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Living He Loved Me

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by John Doyle

It is so important that we as believers in Christ enjoy and rejoice knowing that we are unconditionally loved by God to the greatest degree possible. Our desire should be to magnify the Lord for loving us the way He does. This is why it matters to us what Jesus really accomplished for us when He died, was buried and rose again.

There is a common way of thinking about Christ’s death that diminishes our experience of His love. It involves thinking that the death of Christ expressed no more love for me than for anyone else in the human race. If that’s the way you think about God’s love for you in the death of Jesus, you will not enjoy being loved by God as greatly as you really are.

Have you ever felt that amazing love in times of struggles or grief? I am sure you have. It’s a never ending unconditional Love. Ephesians 2:4–5 “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”

Six things stand out in Ephesians 2:4–5.
 

1. The phrase *Great Love*

“Because of the great love with which He loved us.” That phrase is used only here in the New Testament. Let it sink in. God loves His own with a “great love.” Surely Paul writes this so that we will enjoy being greatly loved.

2. The peculiar greatness of this love that moves God to “make us alive.”

“Because of the great love with which he loved us, . . . God made us alive.” His great Love is the cause of our life. Our life did not cause the greatness of His love for us. It’s the other way around. The greatness of his LOVE made us alive.

3. Before he made us alive, we were “dead.”

“Even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive.” There is such a thing as the living dead. Jesus said, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60). Before God made us alive, we were the living dead.

We could breathe and think and feel, but we were spiritually dead. We were blind to the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:3–4), we were stone-hearted to his law and could not submit to him (Ephesians 4:18; Romans 8:7–8), and we were not able to discern spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14). Only God could overcome this deadness so that we could see the glory of Christ and believe (2 Corinthians 4:6). That’s what he did when he “made us alive” (Ephesians 2:5).

4. God does not make everyone alive.

What happened to you, to bring you to faith, has not happened to everyone. And remember, you don’t deserve to be made alive. You were dead. You were “by nature a child of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3). You did not do anything to move God to make you alive. That’s what it means to be dead. But the Lord because of His Agape Love for us brings us into a relationship with Him through Faith in Christ and we become *Alive*

5. Therefore, God’s great love for you is really for you, and no one is excluded from His Love.

To experience this Love requires us to trust Christ as Lord and Saviour of our lives, we then become spiritually alive. He will bring you into an eternal relationship with Him. We did not deserve this any more than anyone else. But for reasons that we will never fully comprehend, he pours out his great Love on each of us.

6. There is no one who deserves to be saved.

No one deserves to be made alive. Salvation cannot be earned as its already been paid for through the Life, Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We have all sinned and deserve death (Romans 3:23; 6:23). He could have left all of us in the deadness of our rebellion, but His Love for us was so Amazing that He would not give up on any of us.

If you have seen the wisdom of the Cross, and trusted His promise, and treasured his glory, he has made you Alive forever more. Yes you and I have been greatly Loved.

The Special Love of the New Covenant

When Jesus died, he secured for us the removal of our deadness, and purchased for us the gift of life through faith. In other words, God’s great love would make us alive, because in Christ that same great love had provided the punishment of all our sins and the provision of our righteousness made possible in Christ.

We know this because Jesus said at the Last Supper, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). The blood of Jesus is the price God paid to establish the new covenant. And the new covenant, at its heart, is God’s securing, by the blood of Jesus, living hearts for dead sinners.

“Christ did not purchase the possibility for you to raise yourself from the dead. He purchased your resurrection.”

“I will make a new covenant. . . . I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” Jeremiah 31:31, 34. “I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh” Ezekiel 11:19. “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” Ezekiel 36:27.

What wonderful Promises from the Lord that confirms His Amazing Love for us all. Are you looking forward to that Glorious Day?

It’s time for us to join together in song:

One day when heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men my example is He

Living He loved me dying He saved me
Buried He carried my sins far away
Rising He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming, O glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish despised and rejected
Bearing our sins my Redeemer is He

Living He loved me dying He saved me
Buried He carried my sins far away
Rising He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming, O glorious day

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose over death He had conquered
Now is ascended my Lord evermore

Living He loved me dying He saved me
Buried He carried my sins far away
Rising He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming, O glorious day

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day for all of His children
My blessed Savior forever is mine

In the Love of the Lord Jesus
John and Barbara

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Forgiven Forever

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by John Doyle

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more”
Hebrews 8:12

What an amazing verse of scripture that reminds us of the all merciful, compassionate God that we serve.

Most of us have regrets of the things we have done or said and some of them are shameful, while others remain painful in our memories. Being Human means we are not perfect and we do make mistakes, and some of those mistakes are bad enough to weigh heavily on our hearts and minds for years. But God in His Word reminds us that if we are fully repentant we are FORGIVEN, FOREVER.

Our verse for the day reminds us that we believe in the God of Forgiveness. No matter how bad we have been or how wickedly we have sinned, God is still willing to be merciful and allow us the opportunity to put the past behind us and begin our journey again with our focus on doing God’s Will in all things. He also promises to never bring up ever again those sins and mistakes that we regret and have confessed to Him.
 
That’s why we must always apply Spiritual C.P.R. and this will bring full Forgiveness from the Lord.
 
C – CONFESS – James 5:16 “Therefore confess your faults to another and pray for one another ……..”
 
P – PRAY – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by PRAYER and supplication with thanksgiving be made known to God”
 
R – REPENT – Acts 3: 19 “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”.
 

Applying Spiritual C.P.R guarantees us *FORGIVENESS FOREVER*

God does this for us because His Son Jesus paid the price for our sins. This is what it means to be redeemed; this is what happens when we are saved. So today, receive and embrace this blessing. God knows all our regrets; He forgives all our mistakes, and He promises to let go of every one of them FOREVER.

