Dear Ones,
What if there were a pool of liquid love, and you could jump into it and always, without fail, unquestionably, without ceasing be surrounded, completely encompassed, immersed, suspended in a sea of hope and acceptance, peace and serenity, encouragement, love that knows no boundaries, joy that defies the imagination? What if there were a place where you would always be safe and protected, where you could always find refuge and security? What if there were a place where you could share your wildest dreams and let your imagination run free and no one would ever laugh or tell you that it won’t work, and you would only find support and encouragement? What if there were a place where you were the most loved, and beautiful, and important person of all? What if there were a place where you could be you, mistakes and all, and never be ridiculed and only be loved? Does this sound like a fairy tale, too good to be true? Well, precious one, it is not, and there is such a place, and His name is Jesus. If you don’t know him, dear one, I invite you to experience a life of freedom and liberty you have never known before.
Dear one, don’t think that God judges you the way the secular world or religion judges you. Don’t judge God the way you judge others or yourself. He does not judge you through a filter influenced by your mistakes or shortcomings. He created you for a wonderful, divine purpose. He chose you to be on this earth. He desires you. He is glad you are here. His great desire is to fellowship with you, not to sit in judgment upon you. I know. I was raised during my young years in a religion where I viewed God as sitting in Heaven with a little black book keeping track of all of my mistakes. Seriously, that is really what I thought. I always felt like I had to be making up for everything I did wrong, whether I intentionally did it or not. Then, at some point, my spirit, my heart woke up and realized that God is not a God of condemnation, but of love. The world condemns, but He does not. He has given us a path to become free from all of the judgment and ridicule of the world. When we realize and concentrate on His love for us, we become free to love in return. As that occurs, our heart desires to express our love to Him, and those mistakes or bad choices or bad habits that we often struggle with just “naturally” start changing. Our choices become guided by a new spirit living in us, the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God’s love for us.
I believe so much of the reason why many do not receive Jesus as their Savior and God as their Father is because of the fear of being judged or rejected. Precious one, please try to see God apart from your pain and fear. I know that the pain of this world often causes you to shut down, to wall off, to run from those who you think will reject you or disappoint you. God will never do that. That is hard for you to imagine, because there is no one in this world that has not disappointed you or judged you or rejected you in some way, but God is different. He is not of this world, and He has a love for you that you have never experienced and at this point, cannot even understand! We have a hard time wrapping our brains around the infinite, the unconditional, because we live in a finite world full of conditions. Do this, and you will get that. Don’t do this, and you won’t get that. God is the ONLY place where you will not fall prey to that system. He loves you, accepts you, and even REJOICES over you regardless of what you do. You see, His love for you is pure and unadulterated, untarnished, without prejudice or bias. It is not based on your actions. It is based on His character. That’s even hard for us to understand, because in this world, we have never seen anyone with as pure a character as God. We tend to judge by what we see and by our experiences. Unfortunately, we evaluate everything by such a limited understanding of the reality of the supernatural realm of God. God’s character and love for us is beyond anything we have ever seen or experienced in this world, beyond that which we can experience with our five physical senses. It is higher, deeper, and wider, so far above our thoughts and experiences. His love for you is infinite and without condition. He gave us the example of Jesus so that we could glimpse His love for us. I challenge you to start reading the Scriptures and see the picture of love laid out in them through the life of Christ. Look for His goodness, His kindness, His sacrificial giving, His healing, His provision, His peace and joy, His gentleness. Concentrate on His Spirit, and it will draw you into a world filled with compassion and love. God’s heart bursts with compassion for you. He sacrificed His Son to draw you unto Him. Look at the picture of Christ in Scripture, and you will not be able to deny how God loves you and yearns for you. You will begin to see how valuable you are to our Father. Let’s look at it this way. Would you give up your kid, or if you don’t have kids, your most special friend, or if you don’t have a precious friend, your most loyal dog as a death sacrifice for someone with whom you were not in relationship? Being honest, I seriously doubt it. Yet, that is what God did for you. He sent his Son to this earth to show us the way, and then God had his only Son walk the bloody, shame-filled, painful, despised, solitary road to the cross — all for us – those who had not even chosen to love or even acknowledge Him yet. Don’t tell me that’s not love! Get to know that kind of love!
Dear one, if you do not have a relationship with this loving Father about whom I am talking, I challenge you to jump outside the box of your former experiences with God, your current judgments of Him based upon those experiences and jump into His pure, liquid pool of love for you. He will never disappoint, abandon, or reject you. He wants to bless and help you, and if you make the choice to get to know Him, your life will be blessed. Walk into arms that will never fail you. Choose to be free from the judgment and fear and pain and disappointment of this world!
If you choose to make Jesus the Lord of your life, pray the prayer below and let us know at River City Church, and I will send you some material to help you see God’s love for you.
Rejoicing with you as the angels rejoice when you fall into Christ’s arms of love, Luke 15.
Pastor Lisa Marie
If you have never made Jesus the Lord of your life and desire to, pray this: Dear God, I believe that Jesus is your Son, that He died on the cross for me and was resurrected for my redemption. I choose to make Jesus the Lord of my life. I thank you for forgiving me and for filling me with Your Holy Spirit. I thank You that I am Your child, that You are my Father, and that You have great things planned for me. Amen.