At times, like the apostle Paul, we will feel hard-pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down (see verses 8–9). However, when we belong to Christ, we can be assured that we will not be crushed, left in despair, forsaken, or destroyed. This should serve as an incredible comfort to us all.
Live from the abundant place that you are loved and you won’t find yourself begging others for scraps of love.
Not only is God’s nature love, but He is also light; by His very nature, God is against any darkness that lies within us. He is not against us. He created us for love; therefore, He is against any darkness that may hinder us from His love producing life and intimacy with Him and others. The very purpose of light is to set us free from anything that hinders deeper intimacy with Him.
God, your Father, did not create you to punish you. He created you to love you. Just in case you skipped right over that, I want to tell you again. You were created, not so that God could find ways to crush you for your disobedience, but so that He could find as many ways as possible to lavish His deep affection upon you. For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16–17 NIV)
Do you realize how loved and wanted you are? Do you understand how valued and cherished he says you are? The Creator of all that is seen and unseen could have chosen anywhere to dwell, but he chose you. Think about this for a moment. Imagine all of His greatness, power, and majesty alive inside of you. Look in the mirror and know that within you lies the beauty of the Eternal One. You, beautiful one, are the home he’s always longed for.
My spirit is God’s home. His unconditional love dwells in me. I have already received all of God’s love that I am ever going to receive. God’s grace and mercy live at home in me. The fruit of the Spirit is at home in me. The power of God that created the universe lives inside me. His Spirit now lives in my spirit, and in Him there is no darkness at all. His love thinks no evil, and that love is resident in my spirit. Think about it; how can anything I do improve on that!
A Christian is one who recognizes Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, as God manifested in the flesh, loving us and dying for our redemption; and who is so affected by a sense of the love of this incarnate God as to be constrained to make the will of Christ the rule of his obedience, and the glory of Christ the great end for which He lives.
Why fear ye that the Lord Jesus Christ will not accept of you? Your sins will be no hindrance, your unworthiness no hindrance; if your own corrupt hearts do not keep you back, nothing will hinder Christ from receiving of you.
We cannot understand God’s ways, but we know from His word that He is prompted by love.
As one of His redeemed ones, you are His delight, and all His desire is to you, with the longing of a love which is stronger than death, and which many waters cannot quench. His heart yearns after you, seeking your fellowship and your love. Were it needed, He could die again to possess you… His life is bound up in yours; you are to Him inexpressibly more indispensable and precious than you ever can know.