My Prayer this morning: Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for taking upon Yourself the punishment of the cross for our sins. Your sacrifice allows us to be saved. Your Resurrection guarantees us to be fully redeemed. Thank You for such a wonderful gift and everlasting blessing that made it possible for us as your children to be FORGIVEN FOREVER, we Love you Lord.
 
In the Love of the Lord Jesus,
John and Barbara
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I Love to Tell the Story

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by John Doyle

“Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.” – Psalm 66:16

Although she came from a wealthy family, Katherine Hankey who wrote the poem “The Old, Old Story” that became a great Hymn of the Faith had a great concern for the poor and needy. She not only was concerned about their need for food and care, but also their soul and their relationship with the Lord.

She was the daughter of a wealthy banker in 19th century England. Katherine taught the Bible, particularly among girls and ladies who worked in factories. Yet, after becoming ill, she needed a lengthy time for recovery.

In 1866, while recovering from her sickness, she thought of all that Jesus had done for her. She wrote, “God’s remedy for sin is something I really want to understand, and I want to hear it often, lest I forget it.” She needed the story told to her in simple terms as if explained to a little child.

To deal with these needs that she had, she decided to write a poem. and wrote “I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.”

Katherine wrote of the many reasons why she loved to tell this story including these words to the song “it satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.”

She said in her introductory to the poem “that the story of Jesus did so much for me” and it was “pleasant to repeat those words to others she would meet up with”. And it pained her heart that “some have never heard the message of salvation from God’s Holy Word.

She knew that, in eternity, none of the world’s pleasures would last, but that this story would “BE MY THEME IN GLORY”

If God so loved you that He gave His Only begotten son, should we also not LOVE Him and demonstrate that LOVE by telling the story of Jesus to others?

Katherine clearly was confident about what her theme in glory would be. What about us? Do we know what our theme will be in eternity? Are we living for Jesus? Are we investing some of our time to tell the story of Jesus to others because we know this earth is not our final home and people need to know that God has prepared a place for all those who know and Love the Lord?

People all around us need to know the Good News of Jesus. Dedicate yourself that they might know Him. Tell them what He has done for you, because what He has done for ________ __________ (put your name in here) He will do for you.

I have noticed that people love to tell the stories about the things they LOVE. So let’s take opportunities to tell others of our greatest Love. To Love the LORD our God should be the heartbeat of our mission and to share this Love with others.

Lets pray this prayer together:

Dear Father, we are grateful for the things You have done for our lives. Thank You for saving our souls and giving us this amazing gift of eternal life as a free gift. Please LORD use us to reach others by telling the story of Jesus and grow to love telling that story to others. We pray this in the name of Jesus.

It’s time to sing the song with me:

I love to tell the story of unseen things above, Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love;
I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true, It satisfies my longings as nothing else would do.
I love to tell the story, ’Twil be my theme in glory, To tell the old, old story, Of Jesus and His love.

In the Love of the Lord Jesus,
John and Barbara

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Victory in Jesus

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by John Doyle

Our Scripture Reading — John 16:16-33

“These things I have spoken to you, that in me you shall have peace, in the World you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the World”
John 16:33

One of the things Jesus wants his followers to understand is that the way forward for them will not be easy in this World we live in. As believers we should be prepared to experience resistance and at times hostility because of our faith. We will also have to deal with many other problems in this fallen world. We can at times expect conflict, anxiety, depression, poverty. Many also have experienced during these days of COVID loss of loved ones, tragedy in the home and disaster. Sadly the list goes on and on.

But the Lord Jesus wants us to understand that there will be days and even seasons of life that are incredibly difficult. Scripture never promises that faith in Jesus will make our problems go away, in fact, sometimes the opposite occurs as we read in the lives of His Disciples and so it will be in each of our lives and it will continue on until Jesus returns and provides VICTORY over the “god of this world” who continues to “blind the minds of them who believe not.”

Whatever comes our way, we do not face our struggles without hope. We have put our trust in the Saviour who died for us, but then rose again Victorious. He provided for our salvation and new life that was only possible through the defeating of sin and death. Lets pause a moment and sing it together:

“Oh, victory in Jesus my Saviour forever,
He sought and bought me with His redeeming blood,
He loved me ‘ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to VICTORY, beneath the cleansing flood”

Several Bible Scholars call this theme in Scripture *Christus Victor* and the idea is that Jesus will triumph over every enemy of God and that we will share in that VICTORY because of our faith in Christ. In the Lord, we have hope for full redemption in this life. Bodies can be healed, hearts can be softened, and lives can be changed. All possible because of the sacrifice of the only begotten son of God.

But even if we don’t fully experience some of these changes we hope for during our lives, we have the assurance that one day we will share in Christ’s VICTORY forever.

Scripture provides assurance that Jesus will triumph over every enemy of God and that we will share in that VICTORY because of our faith.

My prayer for us: Dear Lord, grant us each your peace in these difficult times and seasons of COVID and Lockdown, knowing that we will all share in your VICTORY Forever, Thank you Lord, we Love you.

Yes its time to finish the devotion in song:

FAITH IS THE VICTORY, FAITH IS THE VICTORY,
OH, GLORIOUS VICTORY, THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD

His banner over us is Love, Our sword the word of God,
We tread the road the saints above, with shouts of triumph trod,
By faith they like a whirlwinds breath, swept on or every field,
The faith by which they conquered death Is still our shining shield.

FAITH IS THE VICTORY, FAITH IS THE VICTORY,
OH, GLORIOUS VICTORY, THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD

Please let us know if we can pray for you specifically at this time.

In the Love of the Lord Jesus,
John and Barbara

Continue ReadingVictory in Jesus