Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, –Ephesians 1:3-4

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” –John 16:33.

“And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’” –Acts 13:22

Already Defeated That Foe

When I am lost in a storm of distress,
And I can’t figure out where to turn,
It is then that I hear you whisper to me
“Beloved don’t be so concerned”.
When I find myself surrounded by darkness,
Rooted in fear searching for light,
That’s when I feel your face shine upon me
Reminding me to walk by faith, not by sight.

When I come to a sudden fork in the road
And I’m unsure of which road to take.
If I turn to you to help me decide
I always feel safe in the choice I make.
For every trouble I have encountered,
In every heartache I have endured,
It is your love that finally saved me
Despite unneeded detours.

I know, now, how much I need you, Lord.
I must depend on you every day.
And now, I know connecting with you
Is as simple as kneeling to pray.
I trust you to rescue me, to be my safe place,
To console me each time I grieve.
I trust you to comfort me until my tears dry
And I trust that you’ll never leave.

You are there for me in the shadow,
There even when I can’t see.
Submitting to you solves any problem
And it makes the enemy flee.
You are stronger than any opponent,
There isn’t a solution that you don’t know.
Sin no longer has a claim on my life,
For, you’ve already defeated that foe.
Linda Troxell© 10/27/2020

Joyce Meyer writes that even though all kinds of people and situations can make us feel rejected and unworthy and can result in damage to our self-esteem, God wants us to know that he loves and accepts us unconditionally. In Ephesians 1:4, the apostle Paul actually says that when we are in Christ, we are “holy and blameless before God. …[j]ust as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, –Ephesians 1:4

If we are in Christ, and He in us, God never looks upon us as anything but loved and accepted. He sees us as flawless. Does this mean God believes we never sin? Of course not. It’s simply means that when Christ lives in us and we repent of our sins, God forgives us completely, and we are righteous before him.

The world can be a painful, frightening, and harsh place. We can easily begin to feel worthless and unworthy by its standards. But we can take heart, because Jesus has overcome the world. (John 3:16) This means we don’t live by the world’s standards; we live by God’s standards. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” –John 16:33.

This is such incredibly good news for those of us who have had our hearts broken in the world. The more our hearts have been broken and our self-esteem ravaged, the more important it is that we can believe that God loves us more than anyone on earth can. Because God is the only one who can heal our broken hearts and give us back our love of self. When we know we are loved unconditionally we see ourselves differently, and we can live differently, with more joy and abandon.

So many of us believe that God can’t really love us because we are so sinful. Well, the Bible is full of sinners who recovered from their sinful lives and became heroes of our faith. Why? Because they turned to God and sincerely repented of their sins and asked for His forgiveness. Because they believed that He loved them, they could also believe that He would forgive them.

David, who is known as a man after God’s own heart, (Acts 13:22) was quite a sinner. He lusted so strongly for Bathsheba he used his power as king to force her to commit adultery with him. When she became pregnant, he had her husband killed, in order to  marry her. “And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’” –Acts 13:22.

Of course, God could not let David go without consequences, lest the Hebrew people think that God approved of such behavior. So, ultimately, David’s sin led to his devastation when God took his son, born of his sin with Bathsheba. In his pain David could have gone on to reject God. But because he sincerely loved God, he repented, and asked God to forgive him, and he was able to go on to be a friend of God’s. And we can too.

But only if we can believe about ourselves what God believes about us. That we are daughters and sons of the one true King; that in Christ we are holy, blameless and righteous. How do we start? That’s easy! If you have not yet accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, that must be the first step. Romans 10:9 says this: “If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.” Once you have done that you will have the righteousness of Christ that allows you to be one with the Father.

If we are saved, and already have a relationship with God, we must begin by first respecting our God enough to believe what He says in His word: For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.      –John 3:16. (emphases mine) God loves you, me, and all mankind so much He sacrificed His only son to die so that we could live.

As Christians, the death of Christ on the cross is the cornerstone on which all of our other Christian beliefs are built. This can easily lead to the idea becoming common place and resulting in our lack of respect and gratitude for a gift so unique and extraordinary that it can hardly be contained in our finite minds.

