Love!

Love!

May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ. 2 Thessalonians 3:5 NLT

As I read today's  extract, one thing seems to strike me from the very start: God has a destination  in mind for all that He has created. He doesn't waste resources,  and there is no human being  alive with no plan and purpose.  You may not yet have known it, but God wants to bring all of us into an experience of who He is and what He can do. Paul's  prayer here is therefore  very instructive: the one way into the discovery  of God's  purpose for my life  is for me to respond to God's leading  and directing. God never stops speaking, leading, helping  or directing. His love is the type that does not let go.

God has to lead my heart into an understanding and  expression  of His love. My feeble human heart  cannot comprehend  it on it's own. Sin has dealt  with my sensitivity  to the things of the Spirit, but God holds out his hands daily, creating the right environment  for me to return to Him. He will not force Himself  on me; but He will not let go until He has to let go. That understanding  is both a comfort and a burden: comfort that when I come to Him, he will accept me and clean me up, and make my life a living expression of the same love I received. A burden because if I reject Him, I will have no one to blame but myself. Please note: it is impossible  for a man to come to God unless God draws him near. The prayer here is therefore fundamental  to all I will ever become, and my response is: God, help me to respond to you as you seek to lead me. May I not be deceived by the tokens and comforts of men.

And there is another dimension: the patient endurance that comes from Christ. I do not know what you may have been told when you responded to God's  invitation, but a part of that call is a call to endurance and patience.  Is there anywhere in the bible that God promises easy living? What He promises are His presence and power, and if I will be all He has created and gifted me to be, those are all I need. Trials will come, the wind will blow, the storms will rise, but God's presence predates any of those experiences.

I have a clear understanding of who I am and who i belong to and serve, and that helps me stand in the face of the most pressing of circumstances. All through  my life, I look forward to each day, certain that no matter what happens, I am safe in God's hands and will end well. That is the definition  of the love I have received, and the love that keeps me till the Lord returns for me. What  kind of love holds your heart? His time of favour is here.