Dear Jesus,
I have so very much for which to be grateful. You've given me such riches: family, friends, a home, a job to pay for it, food and drinkable water in abundance, reliable transportation, access to adequate health care, and so many more things that I take for granted every single day.
But all these pale in comparison with the eternal spiritual blessings you have poured out on me.
I've been thinking a lot about what happened when I passed from a living death to a living life, complete in You in spite of my keen awareness of my own insufficiency. I know that in my own human strength, there is absolutely nothing I can do to make any kind of change within me, as much as I try. It's just not part of my human nature. I fail every day... sometimes several times a day.
Yet ... You call me Yours!! You were the chief Agent in my adoption into our Father's family. He calls me His daughter. Your Spirit lives inside of me. You think about me, listen for my heart's voice, and You are FOR ME. Constantly. Whether I fail You or not (and I fail You more often than not) our Father sees me as holy and blameless before Him ... because of You. He dotes on me. He watches me with joy even when I am doing absolutely nothing, just because I am His. He is filled with so much joy that He sings over me (Zeph. 3:17). Because of You, Jesus, I can have that totally dependent relationship on Him and I can know He is thrilled by me even when I am sleeping. Just like I tenderly watched my own sleeping babes ... so does He.
I am overwhelmed!!
I cannot begin to fathom why He would choose me in You before the foundation of the world... but He - and You - did. I can barely grasp the concept that You would love me beyond what I could ask or even imagine. And as You very well know, I can imagine a LOT.
Thank You. I can't begin to thank You enough! Thank You that You finished, once and for all, the sin question. The moment You cried out, "It is FINISHED!" that settled it! Sins - past, present, and future, from every person that had ever lived or who would ever live - all gathered together in one moment of time and You cancelled the debt, Jesus. PAID IN FULL.
This is not some head-in-the-clouds, esoteric, or abstract concept. It's REAL. As real as the breath that I breathe. This marvelous truth - the truth of Your forgiveness - is so real, so present, that before I even become aware that I've messed up, You've already forgiven me...eons ago. To You, past, present, and future are all the same. In Eternity past You died for me. At Calvary You died for me. And throughout the Ages to come, You are the Slain Lamb standing for me. I am clean - whiter and more pure than snowflakes - not because of anything that I have done. It's all YOU. All I need do is thank You for that forgiveness that is already mine ... because of YOU.
And that's the thing. Thank You SO MUCH that it's not anything that I've done or ever will do. I know me; I would brag, Jesus, even if I only got ONE thing right! I'd get all proud of myself. But You did it all.
I open myself, all that I am, to being known by You, to getting to know You more and more deeply. I truly could spend the rest of my life, the rest of eternity ... and it still wouldn't be enough time or intensity to worship You and thank You for this incredible gift.
We ... are family, You and I. And it's all. Your. doing.
Such unspeakable joy! Hall-e-lu-JAH!!
I have so very much for which to be grateful. You've given me such riches: family, friends, a home, a job to pay for it, food and drinkable water in abundance, reliable transportation, access to adequate health care, and so many more things that I take for granted every single day.
But all these pale in comparison with the eternal spiritual blessings you have poured out on me.
I've been thinking a lot about what happened when I passed from a living death to a living life, complete in You in spite of my keen awareness of my own insufficiency. I know that in my own human strength, there is absolutely nothing I can do to make any kind of change within me, as much as I try. It's just not part of my human nature. I fail every day... sometimes several times a day.
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| Photo "Loving Father And His Baby" courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at www.freedigitalphotos.net |
I am overwhelmed!!
I cannot begin to fathom why He would choose me in You before the foundation of the world... but He - and You - did. I can barely grasp the concept that You would love me beyond what I could ask or even imagine. And as You very well know, I can imagine a LOT.
Thank You. I can't begin to thank You enough! Thank You that You finished, once and for all, the sin question. The moment You cried out, "It is FINISHED!" that settled it! Sins - past, present, and future, from every person that had ever lived or who would ever live - all gathered together in one moment of time and You cancelled the debt, Jesus. PAID IN FULL.
This is not some head-in-the-clouds, esoteric, or abstract concept. It's REAL. As real as the breath that I breathe. This marvelous truth - the truth of Your forgiveness - is so real, so present, that before I even become aware that I've messed up, You've already forgiven me...eons ago. To You, past, present, and future are all the same. In Eternity past You died for me. At Calvary You died for me. And throughout the Ages to come, You are the Slain Lamb standing for me. I am clean - whiter and more pure than snowflakes - not because of anything that I have done. It's all YOU. All I need do is thank You for that forgiveness that is already mine ... because of YOU.
And that's the thing. Thank You SO MUCH that it's not anything that I've done or ever will do. I know me; I would brag, Jesus, even if I only got ONE thing right! I'd get all proud of myself. But You did it all.
I open myself, all that I am, to being known by You, to getting to know You more and more deeply. I truly could spend the rest of my life, the rest of eternity ... and it still wouldn't be enough time or intensity to worship You and thank You for this incredible gift.
We ... are family, You and I. And it's all. Your. doing.
Such unspeakable joy! Hall-e-lu-JAH!!
Beautiful words!! Thank you!!
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