God's Love

The ladies of our church are reading a book entitled Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Chapter 2 covers lies we tend to believe about God, and one of those lies is "God doesn't love me." In her introductory comments about this lie, the authors says,

Few of us would actually admit to believing this because, in our minds, we know
we are supposed to believe that God does love us. But for many women, there is a
disconnection between what they know intellectually and what they feel to be
true. And therein lies one of our problems: We trust what we feel to be true,
rather than what we know to be true (p. 50).

She's so right. So, I was just spending some time filling my mind with Truth to counter the lies that my feelings tell me. Here's some of that Truth and, boy, is it enough to get ya goin'!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (Eph. 1:3-6 NASB)

Wow! As DeMoss puts it, "I don't have to perform to earn God's love or favor" (p. 59). He lovingly chose me out of the goodness of His own will. He freely bestowed His grace on me in Christ. My favor with Him is on the basis of Christ’s finished work on the Cross, not on the basis of anything I have done or could ever do! Praise God for His love!

Refined by Trial

I'm still reading War of Words by Paul David Tripp, and I still highly recommend it. Among many other things, God has been revealing to me that my heart desires a life of ease, and He has been graciously showing me that that kind of life is not what He has called me to as His child (for which I am very grateful). Along those lines, the following quotation jumped out at me this morning and caused me to rejoice at the possibility of facing life's trials with joy from our great God.

We will be refined by trial. Life is not a resort, but a bumpy pathway that leads to conformity to Christ. We can face the bumps with genuine joy, knowing that every bump was placed in our path by a loving heavenly Father for our redemptive good (p. 97).

May the possibility of facing trials with joy become a reality in our lives.

War of Words

I'm reading a book called War of Words written by Paul David Tripp. God is using it to change me, and, let me tell you, it's exciting! I'd like to thank my former Pastor, Tim Bixby, for first introducing me to the book in a Sunday School series he did a couple of years ago, and I'd like to thank my sweet, insightful husband Michael for buying the book a while back and making it readily available to me. The current chapter I'm in discusses God's sovereignty and how understanding and believing that my God is King and that He is active in every moment of my life should affect my communication. The most recent section I read is titled "God rules over every aspect of our salvation." The following is an excerpt from that section:

This is the bottom line of biblical communication, the first and highest goal of all of our talk: that our words would reflect an attitude of worship that recognizes our utter dependency on God for salvation. He has chosen us to be his children, he called us to himself, he breathed life into us so that we could see and believe the truth, he justified us and adopted us into his family, he daily works to sanctify us, and he will take us to glory. It is all of him. Out of that realization will come a life of communication that benefits others and honors him. (p. 76)