My Blood Pressure is Decreasing, Because (Awareness of) His Love is Increasing

"38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

I am learning so much more about the Love of the Father.

For years, I used to think that bad thoughts, bad feelings would hinder my ability to understand, to receive God's love for me.

I actually believed that God's presence, His loving caress, depended on how I was feeling and what I was thinking.

Can you imagine going through life thinking that how you feel, what you think, is going to affect your standing before God? The torture, the trauma that it created it was just beyond comprehension.

The tension, the trauma, the terror was so great.

I am finally understanding how real, how present, how prevalent God's love is for me. It's really exciting.

I can lose my temper, I can have wayward thoughts and feelings, and yet God's love is still there, still present, still refreshing and rolling over me.

For decades, I was stressed out internally, constantly playing catch-up with my feelings, trying to keep a lid on sexual temptations, lust, anger, fear, etc.

Fears was particularly damaging, because I feared that because I felt fear, that would make God angry and He would not answer my prayers.

This verse started to make so much more sense when I realized that my feelings don't block God's love:

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

I used to think that there was something wrong with me if I was feeling fearful. Now I understand that any sense of fear was then undercut with a sense of condemnation: "Oh, you are feeling fearful now, therefore, God is not going to bless you!"

But that's now what "perfect love" is! He loves me perfectly, completely, and it is not dependent on me at all.

In fact, God's perfect love came first. It's not about whether I was fearing first. That never comes into the equation:

"We love because He first loved us."(1 John 4:19)

God loves me and cares for me not because of anything that I have done or will do, but because of everything that Jesus has done!

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)

The Angel of Death passed over the houses of the Israelites with blood on their doorposts, regardless of how the family members may have felt. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, not our belief in the blood.

Now, we do need to believe in His gift of salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. It's not a work that we have done, and it's not some universal salvation. A gift has to be received, after all!

At any rate, the stresses, the pressures, the upsets, uptight sentiments which were so prevalent in my body caused my blood presure to go up! It's incredible! This kind of thinking and feeling was so common in my day-to-day life, that I hardly noticed it.

After suffering a stroke, after giving up all the diet soda, and after giving up much of the fast-food, I did notice that my blood pressure was going down considerably. I got off the blood pressure medication at one time, and then my blood pressure shot up again. It was really strange how this kept happening.

Since then, I have begun to realize that there were a number of stressors that had been working within me automatically. I was constantly looking at myself, trying to catch myself so that I was not fearful, angry, or falling into bad thoughts and feelings.

Now that I recognize that His love is completely independent of my actions, i.e. I don't earn it, I can let feelings, thoughts, bad ideas come and go. They have no chokehold on me, they no longer serve as a hateful stronghold over me, because I know that the love of God has taken hold of me.

He Set His Love On Us First

"Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name." (Psalm 91:14)

Many people read this passage, and they come into bondage, because they sense that they need to love God more, love Him better in order to be delivered, in order to enjoy His protection.

However, before we set our love on Him, He has already set His love on US!

In the Original Hebrews, the phrase "set his love" is "chasaq", which also means "be attached".

It also means "to desire" as well as "to long for".

God desires us! He longs for us!

The first mention of this word takes place when Shechem declares to Jacob that he is attached to his one daughter Dinah, whom he had raped:

"8And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife." (Genesis 34:8)

His soul longed for Dinah.

But God longs for us, too!

The LORD declares His love for His people Israel:

"The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people" (Deuteronomy 7:7)

Check out where else God sets His love!

"Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day." (Deuteronomy 10:15)

He set His love on His people first!

Now consider the final mention of "chasaq" in the Old Testament:

"Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." (Isaiah 38: 17)

In this passage, Hezekiah the king of Judah, one of the greatest kings in the history of that kingdom, was afflicted with a terrible disease. The prophet Isaiah had even told him to prepare for death. Hezekiah pleaded with God, to remember his righteousness before him, and God told the king through Isaiah that he would indeed live.

In response, Hezekiah prayed with thanksgiving, including how God delivered him from death. Why? Because He had set His love on Hezekiah!

And notice what God's love did for Hezekiah: "You have cast all my sins behind Your back."

The greatest love was shown to us at the Cross!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

That's what love is! It's God giving us His Son!

"9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10)

Behold what love our Father has for us! (1 John 3:1)

And from this love, springs our love for God!

"We love him, because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

There you have it. We set our love on Him --- because He has so richly set His love on us first!

