Stay focused.

What does love look like to you? Jesus has been with you in all your experiences, He knows your trials and He sees you together, on a bench. 

2 Peter chapter 1 verses 6-8. 

Next, learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have His way with you. This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply. The more you go on in this way, the more you will grow strong spiritually and become fruitful and useful to our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Love is a deep feeling for someone or something. It is not just the desire to have it but it is something that you enjoy and do not want to go without. You cannot love something without it first loving you. That means you had to have an encounter with it in order for it to have such a strong affect upon you. 

   When love is taken from us it causes us to become defensive. We have to deal with the loss and try to get along without. Our feelings are very powerful and can lead us in unruly directions, misguiding us and causing financial, and emotional mistakes. And sometimes those mistakes can have lasting effects. 

   It can be very hard to get over hurt feelings. We have been hardened by the experience. Most of us have had many of those experiences over the years of life. And they can cause us to stay away from ever wanting to let those feelings get such a hold upon our hearts ever again. And that deep guard can be extended through jobs, casual relations and family. 

   God is real. And He wants to love you and have you love Him. In Exodus chapter 34 the Lord descends in a pillar of cloud and passes before Moses and announced the meaning of His name, "I am Jehovah, the merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in steadfast love and truth. I Jehovah show this steadfast love to many thousands by forgiving their sins."

   It is by those words that you have come seeking God's help. You do not know who He is or even if He will help you, but He has said that He is there for all and is ready to accept you into His family. Now the problem lies with you. How do you love something that you have never felt love from before? It all starts with reaching out. You do not know what is coming or what will happen but you are willing to try. Your options are depleted and you need something to happen. 

   You will not get far if you have selfish reasons for coming to Him. Psalms chapter 46 says, "God is our refuge and strength, a tested help in times of trouble. And so we need not fear even if the world blows up, and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam; let the mountains tremble!"

   We are to trust in God. He gave us Jesus so that our sins could be forgiven and that we could come before God with all our mess and find the path that makes sense. The path of right living that we have missed all along. Don't make excuses!

   God may be unseen and you have lived without Him for your whole life. But now you are seeking His help. And what do you find? A love that you never expected to be there. 

   1 John chapter 4 verses 16-19 say, "We know how much God loves us because we have felt His love and because we believe Him when He tells us that He loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him. And as we live with Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete; so we will not be ashamed and embarrassed at the day of judgement, but can face Him with confidence and joy, because He loves us and we love Him too. We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; His perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what He might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what He might do to us , and shows that we are not fully convinced that He really loves us. So you see, our love for Him comes as a result of His loving us first." 

   It is good to reverence the Lord, that means you are aware of Him and who He is and the mighty power that He has. You worship and love Him for His grace and mercy upon you.

   In Acts chapter 4, Peter spoke to the leaders and elders saying, "If you mean the good deed done to the cripple, and how he was healed, let me clearly state to you and all the people of Israel that it was done in the name and power of Jesus from Nazareth, the Messiah, the man you crucified---but God raised Him back to life again. It is by His authority that this man stands here healed! For Jesus the Messiah is the one referred to in the Scriptures when they speak of a 'stone discarded by the builders which became the capstone of the arch.' There is salvation in no one else! Under all heaven there is no other name for men to call upon to save them." 

   So stay focused and do not let your own thoughts and desires mislead you. You have found peace and love with God. He has brought Jesus to you and your life has been affected by Him. Let Him become your every breath. 

   I like what Psalms chapter 104 says, "You supply it, and they gather it. You open wide Your hand to feed them and they are satisfied with all Your bountiful provision. But if You turn away from them, then all is lost. And when You gather up their breath, they die and turn again to dust. Then You send Your Spirit, and new life is born to replenish all the living of the earth. Praise God forever! How He must rejoice in all His work!" 

   God is the one who has sent His Spirit upon you. He has given you Jesus and Jesus has brought you into life with God. Everything is from Him. Enjoy the days of your life, for He is always with you. 

   Thank You Father for Jesus. Thank You for life with You. You truly are what was lost and now is found. 😊  

Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2.

Paul is speaking saying, "And so dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy---the kind He can accept. When you think of what He has done for you, is that too much to ask? Do not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how His ways will really satisfy you."  

Ephesians chapter 3 verse 17-19.

And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in Him, May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high His love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it, or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God Himself.

John chapter 1 verse 14.

And Christ became a human being and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness and truth. And some of us have seen His glory---the glory of the only Son of the heavenly Father!