1 John 4:9 --- In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
Thank you for all your prayers yesterday. I feel 100% better and ready to tackle Friday.
Walking back into the word and my time with the Lord today has been wonderful. I know He is with me all day, every day, but I sure missed that intentional, one on one, sitting in His presence, talking with Him, being in His Word and listening to all He has to say.
As we went through today's verse the first thing that jumped out was the word, manifest. It's not an everyday word, at least not for me. Some translations say "showed", "displayed", or "revealed". So, we find that love, the agape, selfless, sacrificial kind of love is manifested, showed, displayed, or revealed in us by something.
That something is God sending His only son, Jesus, for us, that we might live through Him. So, this is the catalyst that manifests or reveals a type of love that we don't posess and can really change and shake things up!
There was something a bit deeper that jumped out at me too. In the past I'd read this verse and my brain would see/hear in it, Jesus died for me. I just instantly would think about Jesus and His life/death/resurrection. All of that is great! It's absolutely wonderful, but I somehow had glossed over…
GOD... SENT...
Suddenly it shifted my focus from only seeing the overpowering love of Jesus dying on the cross for us to the heart of the Father, whose love…selfless/sacrificial love was so great for us, that He would not only consider, but actually send Jesus. I don't think we can fully wrap our minds around what that means, what that kind of love it is that would allow Father God to do that.
John 3:16 --- “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Again, we see right here in John 3:16, possibly the most famous verse of all Christianity, God the Father's love was so great, He sent Jesus. Now I know Philippians 2:9-11 says God highly exalted Jesus, gave Him a name above all names and every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, so Jesus does have this place of honor and esteem that He is at the top of our Christian minds. However, it seems sometimes God the Father, then gets somehow pushed to the side in a way, maybe not intentionally, but we lose sight that HE IS LOVE, HE SENT JESUS, HE LOVES US WITH A LOVE THAT CANNOT BE FATHOMED!
Well, I said a lot today and I pray this will stir inside of you a desire to spend time with Him yourself. Be the Berean and don't just take my word for anything. This is my journey and walk with Him, but He's waiting for you. It doesn't have to look like my walk does, but I pray you see it's possible to walk in relationship with God. It's not an impossible thing to do, it just requires you to choose Him, prioritize Him and to sacrifice your time and the safety of the walls built around your heart.
Have a blessed Friday and weekend!
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