“We love God because He first loved us.”
No one will argue with the suggestion in our title that God's love is great. The love that we are referring to is agape (ah-gah-pay) love, which is the Greek word translated as love in our text and in other texts like John 3:16. It is the Greek word always used in New Testament references to God's love. Love really is great, especially as it is revealed in the New Testament. This article will explain what I mean. God loves us We need to be careful not to say this too glibly or take it too lightly. It is amazing that the God of the whole universe loves us. Think of the misery if God had chosen to hate us instead of loving us. If you are like me, you do not want to think of the alternative. We would not have John 3:16 in the Bible about God loving the world so much that He gave “His only begotten Son” so that we could be saved. We would not have 1 John 4:8b in the Bible: “For God is love.” The Bible reveals that God is a jealous God and that He is a God of wrath, but it never tells us that “God is jealousy” or that “God is wrath.” The very essence of God is love, and we should be grateful for that. When we put love, grace and mercy together, we realize that we can be saved for eternity because of the great love of God. Rejoice today, not only that God loves the world, but that He loves you. We love God! Our text makes it clear that if God did not love us, we would not love Him. Through Jesus, God has shown us what love really is. He set the example. We need to ask ourselves, however, whether or not we really love God. It is easy to say, “I love God.” It is quite another to actually love Him. Jesus said that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments – we will obey Him. If we love God, we will want to serve Him in our churches and in our communities. We will share His love with the world through witness and ministry in the name of Jesus. Paul gave us a good example of what genuine love for God will do. He traveled extensively in obedience to his call to minister to Gentiles. Because he loved God, Paul was able to overcome his prejudices against Gentiles and preach the gospel to them. We should not simply say that we love God. We should prove it by our obedience to Him. What is the last thing that you did for someone because of your great love for God? We love each other! The verses following our text reveal that if we realize that God loves us and that we love Him, we will love each other as well. 1 John 4:20-21 tells us: “If a man says I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that he that loves God love his brother also.” If we truly love God, we will love each other as well. That is where we fall short. We let such things as disagreements and personality differences keep us from loving each other. John makes it plain that this is wrong. If we do not love each other, we simply do not love God. We can stand on the highest mountain and shout to the world “I love God,” but if we do not love each other the words will fall on deaf ears. Furthermore, if we love God, we will love non Christian people, who are all around us. The New Testament never gives us permission to hate anyone. These are hard words to understand sometimes when we really dislike someone, but whether we understand them or not, they are true. If we love God, we will love people. Love’s greatness is revealed in the New Testament as threefold: God loves us, we love God and because of this, we love each other. Let’s practice New Testament love in our lives. Bro. Joe
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“Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. 11. He had reigned forty years over Israel – seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12. So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.” NIV
When I read these verses this morning, it occurred to me that all things, good and bad, come to an end. That’s how I decided on the title: “Nothing Lasts Forever.” The Bible gives us a full account of David’s activities. David was a great warrior, and a great king. He was anointed king by Samuel while still very young, and after years of running from King Saul, became the king himself. He wrote a good many of the psalms during his lifetime and had some great experiences with God. Another side of David is seen when he commits adultery with Bathsheba, has her husband killed and tries to lie about it, until confronted by Nathan the prophet. With all of the great things that he did and all of the unrighteous things that he did, David’s life came to an end and Solomon reigned in his place. What can we learn from this? We can learn that no matter what we accomplish in life, it will come to an end. David’s accomplishments made a great impact on Israel and the surrounding nations, but in the end he died and left it all. This does not mean that David’s accomplishments came to an end necessarily, but it does mean that his personal impact died on the day he died. He would have no more say about what went on in Israel. This is true of all humankind. For example, we still have the impact of the accomplishments of Thomas Edison, but there came a day when he left it all and went to his eternal destination. We can learn that we need to make our lives count for something beyond ourselves while we are still