Love Letter from God

My Precious Child,

I wanted to write you to tell you how very special you are to me. I gave you my Word as a constant reminder, but I understand that sometimes you may find it difficult and time-consuming to dig through all the “thees” and “thous” to get to the verses that talk about my love for you. I hope that you’ll find the time to dig deeply into my Word, though, because I have hidden innumerable treasures within it for you to discover. As I have said clearly throughout my Word, those who seek me in earnest will find me.

First of all, I want to remind you that I made you. I dreamt you up before there was a heaven or an earth. I wrote your blueprint in the palm of my hand before I laid the foundations of the world. I knit you together in your mother’s womb before you were born. I gave you the light in your eyes and numbered the very hairs upon your head. I made you in my image and destined you for greatness.

Before you came to be, I devised a plan and purpose for your priceless life. It was a plan to prosper you, to make you successful, and to protect you from disaster. A plan to give you hope and a future. Through my deep, abiding, and eternal love, I made it possible for you to succeed in all your endeavors. I promised you that I would never condemn you or be angry with you. I forgave you before you ever sinned, and spared you the punishment that you deserved. Through my Son, Jesus, I freed you from the ultimate penalty of sin.

I redeemed you—bought you back—from the curse of the law and brought you unto myself because of my love for you. I made you a new creature. I crucified the sinful person you were on the cross with my Son. His blood cleansed you and covered all your sin. I placed my Spirit in your heart to guide you into all truth. Through Him, you are now free from the power of sin.

I predestined you for eternal life. I provided the means and the motivation for you to receive my Son, Jesus, as your personal Savior and Lord. I have made it possible for you to live a godly life on earth, and I have prepared a place for you in heaven so that when your time on earth is over, you can come and spend eternity with me. I have designed a perfect, glorified body—one that will never decay—for you to wear in heaven. On the day when you finally meet me face-to-face, you will be forever free from the very presence of sin.

I placed my Spirit in you as your Comforter and a guarantee of your eternal salvation. You belong to me and are continually under my protection. I have given you the same authority over the devil and his demons that I gave to my Son, Jesus. I have even given you the power to crush Satan under your feet. In your behalf, Jesus disarmed principalities and powers, making them a public spectacle, triumphing over them in the cross. Nothing can in any way harm you, my precious child. You will never be separated from my love.

Through my Spirit and my Word, I have given you everything you need for life and godliness. I have made myself your total sufficiency in every area of your life. I am the provision for all your needs, your strength, your health, your protection, and your victory. I am the Light of your world, and you are a reflection of my light. To me, you are a sweet-smelling fragrance. I have given you my glory and my joy in full measure, and I have flooded your heart with my love. I am available to you whenever and wherever you may need me. I will never leave nor forsake you. You can always rely on me because I never change.

I have made you a joint-heir with Jesus of everything that I have. I have caused all things—good and bad—to work together for your good. Because I am for you, no one can ever be against you. You will never be put to shame because of your faith in me. I have given you the authority to reign as a king. One day you will judge the world and angels.

I will comfort you in your times of trouble, and discipline you when you go astray. I must allow you to endure suffering so that you can share in my glory, but my boundless consolation is available to you whenever you need it. You may be hard pressed on every side, but you will never be crushed. You may be perplexed, but you will never be in despair. You may be persecuted, but you will never be abandoned. You may be struck down, but you will never be destroyed. I have made you more than a conqueror in all things. One day, you will be led about in my Son’s triumphal procession.

Finally, I want you to know that to me, you are the righteousness of Christ Jesus, my Son. I have set you free and brought you to myself. I have given you the mind of Christ and made your body the dwelling place of my Holy Spirit. I have enlightened you and lavished upon you the riches of my grace with wisdom and understanding. I have made known to you the mystery of my will according to my good pleasure. I have chosen you and predestined you according to my plan, and I will work everything out in your life according to my desire. I will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you can know me better. You are my workmanship, created by me in advance to do good works. Nothing that I have ever created is more precious to me than you, My Child.

My hope for you is that you will remain in me so that I may perfect you and fashion you into the magnificent masterpiece that I had in mind from the beginning. I have begun a good work in you and I will complete it. I am working in you now to conform your will to mine and to cause you to do that which is pleasing to me. You have my peace, which passes all human understanding, to guide and guard your heart and mind. I am working within you to make you holy in my sight, without blemish and free from accusation. One day, Jesus will present you to me without fault and with great joy. Until that day, My Child, hold on to me as I have held on to you, for I am faithful. I will bring about all that I have planned for you in your life. Therefore, lay aside every weight and sin and run the race before you with patience so that you may ultimately receive the prize. And when the race is over, I’ll be at the finish line to welcome you home to glory.

Well done, my good and faithful servant!

ABBA

The Power of Spoken Words

Have you contemplated the real power of spoken words? We've all heard the saying, "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me." What nonsense! Words have the power to hurt deeply. Verbal abuse, particularly when perpetrated upon children is one of the most insidious forms of abuse there is. But words can also heal! Suffice it to say, there is power in our words, so it behooves us to choose them wisely.

I'd like to draw a correlation between what we say (and what we hear being said to us) and our level of genuine faith.

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17 NKJV).

This is the cycle of faith, as I see it, from mouth, to ear, to heart, and then out of the mouth again. Truth is spoken, we hear it, our faith increases, we speak truth with more conviction. The New Testament in particular is replete with examples of how hearing and faith go hand-in-glove.