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear -- More About What That Means

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

I used to read this passage with a sense of judgment sometimes.

There were times when I was still afraid, or in which I would feel fear.

I then began to think: "I am not loving enough. What do I do to change this?"

The sense of fear was so great, and I wanted to do whatever I could to get rid of it.

The more that I learned that the New Covenant, the Gospel is about God's love for us, not our love for God, I began to realize that this perfect Love is not ours, but God's.

And yet still ... there were times when I felt great fear, and I didn't understand why.

The answer to this problem is found in the previous verse:

"Herein is our love made perfect (lit. love perfected among us), that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

How is love perfected? That God sees us in His Son, that we have the same standing as Jesus, God's own Beloved Son? We are just like Jesus before our Heavenly Father!

We are Beloved, we are not shamed!

He does not see our sin, our struggles. He is not put off nor does He put us away if we fail.

We are accepted in the Beloved! (Ephesians 1:6)

This part was harder for me to settle in, or at least harder than I realized.

I had believed that I had to fix my feelings, get rid of my fears, not have bad thoughts so that I could come before God. If I was fearful, then I feared all the more that His presence, His life would not flow through me or in me. That lie created so much bondage in my life.

But now I realize that God the Father's love for me is perfect, because the work has been perfected at the Cross, and this work's perfection culminates in ... I am like Jesus to God my Father. He sees His Son when He looks at me!

That is love perfected, and when we understand that, all traces of fear are cast away. We know that He, our loving Father, our Daddy God, is on our side, and we never have to wonder if He has something sinister or untoward planned for us.

Furthermore, when I have a sense of fear or anger, or when I am struggling with something else, I know that I can come boldly to Him and seek His help, His mercy and grace, in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)

As soon as anyone of us understands that God will never condemn us for our sins against (Isaiah 54:9; Romans 8:1), we need never fear God again. We need never fear His wrath, His punishment, because He is now our Father, and all our sins have been put away forever!

His Love Is Active, Unending Even When We Are Struggling

I was thinking about this in church last night -- this revelation came to me while I was worshipping my Father and His Beloved Son, reflecting on the good, the great, the best that He has been doing for me for the last ten years.

(This just goes to show that there is so much that we learn, that we receive when we go to church, so don't neglect to go!)

For years, I lived with a sense of intense frustration. I believed for the longest time that I had to free my mind, my thoughts, my emotions from fear, anger resentment, etc, so that God could work in me, so that He could guide me, lead me, communicate with me, etc.

A sense of dark, unremitting frustration clouded my life.

I kept trying to get out of a sense of fear, outrage, frustration. I used to think that God's blessings, God's favor in my life depended on how I was feeling, whether I was angry, afraid, fearful, whatever else.

I was still struggling with this for years afterwards. It's unreal the kind of crap I had put myself through.

I didn't understand how sinful the sin in our flesh remains. We can't get out of it just by wishing it away. And we don't have to.

God is still loving us, He is actively working in and through us regardless of how we feel. We may still lose our temper, we may still feel feelings of fear, regret, hate, upset.

But He still loves us!

"38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

I never realized how intimate, how available Christ Jesus us in every aspect of life.

I used to think that I had to set up my mind a certain way so that I knew that He could work in, through, and with me.

----

I would get so wound up and frustrated when trying to teach a class. I would have bad or unhealthful sentiments, and I just struggled within and without to break free of these perversities. It made teaching hard classes even harder. What an internal war I was going through within my flesh.

Now I realize how much my Daddy God has been loving me, since the beginning!

I feel so much comfort, so much rest to know that He has been working behind the scenes on my behalf, and I am oh, so happy!

Jesus Our Big Brother

"One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." (Proverbs 18:24)

For a long time, I saw seeking God's help as just "Something that I would" as a matter of form, but then it was up to me to take care of everything.

That's not true at all.

God is very much active in our lives. He wants to work in us, through us, and definitely around us and among our situations.

He is alive, active in our times, in our places.

I really did not believe that. For a long time, I still saw Jesus, my Daddy God, as figments of my imagination, or as comfort measures to make me "Feel better", and nothing more.

He's alive, though, and well-aware of what we are going through. He doesn't look away from our troubles, but implores us to come to Him!

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

We have this boldness because of His righteousness!

