EVERLASTING
LOVE
BREAD
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow
to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his
anger forever; 10 he
does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are
above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the
west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on
his children, so the Lord has
compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we
are dust. 15 As for
man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it
is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17 But from everlasting to
everlasting the Lord's love is
with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children--
18 with
those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. Psalms 103:8-18 (NIV)
3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with
loving-kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)
17 “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty
to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he
will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah
3:17 (NIV)
21 Yet
this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say
to myself, “The Lord is my
portion; therefore I will wait for him.” 25 The Lord
is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for
the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:21-26 (NIV)
27 The
eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)
6 You
see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the
ungodly. 7 Very
rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might
possibly dare to die. 8 But
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain
in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as
I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have
told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life
for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.” John 15:9-14 (NIV)
10 This
is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another. 12 No one
has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is
made complete in us. 1 John 4:10-12
(NIV)
8 Love
never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Lean hard upon Me, for I bring you
through to new victories, and restoration shall follow what seems now to be a
wind of destruction. Hold fast to My
hand, and rest in My love, for of this you may be very certain: My love is unaltered; yes, I have you in My
own intensive care. My concern for you
is deeper now than when things are normal.
Draw upon the resources of My grace, and so shall you be equipped to
communicate peace and confidence to your dear ones. Heaven rejoices when you go through trials
with a singing spirit. Your Father’s
heart is cheered when you endure the test and do not question His mercy. Be like a beacon light. His own glorious radiance shall shine through
you, and Christ Himself will be revealed.”
Frances J. Roberts
“To be grateful for the good things that
happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives-the good
as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the
successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections-that
requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only truly grateful people when we
can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as
we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember
and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as
a gift of God to be grateful for. Let's
not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and
trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.” Henri
Nouwen
“When God doesn’t prevent
suffering, He gives us perspective on suffering. Sometimes you just
have to get a ‘God’s-eye’ view to see that the master potter is scooping up all
the rubble and ruin from your low place to mold and create good in your life.
His love reaches down into the dirt – what you may think is utter defeat or
hopeless – and lifts you to see that He can turn what you may view as worthless
into something worthwhile. God can take
what we think is worthless and turn it into something worthwhile. Often,
when we’re down, all we can see is the valley, the wasteland – we feel like our
lives are a mess. But our loving God does not see us and our low places that
way. The stuff you think may be just too messy, too ugly, too far gone is the
stuff God is infusing with purpose. The
sorrow that hurts you? God fashions it into faith that sustains you. The sin you’re ashamed of? God uses it to create beautiful humility. The
failures you regret? God turns them into wisdom. The grief that shattered your heart? God
crafts that into unshakeable faith. The
missed opportunities? God uses those to make you reflect His grace. The loss you never expected? God molds that
into strength you can’t explain. God can
make your low place a stepping stone to climb higher with Him. He can take even the worst things in
your life – the injustice, defeat, abandonment or failure – to create the best
for you, His beloved child.” Jennifer Rothschild
“My hope is not in a cure today. My hope is not the
absence of suffering and comfort returned. My hope is in the presence of the
One who promises never to leave or forsake, the One who declares nothing “will
be able to separate us from the love of God.” (Romans 8:39). Nothing. Your
story is a good story. In the grief, pain and hard, the Author has a plan. It
may feel like a desperate breaking of your very heart, but suffering is not the
absence of God or good.” Kara
Tippetts
HEART SAVOR
- · God is love. His dealings with His children are always motivated by pure love whether we are able to discern that or not.
- · Love is demonstrative.
- · I am called to love as God loves through His powered for His glory.