alive. With all of his faults, David did some great things in his life that can impact our lives today. Take for example, Psalm 23. This psalm has had a great impact on my life, both in preaching and in living. I go to Psalm 23 again and again to feed my soul when it needs feeding. Wouldn’t you hate to think that you lived your whole life and left nothing of value behind you? By “value” I do not mean valuable things, but valuable influences, valuable lessons, valuable memories and valuable morals. I have conducted funerals of all kinds of people over the fifty-eight years that I have been in the ministry. The funerals of people who left great spiritual values behind often became celebrations of lives well-lived. However, I have conducted funerals for people whose lives counted only for themselves. They could be rich or poor, but there was always a lingering sadness with both family and friends. Do not make the mistake of thinking that I judged any of those people. Where they spend eternity will depend on whether or not they put their faith in Jesus, and it is not in my power to pronounce them saved or unsaved. I don’t know what took place between them and Jesus before they died. All I can speak about is the fruit that they left behind. "We can learn that we need to “make hay while the sun shines.” This means, of course, that we should do things each day to make our lives better, and to have a good influence on the people that we encounter in daily life. We need to heed the advice that Paul gave the Ephesians in Ephesians 5:15-16: “Be very careful then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise. 16. Making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (NIV) I can give no better advice than that. None of us will ever live fully up to this text, but we need to be aware that our lives are being observed by God and people. David lived and David died. We live and we will die. The question is what are we doing in the time that we have to draw closer to God, live a good life and leave a positive influence behind when we depart? Bro. Joe “Wherefore I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God which is in you by the putting on of my hands. 7. But God has not given to us a spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.”
I will admit that I am coming into the middle of a much longer story in this passage, but I want to focus on the reminder that Paul gave young Timothy about stirring up, or as I wrote, “rekindling” the Holy Spirit’s gift for service that Paul knew that he had received. Evidently Timothy was in a spiritual low point, and that the constant persecution and the responsibility of the ministry in the Ephesian church were overwhelming him, and perhaps he was somewhat afraid. There is a message here for us, but we have the same problems, and we should not let them get us down, but we should rekindle the original flame. How can we “rekindle the flame.” First, we need to remember our spiritual gift(s). Every born-again child of God has gifts for service by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps in a lot of cases, the flame does not need to be rekindled, but actually needs to be discovered. But we need to remember that the Lord knows what our gifts are, and will even use our gifts in spite of ourselves. He has probably used your gift(s) in the church that you attend. I know that the Spirit has given me some gifts of service, but I had one gift for years that I did not even know that I had, and that is the gift of “encouragement.” In every personality test that I have taken, I have been identified with Barnabas, “the son of encouragement.” A few years ago, it dawned on me that by main gift is the gift of encouragement. The Lord has used what other gifts I have has led to encouragement. For a few years now, I have been rekindling that gift. Second, we need to remember our resources. God did not give us a “spirit of fear (or timidity.” But the devil knows our weaknesses and he will put fear in our hearts to keep us from using the gift(s) that God has given us for service in His kingdom. God has given us a spirit of “power and of love and a sound mind.” We have the great resource of God’s power on our side. Have you ever realized that He has given you His power in whatever He wants you to do? Have you ever realized that He has given you the power of His love as you do what He has called you to do? Have you ever realized that God has given you a “sound mind” that you can use in your service? Don’t let Satan convince you that you are a spiritual weakling. Either rekindle, or discover, your gifts and use them in power, love, with a sound mind, and do them with joy in your heart. God really wants to use you in a positive way. Find out, or rekindle, His gifts to you. Third, you should never be ashamed of what God has gifted you to do. “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or me His prisoner; but be tAhou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.” If you really want to enjoy your service for the Lord, rekindle, or discover, what God has actually empowered you to do in His kingdom work. Selah Bro. Joe “Take away the dross from silver, and it will go to the silversmith for jewelry. 5. Take away the wicked from the before the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness.”