First, the righteous are as bold as lion. (Proverbs 28:1)

We have been established in His righteousness (Isaiah 54:14)

In fact, because of Jesus' Finished Work, we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Paul later writes:

"9For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." (2 Corinthians 3:9-11)

The ministry of righteousness provides greater glory than the ministry of condemnation (the Old Covenant, the Law of Moses). This glory gives us greater boldness:

"Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:" (2 Corinthians 3:12)

Plainness is the same word for boldness, parrhesia.

God's gift of righteousness gives us full confidence, full boldness to come to Him, to know that all our sins are paid for, that if we come to Him, we know that He hears us!

"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John 5:14)

Jesus is closer than a brother, and sticks with us when times are tough, when we have no answers, or despair of the outcomes.

He is at work, and He wants to work for me:

"But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." (John 5:17)

“True Love Is” Helping People Come Out, Come Home

In the United States, there is growing awareness within churches as well as in the general public that homosexuality, transgenderism, and related paraphilias must be confronted fully. All the talk about seeking “religious liberty” as a point of compromise is not working. But in the church, there are few real ministries to help individuals, especially Christians, who struggle with same-sex desires. It’s scary enough to be honest with oneself about sexual feelings, intimacy, and identity. How does one “come out” to others, in the hopes of getting not just support, but truth to be set free?

Many churches seem to vacillate among extremes: condemn the behavior; compromise by allowing individuals to identify as “gay”, but instruct the to refrain from same-sex sexual contact; celebrate the entire corrupt LGBT rainbow and highlight such behaviors as normal, even exceptional.

Churches in America are not focusing on what causes these unwanted desires, either. In too many cases, there is no guidance from pastors and parishioners in properly dealing with this contentious issue. The implications of this lack are great, since church attendance is in sharp decline, much of it due to a falling away from the truth on core issues, including marriage and sexuality. Worse yet, compromise and condemnation are both culprits in this matter. What is to be done?

One key ministry which deals effectively with these problems came from Life Site News. They reported the incredibly moving and very personal confession of a young Christian and motivational speaker, Jason Lim, aka Jason Yolt. He travels the world testifying to thousands, telling people that they can—they should strive to—live their lives to the fullest. After all, If You Only Live Twice is the title of his best-selling book.

His spirit to engage others sprang out of his near-death experience while traveling in Cambodia five years ago. That near-tragedy forced him to confront his secret shame, too, which he admits openly: “I like … men.” This was a long-lasting struggle, his same-sex desires, compounded by what possible outcomes would result from coming out to his parents. Thankfully, Jason’s parents responded in a gracious manner. Jason relates: “When I came out to [my parents], they told me that even though they don’t approve of it [acting on my same-sex desires], they loved me because I was their son.”

That is the Gospel response: “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” In the Body of Christ, one should say “Love the saint, hate the sin.” All our sins have been forgiven, and the sin in the flesh has been condemned. Christians still sin, but we break free when we understand that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1-3).

This is the blessings of the Gospel which transforms Christians from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18) Sadly, Paul’s revelation, including his exhortation to the Corinthian Church has not settled in the hearts of many believers:

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

We were sinners. Because of Jesus, we become saints, a new identity which causes us to abstain from sin and live godly lives. However, even though we as Christians will still fail, but we remain Christians still. God’s love make us sons, but a lack of revelation will lead us to lusting. John the Beloved writes:

“If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. (1 John 2:16)

If we do not allow “The Love of the Father” into ourselves, we will continue to settle for conditional lusts. From his parents Jason Yolt received unconditional love, a love which included not condoning same-sex behaviors. This love helped him break free. This message is the heart of the Gospel.

Jason’s testimony is not an isolated victory, but is connected to a larger ministry, “True Love Is”, which focuses on God’s true love, which helps to break free from same-sex desires. This ministry is accomplishing what same churches in the United States have failed to do: preaching God’s love without permitting sin.

The Gospel is about God’s grace, about God’s undeserved love, favor in our lives. We were still sinners, lost in our fallen state when God the Father sent His Son to die for us (Romans 5:8). Yet for too many Christians, they believe that following our first step into salvation, we are on our own to live upright lives in order to remain accepted by our loving Father. But David writes: “Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” (Psalm 32:2) The main point is that the Lord does not impute sin, even when man sins; otherwise, there would be no reason to call anyone “blessed.”

