Monday, June 20, 2016

Monday Morning Encouragement - 6.20.16

Good morning!  

“The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.”
   - Zephaniah 3:17


God the Father has no form. No body for us to see or touch. He is so “big” that we cannot even comprehend Him, we can’t wrap our minds around the concept of “God.” 

But He loves us. He showed that love by sending his Son to take on the form of flesh to live the perfect life we couldn’t live and die the death for sins we could not pay. When we repent and believe in Jesus, we are accepted into a right relationship with the Father through the Son by the Spirit. 

Most of us have a clear mental image of Jesus and his life and suffering for us. 

It is more difficult with the Father. The parable of the prodigal son is a great image though, isn’t it? The father greeting his son with open arms and unconditional love. That is amazing! 

My favorite mental image of the Father though is in this verse from Zephaniah. It speaks of God’s joy over us and his love calming our fears. It is that last line though that grips my imagination. 

“He will exult over you with loud singing.”

The root word for ‘exult’ is from the Latin for ‘leap up.’ So, try to picture the Father… the Creator and King over all creation, holy and highly exalted on his throne… passionately jumping up and down singing loudly over you! 

THIS is our Father’s love for you! When He saves you, adopts you, welcomes you into his loving arms, He keeps on celebrating. He rejoices over you and exults over you with unabashed, undignified, loud singing. HE LOVES HIS CHILDREN.

As we move on from Father’s Day, let’s remember the love of our heavenly Father. Let’s be transformed by the loving work of Christ on the cross and return that love to Him by exulting in Him with lives that fully reflect his glorious righteousness! 



Blessings!
Pastor Chris

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