JEREMIAH 31:3
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an Everlasting Love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion."
*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 5769
Everlasting: of long duration, antiquity, futurity, forever, perpetual, permanent, ancient
From the Hebrew word 'olam' (pronounced o-lawm')
Occurs 438 times in the Old Testament
*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 4900
Drawn: extended, lifted up, stretched out
From the very beginning God has loved us. Before we were ever born, He knew us.
Job 10:11
You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
Psalm 119:17
Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments.
Psalm 139:13
For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
God loves us even now in this present day and age.
GOD IS THE BEGINNING, THE NOW AND THE ENDING
Genesis 1:1
"In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
John 1:1
"In the Beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God."
Revelation 1:8
"I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
GOD IS EVERLASTING
Genesis 21:33
Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD, The Everlasting God.
Exodus 3:14, 15
14. God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
15. God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.
Lamentations 5:19
You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.
Psalm 90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
THE LOVE OF GOD
Leads Us & Feeds Us
Hosea 11:4
I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.
Covers Our Sins
1 John 2:2
He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 4:10
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be like wool."
Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
John 1:29
The next day John sees Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
Is For Everyone
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Romans 10:12, 13
12. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.
13. for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
We are wooed by God. He calls us to come near to Him. He calls us to submit our wills and desires to His will and desire. God calls us to follow His Light and leave the darkness of this world behind. He calls us to repentance and reformation: to turn away from sin and learn to be holy.
God leaves the mature sheep in the pasture and goes looking for the lost sheep to bring it into the pasture, where it will feed well and grow up in His pasture.
God calls the wayward child to come home. He throws great parties when a person returns to His arms and is restored.
God extends His arms to us, ever reaching for 'just one more'. Just one more soul. Just one more lost sheep. Just one more child to pick up and hold near His heart.
God draws us to Himself gently, whispering our name, waiting patiently for us to turn to Him and choose to be with Him above all else. Waiting for us as a father waits for his wayward child to return home.
No matter how far away from God we are, when we come home to Him, He is more than happy to see us. We see this in the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11=32
Luke 15:20
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
It's time for you to come home. It's time for you to listen to God's whisper and run to God's embrace.
Dear God,
Thank You for loving me. Thank You for saving me and waiting patiently while I figured things out. Thank You for Your warm, loving embrace, when I chose to listen to Your whispering voice in my heart.
Thank You for saving our children and their children, and, if the return of Your Son is not soon imminent, their children, as well. You have said in Your Word that Your mercy extends to a thousand generations. That's a lot of people.
Please guide our families into Your grace, that none be left behind. Help us to forgive those who have done us wrong, that we may grow in Your heart, the way You accomplish Your works in us. For Your Word has said that 'as much as we have forgiven others You will forgive us'.
Please guide our families into Your grace, that none be left behind. Help us to forgive those who have done us wrong, that we may grow in Your heart, the way You accomplish Your works in us. For Your Word has said that 'as much as we have forgiven others You will forgive us'.
Bless our witness as we testify of Your saving grace. Bless our testimony as we tell of what You have done for us. May Your kingdom increase as we continue to serve in Your fields.
May Your Name truly be glorified in all that we do, Lord.
In Jesus' Holy Name, I pray,
Amen
Whisper by Jason Upton
Softly and Tenderly - Classic Hymn
Love Lifted Me - Classic Hymn
