No Greater Love and Delight

“The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
(Zephaniah 3:17)

Do you really believe that God is rejoicing over you, that He really, really loves you and delights in you? Do you live your life with this truth embedded in your heart?

God is singing over you, delighting in you constantly. Even in your weakness, He loves you. Even in the midst of His discipline over your sin, He loves you. He knows all your weakness and failings, yet He loves you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3).

He sings over you as you continue to press through your pain, weakness and sin to pursue Him time and time again.

He loves you, really truly loves you, His son or daughter! After all, God so demonstrated His love and delight in you by sending His Son to die for you, taking the punishment deserved by all of us because He wanted communion with us. That’s how much He loves you! For,

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
(John 15:13)

And,

“…whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
(John 3:15-17)

He loves you and laid down His life for you. He wants union and communion with you, the intimate relationship of Father and son/daughter and friend. We so well know the above verses, but have we truly and deeply pondered them in our hearts, allowing God to encounter us with all reality through His truth in them? Oh, how He loves us so!

May we seek to know the true depths and heights of God’s love and longing and the truth of His delight in us.

“The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying:
‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.’”
(Jeremiah 31:3)

Further Study – IHOP Teaching Archive:

Beholding God’s Glory by Beholding His Emotions
The Father Heart of God
Wholehearted Love Starts Now

Filed under: Christian, Devotional, Encouragement, God's Word , God's delight, God's love, true joy

The Joy Set Before

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
(Hebrews 12:1-2)

You endured the Cross for the joy that was set before You.

That joy was us for whom You died.

Help me to endure and live in the midst of whatever details are ever in my life, for the Joy set before me.

For that Joy is You…

Knowing You.
Loving You.
Being with You.
Growing in You.
Living for You.

No matter what is going on around us or in our lives. It’s all about You.

Help us to live worthy of Your calling, for Your glory.

Filed under: Christian, Devotional, Encouragement, God's Word, Heart's Cry , Hebrews 12, true joy

Israel – A Seal Upon God’s Heart

I was listening to Misty Edwards’ song “You Won’t Relent” while driving home one night and God began revealing more of His heart for Israel to me. I’ve been praying that He would do this, and little by little God is opening my eyes and syncing my heart with His.

This song expresses the relentless nature of God’s love–the jealous flame of His love so unquenchable that not even death can stop it. Jesus, after all, died on the cross to take away our sins and conquer death, rising again to life and now seated at the Father’s right hand: THAT is real love!

“You won’t relent until You have it all…”

The Law and the Prophets, the Psalms, Song of Solomon and so forth–the entire Bible is the story of God’s love for His people and how He will do anything to bring them to return to Him. And He has set Israel as a seal upon His heart, desiring to this day that any of the Jewish people who do not know Yeshua as Messiah to be saved through Him.

“I’ll set you as a seal upon my heart, as a seal upon my arm,
For there is love that is as strong as death,
Jealousy demanding as the grave,
And many waters cannot quench this love.”

I see two different meanings in this:

That we pray for God to seal our hearts with His jealous, unfailing love:  “I’ll set [God] as a seal upon my heart.” And second, how He loves us so much that we are like a seal upon His heart:  “I’ll set [My people] as a seal upon My heart.”

And so I pray for Israel, that you would know God’s love in that He has set you upon His heart, and also that you would encounter Yeshua, setting Him as a seal upon your hearts.

As it is written in Song of Solomon 8:6-7 (ESV):

“Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the LORD.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it…”

God, I pray that Your beloved Jewish people would know You. Pour out Your great love upon them even more fully. I pray that You would set watchmen on the wall and that You would make Jerusalem a praise in all the earth. Let them and let us, too, know Your vehement, fiery love for us–a holy love that never ends. Give us Your heart, God.

Further Reading on SOS 8:6-7:  Set Me as a Seal Upon Thy Heart

Filed under: Christian, Devotional, God's Word, Heart's Cry , Christ, Christianity, God, God's heart, God's heart for Israel, God's love, Israel, jesus, Jesus Christ, Jewish people, Jews, Judaism, Messiah, Messianic, misty edwards, Song of Solomon, Yeshua, You Won't Relent

I Have Heard Your Prayers – Part 2

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“I HAVE HEARD YOUR PRAYERS…”

With the revelation of God’s promises comes trust and strength in the waiting period between the voicing of our prayers and His answers to them. We hope in the unseen and not the seen, walking by faith and not by sight. We can rest in the promise that He will do above and beyond our imagination (Ephesians 3:20-21), for what is impossible with man is possible with God!

