God's Love

Date: Saturday, August 09, 2014
Today's Chapters: Jeremiah 4-5
Message Title: God's Love
While there are all forms of love, none is more prominent than God's love for us. Many people question God's love when there are so many bad things in the world, but they fail to realize, God did not do things things, we do them to ourselves. I know, there are some things out of our control like disease and death, but even God has a reason for that. To love God means to be pleased with Him, to regard Him with affection, no matter what we are faced with. To love God is to love Christ, who showed the most love of all when He sacrificed His life for all of us, regardless if we believe in Him or not. God shows His love for us because we love His Son. “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” - Proverbs 8:17,33-36.
God never places judgment upon a person without giving them ample warning of the consequences they face if they do not turn from their sin. Do not ever think that you did not have fair warning of something that happened at the result of a sinful act. Through Jeremiah, God tells us the exact same thing. “If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart. For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” - Jeremiah 4:1-3,18,22.

Millions of people claim they are Christians, but there is not one shred of evidence to prove otherwise. I know, ones salvation is not based on their works, but it does prove to God that they do not love Him when they refuse to or even try to obey one command. Yes, there are some that do good things, but that does not mean they love God or are saved. We will all face Jesus when we die, sadly, many will not get past the gate. “When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” - Luke 13:25-27.
I truly believe that had Israel repented the very last second that God would have spared the nation from judgment, but no matter how many warnings they got they rejected Him. While God did not change His mind of the judgment He placed upon Israel and Judah, He did say He would not destroy it completely. “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely. O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.” - Jeremiah 5:1-3,9-11.

To avenge means to punish, think about it, we are made in the image if God, the same feelings that we have, God has, the same anger and hurt that we have when we have been rejected is the same that God has. We ought to be counting every one of our blessings, especially the mercy and grace He has for us, and start reminding ourselves just what Jesus did for us. There is going to come a time when every person that refuses to change their ways will start to question God and that is when God will remind them. Through Jeremiah, God answers the question of He withholds blessings from those who live in sin.
“And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.” - Jeremiah 5:19,22-25.

It amazes me just how much God pleas for our attention, and how much it pains Him to see His children living, wicked, sinful lives, as though they do not even know His Son. And He never stops trying to get a person to see the truth about His Son before it is too late, that is why Jesus has not returned yet. It boggles my mind that I spent years in false religion not knowing the truth, and the judgment I faced because I did not know any better. My parents were none the wiser, they too were brought up on the same false doctrine. Praise God that I and my family now know the truth because we finally listened to God's pleas. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” - 2 Peter 3:9,10.
Today's Prayer: God, Thank You for showing me that repentance really has nothing to do with my sin, but a changing of my heart toward sin. At times, I know I let the cares of life alter my thinking, I begin to doubt Your presence and even that things will ever change. God, renew my thinking, give me a new way of seeing the blessings that You have waiting for me as I endure my troubles with Christ guiding me, and seek to show the truth to others. Help me to never forget that You are always with me, and will help me get through my troubles. I love You Lord and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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