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So Loved

John 3:16-18 (MSG) This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

The most quoted verse, John 3:16. We see people holding poster boards with “John 3:16” written at different events. Our athletes have it written on their face or on their clothing somewhere when they go into a game. It is the most well known of all the verse, other than the shortest verse…Jesus wept.

Have you heard something so many times and the meaning of it gets watered down? I think that is how we get about the “So Loved” part of this scripture. The KJV says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I was thinking on this verse on how Jesus told us to love. Can we love as big as He did? We often look at the word “so” and say His love is so great, that He gave. What if we see the word “so” as how He loves, not why He loves? Does God really need a why? Love is in His DNA, it is His character and nature. He did not need a reason, so why should we?

This time of year can be really difficult for some people. Think of the mother and father that no longer have the structured family they had in previous years. My thoughts are with an individual who will be spending their first Christmas without their children waking up in their home, because of divorce. Those parents who are empty-nesters for the first time and not all the kids could come home or Christmas. Those that have been home bound since COVID and never got back out to doing life like it was before.

Ephesians 3:16-19 (AMP) May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality], so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love]; and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].

“Having been deeply rooted and securely grounded in love,” that is what we must hold onto when those around us do not make us feel loved. I have been deeply rooted and securely grounded in love. Past tense, it has already been done, I do not have to wait for it to be done.

1 John 4:10-11 (AMP)  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath]. Beloved, if God so loved us [in this incredible way], we also ought to love one another.

Beloved, give love regardless of what others have done. God so loved, that He gave first. Be known for your love (unselfishly seeking the best for others). That is what the joy of this season is all about. Remembering that He SO LOVED! God is a giver and so should we be too. Why? Because we have been deeply rooted and securely grounded in love. We have everything we will ever need when Jesus came. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior our DNA was changed to love. Show your SO LOVED today!

Father, thank you for sending your Son and planting the seed of SO LOVED. You are so wonderful. You are so glorious. You are worthy of our honor and praise. Thank you for deeply rooting me and securely grounding me in your love. I desire to be a giver and thank you that you have given me the tools in your love to give. I will never be alone because of your love. May I be an encouragement to others that do not feel loved during this season. Let me see them. Anoint my tongue and my hands, lead me to minister reconciliation to them, as we are all called to do. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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He still washed Judas’s feet

1 John 4:19 (AMP) We love, because He first loved us.

Not two days after I finished reading Unmerited Favor by Joseph Prince and starting on The Root of Rejection by Joyce Meyer did I get a blow to my heart. I already knew it was coming. God had told us about it almost a year ago, but it still hurt. The timing was perfect for the enemy to use. Why? I had just come out stating that I was going to remind myself daily that “I am His beloved.” When I read the Word and meditate on it, the revelation knowledge that I get is because, “I am Jesus’s favorite disciple.”

A little back story of what it feels like to be a favorite. My sisters (twins) and I are about twenty two months apart, me being the oldest. When I was four we lived in Kentucky and I remember there being a special drawer for me with gum in it…Bubblicious gum. My sisters were too young to enjoy treats like that, but I got to! It made me feel special. When we moved, I have another memory of one of my aunts bringing treats for all of the little kids (she having two herself). We all closed our eyes and held out our hands and they put candies in everyone’s hands but mine. I was told that I was too old (at the age of six) to receive any. In my gut I knew that it was because my grandparents had a special bond with me and she was jealous.

So when I was told that I was not who they wanted to speak into their life (even though we pastor), that “this person is my leader,” it took me back to the pain of being rejected at six years old. I had to realize that the enemy was jealous, he is not His favorite, I am! It took me a few days to get over that blow to my heart, but it was a distraction. It was a distraction from me walking in freedom and the power that wherever I go miracles follow because the Holy Spirit dwells in me!! Do you know what Jesus’s favorite disciple gets to do? They get to walk around everywhere they go knowing they are loved. The Holy Spirit will bring back all that transpired and say, “you did what I told you to do, they still have free choice.” I have to continue to walk in love even though it was wrong, why? In my wrongness, He loved me first! Even in being rejected and knowing He would be betrayed, He still washed Judas’s feet. I love, because He loved first!

My love is not wrapped in this one person who rejected me. God showed me, look at all of these that see you as a gift. You know He does that with His beloved. I am His favorite disciple, so that I can point others back to Him. I want to tell you that you are His favorite disciple too. He will make Himself as personal to you as you desire Him to. I often like to call them “Daddy Moments.” Remember, He first loved us. He knows what it is like to love so deeply and still be rejected, but He first loved us (the book of 1 John was written to people who rejected Him).

James 1:2-4 (AMP) Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials.  Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace].  And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.

The enemy is going to test that Word inside of you. Count it as a joy because it will produce something great inside of you. Do not let the enemy try to get you to go into hiding, as it did me. We need to experience this life. I do not want to lack anything that He has planned for me. I may get hurt again, that is okay. Just like He did this time, He will do it again, He will let me know just how loved and wanted I am. I pray He does the same for you.

Psalm 138:3 (NLT) As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.