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God's Words For US
by Cecelia Lester
The Love of Jesus Strengths Us
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecutions or famines or nakedness or danger or swords? As it is written:
‘For your sake, we face death all day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Romans 8:35-37 (NIV)
“For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39(NIV)
In doing research for this month’s blog topics, I came across this passage. These words have become seared into my heart.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
These words would make anyone stop and ponder them. Have we had times that we were somewhat afraid of going through a circumstance or an event? I admit I have. But we can always call out to God and He will answer that concern.
“Shall trouble or hardship or persecutions or famines or nakedness or danger or swords?”
Jesus is called Man of Sorrows because he personally faced times of trouble, persecution, nakedness, and swords. He experienced all the harshness life had to give during the years He preached to, taught and healed those who came to Him.
‘For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’
This is how this reads in The Message: “They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick you off one by one.”
In the next sentence, the text says, “None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us.”
(Again, this from the Message)
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Paul reminds the Roman believers that they are conquerors because Jesus loves us.
How can we demonstrate His love to others?
I remember when I had a large issue in my life. I told people I wanted to ‘survive’ it. That was the buzzword going around our worldly society then. I made some major changes in my life; one day I was reminded of this verse and how it applied to my circumstance. I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I realized I wanted to conquer those issues with Jesus’ guidance.
“For I am convinced. . . .”
Paul gives an answer to the question he posed a few verses before. He states that nothing will have the power over us to separate us from the love of that Jesus has for us.
He lists six different circumstances life can bring to us. But none of these can keep us away from God’s love.
1. “life or death,”
2. “angels or demons”,
3. “the present or the future,”
4. “any powers”
5. “height or depth,”
6. “anything else in all creation.”
Again, let’s look at what The Message says about this list of scenarios:
“I am absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—can get between us and God’s love because of the way Jesus our Master has embraced us.”
Like Paul, I believe God loves us because He made us and nothing I have done nor will nothing I will ever do cause Him to love us less than he did when he created you and me.
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Cecelia Lester has been serious about her writing for over two decades..
She composes Christian essays and posts them to her blog quietspirit-followingmyking.blogspot.com/
She has served in a faith-based organization, Grace In Action by writing two newsletters and searching for possible grants.
In July 2017, she published her first book, 'Times of Trouble Bring Rays of Joy.'
She and her husband of 54 years live in central Indiana. They have one grown son.
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