Week 17 of 52 Prayers of Faith - Faith is knowing that nothing can separate us from the Love of God

Faith is knowing that nothing can separate us from the Love of God - Lord increase our faith

I would like to remind you that this is not just a quick read, but an exercise to be practiced throughout the week.  Daily remind yourself of this biblical truth, converse with God about it and record this in a journal.

The evangelist responsible for the Gospel of John reminds us of God's love for us in Jesus' words, "For God so loved the world that He gave is only begotten Son..."  God loves humanity.  Which means that God loves you personally.  Christ didn't die on the cross just to satisfy the Father's need for vengeance.  Christ died on the Cross for our sins regardless of the gravity of our sins.  He didn't die for just the nice people, he died for everyone.  He died for sinners.  He died for those in jail.  He died for those living in sin.  He died to save us because we cannot save ourselves.  We can never be "good enough" to meet the requirements of God's Word, but God's Grace, the manifestation of God's love saves us from ourselves.

God loves us and hates our sin.  There is always the temptation on our part to think that God's love is conditional.  That somehow we can undo or we can cancel his love by our sinful choices.  We think this because this is how we treat others and/or this is how we have been treated.  But God is not like us.  He isn't petty or unforgiving.  While we tend to never let people forget how they failed us, God in his grace and mercy never reminds us of our sin, in fact God himself chooses not to remember our sin.

The Apostle Paul was so convinced of all of this that in his letter to Romans he tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  Now this doesn't mean we will be freed from the consequences of bad choices, but it does mean that we can never disappoint God so much that He will stop loving us.  God doesn't wink at our sin.  He is grieved by it.  But God loves us more than He hates sin.  So the next time you think you have failed God, confess it and run back to him.  Don't hold yourself away from him in shame, run back into his loving arms.  

Lord, thank you for your Love that never ends and transcends our shortcomings - Lord increase our Faith. 

Week 16 of 52 Prayers of faith - Faith is knowing that the Love of God transcends all things

Faith is knowing that the Love of God transcends all things - Lord, increase our faith

The love of God, God's love or Agape love is a love that is not rooted primarily in the human condition. There are many kinds of love. The love of a man for a woman, the love of a parent for a child, the love of a friend for a friend. But all these kinds of love come from the human heart. The human heart can be a very dark place. We can harbor secret lusts and hatred in our hearts. Human love is tainted; tainted by our sinful proclivities.

On the other hand God's love comes form the wellspring of God's heart. God is everything good and right. There is no darkness in Him. The Apostle John even goes so far to say that God is love, or stated another way, God's very nature is love. God may hate sin, but He loves sinners. God so loved the world that He sent is only begotten Son into the world to make a way possible for us to experience His love first hand.

Then He sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in those who believed in his Son, so that we would have the power to love others as He first loved us. That is a powerful thing. So powerful that the Apostle Paul said that this Agape love, never fails. This love gives us the power to love even our enemies. It grants us forgiveness so that we can receive God's forgiveness and so that we can forgive those who have transgressed against us.

God's Agape love in us is proof of God living in us. The Apostle John goes so far to say that if we don't love our brother or sister (referring to others of our faith) then God is not in us. That makes for quite the charge against us. Jesus says that our love is the evidence of our faith. We will be known by our love, not our piety or our theology. God's love makes it possible for us to love the unlovable. This is truly transcendent. Jesus said that anyone can love someone who loves them. But with his Love we can love anyone.

Thank you Lord, that your Love transcends: our fears, our hatred, our sin, our selfishness. Lord, your love transcends all of our shortcomings and makes us more like You. Lord, increase our faith.

Week 15 of 52 Prayers of Faith - Faith is knowing that God knows all the dark recesses of our hearts and still loves us

Faith is knowing that God knows all the dark recesses of our hearts and still loves us - Lord increase our faith

I find it interesting that we find in the very beginning of the Bible that there is sibling rivalry and murder in the first children born to Adam and Eve and by the 6th chapter we read "and that every inclination of the thoughts of their (humanity's) hearts was only evil continually." Yet already God had Jesus in mind in "God so loved the world..." that God provided away out of moral depravity.

Jesus didn't die on the cross because we were so deserving. Jesus died on the cross because we were in need of help and because God loved us so much. God loves us so much that He doesn't want to leave us in that mess. Not only has He paid for our sins, but He has made a way for us to have victory over sin. God did this because He loves us. "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. God doesn't expect us to get it together in order for us to earn is love. He loves us even while hating our sin.

Faith in Christ's crucifixion and resurrection is foundational for us as Christians. We must believe that He died for us because of our depravity not because we deserved it. His love is what empowers us to love others. His love is what draws us to Him. He doesn't love us because we sin, He loves us in spite of our sinful inclinations.

Lord, thank you for loving us in spite of the darkness in our hearts. Lord, increase our faith.

Week 14 of 52 Prayers of Faith - Faith is knowing that Christianity is not merely a philosophy but rather a supernatural relationship with the Creator of Eternity

Until my conversion I considered myself a man of science and reason.  I accepted the idea that there was a God and that Jesus was his Son, but I didn't see at as something supernatural.  God was merely a concept we used to explain our existence.  I might have agreed with Thomas Jefferson (who removed all supernatural events from his Bible) and been more of a deist.  I believed there was a God, but I didn't put my trust and faith in Him.

So here I am some 25 odd years beyond my conversion and I know realize that anytime we try to explain away the supernatural aspects of God and our faith in Him, we jeopardize our faith.  We reduce our God to a god, having no more relevance in our lives than the Easter bunny.

I believe that faith demands that we must acknowledge the supernatural in all aspects of our faith.  Our conversion is a supernatural act.  Our baptism is a supernatural decent into Christ's grave and then being lifted into the supernatural resurrection of Christ.  Our life in Christ must embrace a supernatural expectation for his help and his Holy Spirit to abide in us.

We need the supernatural in our lives so that we can live the life that He has prepared for us. He has prepared good works for us to do.  He has empowered us, supernaturally to live a life free from hate, greed and fear, if we will only put our trust in him supernaturally.


Lord our faith in you is not merely a philosophical nor an intellectual act.  Our faith comes supernaturally from You and your Word - Lord, increase our faith.

Week 13 of 52 Prayers Faith is knowing that God is more interested in our character than in our comfort

Faith is knowing that God is more interested in our character than in our comfort - Lord, increase our faith

At the end of the Beatitudes Jesus said that blessed (which really means happy) are we when people revile us and persecute us and say all kinds of horrible things about us for His Name's sake, He goes on to say, "Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven"

That may seem strange to us. We want to be liked and found acceptable, yet if we are to be counted as Kingdom citizens we have to accept that the world may not like us, in fact they may revile us. That is uncomfortable for anyone. But Christ is more interested in the state of our heart than in the condition of our bodies or our reputation in the world, but we are encouraged that their will be rewards for our diligence through persecution.

The Apostle James goes on to say that we should "count it all joy" when we are faced with various trials because we know that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness, which in turn leads us to perfection in our faith. This is character building; becoming more like our Savior as we experience some of what He did.

That is Christ's real goal - our complete redemption and maturity in the faith. If that requires that we have to made uncomfortable so that we can be more like Him, then that is okay. We need to embrace all that our life in Christ requires of us if we are to live up to His good plans for us. He doesn't expect us to do it all in our own strength. He has give us is Holy Spirit that we might live life to the full as He uses our trials to transform us more and more into his Image.

Lord, we know that you are more interested our becoming like You than in our personal comfort - Lord increase our faith!