Tag: love

God's Love

You Can Rest With Confidence in God’s Love

Posted on by Evangeline

The more I learn of the love of Jesus, specifically His love for me, I am astounded by its depth, height, width and length. I see more clearly now that His love for me covers everything. It is complete and perfect. There are no holes in His love for me, no void spaces. So if nothing is missing in God’s love for me, why am I not always confident in the victory that love has won on my behalf?

Confidence Matters

Maybe I need to look more at what He’s done instead of what I’ve done or what I need to do. I can sometimes have a l-o-n-g “to do” list to correct my circumstances. Maybe I neGod's loveed to allow Him to be in control and do the work so I can rest. Everything that He’s done is based on His love for me. Every  bit of punishment inflicted on Him before and at the cross was because He did not want me to experience it. Every bit of scourging was endured for me. Every sickness and “condition” was taken on by His body for me. He satisfied every requirement of the Law so I wouldn’t have to. He left nothing undone and did everything perfectly. What a love!

No matter the circumstances that I find myself enduring, I’m determined to choose to look to Jesus’ love for me (Hebrews 12:2). To have confidence in His love (1 John 5:14,15). And to trust His love (Psalm 91:2). I’m determined to rest in the knowledge that His love for me has done everything necessary so that I continuously live a victorious life.

What is it that gives you confidence in God’s love for YOU?

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Ponsulak and Gubgib| FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Sticky Note Thought – Blessings from The Blesser

Posted on by Evangeline

What blessings do you need from God today?

Remember, He loves you and desires that you receive and experience His best blessings in real-time every day! As a believer in Jesus, He has given you the right to pray, believe, and expect His promised results.

 

Blessings from the Blesser

 

Background Image courtesy of Boykung | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Praying with your spouse - love in action

Love in Action vs. My To Do List

Posted on by Evangeline

 

They say love is a verb and that we should see love in action.

The more I learn of the love of Jesus– specifically, His love for me– its depth, height, width and length astound me. I see more clearly now that His love for me covers everything; it is complete and perfect. There are no holes in His love for me, no void spaces. So if nothing is missing in His love for me, why am I not always confident in the victory His love has already provided?

Love in Action

Jesus’ love is always a love in action. His love is always working to give us victory in our circumstances. Maybe I need to look more at what He’s done instead of what I’ve done or what I need to do (I can sometimes have a l-o-n-g “to do” list to change my circumstances). My to-do list, when it’s not focused on God’s ability and willingness to act, is the  kind of self-help that is not always good. Maybe I need to allow Him to be in control so that I can rest. Everything that Jesus has done is based on His love for me. Every  bit of punishment inflicted on Him before and at the cross was because He did not want me to experience it. He endured every bit of scourging for me. He took every sickness and “condition” onto His body for me so that I wouldn’t have to “live with it” (Isaiah 53:3-5). He satisfied every requirement of the Law so I wouldn’t be required to do so. He left nothing undone and did everything perfectly. What a love!

No matter the circumstances that I find myself enduring, I’m determined to choose to look to Jesus’ love for me– to have confidence in it, to trust it. I’m determined to rest in the knowledge that His love for me has done everything to give me victory in any circumstance. Because of His unmatched, unending, and unfailing love, I win!

How do you remind yourself of His love for YOU?

Monday’s Marinade – Don’t Doubt

Posted on by Evangeline

Doubt plagues all of us in various forms and always at inopportune times.

Do you find that you sometimes doubt God’s love for you, or is it His willingness that you question?

We all need help in this area and I’ve been writing a new book that I think you’ll find helpful.

This is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Live to Win:

“Doubt is always a product of deceit and a consequence of distance. Doubt arises due to our being deceived into thinking that God is not on our side in the midst of our trouble. It increases when we have distanced ourselves from the Word; it also minimizes the role and efficacy of our prayer. It infiltrates our circumstances and reduces our trust because we are distracted from God’s promises. Doubt is our automatic response when we don’t look to Jesus and keep our focus fixed on His love for us.”

Monday's Marinade-Don't Doubt

Stay informed about the book’s release by letting me know you’re interested:

Sticky Note Thought # 5 – Strong Love

Posted on by Evangeline

Life requires strong love.

As we approach Valentine’s Day, “love” is on everyone’s mind. It’s easy to remember to show love to our spouse, the children in our lives, and our friends. Let’s also follow Jesus’ mandate to also show love to those who persecute you and spitefully use you (Matthew 5:44).

Now that’s #stronglove.

 

Strong love

Monday’s Marinade – Confident Love

Posted on by Evangeline

Monday’s Marinade is provided to you as a means of “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God at the beginning of your week. Confident love is something everyone desires and needs. Start your week by meditating  about how it pleases God when you have confidence in His love for you. Repeatedly think about this and quietly say it to yourself.  Marinate and season your week with hope and a confident expectation of good things happening!

Here’s your spiritual marinade about confident love for this week:

Monday's marinade- confident love

 

Focus Friday – Love in Marriage

Posted on by Evangeline

Maintaining a successful marriage takes work under “normal” circumstances. It is especially important to work at maintaining a strong, hope-filled, and love-based marriage during the stressful circumstances added by a season of infertility.