“From ancient times no one has heard,
no one has listened,
no eye has seen any God except You,
who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.”
(Isaiah 64:4 HCSB)

As David exclaimed the preciousness of God’s thoughts to him in Psalm 139:17, we can also know that our thoughts and prayers are precious to God as we seek Him with all our hearts.

Let the breath-taking thought of God’s delight in you cause you to run the race with even greater fervor. Let the humbling thought of God’s care for you awaken even deeper love for Jesus in your heart. Let the awesome thought of God moving on behalf of those He loves inspire you to intercede even more unceasingly — praying the very prayers He’s already put on Your heart.

Let Your Kingdom come, let Your will be done on the earth as it is in Heaven!

Filed under: Christian, Devotional, Encouragement, Faith, God's Word, Writing , Devotional, Encouragement, Faith, God's love, God's presence, God's Word, i have heard your prayers, Prayer

How Precious Your Thoughts

I love what John writes at the end of his Gospel:

“Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
(John 21:25 ESV)

There is so much in the Gospels to show us what Jesus did and said, and how He lived and what He taught to help us live worthy of God’s calling on us. Each one was ordained by God to be recorded in the Word. I can’t help but wonder about the other things Jesus did and said as He ministered and taught the disciples and all those who came to Him for healing and help. Just reading the Word reveals the character of God in such vast measure.

Can you imagine all that Christ did, all that He spoke, felt and thought?! To picture the libraries of Heaven that would hold all such things is unimaginable! Wow.

Just pondering and reflecting…

“How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!”
(Psalm 139:17 ESV)

Filed under: Christian, Devotional, God's Word, Heart's Cry , God's character, God's love, God's Word, Gospel of John, john, knowing Jesus, Psalm 139, psalms, reflection, relationship with God, scripture, the Bible

The Reason for the Wilderness, Hope Deferred

“You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”
(Deuteronomy 8:2)

That You, Lord, do not outright place us into the abundant place of blessing in our destiny right away is a thing of immeasurable good. You first bring us to the wilderness. There You bring us to the end of ourselves and to the fullness of You. You test and humble us, equip and grow us–lest we fall hard and become prey to the temptations of success and blessing.

It is because of Your great goodness and love that You do this. You know what is best for Your children whom You love. Your banner over us is love! Your leadership is perfect! Your ways are just, true and right.

You want us to live for You and by Your living words of life, being led by Your Spirit alone. To do so more and more, to be deep calling unto Your deep, takes time spent growing in relationship with You. It takes time spent seeking the depths of Your Presence in the Holy of Holies by which we have access through the blood of Christ. It takes growing in hearing Your voice and obeying You. It takes patience, trust and faith in You.

You are good, so good. Your love for us is so deep. Your leadership of our lives is wholly right and truly perfect, laden with Your perfect love for us as You say, “I only want the absolute best for you. Will you trust me, My child?”

God has the very best for you. In hardship or trials, trust Him. In the pain of hope deferred, trust Him. In times of fear or failure, trust Him.

He sees you! He loves you! He has the very best for you!

Filed under: Christian, Devotional, Encouragement, Faith, God's Word, Heart's Cry, Writing , delayed hope, desert, Deuteronomy 8, difficulty, God's faithfulness, God's leadership, God's love, god's will, God's Word, hardship, hope, hope deferred, pain, relationship with God, spiritual growth, the wilderness, trials, trust, trusting God

First and Foremost

“We must agree with God’s definition of success. Many agree with lies about what success is and thus, feel like a failure and live aimlessly. They focus mostly on externals (what they do and possess) instead of internals (who they are to be in their hearts)… Jesus corrected those who put their ministry before loving God.”
(Mike Bickle, The Song of Songs)

Revelation 2:3-5 says,
“you have…labored for My name’s sake…Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Christ took the agony of death on the cross in order that we could have relationship with God. In John 17:3, Jesus prays: “…this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

It is only out of that overflow of being filled with Christ’s love, truth and character that we can truly minister to and serve others. If we don’t have intimacy with God and get filled to the fullness with Him, we end up serving and laboring out of our own strength and emptiness, which is of no value to ourselves or anyone else. If it isn’t of God–sowing to the Spirit of God instead of the flesh–lasting results won’t be reaped.

God’s love and truth are of the truest value, and we need to spend time in a growing, intimate relationship with Him in order to be able to give of the love and truth He pours into us.

Continual time in God’s presence grows us in knowing Him and His character, and as a result, we become more like Christ, reflecting His love and living out His ways in our every day lives. As we shine more and more with the glory of God, others’ lives too will be changed as they are drawn near to God! Let it be, Lord!

