The Father's Love预览

LOVED BY GRACE

God's lovingkindness is demonstrated powerfully in His amazing grace! Read Ephesians 2:4-9.

We also see God's love and grace to Abraham in the Old Testament. In Genesis 15:1-3, God tells Abraham that He is his shield and very great reward. This was the first of God's "I am" claims. He was promising to Abraham to be all he needed as his protector and provider in new and unfamiliar territory.

Over and over in the Old Testament, God calls us His beloved (see Deuteronomy 33:12). In the New Testament, Paul often refers to those who are in Christ as "beloved." In God's terms - He as our reward and we as His friend and beloved - God has clearly made it known that He desires a deep love relationship with His people. In 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul tells the believers to give thanks to God as brethren beloved by the Lord. He reaffirms that the believers are holy and beloved to the Lord in Colossians 3:12 and then asks them to know this, live in this truth, and imitate His love in Ephesians 5:1. Again in 1Thessalonians 1:4, Paul declares the believers are loved and chosen by God as His own.

What more do we need? We want our relationship with God Most High to be the most passionate, tender, and intimate relationship we have. It certainly shouldn't be lukewarm and distant. Choose to pursue the Lord with all you've got, to wherever it takes you, beyond what you've ever known, to a place no one can go with you! And don't stop short; don't settle for less.

Read Ephesians 3:14-21 again today. Pray Paul's prayer and make it your own. What does this passage in Ephesians say God did for us? Why? Where has He seated us? How does that compare to how we see ourselves?

Choose one Scripture from today that the Lord is using to renew your mind and transform your heart. Take this truth to heart and bring it to life throughout your day.