There is no better example of God’s transformative, true love than the Parable of the Loving Father (Luke 15: 11-24). His prodigal son squandered everything, shortly after telling his father basically to drop dead by requesting his inheritance right away. When the destitute prodigal returns home, His father lavishes so much love on him, re-establishing his son’s status, which helps him break away from that old life. God’s unconditional love helps people break free of conditional pleasures, including sexual perversion. The “True Love Is” Movement rejects homosexuality and transgenderism as innate identities, but enhances our true selves as children of our Loving Father.

To help those caught in LGBT bondage, it’s time to announce: Come out, so that you can come home to God’s unconditional love, for that is where True Love Is!

It's Not About Our Love for God, But God's Love for Us

"We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

I wrote in a previous post about maturity in Christ Jesus.

We need to see how much God loves us. It's not about how much we love God.

We cannot give what we do not have. We cannot give what we do not think we have, either.

Consider what David declared in his final prayer as he passed on the kingdom to his beloved son Solomon:

"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." (! Chronicles 29:14)

We cannot give but what we have freely received from Him.

Paul did not pray for the Ephesians to love more.

He prayed that they would understand how much God loves them!

"14For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Paul did not pray the following:

1. Do more for God.
2. Love God more.
3. Give more to charity.

Paul's prayer is incredible, and incredibly power.

To the best of my knowledge, this passage contains the only time when he wrote "I bow my knees", to show how earnest, how heart-felt, how emphatic his prayer is!

1. Be strengthened with might by His Spirit
2. Let Christ be at home in your hearts
3. Be rooted and grounded in love--His love
4. Comprehend, take into understanding His love in all directions
5. To know--to understand with greater awareness, even intimately--the love of Christ

NOTE here - it's Christ's love for us, not our love for Him. This revelation skips over so many people. We are so busy trying to love God, when we need to get "busy" understanding how much He loves us.

This deeper knowledge reminds me of a scene in The Wizard of Oz.

Towards the end of the movie, when Dorothy Gale returns with her three friends, she finds out that the Wizard is just an old humbug professor from Kansas. He doesn't really have any power, and there is not much he can offer to the four weary travelers who sought home, brains, hearts, and courage.

When the Wizard finds something for the Tin Man, he provides him a clock-working heart medallion.

Then the Wizards says:

“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”

Many people I know struggled with this statement. Isn't love about what you do for others, not the other way around? Isn't love an action?

No!

Love is about our ability to receive -- from God the Father!

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)

Love is not about us or anything that we have done or will do.

God loved us, and He sent His Son to be our Mercy Seat. He is the atonement for all the sins of all the world. He loved us first!

Love is defined by what God did, for God is love! (1 John 4:7-8).

It's not about our love for God, but God's love for us!

In His Love! In the Beloved!

"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1:6)

Last week, I was talking to a friend of mine. I said that I felt like Kanye West. His sense of new freedom has been something else to watch. He talks a lot about love, too. God's love is freedom, isn't it!

This sense of freedom had grown, has become increasingly overwhelming for me in the last week. I could not ignore it. I began to realize how much God loved me. Daddy God loves me, because of what His Only Begotten Son had done for me, and what His Son continues to do for me!

This love is just so much for me, I can hardly take it in, and there's still so much to take in!

"The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." (Jeremiah 31:3)

This verse comes from the Old Testament, under the sacrifices of bulls and goats. Notice that the "Lord has appeared" here.

But John writes something far more intimate:

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)

This is a love that has been in place since the beginning:

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:" (Ephesians 1:4)

God had His eye's on us from the outset. Before time began, He loved us!

Folks, we need to understand this! This matters so much. I submit to all of you who read this, that understanding, receiving a deeper revelation of how much God loves you is maturity in Christ. To be a real, grownup Christian, you need to know how much God loves you! It's not about how much you love Him, because we can only give what we have received.

"6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1:6)

We are accepted in Christ Jesus, yes indeed. More importantly, however, we are accepted in "The Beloved."

What does it mean to be in Christ? So much, and that includes to be "In Love". God is in love with us, and we are in His Love!

Man's Sin Cannot Stop God's Love

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

I  have begun meditating on God's love more deeply, the sins which capture people and hook them in, and why is it that so many people are unable to break free.

People acknowledge their struggle with addiction. They call themselves "addict" many times, and then they work hard to break free.

I then realized something: condemnation so powerfully hooks people, that they cannot break away. In many cases, it seems pretty clear to me that they feel that they cannot come to God with help.

It takes the love of the Father for us to break free of all the lusts of the flesh which afflict us:

"15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:15-16)

Lusts of the flesh all connect to addictions. That's what they are!

