Looking to God

As many stars are in the sky, His love endures forever. As the ocean is large, His love endures forever. As many times as we repent, His love endures forever. For the stars may fail, the oceans may drain, and we may stumble, His love endures forever.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

(1 John 4:7-8)

As sure as the sun rises and the sun sets, His love endures forever. The winds in a storm may increase, the earth may shatter beneath our feet, and walls may collapse all around us, but His love endures forever. We may lose our ability to reason, yet His love endures forever.

God loves freely, unconditionally and without bounds. His nature affords life to all. Darkness does not exist in Him, for He is light. He bore light at the beginning of the world, and with it, He continues to impart His children with truth. The devil may tempt us, but God’s love endures forever.

No trial shall triumph over us, no suffering shall overtake us, and no tribulation shall remove us from our Lord, for His love endures forever.

His Word is steadfast, immovable and boundless. His love is everlasting.

No other truth is as simple, or as pure, or as undefiled as that of knowing Jesus is all we need. We may see others prosper, or grow in inheritance, and even gain the entire world, but in the end, will they be able to take all those riches with them?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

(John 3:16)

Jesus came to deliver us from the bond of sin, so that we would look to Him for salvation. True liberty comes not from being bound by the world’s desires, but by following Jesus and making Him the center of our world. Our freedom is with us believing He is the Son of God.

Through Jesus, we know God; through God, we have freedom, for through His Son, whom God has appointed as our savior, we will have hope for eternal life. That life does not esteem riches, but points to God’s glory as the foundation of our joy.

Seek Jesus with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, for it will be well with you that day when you stand before God the Father and will give an accounting of your life to Him; because Jesus is all we need.

When the Apostle Paul’s ship was about to run aground, he encouraged all who were with him, saying, no one would perish. Soon after, he broke bread with them on the ship and gave thanks to God, for God was the one who would protect them in their time of distress.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

(1 Peter 1:3-5)

God’s ways are not our ways; it is not within our nature to give thanks to God. We have a natural enmity toward Him. Yet, because of His Son Jesus’ sacrifice, an act that reconciled us to our Father, now we have a heavenly desire to please Him.

Blessed be God the Father for having given us the longing to do good through the power of His Spirit. By the Holy Spirit, we have encouragement to seek His will and live a life reflective of His own nature, which is pure in character and abundant in charity.

How great is our God to have poured into us His Spirit so that we may enjoy the fruit of His mercy. His grace abounds, His love for us never grows cold and His shield is an everlasting shield. Blessed is our God.

Do good to others and share in their burden. Be patient and kind; never allow haughtiness to enter your heart. Comfort the sick; minister to them who are lacking health, for the day will come when the Lord will ask for an accounting of all our deeds.

But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty,
and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
Those who render me evil for good
accuse me because I follow after good.

(Psalms 38:19-20)

Encourage the weak, for through our God we have strength. Give to the poor, for as we provide them shelter and warmth, we are doing good to Jesus. Bless those who hate us, for by their own words God will judge them.

Be at peace with one another. Do not let the troubles of this world seek to separate you from the body of Christ. Our salvation is in the Lord. All glory belongs to Him. Let His peace be upon you and upon those around you.

Love those who seek to destroy you, for they do not know what they do. Do not seek vengeance, for the Lord’s wrath will be upon them. Love all, bless all and give to those who ask. Never part with your gifts in anger.

Repay good to all.

Do we have purpose to our being? By all means! Our purpose in this life is to love, worship and glorify God, whereby through that love, we have knowledge of Him, of His ways and of His relationship with us, as our Father in Heaven.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

(1 Peter 1:3-5)

Apart from the Father, we are as a boat adrift without a destination; our lives would be empty, filled with despair and longing for meaning. By loving God, however, He will fill us with His Spirit, impart us eternal hope and bestow upon us meaning to our existence.

Great is our Father who is in Heaven. He gave His Son Jesus as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. By no other name do we have salvation and by no other name are our sins forgiven. Glory to Him in the highest.

Love God and take pleasure by doing His will, for by His will we have purpose and meaning, and by His love, we have knowledge of who He is. Who is God? God is Love. Great is our Father.

When an earthquake struck the jail where the Apostle Paul was a prisoner, the jailer thought all had fled. Had Paul not cried out, the jailer would have certainly taken his own life. Paul saved him, but even more so, Jesus saved him.

“Then he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’”

(Acts 16:30-31)

During our darkest moments is when God will reveal Himself to us. We may feel lost, abandoned or utterly empty inside, but God is there to show us the way, to make us feel part of His family and to fill us with the Holy Spirit.

As long as we believe Jesus is the Son of God, we have salvation. God will forgive our sins and not hold anything against us because we had faith that Jesus died for us in order that we might live. God would not have any of us fall to the penalty of sin.

Christ Jesus is the way, the truth and the light. Through Him we have purpose, we have meaning and our reward, although we may not see it yet, God holds for us in heaven for that day when we will finally receive it in all gladness.

Believe in the Lord Jesus.

When the apostle Peter delivered his sermon on Pentecost, he was not the man who had denied Christ three times. His strength came from knowing God had forgiven him, and he had gone to become one of the apostles whom Jesus had used to grow the church.

“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

(Acts 2:37-38)

After having repented, Peter had received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised us also the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father would send in Jesus’ name and would be with us forever. Through repentance and baptism, we would receive Him.

Repentance is recognizing we have done wrong to God by not obeying Him and asking for forgiveness for those wrongs. By this, we open our hearts to Him and turn away from our sins, doing good always and not wanting to commit the same sins any longer.

Let us therefore look to God for the strength that the apostle Peter had when he stood in front of a crowd of thousands to proclaim Christ. Through God, all things are possible and through Him, we no longer ought to be afraid of the penalty of sin.

Repent and be baptized.