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!