There
is no earthly love comparable to the Agape love of our precious Lord for us
(Lamentations 3:22-23). He took the punishment of our sins in His own body and
felt the physical pain of torture. Even worse than this, He experienced the
rejection and estrangement from our heavenly Father (Matthew 27:46).
Because
Jesus was forsaken for us, God never leaves or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5), and
His love grows more intimate each day that we totally surrender to His will,
walk in obedience to His precepts, and submit to His guidance for each moment
of our day.
As
we commune with Him without ceasing, we follow His direction, and walk in His
Spirit; going from one task to the next under His control. We also spend time
worshipping and glorifying Him as our great "I AM," knowing that He
works out everything for our ultimate good (Exodus 3:14; John 8:58; Romans
8:28).
Rather
than filling each moment of our day with business and busyness, we continually pause
to enter His rest. He floods our soul with joy, peace, and divine appointments
that bless and prosper us, as they further His Kingdom in the earth.
Throughout
the day, we steal times alone to commune with our Daddy God - to pray without
ceasing and to listen to His words spoken to our heart, as well as to praise
Him from the deepest recesses of our soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
His steadfast love for us motivates us to relish this time with Him.
Reflecting
on the goodness of God in our life builds up our faith and increases our trust
in Him. We see His hand in both our blessings and our grief, and we recognize
the seeds for a miracle that He plants in every trial throughout our day.
God
brings balance into our life, if we submit to His plans for us. He teaches us
to value our connections in our family, community, workplace, and church. He helps
us to have fun and to bless our soul, so that we can prosper and remain in
health (3 John 1:2).
He
also shows us areas in our life that need perfecting, areas that we can feel
blessed by, areas that He wants us to pursue more committedly, areas that we
need to back away from, and places of service in which He wants to use us to
impact our world.
Prayer:
Father
God, remind us to seek You first and only, as You direct us to the areas of
service that You ordained for us, ways in which we can grow in our intimacy
with You, habits that You want us to forsake and others that You want to
encourage in our daily walk, people that You want us to distance our self from
as well as others with which You want us to spend more time.
In
our walk with You, we come to see the import of Your sacrifices for us during
Jesus' earthly life. We learn that to focus on our own pursuits leads to
negative thoughts, emotions and health. In our own strength, we fail; but
following Your plans for us enables us to prosper. Your steadfast love, goodness,
compassion and strength never fail us; and we praise You all the days of our
life (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Thought
for the Day:
Attempting
to work for God in our own strength, talent and human abilities will accomplish
little for God's Kingdom; but focusing on His priorities and plans for us will
help us to find hope, contentment, and fulfillment both now and in eternity as
His steadfast love sustains us through our current and future trials.
-
Lamentations 3:24-25; Ephesians 2:10
