June 2006
On Mother's Day, two
of my children came for a visit. My youngest
boy sat in my lap, but he is almost too
large. He can no longer jump up and wrap
his arms and legs around me. It is sad
to experience these precious times drawing
to a close, but the joy that he and my
older children bring me remains such a
wonderful blessing.
It's Father's Day
On June 18th, we celebrate
Father's Day again, but for me, it's father's
day every time I'm with my children. I
just hope one day my children can feel
like Tiger Woods, who said in a recent
interview: "Everyday is father's
day with my dad." Don't you hope
your children will feel this way about
you?
The subject of last year's
June view was my Reflections
on Dad, in case you missed it.
I am thankful for the many childhood memories
with my dad. Ideally, the relationship
with our Heavenly Father is a reflection
of the one we experience with our earthly
father. A large percentage of men and
women in prison are fatherless. Even worse,
some were abused by their fathers. This
makes it extremely difficult for them
to understand the love of God. As a result,
prisoners end up emotionally damaged with
much anger and pain, which is often passed
on to the next generation.
The Good News is that
Jesus has redeemed us from all generational
curses. 1 It has
been difficult for my children to grow
up not having their father at home. But
the grace of God [the power of love] has
overcome the void of a missing father.
Because of the blood of Christ and His
resurrection, we have the power of the
Holy Spirit working mightily in us.
His Divine Love
Our Heavenly Father is
a father to the fatherless. 2
It is the divine love of God flowing from
His holy habitation through our lives
that provides the ability to bring forth
healthy children. He sends forth His love
through the Spirit of wisdom, understanding,
counsel, strength, the knowledge and reverence
of the Lord and His righteousness into
all the earth. 3
God's divine love flows
only through those who are born again.
God is not a respecter of persons. The
way to receive His divine love is through
Christ's finished work on the cross. There
are two Greek words in the New Testament
for love: "philos, " which is
natural human affections, which all men
have, and "agape,"
which is divine love, the feelings and
character of God.
Christian author, George
D. Watson (no earthly relation), in his
writing "Our Own God,"
said: "Just as we get human affection
by our natural birth, so we get the divine
love by our spiritual birth into the Kingdom
of God. Even after divine love has been
imparted to us, we need to be sanctified
and baptized with the Holy Spirit and
fire, in order to give this divine love
perfect liberty and ample sweep through
all our capacities."
Growing In Love
Every one who loves "agape"
is born of God and knows God. But anyone
who does not love does not know God --
for God is love. 4
His divine power has given us all things
that pertain to life and godliness. Through
the knowledge of God's love, we are called
to excellence. We have great and precious
promises from God's Word. They tell us
that we now share God's divine nature,
love and character, because of the Holy
Spirit living within us. 5
The secret of Christian
living is to have a conscience awareness
of God's love for us and His abiding presence.
To love God means to want to be with Him.
This takes growing in the grace and knowledge
of Jesus Christ by spending time with
Him. 6 This happens
as we make every effort to apply the benefits
of God's promises to our life. Then our
faith will produce a life of moral excellence.
A life of moral excellence leads to knowing
God better. Knowing God leads to self-control,
which leads to patient endurance and godliness.
7
Godliness leads to love
for other Christians, and finally you
will grow to have genuine love for everyone.
The more you grow like this, the more
you will become productive and useful
in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In this way, it is unlikely you will ever
stumble or fall away. God will open wide
the gates of heaven for you to enter into
the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. 8
The Power Of Love
Is there any doubt that
it is the power of God's love that heals
us? Certainly not to those who believe
and act upon the promises of God's word.
One promise says: The Lamb, Jesus Christ
was slain for our sins from the foundation
of the world. 9
Long ago, even before He made the world,
God loved us and chose us in Christ to
be holy and without fault in His eyes.
His unchanging plan has always been to
adopt us into His own family by bringing
us to Himself though Jesus Christ. And
this gave Him great pleasure. 10
It is easy to see the
evil nature of my past life. The Law of
God demonstrates that all of us follow
the passions and desires of our evil nature.
We were born into this nature because
of Adam and Eve's fall. We are under God's
righteous judgment, but God is also rich
in mercy. He loves us so very much, that
even while we are spiritually dead because
of our sin nature, He gives us life by
having raised Christ from the dead. He
raised us from the dead along with Christ.
We are seated with Him in the heavenly
realms -- all because of our union with
Christ Jesus. 11
Now, God can point to
us as examples of the incredible wealth
of His favor and kindness toward us. God
saved you by His special favor when you
believed in Christ. You can't take credit
for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation
is not a reward for the good things we
have done, so none of us can boast about
it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has
created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that
we can do the good things He planned for
us long ago. 12
A Prayer For You ...
I pray that Christ will
be more and more at home in your hearts
as you trust in Him. May your roots go
down deep into the soil of God's marvelous
love. May you have the power to understand,
as all God's people should, how wide,
how long, how high, and how deep His love
really is. May you experience the love
of Christ, though it is so great we can
never fully understand it. May you be
filled with the fullness of life and power
that comes from God. Amen. 13
Footnotes:
|