Here are important some keys about love, as God intended it to be experienced between husband and wife. Focus on how love REALLY is and not as it’s portrayed on television, in romance novels, and online. Focus on God’s love for you and how He wants you to love your spouse.

Get more tips and encouragement in my ebook, Infertility Sucks! How to Maintain Hope in Your Marriage During Infertility.

 

Love and Marriage

 

Focus Friday – Jesus’ Love for YOU

Posted on by Evangeline

Looking for love in all the wrong places? Meditate on Jesus’ love for YOU instead. His love is unfailing, unending, and undeniably powerful. Believe it works for your benefit. Allow God’s Word about His love to become your Truth.

Focus on this scripture of love throughout the day.

It’s God’s Word about Jesus’  love for YOU.

It’s what He desires you to believe. Believe it is true for you because God’s Word is Truth.

Use it as an affirmation. Speak this Word to yourself throughout the day. Personalize it by putting your name in it!

Jesus' Love

 

Focus Friday – Loved by a Father

Posted on by Evangeline

I know. June is long gone and so is the American celebration of Father’s Day. But tomorrow is my husband’s birthday and I want to celebrate and honor what an awesome father he has been to our children. He gladly sacrifices having better things for himself so that he can provide for our children. This week, our youngest son had some car trouble and had to drive Freeman’s car to get to a couple of commitments he had. When he got back home, he said, “Dad, you need a new car.” 🙂 Freeman’s response was, “I know, but I needed to get y’all through school first.”  That’s the kind of dad he’s been all along– one that doesn’t mind doing without so that his children have what he feels they need.

God is like that too. He loved us so much that He was willing to:

  • do without the presence of His Son for decades,
  • watch His Son go through the blood-sweating agony of taking on mankind’s sin,
  • turn away from His Son as He hung dishonored on the cross with His flesh sliced, and bloodied, and
  • send His only Son to hell in mankind’s stead.

But the Father didn’t stop there; He did not leave Jesus in hell. He gladly made those sacrifices knowing there was  a perfectly good ending to the story. He raised His Son with power so that we could then be seated with Jesus on the right hand of God– a position of power. The Father was determined to get us back and love on us NO MATTER WHAT!

What  sacrifice!

What LOVE!

How do you see yourself loved by the God who sustains the entire universe?

Take a moment today to express your love to the Father AND, more importantly, to receive His “no-matter-what” kind of love.

My father--father's day

 

Photo credit: Women Living Well

Women’s Role in the First Easter – Sharing the Message of the Resurrection

Posted on by Evangeline

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

How will you spend this day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus? Jesus is the Son of God, and the Savior who loved EVERYONE in this world so much that He gave His life so that each person who believes in His resurrection can freely enjoy relationship with God, receive His love, and call Him, “Father”.

Resurrection and Life

The first people to be sent to tell the exciting news of Jesus being no longer dead but risen and alive were women! Like women typically do, they rose early, before dawn, to care someone else. This time, it was for the purpose of taking care of the dead body of One they loved– Jesus. They walked from their homes to the tomb where Jesus had been laid so that they could apply spices to His entombed body. Have you ever wondered how they expected to get beyond the soldiers who had been posted there and how they planned to move the stone that sealed the tomb?  I suppose it didn’t matter to them, they just knew what had to be done according to their Jewish custom and they went, prepared to get it done.

Jesus had women involved in His ministry while He was on earth, and now that He was risen, He commissioned them to spread the Word that He was alive. It was to be an important mission of love to share an important message of love. He wanted them to be the heralds to spread the message of a new relationship that was now available to everyone, not just the 12 disciples and followers within the borders of Israel.

Here’s how those first evangelists spent their day:

“The day after the Sabbath day was the first day of the week. At dawn on the first day, Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary went to look at the tomb.

 At that time there was a strong earthquake. An angel of the Lord came down from heaven, went to the tomb, and rolled the stone away from the entrance. Then he sat on the stone. He was shining as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The soldiers guarding the tomb shook with fear because of the angel, and they became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus, who has been crucified. He is not here. He has risen from the dead as he said he would. Come and see the place where his body was.  And go quickly and tell his followers, ‘Jesus has risen from the dead. He is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there.’” Then the angel said, “Now I have told you.”

The women left the tomb quickly. They were afraid, but they were also very happy. They ran to tell Jesus’ followers what had happened. Suddenly, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings.”The women came up to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell…”  

~Matthew 28:1-10 (NCV) 

Isn’t it just like Jesus to recognize how women are typically more relationship-oriented and therefore would use them to be the first to give the message to others that a new relationship was now available with God? He gave  a word of comfort to them to share so that others would believe in Him through their words. He entrusted women with birthing His church by giving them the message of His resurrection to share. For thousands of years, that message those women shared about Jesus being alive has brought victory to all who believed it.

How will you spend this day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus? Will you share the good news of His resurrection with someone who may not know it?

celebrate resurrection of Jesus