Affirmation Continued

 On Tuesday I talked about how God loves and affirms of us even when we feel like absolute failures, even when we make messes, even when we can't seem to get anything right.  That's most days for me. LOL

Yesterday, I got two separate affirmations of this truth.  I believe our loving Father is truly trying to hammer this home into our hearts.  He wants this truth as a firm foundation to our faith....the truth of His love and approval, even when we make mistakes, act like jerks (like I did last night)....His love never fails and He never looks at us with hate or malice.  

Listening to a Joyce Meyer podcast as I ran on Tuesday after writing the previous post, everything I put in that post that I had felt the Lord speaking to me, he confirmed.  Just hitting the highlights of what Joyce said:  He sees your heart, knows and approves of your desire to please Him.  She used the example of anger...which is a huge issue for me, so I really felt like this was especially for me to hear.  The right word at the right time...only God makes that happen!  Time spent in prayer, study, worship...all of this is how God works in us...we can do nothing without Jesus.  She also went on to say we are not to be in a hurry, but to enjoy where we are with the Lord.  He is working, in His time.          

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.   (from the Amplified Bible).  We are to be patient with ourselves, God likes us!  

Second affirmation came again from the Thanksgiving devotional I am reading at night.  Joyce entitled it "Respect and Value Yourself."  It went onto say we are to be at peace with ourselves, celebrating our strengths and giving our weaknesses over to God.  He will be glorified when He works through or removes them, as we allow His Presence and Power to lead our hearts and lives.  Again, we don't live sloppy, selfish, sin filled lives, but we don't hate ourselves for not being perfect or living up to some standard that is impossible for us, in our humanness to attain.  Even Paul said in Ephesians 3:12-14 12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

The Thanksgiving devotional by Joyce Meyer was copyrighted in 2014.  The podcast was from October of this year.  Now only God can put those type of "coincidences" together!  LOL 

Lord, we come to You as fallen and falling human beings and we thank You  for the love You shower on us, even as we falter and fail.  Thank You so much that Your love is forever, and Your mercy is new every morning.  Let us love ourselves and be at peace with ourselves even as we lean into You to help us grow and change.  Lord, let us not condemn ourselves, but accept Your conviction and forgiveness as we look forward to the next level You are bringing us to.  Thank You for affirming You love and approval of us, even when we get it wrong...No, we know You may not like with we do, but You always see us through eyes of love.  And You see us as the complete person we are becoming in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Lord, I don't know who (besides me) really needed to hear this today, but I pray they will believe and stand firm on this truth, this foundation of Your love.  I pray this in our Savior's Name.  Jesus Christ our Lord!  Amen

Trust God's love.