The proverbs come so fast when I am reading them that it is difficult to remember each one, but occasionally, one will stop me in my tracks and I will have to deal with it. That is what happened with Proverbs 24:4-5. The truth in it is so plain and simple that it would be difficult to miss. In fact, you would have to try hard to miss the point. Here is what I deduced from it: First, we need to clearly define “dross.” It is an impurity of any kind. The impurities must be taken from silver for it to become jewelry. Just so, wickedness must be removed from before the king, and from the king himself, if his throne is to be established in righteousness. Solomon, of all people, knew the truth behind that proverb. The same is true in our lives. We need to get rid of the dross that we know is dragging us down and belittling our witness before people. We have to get rid of the dross in order for us to shine for the Lord. To be sure, getting rid of the dross is not a one-time thing, but it is a lifelong effort for the Christian. I want to share with you some of the dross that we need to get rid of. Lest you think, I’m looking down my nose at you, I am writing from personal experience, but I think that you too will know what I mean. We need to get rid of the dross of a critical spirit. A critical spirit is, indeed, dross that we need to get rid of in our lives. I do not mean that we can never be critical. There are things that need criticizing. What I mean is that we do not need to let a critical spirit be the tone of our lives. We can become so critical that we become self-righteous and bitter. This makes us look like the Pharisees that Jesus was so hard on in the gospels. If we find ourselves being too critical, we need to look in the mirror, and we can probably find a lot to be critical of from the person staring back at us in the mirror. I do not literally do this in front of a mirror, but when I find myself being critical of someone else, I start to think of what I need to straighten out in my own life. This doesn’t mean, of course, that I excuse sinful lifestyles, it means that I want to make sure that I am keeping tabs on my own life. You might want to do the same. (By the way, if you are reading this and you are not a Christian, you might want to think of your critical spirit towards those of us who are Christians.) We need to get rid of the dross of lustful thinking. I know that I am touching a tender spot in a lot of lives when I mention this. With all of the information that we have at our fingertips today, it is easy to find a lot to lust over. Of course, this is of a sexual nature, but lust is not just about sex. We can lust about a lot of things. We can lust about what other people have and wish that we have what they have ourselves. We can lust over all of the luxuries that are available to us today. There will never be a point in our lives that we will have everything that we want. That’s why Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12-13: “I know how to be abased (do without) and how abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need. 13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” We are surrounded by so many “things” that it is difficult for us to be satisfied. We need to get rid of the dross of doubt. Of course, I don’t mean that there is nothing that we should doubt. Dr. Ted Adams, one of my professors at Southeastern Seminary, told us, “Do not doubt your beliefs and believe your doubts.” I am referring specifically to our belief in Jesus. I like what the father of the demon possessed boy said when Jesus challenged him to believe and his son would be healed: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” That should be our prayer when doubt begins to creep up on our faith. If we let doubt rule our lives, we will not have joy or victory. There are a lot of other things that I could write about, but these three “drosses” can keep us busy. Selah Bro. Joe “The eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and He shall thrust out the enemy from before you, and shall say destroy them.”
You are probably familiar with this text. Its context is a message to the Jews by Moses as they were nearing the time that they would get to the Promised Land. It was God’s assurance that He would see that they were able to take the land. That is the immediate context of the text, but we can also apply it to our lives, for God still looks out for His people. It is a great promise that I quote to myself many times when I really feel the need for God’s help. Let’s see what a great promise it is. It promises us that the “eternal God is our refuge.” The American Century Dictionary defines refuge as “shelter from pursuit, danger or trouble.” It is good to know that when we have problems in this life we can take them to God and find refuge in Him. David had the right idea about this in Psalm 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.” God is our refuge as we walk through the crises of life. Many times He will escort us around them, but He also often takes us through them and makes us stronger in the long run. I know that it is a comfort to me when I am going through hard times to know that I can find refuge in God and that He will be with me in whatever I have to deal with. Of course, there are those times when He will just come to our rescue and take us around the hard times. I think that the spirit of the text is caught in Psalm 57:1: “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusts in you: yea, in the shadow of your wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” When you are facing life’s difficulties run to God, run to Jesus and you will find refuge in Him. Deuteronomy 33:27 promises us that when we seek God’s refuge, we find that “underneath are the everlasting arms." In other words, the Lord is our safety net. We don’t ever need to fear that we will be without that safety net, for His are “everlasting arms.” That means that there is nothing that can keep God from catching us. We will never have to worry that He will be asleep, that He will ignore us, or that He will be indifferent toward what we are encountering in our lives. We will have to encounter hard times in this life, but we will always have our safety net. It is good to know that even when we are very ill, God’s everlasting arms are there to catch us. In 2011/2012 as I was going through cancer and the treatments for cancer, I felt those “everlasting arms” as I’ve never felt them in my life. I think that I felt more secure in my faith than I ever have in my life. There are times that the presence of God is so vivid that it is almost like He is sitting next to us. I would not want to be one of those people who say that they do not need God, or that they don’t trust that Jesus can save or help them. We, who claim Christ as our savior, should thank God every day for His “everlasting arms.” How can we know that He will catch us in those arms? Well, because He promised this and because He is real and His “everlasting arms” are real. The great promise of Deuteronomy 33:27 is that we are not alone, for God is ever-present in our lives to watch over us and be our refuge. Take God at His word and trust Him. Bro. Joe “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to His power that works in us. 21. Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, amen.”
