Loved

​Love you all, praying for you,
 
I just love God’s Word.  It tells you the truth about who God is.  So you can know and become who you are.  Have you ever just wanted to know that God loves you?  I know you know that God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.  Obviously, God loves you if He sent his Son to die for you…  Intellectually you know that.  But what do you have to do.. to be loved by God?  Is there a formula, or a list of things?  So you can know and feel that God really loves you?  (Cause you know what’s inside your heart, the good the bad and the ugly of you, and the ugly way outweighs the good… and you know that God knows all of your ugly as well). So, can you be sure that He really loves you?   There is an interesting verse found in Mark 1:11.  Jesus came to be baptized by John in the Jordan river.  Mark 1:10 - As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  Mark 1:11 – And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  It is interesting to note that Jesus hadn’t done anything yet.  He hadn’t turned water into wine, hadn’t healed the blind man or the lame man, hadn’t raised Lazarus from the dead.  He didn’t even have his twelve disciples yet. But God said, you are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.”  Well that’s because Jesus was God himself.  True.  But God’s love for Him, is like His love for you.  Jesus died, so you could be called sons of God as well.   John 1:10-12 – He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  Yet to all who did receive him (who believed in Jesus for their salvation), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the sons of God.”  Some versions say children of God.  But in the spiritual sense, the eternal sense, the heir sense, the kingdom sense… God doesn’t have sons and daughters, he has sons.  He created man in His image male and female, and all who believe, jew or gentile, slave or free, male or female, believing in His Name, is how you become sons of God.  And God said what He thinks, you are my son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.  Becoming a child of God makes you loved.  He loves you, He’s pleased with you.  Yes, He has things for you to do, things for you to walk in that He has ordained since the foundation of the world.  Thankfully – you’re not Jesus, you won’t die for the sins of the world, but if you believe in Him, and give your life to Him.  You are a Son of God, an heir with Christ (the first of many brothers).  His blood cleanses your sin, and you are His son, He loves you, and He is pleased with you.  Before you do anything, before you did anything, you just believed, and received His Salvation, a new Name, and a new family.  And you are loved by your Father in Heaven, accepted by your Father in Heaven, He’s pleased with you.  And now that you know that… you can walk in every good thing that He has called you to do, appointed for you.  So that you may know the joy of the life He has saved you for.  The things He has planned for you!  But it’s not the things that you do…  You just do them because you love Him, because He first loved you.  You are absolutely loved.  He’ll never not love you.  You’re good, no pressure, just His presence, and you will grow in His goodness, and the knowledge of Him, and His love for you. 
 
Love you all,
dad