Good Morning!

You know how God has a way of carrying a theme or message throughout your daily life? A certain verse may hit you, and (miraculously!) it keeps showing up everywhere you turn! I think this is very exciting because it shows that God speaks to us individually. Generally, nobody else hears the same message as you do, so it proves that you are indeed worth his time to focus specifically on you. How cool is that!

Well, Greg Laurie’s devotional today continued building on yesterday’s blog in which we discovered that God exults over you and me by singing LOUDLY! He is truly cares and focuses specific attention on us, individually. Laurie noticed that, too. Here are the two verses he used:

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Psalm 40:5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

Can you wrap your head around that? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three in one, all agree and have made plans – plans, not a plan – for you! What do you suppose those plans are? What do you supposed that scene looks like? Are they pouring over a table as we might envision generals laying out battle plans? Or, are they sitting around a patio table, maybe drinking iced tea, and talking about you? Remember, they look at you as if you were perfect – as if you were in fact Jesus himself! None of them is shaking their heads in disappointment. Not at all. God is pleased with his Son, Jesus. Remember his baptism and transfiguration? No, God is pleased with his Son, and he is pleased with you because of your faith in Jesus. So, no need to worry about what they are thinking about you. It’s all good!

Can you get excited about this? You should! It is a plain fact, as we see in these verses, that God also thinks about you WAY more than you can possibly imagine! WAY, WAY more! Greg Laurie asked how many thoughts God could think about you and I. His answer? Innumerable. How many is that? Let’s see, 1, 2, 3, 4….. The exciting thing about this is that God never stops thinking about you, personally. His thoughts are always good for you. So are his plans. You and I may have great love for a child of ours – love that sometimes we simply cannot contain – yet that love isn’t even scratching the surface compared to the love God (3-in-1) has for you! I would dare say that this love is more than God can contain! I don’t know if that is even possible, but you get the idea. You know when love overflows your heart. God has the same thing for us – except his overflows ALL OF THE TIME!

Without a doubt, we should be able to know and experience this continual love. We should be able to experience it all our affairs, no matter the circumstances we are experiencing. We know that Jesus was riveted on the Father and the Father on the Son. Their love for each other was beyond comprehension. So, too, will ours back to them. That was Jesus’ prayer. Check it out:

John 17:20-26 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I have made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

That was a mouthful, but how can you limit that? Folks, this is where we are headed – perfect unity between us and the Triune God. The plan has already been made – each of us will be in perfect unity and experience the perfect, unlimited love of God. Furthermore, it is planned for us to perfectly love God back. That, my friends, is a grand plan!

These promises are true, yet I am sure you don’t sense this love the way you might. I don’t. Yet, that is changing, more and more for the better. In general, I still find myself all to often more concerned with the cares of this world that I am in basking in His glory. What cares? Honestly, it is selfish cares. Sin. When I am in tune with Jesus, I am quick to bring Him into the solution to whatever situation I may encounter. Whether it be for celebration or tragedy or anything in between, I turn to Jesus and experience his love and joy. On the other hand, when I am NOT in tune with him, I don’t turn to him. Guess what happens then? Things don’t go so well. In fact, I experience misery, loneliness, fatigue, anger, on and on.

So, today, be quick to recognize that which you keep as a barrier between you and God. Throw that sucker on the altar and ask God to take care of it. Listen to him and do whatever it is that he tells you. Fair warning – that “thing” may be a monster to hold down on the altar. God is the one who will do it, but you need to be the one that gives him permission. In fact, you may have a HUGE sin that it is high time to get rid of. Make today the day. Don’t waste a single moment distancing yourself from God. Remember, the moments are of INFINITE value! Don’t squander a single one on selfish sin. What a waste that would be!

Father, be quick to point out ANYTHING that needs to go. I want to experience the love you have for Jesus – and I want to give it back to you. I can’t do that with sin in my life. Take it from me. I don’t want it anymore. Guide me. I will do whatever you want me to do. Amen.

Copyright © 2017 Scott Powers