Filed under: Devotional, Encouragement, Faith, Heart's Cry, Worship , Galatians, greatest commandment, intimacy with God, john, loving God, Matthew, relationship with God, Revelation, sowing to the Spirit

No Longer Master

“And it shall be, in that day,” Says the LORD,
“That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’
For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.”
(Hosea 2:16-17)

In these verses God says He will no longer be Master but Husband, and that He “will take from her mouth the names of the Baals.” In other words, He will do away with false religion and rituals that don’t flow out of an intimate relationship with God.

This brought to my mind that:

Master = religion, legalism; serving God out of obligation
Husband = relationship, intimacy; serving God because of love for Him

The Lord is our Husband, not our Master. We are His friends and His delight, not His slaves. We serve God out of love for Him, not because we have to. We’re called to be voluntary lovers of the God who saved us through the blood of His Son Jesus. We seek to serve Him not out of duty or to do “religious things,” but out of love for Him whose love for us is immeasurable and undeserved.

“You are My friends if you do what I command you. “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
(John 15:14-15)

Prayer: Lord, let all religion, legalism and traditions not done out of love for You be gone from our hearts and lives. Help us to serve You and Your people out of love for You, not obligation. Bring us into deeper relationship with You–an intimate friendship growing in pure and humble love for You. Give us divine revelation of Your love for us, and help us to love You and others with the love of You have for us. In the name of Jesus who gave His life for us. Amen!

I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the LORD.
(Hosea 2:19-20)

Filed under: Christian, Devotional, Encouragement, Faith, God's Word, Heart's Cry , Christ, God, Hosea, Hosea 2, Husband, jesus, Jesus Christ, john, John 15:14-15, Master

He’s Singing His Love Over You

To all sons and daughters of God:

God loves you! He loves you beyond description! God’s love for you is infinite and unquenchable! He is never mad at you in any way. In fact, God DELIGHTS in you. He rejoices over you! God made you and His desire is to lavish you with His amazing love! He made you to LOVE you – that’s why He sent Jesus to take away our sins – He wanted to have a relationship with you.

God loves you no matter what you’ve ever done, been through or had happen to you. He’s not going to punish you for your past or even remind you of your mistakes. His Word says that He quiets you with His love, making no mention of your past sins.

Listen… Do you hear Him singing over you, speaking softly of His love for you?

God calls you wonderful – made wonderfully by Him.
God calls you valuable – of more worth than sparrows.
God calls you beloved – the apple of His eye.
God calls you His child – adopted into His family and Kingdom.

God calls you His! He loves you! 

GOD     LOVES     YOU !

The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing.
(Zephaniah 3:17 Amplified)

Filed under: Christian, Devotional, Encouragement, Faith, God's Word, Heart's Cry

Setting Our Minds

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace…”
(Romans 8:5-6)

We must constantly ask ourselves, “What am I setting my mind on? What am I focusing on?

For me, that means not allowing my mind to go to the negative aspects in life or in situations, you know, the glass half-empty thinking instead of seeing the half that’s full. It can be easy to do, especially in the midst of difficulty or even just in the mundane of everyday life.

So how do we set our minds on the things of the Spirit?

We do so by fixing our eyes on Christ, and reminding ourselves who God is — sovereign, in control, all-knowing, and for us not against us. We also must remind ourselves that God is ultimately using everything in our lives — the good, the bad and even the mundane — to make us more like Jesus in our speech, attitudes and actions. Even when our feelings and circumstances don’t line up with God’s truth and promises, this helps us experience God’s peace and hope.

The war we fight.

As believers we constantly battle our flesh, which is hostile to the things of God (Romans 8:7). When that bad attitude surfaces or we find we have bitterness or wounds in our hearts, it’s easy to dwell on the pain instead of setting our eyes on Christ.

Continually we must remind ourselves that God is refining us and allowing these things to surface. He wants to remove all the impurities from the precious gold within us, but this often means we come face-to-face with whatever He is working out of us.

Our help in all times.

As God grows you to be more like His Son, keep your eyes fixed on Him, knowing that He is always helping you by His Holy Spirit, giving you His strength, comfort and guidance in all things. Know that if you ask, He will provide the wisdom and grace you need according to His perfect will.

“…the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.“
(Romans 8:26-27)

Filed under: Christian, Devotional, Encouragement, Faith, God's Word, Writing , God, God's Word, bible, romans, jesus, strength, Christ, grace, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, pain, Romans 8, trials, hardship, setting our minds on things above, mind of Christ, things of theh Spirit, hurt, wounds, comfort, guidance, help in time of need, fixing our eyes on Jesus