We need to understand that when we serve the Lord, whatever that service is, we are not in it by ourselves. In our flesh we are limited as to what we can do. In His infinite wisdom, God has shown me what I can do in my flesh, and that is mainly to make a mess. Whatever your task is as a Christian, you cannot do it by yourself. You must depend on God's work in you.. I think that this is the crux of the problem in a lot of church work today. We go about church business as though it is simply our business, not realizing that it is not simply “our” business. Before Jesus was crucified and ascended, He promised His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit to work within them. That promise was not just for the disciples, it is also for us. If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit living within you, and he is not in you just to give you holy thrills. He is in you to enable you to do whatever it is that God wants you to do. He is in you to help you live the Christian life. We depend every day on that “power that works within us.” If we are not depending on Him, then we are not getting done for the Lord what He wants done. You might say, “Wait a minute, do you mean that when I keep the nursery at church that I need the power of the Holy Spirit to help me do it?" I will assure you that if my job at church was keeping the nursery, I would need every bit of the Holy Spirit to help me do it. Don’t you think that tending babies is a gift from God? Not everyone who tends babies is serving God, but if you are doing it in His kingdom work, it is a gift from God. That’s why we don’t need to take any task that we do in the church or the community lightly. God does not take anything that we do for Him lightly. Read this very carefully: What the church needs today is for all of its people, whatever their task, to depend on the Holy Spirit, Who can help them live beyond themselves. Of course, that doesn’t just apply to the things that we do at church. It also applies to the things that we do seven days a week. We need to depend on the Holy Spirit when we are at work. Don’t you think that God wants to use you on a daily basis? The problem is that you might feel surrounded and intimidated by those who work with you. We need to always be reminded about what is recorded in 1 John 4:4: “You are of God. Little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world.” There is no need to feel intimidated, because we are not in it by ourselves. If you want to live beyond yourself, remember that you belong to God and that He has empowered you with His Spirit. If God has something that He wants us to do, no matter how menial it may seem to us, it is important because God wants us to do it. Do not belittle your service to Him. Sometimes our service might be to just be quiet Christians, quietly living out our faith before the world. Just remember as you face life’s daily challenges, that God is working in you “according to His power that works in us.” God’s power is never menial, and it is never unimportant. Let’s just go out into the world, into the church, or wherever, depending on God's work in us. Bro. Joe “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit comes into our lives when we are saved, and brings three particular gifts into our lives. The first of those gifts given was “joy.” Jesus promised us joy in John 14:11: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Observe: The Holy Spirit brings the joy of Jesus into our lives. I want to share three aspects of this joy in this article. First, the joy that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives is joy in the Lord – joy of the Lord.” I love an Old Testament reference to the joy that the Lord gives in difficult circumstances in Nehemiah 8:10b: “…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” This was a message to the Israelites as they rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. The joy of the Lord is our strength because it is joy in spite of the hard circumstances that we face in life. I’m not just preaching it, I have experienced it in the last twenty-five years of my life as I faced some serious illnesses – all of which could have killed me. I am not bragging on myself, but I am sharing that the joy of the Lord is real, even in difficult circumstances. Second, the joy that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives is joy in Christian fellowship. We are not saved in a vacuum. We are saved individually, but we are ushered into fellowship with fellow Christians. The joy is that we do not have to travel this road of life alone when we are saved. We have fellowship with our Christian brothers and sisters. I served churches for fifty-three years and I encountered problems, of course, but in the midst of that was the joy of fellowship with fellow Christians. This joy is part and parcel with the joy