"I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?...So then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?" (Gal. 3:2,5 HCSB)

To understand faith's role in the hearing process, we must understand what faith actually is.

“What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see (Heb. 11:1 NLT).

Faith is reality for the believer, even when that reality is not yet visible! God is the Source of all reality, so when God speaks into our lives, we can accept what He says as being already true, even if it has not happened yet.

“…That is what the Scriptures mean when God told [Abraham], ‘I have made you the father of many nations.’ This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who brings into existence what didn't exist before” (Rom. 4:17 NLT).

God spoke light into existence when there was no light. He spoke space into being between the waters of heaven and the waters of earth. He spoke and grass sprung up and trees bore fruit. When God speaks, stuff happens!! When we hear God speak and believe what He says, faith happens! Confession and faith are the two primary criteria for salvation.

“If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved" (Rom. 10:9,10 GNT).

Confession to the believer is speaking the truth, or, in effect, saying what God has already said! Confessing the truth builds your faith. It allows you to remind yourself verbally that God has made a promise to you that you KNOW will ultimately come true.

There is a negative side to confession, however, that also needs to be addressed. Positive confessions have positive power, but negative confessions can be devastating. What you are doing when you speak negative and untrue words to yourself is, in effect, bolstering your belief in what’s not true about you. Hearing (and believing) negative things that others (including the devil) say about you has the same effect. That is why it is important to confess truth; so that you fill your heart with that truth.

Listen to what Jesus said to the Pharisees.

“You snakes—how can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matt. 12:34 GNT).

Their words came from their hearts, which evidently were full of corruption and evil. It's the Biblical version of "what goes down in the well comes up in the bucket." We tend to speak what's in our hearts, good or bad. What's good builds up, but what's bad tears down.

If you consider the “whole counsel” of God in the matter of confession and faith, you’ll discover that what you say matters greatly to you and to those around you.

“Words of thanksgiving and cursing pour out from the same mouth. My friends, this should not happen! No spring of water pours out sweet water and bitter water from the same opening. A fig tree, my friends, cannot bear olives; a grapevine cannot bear figs, nor can a salty spring produce sweet water” (Jas. 3:10-12 GNT).

Whatever you speak the most is what ultimately fills your heart. If you continually speak negative and doubtful statements, your faith will wane and you will begin to believe lies. This is what psychologists and others refer to as "self-fulfilling prophecy." If you say the same thing enough times, you will eventually come to believe it. Do you see, then, why it’s important to be careful what you say? There is power in the words we speak.

James compared the tongue to the rudder of a ship--a relatively small object, but with the power to change a huge ship's direction. Let’s look at the power of confession from Jesus’ perspective.

"I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, 'Go from here to there!' and it will go. You could do anything!" (Matt. 17:20b)

Jesus answered, "I assure you that if you believe and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I have done to this fig tree. And not only this, but you will even be able to say to this hill, 'Get up and throw yourself in the sea,' and it will. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matt. 21:21,22 GNT).

“For this reason I tell you: When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for. And when you stand and pray, forgive anything you may have against anyone, so that your Father in heaven will forgive the wrongs you have done” (Mark 11:24,25 GNT).

“Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 7:7).

These verses are all are about making our requests known to God. And how do we do that? By asking! Asking is speaking or confessing what we want, and as long as what we want is what God wants for us, He guarantees that we will receive whatever we ask for. But we first have to ask.

"You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it" (Jas. 4:2 GNT).

Consider the following reasons why speaking God's Word is important. God’s Word… 

• always produces fruit, accomplishes all He wants it to, and prospers everywhere He sends it. (Isa. 55:11)
• is pure. (Proverbs 30:5)
• nourishes the spirit. (Luke 4:4)
• always bears fruit. (Luke 8:15)
• blesses those who hear it and keep it. (Luke 11:28)
• cannot be broken. (John 10:38)
• grows and multiplies, (Acts 12:24)
• it works in those who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
• is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12a)
• is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12b)
• framed the worlds. (Hebrews 11:13)
• is JESUS! (Revelation 19:13)

I have participated in many "testimony" services where believers share how God saved them and/or how He is working in their lives each day. Even though I was always encouraged by such meetings, I also wondered how they got started. According to tradition (and the record of Scripture), such meetings are to increase the faith of believers and to set an example for unbelievers. The testimonies of others encourage us in our own walk and spur us toward godliness.

Paul stated in his letter to the church in Colossae,

“Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts” (Col. 3:16 NLT).

Speaking, teaching, and even singing are all forms of confessing or speaking the truth. Praise is a very powerful form of confession in which we speak or sing back to God the truth He has revealed to us about Himself. We can do this corporately (as a group) or individually. Either way, there is also power in praise.

Speaking the truth is so powerful that in the Revelation, believers…

“… won the victory over [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the truth which they proclaimed;…” (Rev. 12:11a GNT).

Faith and confession are directly proportionate. Your faith will only increase as does the frequency of your confession. Confession is to faith what thrust is to an airplane. Thrust is the amount of lift applied to an aircraft’s wings determined by the forward speed of the aircraft. The faster the aircraft travels in a forward direction, the more lift it produces on its wings.

So it is with confession. The more you confess God’s Word (out loud), the more your faith increases. And since faith is reality for believers, increasing our faith increases our acceptance of God’s reality in our lives.