God's Perfect Love Perfects Me

 This is an old revelation, and yet it's a new revelation, and a renewed revelation in turn.

I am a new creation in Christ.

God the Father's love for me makes me something more than just "loved".

His love makes me "accepted" or highly favored:

"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1:6)

His love perfected among us brings us into His Son, and gives us His Son's own standing:

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

The correct translation reads: "Hereins is love perfected among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment ..."

It's not about our love being perfect. It's about God's love perfected among us, within us!

God's love perfects us to be ... as Jesus is, and thus so are we in this world!

"For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." (Hebrews 2:10)

And

"14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:14-17)

Our sonship before God the Father in Christ Jesus does not change because we feel bad, or we have lustful feelings, or angry thoughts.

It's about a new, perfected identity before God in Christ Jesus.

When I would go about in life, I would get worried about getting worried. I would feel fearful about feeling fearful. I was constantly concerned that how I felt or what I was thinking would frustrate God's grace, His presence in my life.

That is totally nuts! Yet that is precisely what I used to believe. God's goodness and favor on my life does not go away because I feel bad. It seems so strange now, looking back on everything,

But now it makes perfect sense. Thank you, Jesus, for bearing with me, for being patient with me, for helping me to see more of You and to understand how much You love me, in spite of everything.

Another revelation breaks forth for me ...

Many people get worried about God's unconditional love. They fear that this love, just lavished on others, will induce people to sin wilfully, with complete abandon of what is right and wrong.

Wow! This rest is really incredible. My feelings have nothing to do with my standing, and my performance has nothing to do with my standing.

This life is no longer about not feeling bad, or trying to control bad feelings. This life is about resting in the true knowledge of my new identity in Christ Jesus. Amen!

God's perfect love perfects me:

"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14)

This Incredible Peace

 It's really amazing.

I don't feel overwhelmed anymore. I don't feel unhappy or lost anymore.

I no longer wonder what they future will hold for me. I know who my Father is.

There is no longer any sense of guilt. There is no longer any sense of shame.

I am not living in any kind of condemnation.

Romans 8:1 is a reality for me:

"There is no therefore condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

Amen!

I no longer fear what will happen to me. It's no longer about myself at all!

It's all about Him!

Jesus, it's all about YOU!

I see you so much more strongly than I ever have before.

I know that You live! No longer do I feel pushed, prodded, abused, bullied by my flesh, by my feelings. No longer do I worry about what is going to happen to me, based on my thoughts and feelings.

This is truly amazing.

All my cares, You have taught me to cast them on You! (1 Peter 5:6-7)

Truly, this is amazing!

There is no reason to panic at all. There is no reason to worry at all.

I consider the promises that you laid out in Isaiah 54:

"For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee." (Isaiah 54:10)

Mountains and hills are longstanding physical features on the planet. Yet even those large mounds will move at some point. However, God's covenant of grace will  never leave us. His kindness, His covenant of peace will never leave us. Amen!

So Quiet on the Inside

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10)

This has been a real transformation for me.

I have never felt so quiet, so cleansed, so clear, so clean on the inside.

I spent so much of my time thinking that I had to think, feel, do, act a certain way in order to have a clear connection and full revelation of all that my loving Father wanted to do through me and in me.

The torture, the pain, the strife was so great in my life. It was very difficult to get through life from one day to the next, as I was convinced that I had to make sure that I was quiet, or rather quieted inside.

Now I understand that my identity is fully in Christ, and no one can take that away.

It does not matter how I feel. It does not matter what is going on around me, or in me, or through me.

For the longest time, I was not aware of my solid, and unrelenting identity in Christ Jesus.

For the longest time, I was convinced that God would come or go in my life, depending on what I was thinking, what I was feeling, or what I was doing.

There was no stable data, no stability in my life. Was God happy with me? Would God be happy with me, sad with me if I did this or that?

This was the challenge that I faced for so long in my life. Today, I am happy to report that I both know and believe who I am in Christ Jesus.

I am the righteousness of God in Christ!

I am accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6)

Who I am and His life flowing in my has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with how I feel. It makes no difference how I may feel tomorrow. It makes no difference if the police pull me over, or if a corrupt judge lies about me and tries to put me in jail.

I don't stop being God's child just because bad things happen to me. That is a very important lesson for everyone of us to learn, and what we should all have derived from the experience of Joseph. He knew that he was his father's beloved son, even if he was kidnapped, sold into slavery, and for all intents and purposes dead to his own father.

The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man (Genesis 39:2). We need to identify with Him who has been from the beginning, not with ourselves, with our thoughts, feelings, or circumstances.

It's all about what Jesus has done, not what we need to do!