When I got in bed last night, I realized I’d forgotten to send out a “Blessing” email yesterday. A migraine attack had left me a little dazed…☺
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
The love of God, how rich and pure,
How measureless and strong
(Lyric taken from The Love Of God by Fredrick M. Lehman)
One of the beautiful things my wife said to me this morning after we’d talked about the following was the lyric from Keith Green’s song “Your (God) Love Broke Through.” I know this is a longer email, but I wanted to include Keith’s lyrics before I get to what the Lord shared with me this morning thinking the song’s words may bless someone:
“Like a foolish dreamer, trying to build a highway to the sky
All my hopes would come tumbling down, and I never knew just why
Until today, when you (Jesus) pulled away the clouds that hung like curtains on my eyes
Well I’ve been blind all these wasted years and I thought I was so wise
But then you took me by surprise
Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed
Until your love broke through
I’ve been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me
Until your love broke through
All my life I’ve been searching for that crazy missing part
And with one touch, you just rolled away the stone that held my heart
And now I see that the answer was as easy, as just asking you in
And I am so sure I could never doubt your gentle touch again
It’s like the power of the wind
Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed
Until your love broke through
I’ve been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me
Until your love, until your love, broke through”
Wow, Jesus just continues to blow me away with His truths that set us free. I keep being amazed at how “unconditional” and indefinably faithful His love is for those who love Him.
Yesterday, I had another migraine and felt pretty bad physically, emotionally and spiritually. I was weak, felt like caving in, like I wanted to give up. And, in the midst of these feelings, God still allowed me to praise Him. Jesus never leaves us nor forsakes us. He never gives up and is never taken aback just because I have times when I doubt Him, when I feel weary.
Often, we can live with things for so long that we just accept them as part of life and can even become numb to them being there, being a part of who we are, a part of life. That’s when Jesus, Who is true life breaks through with His liberty and does more work to set us free indeed.
Wow, when God’s love breaks through…
Over the years, I’ve heard pastors talk about “This is the year for your breakthrough.” It almost always had to do with money or business or some other condition. “God’s going to make you super-successful this year” was their promise to their listeners. Unknowingly, I think somewhere in my heart I had a condition (and I’m sure there are others He wants to free me from in my soul) between me and God. I think I’ve felt like when God gives me the chance of having a financial breakthrough, when He finally allows me to provide for my wife, I’ll feel like I’ve finally arrived in life, whatever that means. I’ve been focused on the condition and not Jesus. Boy…
This morning, I was reading where Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for Isaac. I read about how God had blessed Abraham and made him a very wealthy man…
Right in the middle of my reading, the Holy Spirit told me His love for me is unconditional. At that same moment, He asked me if my love for Him was unconditional. I sat here thinking about His question. It dawned on me that I wasn’t sure if I did love Him unconditionally. Did I have conditions on my love for Him? If so, what conditions? And, if I have conditional love for Him, does that mean I have idols before Him?
I shared all this with my wife during our devotional time this morning. She told me I didn’t have unconditional love for God. Wow, her immediate response caught me off guard. That’s when one of the things she told me was, “I’ll feel loved when…”
“When? When what?”
Boy, a lot of thoughts raced through my mind just then. I felt condemned, guilty, immature as a Christian, spiritually naked before God and my wife. I felt bad, frustrated, weighed down with the sickening condition of “conditional love” for my Jesus, etc. These are the types of symptoms we can live with often without even being aware of them because they’ve become such a part of us, of who we are. Jesus wants to step in and show us Who He is by bringing these symptoms to mind to heal us. What an unveiling this was.
God’s love for me is unconditional. Is my love for Him unconditional? If not, what idols do I have before Him? What hidden burdens am I carrying?
What the Holy Spirit was saying to me is , “You can love Me unconditionally. You can be free from the heaviness of conditional love.” Wow, what a revelation that was for me. What an offer and tremendous gift God was wanting to give me by pointing this all out to me.
It’s truly amazing how deep God will work in our lives. His love for us is so much stronger than I can even imagine. It’s so unlike and far beyond human love. He doesn’t give us everything we want. Instead, He frees us from the burdens we carry in our “want” list. Amazing. Simply, and powerfully, amazing.
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Romans 11:33-36
God bless,
Mark