Terri's Wellspring

But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord’s mercy is on those who fear him.

His righteousness belongs to their children and grandchildren,

to those who are faithful to his promise, 

to those who remember to follow his guiding principles.

Psalms 103:17-18 GWT

God’s love for us extends to us now and well into the future. His righteousness is available to us and will be a blessing to our families for generations to come. Many of us are benefiting from generational blessings that extend from our family members who have gone before us living for the Lord. I think of the legacy of my parents and grandparents and their parents who have established a foundation of faith that we can continue to build on. I am hoping that my generation of parents will continue to bestow a legacy of faith based on the knowledge and reverence of God’s word and that our children will be able to share His light throughout the world. It is a tremendous gift to know that our blessings of faith can be extended to our children and our children’s children through our life of faith and their acceptance of His promise.

Dear Father –

We thank You for this day which is filled with Your promise to be with us each step of the way. We are grateful for the blessing of family and for those who came before us putting their full faith in You. We thank You for your continued guidance by Your Holy Spirit to be examples of faith and righteousness before our families. We thank You for answered prayer concerning the lives of our children and our grandchildren. We pray for open hearts and minds for the gift of salvation and a blessed life in You. We are so thankful for Your love which extends from everlasting to everlasting.

In Jesus powerful Name,

Amen.

The Lord is merciful and loving, slow to become angry and full of constant love.

He does not keep on rebuking;  he is not angry forever.

He does not punish us as we deserve or repay us according to our sins and wrongs.

As high as the sky is above the earth, so great is his love for those who honor Him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins from us.

As a father is kind to his children, so the Lord is kind to those who honor Him.

Psalm 103:8-13

We are so blessed to have a Heavenly Father who loves us. His ultimate gift of His son Jesus Christ allows us to live in relationship with Him. Some people think of God as someone who sits high and looks for things that we have done wrong. This distorted picture does not reflect a God that is “slow to anger”.   God may hate the sin that we may allow in our lives but His approach to us is full of constant love. I believe how we think about God guides our actions, our fulfillment and the happiness in our lives. If you accept the fact that our Father is available to us and provides grace and mercy because He loves us, it changes our perspective on life. His love for us is great! Knowing this in our hearts and continually seeking to do His will in our lives allow us to experience a closer walk in the Lord. What a blessing to know that God is love and that this tremendous gift is available to each of us.

Dear Father –

We thank you for this day. We bless your name for you are the living God that loves us. We ask that you would forgive us for any place where sin and shortcomings may exist in our lives. We know that your love for us is constant and that you are faithful and just to forgive us, when we ask for it. We thank you today for forgiveness and a closer walk with you.   Help us to experience and embrace your constant love for us.

In Jesus’ wonderful name,  Amen

You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.  But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!   In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.  For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.   Matthew 5:43-45

We are to love everyone even our enemies. It sounds like a tall order. This command includes people we don’t care for and people who maybe even trying to harm us, which sounds like an insurmountable task. We may say in our hearts in a very wide Agape sense that we love everyone. We don’t wish anyone harm and we hope everyone the best. This is the high level psychological framework that we allow ourselves when we think of this command. But then the hard work of daily living comes into play. We may have to cross paths with people who are mean, use harsh words or “despitefully use” us. And suddenly, loving others is a distant memory. So there lies the challenge not only to get along with others but to love them. I believe that these encounters allow us to see a little of ourselves and possibly expose areas that require more work in our hearts and minds. We may be required to be less offended by daily mishaps, to be more forgiving, or to have more mercy or compassion toward one another. It is our command from the Savior to do, so that the world will see the light in us.

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  This is real love-not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. I John 4:7-10