DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT THURSDAY - SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT! The Conclusion.

There is nothing you can to do make God love you more! There is nothing you can do to make God love you less! His love is Unconditional, Impartial, Everlasting, Infinite, Perfect! - Richard C. Halverson.

You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits. Let the Spirit change your way of thinking and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy. - Eph 4:22-24. (CEV)

To love at all is to be venerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin or your selfishness.

But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable...The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers...of love is Hell. - C.S. Lewis.

Yesterday in Part 2, we mentioned the fact that in the mind, the battle is fought for soul control! Most of the time, our minds are filled with carnal things, external things, temporal thing, and because of this, we reap anxiety, worry, stress, and every kind of emotional strain.

God wants us to change our thinking by the Holy Spirit, and we understood that to do this, we would have to “Fill our minds with the thought that God is in control of everything!” And to “Fill our minds with the thought that God is always there with us!” Today as we conclude this series, we need to...

FILL OUR MINDS WITH THE THOUGHT THAT GOD IS OUR FATHER AND HE LOVES US!

It is so comforting to know that He loves us, and we need to remind ourselves daily that He does. When I tell my wife that I love her, I know that she wants to hear that, but I also wait for the moment when she says, “I love you too!” It is so reassuring to hear that, especially when I know she does and ‘vice-versa,’ but it means that I can get on with my day knowing that fact.

It is also so reassuring to know that the Father loves us, and every time we read the Bible He demonstrates this love to us! God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! - John 3:16-17.

He demonstrates this loves to us, in the person of His own dear son, Jesus. It was a free and undeserved gift that He gave us, for there was no human being who could achieve this, and it delighted our loving Father to give his Son into the hands of men to die in their place, it was the sheer magnitude of His love; the expression of His eternal compassion, and of a desire, that sinners should not perish forever. Wow! Hallelujah! What an awesome God we serve!

A certain medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on "The Love of God." As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say. - Source Unknown.

And likewise, Jesus demonstrates the love of the Father to us, by telling us that He would never leave us or forsake us, He would never refuse anybody who comes to Him, He said that we can ask for anything in His name, and it will be done! Jesus loves us as much as the Father does... But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples. - John 13:35.

I am not sent a pilgrim here,
My heart with earth to fill;
But I am here God's grace to learn,
And serve God's sovereign will.
He leads me on through smiles and tears,
Grief follows gladness still;
But let me welcome both alike,
Since both work out his will.
No service in itself is small,
None great, though earth it fill;
But that is small that seeks its own,
And great that seeks God's will.
Then hold my hand, most gracious Lord,
Guide all my doings still;
And let this be my life's one aim,
To do, or bear thy will.
There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which
Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, "Mine."
- Abraham Kuyper.

It is so easy to allow life, and the business of the world, to occupy our minds! If we make a conscious effort to change our thinking in God, our lives will be fruitful, peaceful, and prosperous......THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!

Loving Father, I thank you, that you demonstrated your love for me in your dear son Jesus, and I also thank you that this great love for me, continues in Christ Jesus. Help me by the power of the Holy Spirit, to change my thinking, to fill my mind with the thoughts that you are in control of everything, that you are everywhere with me! Lord, that I would totally trust in you, knowing that you would never leave or forsake me. In the wonderful and mighty Name of Jesus, I ask this. Amen.

Be encouraged!
GBYAY

* Photo: "The Thinker" by Jim Byrne.