Never Forsaken

Hi victors! If you’re reading this, that is indeed what you are because here at The Victory Collective, we believe that we are more than conquerors in Christ (Romans 8:37). 

If you read the last blog post, I wanted you to remember that forgiveness is a promise. God does not have a limit on how far his forgiveness goes, we only need to ask him. Check it out here. 

Mother’s day is next Sunday, and I love seeing photos of all my momma friends with their babies. I don’t yet have kids, and that is fine because God hasn’t led us that direction just yet. But I do have an amazing mother who raised me and loves me, so I love getting to shower her with love, even if we are a few states away. 

My Mom knows me really well. As I’m sure if you are a parent, you know your kids maybe even better than they do. You know when they are stressed, or burdened by something, and you know what brings them joy. I think the parent child relationship is amazing because even as you or your parents age, one thing remains, and that is the love between parent and child.

Now, I want you to stop and consider how much you love your parents or child.

Compare that with the love of God. Do you understand just how much God loves you, and do you believe that? When I stop and think about how much my parents love me and then compare it to God, I almost don’t believe it. How can God love me THAT much? It seems unexplainable and overwhelming. 

How have you seen the love of God evident in your life?
Have you stopped noticing it?
Does God’s love for you ignite a passion to love Him more?

I do believe if we aren’t adequately equipping ourselves with truth and reminding ourselves of God and thanking Him for his love, then Satan will creep in and do what he did with Eve and make us question God’s order, sovereignty and Lordship over our lives. 

A prophet named Jeremiah dealt with people who forgot the love of God and everything he had done for them. This book is very much a plea for the people of Judah to come back to God.  You can read chapter 2 for more details on what exactly they did and how God describes their actions. Spoiler alert, God wasn’t happy. Yet even when God was forsaken by His people, He did not forsake them.

Jeremiah 31:3 says: I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. I understand He is talking to Israel, but it is still wonderful news that applies to you and I if we have Jesus in our hearts and lives.

We are very self-focused beings. Let me paint that portrait of who we are for you.

We are guilty of forsaking him for our own sin and desires.
We have become entitled to what we need to be blessed with.
We want his timing to be ours, so we become demanding of our creator.
We think we know better than God.

And yet.. We read that passage once again.. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

My friends, if we understand the mind and heart of God, and that He loves us even more than our earthly parents or guardians, we would treat him with the honor and respect he deserves. Again and again God was merciful to Israel while they were in the desert and throughout their history. And again and again God has been faithful to you and me. This needs to ignite a fire of love, devotion, and praise that the world has never seen. 

Here is your God thought for the week: Because of His love for me, forsaking him for my own way isn’t an option any more.