HOPE FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT FEEL LOVED BY GOD
TODAY’S MESSAGE of ENCOURAGEMENT
FROM
Discovering a BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES
Our Stories are about:
Real People, Real Events, Real Places)
And are dedicated to HELPING
PEOPLE FIND PEACE and HOPE
(John 10:10)
(MAY 31st, 2020)
HOPE FOR THOSE
WHO DO NOT FEEL LOVED BY GOD
Friends, for over 50-years I’ve talked to hurting people who have struggled with whether or not God actually loves them. For a number of reasons, they don’t feel completely accepted and totally loved by God.
Today, it is with this thought in mind that I’d like to share a special message for those who don’t feel loved by God. Perhaps it’s a love YOU may have never known before. It’s The Relentless Love of God! It is a LOVE YOU may not believe can be true for you. But it is TRUE!
Perhaps even as you are reading this message, you might be feeling that you’re not acceptable to God or that He doesn’t really want you with Him. Or that you don’t deserve His love.
However, if this IS the way you are feeling, let me assure you of something very important. The God who created you DOES want you near to Him. And the reason I can say this, is because He is full of Grace and mercy and incredible LOVE! He loves YOU with a love that will never stop pursuing YOU. It’s a love that will not steal your joy, but on the contrary, will set you free and enable you to be spiritually, emotionally and mentally complete.
Unfortunately, too many people have Distorted Views of God. And over the years, I have come to know many people who picture God as primarily angry---as a God whom they could never please. However, such a view of God has inflicted great spiritual damage in their lives. It has made it a whole lot harder for those people to trust the life God has given them. And it has kept them in fear. Let me ask you today is that your vision of God?
Friend, there’s a beautiful story in the Bible, found in Luke 15, where Jesus tells of what I call “The waiting Father.” In this story, Jesus describes a young man who insists that his father give him his inheritance. Reluctantly, with tears in his eyes, the father hands the money over to his much-loved son, and watches him walk away.
Well, in a very short period of time the son ends up spending all his money and feeling desperate about his life. Then one day, when he was feeling very despondent, he decided to return home to be with his father. And so he went home!
However, as the Father, from a distance, saw his boy walking along the road toward the house, he ran out to greet his son. In fact, he was so thrilled to have his son home that he threw a big party for him. And what we learn from this story is that rather than condemnation, the Father’s heart was filled with forgiveness, mercy, and joy.
Jesus tells us, that this is how GOD receives YOU and me, as we humbly come to Him seeking forgiveness and a second chance.
Friend, some years ago, I read a story of a woman describing HER relationship with her father. She said, “One time in my life I had made some bad choices that hurt my relationship with my children. And my behaviour reflected badly on my parents. I knew that I needed to go back home and see Mum and Dad to talk this out.”
She went on to say, “I remember as I got closer to home, this fear that took over me. And then I recall so vividly turning into that gravel driveway and approaching the house. There was my Dad standing next to the house at the end of the driveway. When I got out of the car, he opened up his arms to hug me. And as we embraced he simply said, “Welcome home! Welcome home!”
Friend, that’s what God is like. He welcomes back broken, repentant sinners like YOU and ME into His loving arms.
No questions asked! Total grace this is what is offered to us by God, through His Son Jesus Christ who reveals, through His sacrificial death, that God’s wonderful LOVE is available to each of us—that is, if we want it.
Today, Jesus is waiting to fill open hands and hungry hearts. The question is, are YOU ready for Him to fill YOU with His amazing grace and LOVE?
Friend, if you doubt God’s LOVE for YOU, the place to go is the cross. And I say this, because Jesus Christ died a horrible death so that you and I could be brought into relationship with a Holy God. In fact, it’s the only way we can approach God.
The truth is that if you try to earn the LOVE of God, you won’t experience it. If you try to work harder or be better in order to taste His LOVE, you won’t find it.
It’s only when we tell God the truth about ourselves --- admit that we miss the mark --- and stop trusting in our own goodness, that we will be able to accept the offer of Christ’s forgiveness. It was on the cross of Calvary that Jesus paid the penalty you and I deserved.
And the only way we receive this wonderful gift of LOVE and forgiveness is through trust and obedience to God’s will.
The Bible reveals to us, that Jesus has given us a beautiful way to express this trust --- it is in baptism. And we participate in this event because Christ has born our sin. It’s the way God has chosen for us to accept this precious gift of Jesus, which is LOVE and forgiveness.
(Acts 2:36-47; Romans 6:3-11; Galatians 3:26-29)
Friend, Baptism isn’t just an empty duty to perform in order to gain God’s favour. It’s an experience where the Living God says to us:
“You’re mine! You belong to me! You’re forgiven and
I LOVE YOU!”