of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Thank God, we do not have to walk this road alone. The joy of fellowship with Christians over the years is still with me after all of the years. Third, the joy that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives is the joy of service. Frankly, I never thought, as I went to work in the morning, that I was really going to work, but I was going to serve. Even as I write Couch Potato articles, I do not consider it work, but I consider it as Christian service. It brings joy to me that I can send these articles out into the ether for anyone to read. It has been a joy to hear from Christians as far away as Pakistan. That is not work, it is joyful service. If you are doing what God put you on this earth to do, you should enjoy it as service for God. If you are not doing what God put you on this earth for, find out what it is and go to it! This is certainly not all that the Bible teaches about the “joy of the Lord,” but they are three things that we should pray about and seek that joy in all circumstances of our lives, in Christian fellowship and in service for Him. Bro. Joe “Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving…” This is the time of year that we concentrate on giving thanks, especially thanks to God. I want to do an acrostic that should help us remember to “sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving.” T- Think – We are guided by our thoughts. If we want to really remember to thank God, we need to stop and think about the importance of remembering to thank Him, not at just this time of year. We often miss the blessings that God has to offer, because we are not thankful about the many blessings He brings into our lives. Stop and think and remember to thank God for His blessings. H- Hear- When God speaks to our hearts in His “still small voice,” we need to listen to what our hearts are trying to say to us, for this is where God speaks to us. Most, if not all, of my victorious decisions have been because I heard what God was saying to my heart. That includes the decision to surrender to the ministry in 1959. God is speaking to your heart, hear Him. A – Anchor- Anchor your heart and mind on Jesus, and decide that nothing can move you away from your commitment to Him. Satan is always trying to sidetrack us and keep us from anchoring our hearts and minds on Jesus. We will anchor or hearts and minds to something, and we need to start with Jesus and stay at it in all of life’s twists and turns. N – Near – We need to draw near to Jesus. James 4:8 promises us that if we will “draw near to God…He will draw near to you…” In Hebrews 10:22, we are reminded to: “let us draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” That is where real spiritual victory begins. How close are you to Jesus in your daily life? The next letter will give us an idea of how we can live close to Jesus: K – Kneel – We will draw near to Jesus if we take time each day to pray. If it is not possible to kneel in prayer on your knees, kneel in your heart and mind to talk to Jesus. You can be assured that He will be listening to you and that He will give you an answer that will bring victory into your life. The old hymn reminds us: “Oh what peace we often forfeit, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” A Christian should not make a decision about his, or her, life without consulting the Master for directions. S – Serve – We need to remember that when we are saved, we become servants of God. I’m not telling you that you need to become a preacher, but that you remember that you are His servant in the course of you daily life. You are serving the Lord, for example, if you visit a lonely person in a nursing home. Serving the Lord is not “rocket science.” Just react to people as you think that Jesus would. I have to remind myself of this an awful lot of times, just as you probably would, because some people do not make it easy. These six things should remind us to be thankful. Read it and think about it! Selah And have a happy Thanksgiving! Bro. Joe “Come before (the Lord’s) presence with thanksgiving…”
How can we come into the presence of the Lord without being thankful? After all, the only reason that we have access to Him is because He allows it by grace. We have an understanding of being in the Lord’s presence that the psalmist did not have. The psalmist lived before the “veil of the temple was torn in two.” Because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, we are in His presence at all times. Not only should we “come before His presence with thanksgiving;” we should live in His presence with thanksgiving. There are at least three areas of our lives that we should approach the Lord in thanksgiving: when we worship, when we work, and when we witness. We should approach the Lord in thankful worship on a daily basis. Sunday worship is not enough. Every Christian should set aside a time