshing, uplifting, and healing word. He is always going to make us feel better, not worse! He is going to treat us with dignity and honor. He is going to cherish and celebrate us. He is going to love us for who we are. He is always going to approve of us and be proud of us. He is always going to be there for us, supporting us.

The Mirror Bible translation puts it like this: "God is a fortress where everyone feels protected rather than exposed!"

Our Identity In Christ

I loved this list of our identity in Christ...it is so wonderful to realize who we are!

Seeing Myself as God Does...

God is re-forming my image of myself! 

For as long as I can remember, my image of myself, the picture I have of myself in my mind, has been someone who is worthless, ugly, defective, unacceptable, unlovable, bad, and shameful. Terrible and dark image! 

Yet God is washing over me in LOVE and showing me the real, true self He made me to be and that I AM in Christ. 

He had this real and true me, the new creation, in His mind and heart before the world's foundation, saw me and loved me and chose me way back then as His beloved, wanted child! He chose me before He planned creation, chose me to be His blameless, beautiful, dearly loved little child! 

 That is the new self image He is putting into my mind, that is the real me, that is the true self - true for me and true for us all - let's all see ourselves and embrace ourselves, AS HE DOES, as His innocent little ones, showered with His love and affection at all times!  Let's sing and dance and truly be carefree, because we are His beautiful and precious children, under His constant and tender care!

[In His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]—

[So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.                                        Eph. 1:4-6    AMP

Under the Waterfall of Grace!

We are always under His waterfall of grace and love, being drenched by His presence, His goodness, His tender affection!
All His waves of love and mercy pour over us at all times, deep within our spirit!
Deep called to deep at the noise of your waterfalls [of tender affection and love!];
    all your massive waves [of goodness, grace and kindness!] surged over me.
By day the Lord commands his faithful love;
    by night his song [of affirmation, comfort and gentle care!] is with me ....  Ps. 42:7-8a

Why Did God Create Us?

God created us to love us...the whole purpose of our lives is just to be loved by God! 

We don't have to do anything, perform anything, be anything, understand anything - just enjoy the unconditional love God has for you! 

Right now, as we are, whether we ever 'change' or 'get better' or not, we are already delightful to Him right now, valuable to Him, complete and perfect and beautiful in His eyes..we are loved! We are simply loved with no reference to our performance or anything we do. We are simply loved for who we are, and who we are is a beautiful, wonderful work of art, crafted by the Master Artist Himself, who makes ONLY masterpieces! We are held, cherished, caressed, delighted in, celebrated - He even sings over us with joy, sings a beautiful love song just for us!

This is what we were made for - just to be loved on by our Daddy forever...


Right now, in this moment, God loves you with unending, unconditional, unfathomable LOVE...you are loved - always have been, always will be..

This Love will hold you forever and never, ever let you go! You are safely held in the arms of Love for all eternity!

We're GRACED: Loved For Free, Loved Without Condition...SAFE in His Love!

You are loved for FREE, right now..
You do not have to do anything..
You do not have to attempt anything..
You do not have to change anything..
Nothing is asked of you..
Nothing is required of you..
Nothing is expected of you..
There is no pressure on you..
There is no law on you..
There is no stress on you..
You are loved - all you are, as you are, for who you are..
Without having to try anything, change anything, do anything..
You are loved with no stipulations, conditions, or expectations..
You are unconditionally loved by God, right now...and forever!

And because you are loved without condition, there is no condition that could happen that would ever cause Him to withdraw His love from you!   
That means you just can't lose this love, this Father, this Friend!
 
We cannot get away from His love..
We cannot get away from His grace..
We cannot get away from His presence..
He is more committed to this relationship than we ever are!
He is not going to leave us, forget us, drop us or forsake us..

You are joined with God, the One who is ever Faithful and True..
You are joined to a Love that never fails..
You are joined with a Grace that will not end, will not lose you..
Even if you fail Him, He will never fail you!
He has promised, "I will neither leave you nor let you go!" (Hos. 2:20 MSG) 

"You CANNOT get away from a Love that WILL NOT let you go!" (Robert F. Capon)

Even if we blow it today..
Even if we forget the truth we learned yesterday..
Even if guilt and self-condemnation plague us..
Even if we feel far from God..
Even if we seem to ignore Him all day..
Even if we don't have one spiritual thought..
Even if we get stuck in a legalistic 'perform or else' mindset..
Even if we feel like a washed out zero..

NOTHING has changed in our relationship with God!
He is still right there, still loving us, still looking at us with absolute delight, still whispering sweet loving words in our ear, still carrying us through, still making all things work out for our good! He hasn't dropped us, dumped us, or left us; He hasn't become disillusioned, disappointed or disgusted with us.
We are still His beloved children, His very good children, in whom He is well-pleased!
We can totally fail in every way and continue to be favored, loved, accepted, blessed and delighted in by God...that is unconditional love...

THAT is GRACE!