DEVOTIONAL SERIES ON LOVE (part-04)

GOD LOVES YOU, FORGIVES YOU, AND HAS A PLAN FOR YOU!

BIBLE PASSAGE:
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone
hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in
and eat with that person, and they with Me.
(Revelation 3:20)

MEDITATION:
Over and over again, people ask this question,
    “If there is a God, then why is there so much suffering?”
There’s never an easy answer to that question, especially
for someone who is currently grieving, or suffering.

God has taught us that the universe has a disease
which is called “sin”, and until the last remnant
of this disease is gone, there will be problems in
the world, and in the lives of individuals.

Does that seem fair?
We can answer that question with this question,
    “Was it fair that an innocent Jesus was crucified,
      and that He took the punishment for our sin?”
Of course we know that it was fair,
because it was “in God’s plans”.

His ways are much different than ours, and we can get
a better understanding of His ways when we spend time
with Him in prayer and reading His Word. In the passage
above, God has shown us His desire to spend time us.

Think about this:
    If we lived in a universe that is diseased with sin,
    and yet the world appeared to be a virtual paradise,
    then we might never come to God for salvation.
    And without salvation, we may live what we
    consider to be “the good life”, but end up
    spending a horrible and miserable eternity.

Remember this:
    God is our loving and forgiving Heavenly Father.
    When we think of the sinful choices we have made
    in our lives, Satan wants us to believe that we have
    ‘crossed over the line’ of forgiveness. But God has
    told us that when we confess our sins and ask Him
    for forgiveness, He will forgive us (regardless of our
    opinion of the severity of our sins).

    We also need to repent, which means we will try to avoid
    repeating the sins of our past. In order to do that, we need
    help and God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us avoid
    sin, and to encourage us as we are transformed (sanctified)
    by God to become more like His Son, Jesus.

ACTION:
God has showered this world with immeasurable grace and
mercy but we could be guilty of taking them for granted. We
know that we should be praying about the problems caused by
sin in this world, but at the same time, we should be grateful
for the provisions of God’s grace and mercy.

When we assess our own life, we may not have achieved the
financial goals we wanted, or other goals we set for ourselves,
but God has given us food, clothing and shelter in abundance!

No matter where we are in our life, when we compare our
lifestyle to those in third world countries, we are considered
wealthy. That is just one of the many ways God has blessed
us. God also has blessings for those in third world countries,
but they might not be as obvious to others.

And, He has a plan for every person – how awesome is that?
The God who created the universe and every individual also
considers each person important enough to create a specific
plan (path) for us to follow. And when we do, we will discover
new blessings from God. When God formed us in the womb,
He had plans for us.

We need to remember that God is our Creator:
    “This is what the Lord says – your Redeemer,
      who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord,
      the Maker of all things, who stretches out the
      heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself
      (Isaiah 44:24)

The Psalmist acknowledged that he was created by God.
    From birth I was cast on you; from my
    mother’s womb you have been my God.
    (Psalm 22:10)

    For you created my inmost being; you knit me
    together in my mother’s womb. I praise you
    because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
    My frame was not hidden from you when I was
    made in the secret place, when I was woven together
    in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed
    body; all the days ordained for me were written in your
    book before one of them came to be.
    (Psalm 139:13-15)

Look at what the Lord said about
helping Jacob with the plans He had for him:
    This is what the Lord says – He who made you, who
    formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do
    not be afraid, Jacob, My servant, Jeshurun, whom I
    have chosen.
    (Isaiah 44:2)

Jacob had no doubt that
(1) God was his Creator and
(2) that before he was even born, God had a plan for him.
    Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant
    nations: Before I was born the Lord called me;
    from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
    (Isaiah 49:1)

Jeremiah knew God had plans for Him before he was created.
    “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
      before you were born I set you apart; I appointed
      you as a prophet to the nations.”
      (Jeremiah 1:5)

    For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,
    “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
    you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come
    and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me
    and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
    (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

Paul realized that God had plans for him when He created him.
    But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s
    womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to
    reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him
    among the Gentiles, my immediate response was
    not to consult any human being.
    (Galatians 1:15-16)

Since God does not show favoritism, doesn’t it make sense
that if God had plans for others, He also had plans for us,
even before He created us?

Have you heard God knocking at “your” door? Have you
realized that He is knocking because He loves you and wants
to spend time with you? Have you ever felt that He wants to
tell you of His plans for you? If so, how have you responded?

Hopefully we haven’t allowed the “fear of the unknown” or
the “fear of having to leave our comfort zone” to discourage
us, and cause us to refuse to “open the door” for God to be
present with us.

If God has something for us, then it has to be good for
us (and others), right? We need to open the door for
Him and refuse to allow Satan to fill our minds with
fears, which can cause us to miss out on God’s blessings.

In order for us to follow the path God has created especially
for us, we need to continue growing and maturing spiritually.
How do we measure the direction of our spiritual maturity?

We should think about the day we decided to surrender our life
and our will to God, and His plans for us. We need to remember
the moment when we made that decision, and the thoughts we
had about the things we would have to ‘leave behind’. We should
recall the peace we felt when we chose to leave those things behind
and committed to following Jesus’ example for living a righteous life.

Now, we need to look at our life today. How many of those things
that we left behind, have we picked up again? Compare that with
how many additional things we have left behind as God has shown
us how they are also displeasing to Him (and sinful in His eyes). Are
we continuing to ‘put on the new self’, or have we been returning to
our ‘old self’?
    You were taught, with regard to your former way of life,
    to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its
    deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your
    minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God
    in true righteousness and holiness.
    (Ephesians 4:22-24)

    But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as
    these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from
    your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off
    your old self with its practices and have put on the new self,
    which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
    (Colossians 3:8-10)

Remember, God said that He would spend time with us!
That means He loves us and will provide whatever we
need to follow the path of the plans He created for us.
We need to ask Him to show us the plans He had before
He formed us in our mother’s womb.

His plans for us might be quite different than what we expected,
and we may not feel that we are capable of following His plans.
We might feel uncomfortable initially, but we need to remember:
    God knew Moses could lead His people to freedom.
    God knew Noah could handle ridicule.
    God knew Daniel could handle the lions’ den.
    God knew David could handle Goliath.
    God knew Esther could handle Haman.
    God knew Peter could handle persecution.
    God knew the disciples could handle following Jesus.
    God knew Paul could handle persecution.
    …and, God knows (better than we do) what we can handle.

We are surrounded by a lot of “junk” which has a negative
impact on us and our lives, but God wants to encourage us
in the midst of everything! We will be able to experience His
love for us when we “open the door” and give Him the highest
priority in our lives.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for the blessings You have
given me, and forgive me for taking any of them for granted.
You are a loving God who forgives me, provides for my needs,
desires fellowship with me, and saves me from an eternal destiny
of agony and separation from You. Thank You for Your love,
forgiveness, mercy, grace, blessings, and salvation. I pray that
I will always be prepared to share with others how You love me,
how You have been good to me, and why You are my God. Thank
You, Jesus, for what You did for me on the cross that gave me the
opportunity to change my eternal destiny. Thank You, Holy Spirit,
for being an integral part of my daily life. Thank You, Heavenly
Father for giving me a spiritual gift to use when following the
path of Your plans for me, before I was created by You.”

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