for Bible reading and prayer each day. It is safe to say that every great Christian, throughout Christian history, has disciplined himself, or herself, to have devotions every day. How else can we express our thankfulness to Him for all that He has done in our lives? If you do not have a devotional time in your daily routine, you need to start one now. Also, we should be aware of God’s presence every moment of every day and be thankful that He is with us. We should also approach the Lord in thankful worship in corporate worship with our church. Sunday should be a day of worship and praise with our fellow Christians. Again, all great Christians took time for this. If we are truly thankful, why would we have to be begged or manipulated into publicly worshipping God? Public worship identifies us with the people of God, and indentifies us with all of the great people of God – past and present. We should go about our work in our chosen professions in a spirit of thanksgiving. Work was ordained in the Garden of Eden. Even before they sinned, Adam and Eve were told to tend the Garden. Work was not punishment; it was a privilege. Work did not become burdensome until sin entered the picture. The original words for work and worship are almost indistinguishable. We are not to just be thankful on our knees, but we are to be thankful as we go about our daily work. After all, we work in God’s presence each day. We should do Christian work, church work and otherwise in a spirit of thanksgiving. We should not begrudge the time that we spend in serving the Lord. We should be thankful for this work because the Lord allows us to work for Him. We are not doing God any favors. He favors us by letting us serve Him. Remember this as you go about your work for Him in your church and community – and be thankful. All of the above gives us good reason to “come before God’s presence with thanksgiving.” Remember that being thankful is not just a November thing, it is an every day thing. Bro. Joe “Nevertheless, the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are His. And let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
The Greek word used here for “knows” is “ginosko.” It means to know by examination. Jesus knows us inside and out. He knows our every deed and our every thought. (Almost unnerving isn’t it?) He knows and understands the deepest recesses of our hearts and minds. He knows us better than we know ourselves. I want to share a few examples of what I mean. Jesus know who we are. He knows our names. It is great being called by our names, and it is really great that Jesus knows us by name. He knows who we are in reference to all aspects of our lives, i.e., Jesus knows our weaknesses, strengths, doubts and fears. Nothing about who and what we are is hidden from Jesus. The Bible tells us that “the hairs of our heads are numbered." We can hide from people, but we cannot hide from Jesus. The great thing is that He knows all of these things about us, yet He loves us. Rejoice! Jesus knows why we are here. We are here to “glorify and worship God, to know Him and to serve Him.” This is a quote from the creed of one church that I read several years ago. Within this framework, Jesus knows specifically why we are here. We were born for a purpose, or for the many purposes of the Lord. He knows what we should do for a living. He knows what we should do in our churches to serve Him In fact, the Holy Spirit has gifted us for this purpose. He also knows what we should do in the community at large. We are here to serve the purposes of the Lord. Jesus knows our real needs. According to Luke 12:30-31, He knows what we need before the ask: “For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knows that you have need of these things. 31. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.” He also knows the things that we need beyond our basic human needs. That is why it is important for us to seek to have our needs met in prayer to the One who already knows all of our needs. Of equal importance is that the Lord knows what we need to help us be the best that we can be. Not all that we think we want, or need, will result in what is best for us. Jesus knows where we are. He not only knows where we are geographically, but where we are in our relationship with Him. Think of your relationship with Jesus. Do you stay close to Him in prayer and Bible study? Are you intimate with Jesus, or have you drifted away from the closeness that you can have with Him. Just as our earthly friends do not want to be isolated from us, Jesus wants us close to Him, experiencing His love and care. He also knows where we are in our relationships with each other. “And (Jesus) said, verily I say unto you, Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus knows every aspect of our lives. Love Him and live close to Him. Bro. Joe |
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