We cannot allow that to happen. We must always be aware of the magnitude of this gift given to us while we were still sinners. This will naturally lead toward understanding how much God loves us.

Meditating on the magnificence of God’s gift of the crucifixion and resurrection is the beginning of a feedback loop in which that awareness leads to understanding that God loves us enough that He sacrificed His son for us. This, in turn, leads to believing his love and acceptance are unconditional, which then leads to the ability to love ourselves in the same way. And finally, that leads back to the magnificence of the gift of the crucifixion and resurrection.

After we have spent some time in that feedback loop it becomes clear that God would have only sacrificed His son for us if His love and acceptance is unconditional. Because, no one would sacrifice their son for love contingent on perfection, all the while knowing perfection cannot be attained. What also becomes clear is that we owe God the respect of seeing ourselves the way He sees us and of loving ourselves the way He loves us.

But, how do we do that, you might ask?  Remember, I said that’s easy? Well, perhaps it isn’t easy, but it is simple.  We simply make a choice to believe it. After all, didn’t we begin this Christian journey by choosing to believe there is a God who has a Son whom He sacrificed, so we would not remain dead in our sin?

Even if you were born into Christianity, at some point when you began to think for yourself and you began to hear those around you say believing is stupid, you had to make a choice to keep believing.

So, we make another choice. This time to believe we are everything God says we are. And we ask Him to support us when our belief begins to wobble. Because it will wobble, probably more than once. Now, there is one last thing.

In addition to choosing to believe that God loves us unconditionally, we must also choose to believe He has a great plan for our lives. Without believing these things we will never fully trust God. If we don’t fully trust God, we will never turn our lives and our wills over to Him. Make no mistake, this is not a clever psychological ploy to trick our brains. This is the truth. We are simply choosing to believe what’s already true.

Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, We know that because Jesus died to redeem our sins, when we are in your presence, you see only the righteousness of your Son, and we are blameless in your sight. So, I don’t know why we sometimes find it so hard to believe. But I guess it is the same reason we find it so difficult to believe that you love and accept us unconditionally and that unconditionally means always, not only when we are behaving well. So, we ask you now, today, Lord, to help us believe in your unconditional love. Help us to understand that to not accept your love as unconditional is to disrespect the sacrifice of your Son that redeemed our sins, saved us from death, and made reconciliation with you possible. Help us to mend our broken hearts once and for all and from this day on, Lord, love and accept ourselves in the same way that you love and accept us. Lord, help us also to remember that the world cannot hurt us because we do not live by the world’s standards, but by the standards of your Kingdom. Help us Lord to remember that in your Kingdom, you have new grace and mercy for us every day and that you will be there to comfort us each and every time we ask. We love you, Lord, and we want more than anything to live in a way that pleases you, help us please, in that pursuit.
We pray this in the Holy name of Jesus, Amen!

Points for Pondering and for Prayer
Or
Perhaps for Putting Pen to Paper

Have you had your heart broken or your soul bruised by the world; not just everyday struggles but real heartbreak?   Write a paragraph about that heartbreak.

If you have had your heart broken, when it happened was reaching out to God, the first thing you did?
If it was, was that helpful? Write a paragraph about why and how it was helpful.
If it wasn’t helpful, write about that.

If reaching out to God was not the first thing you did, what did you do first? Write a bit about that.
Why do you think reaching out to God was not the first thing you did?

Have you struggled with believing that God’s love and acceptance of you is unconditional?
If you have, do you know why you struggle with that idea? Write a bit about that.
Do you think that if you could believe, you would love yourself more or more effortlessly? Write about why or why not

Do you understand how not being able to believe the magnitude of God’s love is disrespecting God’s word and disrespecting the sacrifice He made for us in allowing Jesus to die to redeem our sin?
If you believe you understand, write a few sentences explaining it in your own words.

Have you ever believed that God cannot love you unconditionally because you have committed so much sin?
If you have, does it make a difference when you think of the many sinners in the Bible who were forgiven by God? Write a bit about that.