I know that Jesus loves us, because I experience that love every moment of my life, including when I walk through all of the adverse issues and trials that Satan and life throw at me.
Jesus
is the Vine, and authentic Believers are the branches. All of the spiritual
power and blessings passing through the Vine come to us in a smooth flow
throughout our life (John 15:1).
A
branch cannot bear fruit if it is severed from the Vine, and we cannot be
fruitful unless we are growing from the Vine of Christ. If we remain in Christ,
and His life flows in and through us, we are His true disciples and we bear
much fruit (John 15:4-8).
We
all know that our Father God is the One who dresses the vine. He cuts off every
branch on the Vine that does not bear fruit, and He prunes those who do bear
fruit, so that we can produce even more fruit and bring more glory to Him (John
15:2).
Jesus
experienced the love of our Father God, and He loves us with this same
unconditional intensity. Jesus gave us the example of how to live a life in the
center of God's will. When we obey God's commandments, we receive the fullness
of His love (John 15:9-10).
God
challenges us to love one another with the same equitable and nonjudgmental way
that the Trinity loves us. We may not like a person's personality or their
treatment of us, but we are not commanded to like everyone. We simply allow
Christ to love them through us (John 15:12).
Jesus
loves us enough to lay down His life for us, because He considers us His
friends, especially if we do what He expects of us (John 15:13-17). He chose us
before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), and He has plans to bless us
and to bring us to Himself for eternity (Jeremiah 29:11).
Prayer:
Father
God, even though the world hates us, because we use Your Word for our source of
faith and our lifelong practice, we remember that the people of Jesus' day
hated Him as well. We consider our self blessed to share in His persecution and
false accusations. People did not listen to Him, and they do not listen to us
either.
It
grieves me that so many people would enjoy the fullness of life, peace and joy
that You provide, if they would only humble themselves before Your mighty hand
and repent of their sinful lifestyle in Jesus' name (John 15:18-27). We pray
for those in our family, circle of friends and community, who do not enjoy Your
unconditional love, to come to You, so that they too can experience Your power
and blessings in their life.
Thought
for the Day:
In
His magnanimous love, God sent Jesus to pay our sin-debt and to provide us with
resurrection life both now and for eternity; He also sent His Spirit to abide
in us, and to protect and provide for us as He proves over and over that Jesus
loves us.