(2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
My Friend, if you’re not feeling LOVED by God, but you’ve already been baptized into Christ and been part of a church family I’d like to encourage you to turn back to Christ and trust Him alone for your salvation and peace of mind. And I urge you to not postpone this decision to place yourself wholeheartedly into the safe and LOVING hands of Jesus.
However, if you’re not already involved with a group of believers in Christ, I sincerely hope you will make the effort to find some Christians who will encourage you. You see, we all need fellow believers that can encourage us in trusting in and following Jesus. YOU and I need a family of believers, because Caring Christians can help us in so many wonderful ways.
Friend, if you have not been feeling LOVED by God, I sincerely hope that this message I have shared with you today, a message that has been centred around The Relentless Love of God, will help you to understand that His LOVE for YOU is NOT dependent on how YOU look, how YOU think, how YOU act, or how perfect YOU are. --- You see Friend, God’s LOVE is absolutely non-negotiable!
The truth is, no matter how far you fall, no matter how ugly you become, God has a relentless, undying, unfathomable, unquenchable LOVE for YOU, from which YOU cannot be separated. EVER!
Friend, I want you to know personally, that God loves you…right now, right where you are. So let me suggest two ways to begin experiencing the amazing grace and love of Jesus Christ.
First, I’m encouraging you, along with myself, to take another look at Jesus. Perhaps something or someone has covered Him up! Or you may have grown up in a church and heard of Jesus. Perhaps Christianity seemed irrelevant to you. Church and Bible study may not have connected. But I invite you to look again at Jesus.
Second, admit that you need Jesus. His love is available to each one of us---if we want it. Jesus is waiting to fill open hands and hungry hearts. Are you ready for Him to fill you?
Friend, I urge YOU to allow Jesus to become the most important person in YOUR life. And the reason I ask YOU to do this, is in order that YOU might experience the RELENTLESS LOVE of God through YOUR commitment to Jesus Christ (John 14:6)
Friend, would you take a moment to pray with me please?
“Dear loving, heavenly Father may none of us pretend to be something we’re not. You know us early in the morning. - You know us late at night. -- You know us when we are weak. -- You know us when we are strong. Please, Father, help us to remember that no matter how far we may drift away from You, that You still CARE and You still LOVE us. We ask these things of You in and through the name of Jesus who has revealed to us in such an amazing way, Your Relentless Love for each of us. Amen.”
Friend, I am so glad that you took the time to read this message from Discovering A BETTER LIFE today.
I sincerely HOPE that what I have been privileged to share with you may have reminded YOU that our God is a generous God and that He has wonderful plans for each of us through our willingness to enter into a personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ.
Friend, if you have not already done so, I encourage YOU to surrender your life to His incredible LOVE today. YOU will never regret it, because His LOVE for YOU is Relentless.
If you would like help in obtaining a fresh look at God’s grace, we invite you to write to Discovering A BETTER LIFE and ask for our FREE booklets titled “The Relentless Love of God!” and “How to find God.”
Our address is: P.O. Box 1540, Albany, Western Australia.
You may also E-mail your request at: abl-alb@omninet.net.au
Or telephone us on: (08) 98 418 418
Thank you for taking the time to read what we feel privileged to have shared with you today. We hope you have been encouraged and blessed.
May God bless you with His comforting LOVE, JOY, and PEACE.
Ron Bainbridge
Co-ordinator of:
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Dear Friends, regrettably, “Today’s Message of Encouragement” from Discovering A BETTER LIFE will be the last, until we have completed the refurbishment of our office and Biblical Resources distribution centre here in Kendenup, Western Australia. Which, Lord willing, will be toward the end of August.
We thank God for each of you who have requested Bible Correspondence Courses, the booklets we have made available and the Electronic Biblical Resources you have requested in order to strengthen your faith and equip you to teach others the wonderful message of Salvation, Hope, Peace, and Purpose which comes through a committed relationship with Jesus Christ.
We are also grateful and humbled by those of you who have requested to team with us in sharing God’s Grace and Love, through your on-sharing of our Daily Messages and the Biblical Resources we have FREELY made available to you
Friends, as DISCOVERING A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES completes this last stage of our transition to Kendenup, where we hope to be more effective in our sharing of God’s Grace and Love, we ask for your prayers, that we might have the wisdom of God and His strength to accomplish what He is leading us to do in this new chapter of our life.
On behalf of the DISCOVERING A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES Team, we pray that our Loving Father in Heaven will bless each of you with His Grace, Wisdom, Love, Peace, Hope, and Power in all He is leading you to do.
Ron Bainbridge, Editor,
(Ephesians 6:23-24)
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