Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see, all that I need Thy Hand has provided, great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto Thee.// who is like unto Thee o Lord! Who is like unto Thee, among the gods who is like Thee, You are glorious in holiness fearful in Praising during wonders alleluia, always doing wonders alleluia.
Our Father in heaven we thank You we bless Your Holy Name, thank You for a beautiful week/day You have made and said we should rejoice in it and be glad. Thank You for another opportunity to be all You have made us to be, glory be to Your Holy Name. Faithful Father, have Your way again in our lives as we look upon You for mercies. Bless us again and again that the enemies will marvel at Your works in our life, glory be to Your Name on high in Jesus Name.
Beloved, good morning, how are doing? Glory be to God for the privilege given us to be part of His project, glory be to Jesus. We are indeed His project and He will continually work in us until we are complete in Him.
Beloved, talking about being complete in Him, I have a great joy in my heart each time I remember that I belong to Jesus. Apostle Paul said “By the grace of God I am what I am,…”1Cor 15:10. And so we are also in our Father whose love has bestowed grace upon us to be all He has created us to be.
Often times we miss out in God’s plan for us. How someone wants to know? Image a classical summertime backyard barbecue. Can you smell the burgers, brats, and baby back ribs on the grill? Maybe you will cap the night with a classic marshmallow roast over an open fire.
Now imagine you have just one minor problem… you don’t have any teeth! You will miss out on the char-grilled delicacies because you haven’t matured to a place where you have what is necessary to enjoy them. Our spiritual lives can be just like this! We can stagnate and miss out on opportunities because we have not matured.
You see, God not only showers us with a Father’s blessing, he invites us to grow up by modeling our lives after Him. With our new identity and spiritual DNA, we are called to grow up to be like our Heavenly Dad. As Ephesians 5:1 puts it. “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.”
We are invited and called to be like our Father. We look up to Him and notice how He does things- the way He talks, move, and answer. We put our feet in His footsteps.
What is incredible is that God has not left us on our own to figure out what to do; He gives us His Spirit’s power to lead us and guide us. as a perfect Father, God participates in our lives. He is saying to you and me, “Here, let Me show you how to do that.”
Here are three makers to think about, to aim for, as we imitate Him and grow into spiritual maturity.
First – Awaken: to who we are and whose we are. As the popular worship anthem says, we are no longer slaves …. to abandonment, fear, unworthiness, insecurity, abuse, addiction, dread, comparison, or loneliness, sin… we are children of God!
Secondly- Accept: the implications of our new genetic makeup. We throw off the sin and old ways of life and run toward the new and good things God is calling us to do.
Thirdly- Adopt: the behaviour and character of God. Study how God moves and works. Devour His Word. Talk with Him. Emulate the pattern of His ways.
Beloved, you have been adopted by a Perfect, Loving Father- now go be like Him!
Let us discover more:
2 Samuel 19:24-21:22, Psalm 69:29-36, Proverbs 15:14-15, John 12:12-33
The Cross’s Magnetism
As for Me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to Myself.—John 12:32
The love for God that burns in our hearts must never be seen as the fruit of our labor, as if it is something we manufacture. Seeing the love of God for us, our own hearts respond with love. We give love for love. We cannot help it. Let’s be done with the idea that love for God is something we work at. It issues forth in good works, of course, but it begins in contemplation of how much we are loved.
I often tell my students that they cannot love until they have been loved. By this I mean that love is a response. Our souls must receive love before we can give out love. Those who did not receive much love from their parents complain at this stage: “I can’t love God because my soul was never properly prepared to love; my parents didn’t love me.”
This is a problem, I agree, but it must never be seen as an insoluble problem. No one who stands at Calvary and sees God dying for them on that tree can ever argue that because they were not loved by their parents, they cannot now receive God’s love. If they really believe that, then they are saying that God’s love is balked by the adverse influence of human conditioning.
God’s love will only flow into us if we let it and if we really want it. To desire it is like the touch of the hand on a spring blind: the blind is released and the sunlight flows in. Just to want His love is enough; He will do the rest.
Prayer
O God, forgive me if I have used excuses to barricade my heart against Your love. I gaze once more on Calvary and open my heart to allow its mighty magnetism to draw my soul toward You in a way it has never been drawn before. Amen.
Further Study
What was Paul’s desire for the Thessalonians?
What was Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians?
Did you read that you cannot give what you don’t have? You cannot love until you are loved, and God loves you even while you are a sinner, now that you are redeemed, imitate your Father and be just like Him.
He wants you to grow, therefore reject stagnation in the Spirit and grow into a matured Christian so that you Father will find you fruitful and not leave full. Don’t be like the fig tree, it was deceptive by it look, full leaves and no fruit.
Always remember that God first loves you, then response to that same love by living just the way He is – loving yourself and your neighbors, and being part of the kingdom work. (2Pet 1:3, Heb 6:1).
Beloved on this note we declare this week open and by His Divine grace we will return we greater testimonies at the end in Jesus Name.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