The reason why? The individuals in bondage do not know the love of the Father. The love of the Father is not in them. Why does this happen? We struggle too much in our own efforts. We want to come to Him after we have cleaned ourselves up.

All that stuff is of the world, and it will never last. It will never suffice.

Now, about our sin ... it cannot stop God's love.

God sent His Son, His Only Begotten, to die for us, to rise for us, to live for us and through us.

God the Father sent His Son while we were still sinners!

"8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." (Romans 5:8-9)

Our sin cannot stop God's love. If it could, God would have never sent His Son, or worse yet could not have sent His Son!

Consider also the types and shadows in the Old Testament:

"I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated." (Malachi 1:2-3)

Jacob did not deserve God's love at all.

He lied, cheated, deceived, put his own needs ahead of others. He played favorites among his four wives and his twelve sons and daughter.

Yet God loved Jacob.

That's how God loves us! Unconditionally. When we understand how great, how wonderful God's love is for us, then we fall out of love with the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life.

Lean on His love. Ask Daddy God to give you a broader, wider revelation of His love for you! (Ephesians 3:16-19)

Nothing Can Separate Me From God's Love

God loves me, and nothing can separate me from His love.

In contrast to this truth, Alcoholics Anonymous teaches that to be angry, to be upset cuts us off from the "sunlight of the spirit."

That is not true.

I am certain that I have written about this topic many times before, but I am interested, invested in writing about it again.

Paul writes to the Romans:

"35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

"36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

"37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39)

Nothing can separate us from God's love at all.

Yet I used to think that I had to work as hard as I could to "feel" a certain way. I needed to get all the bad emotions out of my head, my mind, my anything in order to function in the world. This contortion brought me so much pain, so much frustration.

"What if I have that memory and I get mad all over again?" I would think. I was reflecting so much on myself, on my emotions. There was so much bondage that had overcome me on account of this. I felt that I had to go out of my way to tell someone how angry, how hurt I was about the different behaviors, the different pains, the different sentiments of outrage which I had gone through.

God, what a miserable life I led. I was so easily offended, that I just didn't want to interact with anyone anymore. The power ended up in other people's hands. People could say or do just about whatever they wanted, and no matter what happened, I could just get so easily upset, then I got upset about being upset ...

And what was the root of all this bondage?

That getting angry, hurt, confused, whatever was going to separate me from God, that it was going to bring into some kind of emotional bondage.

Yet I have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:6).

I start at the finish line, I start with being complete in Him (Colossians 2:15), and this peace no one can take away from me. I can even tell my loving Daddy God that people make me feel bad, sad, mad, glad, whatever.

He is still there loving me, and He invites me to gain a greater revelation of His love for me, too.

This is just awesome and has given me a greater release into this life!

The Westboro Baptist Hatemongers Harrass Calvary Chapel South Bay--Why?

Divorce and remarriage is not necessarily adultery.

It depends on why the married couple separated.

God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16), but God does not hate divorced  people.

Jesus ministered to a Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar (John 4).

This woman had had five husbands, and she was living with a six husband.

Jesus did not despise or reject her.

Notice that Jesus delivered the Gospel to her, offering her a living water which would well up within her.

The legalism espoused by these angry demonstrators is pretty sad.

Have they not read what Paul wrote to Titus?

"11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2: 11-14)

God hates sin, but God loves man.

God hates divorice.

But God loves divorced people.

God judges sin. In fact, He judged all our sins on the Body of His Son Jesus!

The Westboro Baptists need to read their Bibles more, and pound them a lot, lot less!

God's Love for Your is Priceless: Just Receive It

"Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned." (Songs 8:7)

God's love for us cannot be quenched, cannot be finished:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

This love grants us eternal life. Why? Because God's Son, Jesus, shed His blood, a blood which cleanses forevermore:

"2And he is the propitiation (lit. mercy seat) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2)

His love for us cannot be bought. God's love cost Him His own Son, the most precious Person to Him:

"Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;" (Proverbs 8:30)

and also

"And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Mark 1:11)

There is nothing that we can do to earn God's love.

It is priceless. Anything that we can offer to receive something from God is condemned outright:

"8I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

"9I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

"10For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

"11I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

"12If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

"13Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

"14Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High" (Psalm 50: 8-14)

Don't try to earn God's love. It is all grace, for we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

His love overcomes all the wrath of God's sin, for Jesus became sin that we would be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Stop trying to earn God's love. You can't. Receive it, and keep receiving it!