He Loves You Anyway

Do you have those days when you wonder if God still loves you? Come and learn the depth of His love for you.

Romans 8:31-39 & Luke 15:11-32

I’m a big Law and Order, and crime show buff. In many of these shows there are often incidents of domestic abuse. In many cases, even though the woman is battered they often goes back to the abuser. When asked why they are going back they often say, “Because I love him.” They chose to believe that their abuser loves them and didn’t mean it and will never abuse them again.

There are women and men who take the abuse be it physical or emotional because they love that person beyond what they do to them. They love them anyway.

When you think of the prodigal son, he intentional disobeyed the desires of his father. He walked away and went off and did everything he was big and bad enough to do. But we see in this story that even after he came back home his father rolled out the red carpet for him. Because while he wandered off – his father loved him anyway.

This morning, in my devotion today, I was thanking God for salvation and all of the blessing He has bestowed on me. I began to thank Him for forgiving me when I made mistakes in the past and those I have made recently. The Lord spoke a word that I will not forget. He said, “Some of the things you did were mistakes, but some were decisions you made.” Mistakes are unintentional, but decisions are intentional. Then He said, “But I loved you anyway.”

While I may have disobeyed God intentionally, He loved me anyway. But I’ve come to this point in my life that while He loves me anyway, I want to love Him intentionally and not take His grace for granted.

So, I encourage you to know that while you may feel sometimes you have not done all you can do. God loves you anyway. You may have missed God. He loves you anyway. You may feel like giving up in the fight. He loves you anyway. God loves us anyway.

You Are Built To Last

Welcome to Abba's Daughter Blog. This is a place to find inspiration, information, and encouragement to propel you to fulfill your God-given purpose and destiny.

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

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In 1998, Ford Motor Co. spent tens of millions of dollars on a new slogan: “Built to Last” and reserved “Built Ford Tough” for the company's pick-up trucks. Both slogans are familiar to us, and both succinctly state what Ford vehicles deliver: quality, power and reliability.

God told me to remind you that you are Built to Last, and you are Built God Tough.

Life has a way of throwing us many curves. We can be living life and things are going well. And suddenly, we can get a knock on the door, a telephone call or a visit to the doctor, a pink slip from a job that will turn our lives upside-down.

It is during those times that many people fall apart and have a nervous breakdown. Many commits suicide.

How strong is your foundation?

But thank God that we who are in Christ have a firm foundation that will hold us together when we want to fall apart, and that foundation is Christ. The Word of God talks about there being 2 types of foundations - sand and rock. The question is "which one are you building on?"

As you know, when a house is being built the foundation is 1st laid. Foundations are the base on which your house will sit. They will be created according to a predetermined plan and must be accurately surveyed and set out.

God has already predetermined your destiny before the foundations of the world. He knew you before your mother and father knew each other. God told Jeremiah, "I knew you before you were in your mother's womb." He knew what He was going create you to become. He knew the temperament, the knowledge, the ability that He had predetermined for you to become. So, He built you to last. He built you on purpose with purpose.

Errors in the foundation of a build project could have serious ramifications, and in worst case scenarios, could involve a completed project being demolished. So, if your foundation is built on anything but Christ, it will fail and will cause the serious ramifications that a house would have if the foundation is not laid properly.

Before Christ our foundation was cracking, and our foundation was not secure. While we looked good on the outside - our inside was not secure. But when we gave our lives to Christ He came and gave us a new foundation - Himself. If any man be in Christ, He is a new creature.

He came and took those old parts (bitterness, hatred, hurt, disappoint, selfish ambitions, greed, etc.) and replaced them with love, gentleness, meekness, longsuffering, temperance, joy, peace, and faithfulness.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4: 7-9, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

2 Corinthians 4:16 "…Though the outward man perish the inner man is renew every day.

So remember, when test, trials and tribulation come the excellency of the power is of God and not us, and that we are BUILT TO LAST, and you are BUILT GOD TOUGH.

Your Pain is Your Platform

What you are going through may feel like a mountain that will not move. The pain may be excruciating, but what you are going through is a platform for you to show forth the glory of God in the earth.

Romans 5:3-5 (The Message) There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Nobody that I know enjoy going through trouble (no matter the reward). I don’t like being sick. I don’t like having to go through financial trouble. I don’t like to see my children walking outside of the will of God. I don’t like seeing my family member sick. I don’t like seeing my husband going through trouble. I don’t like it when a love one dies. I don’t like it when people say mean and untrue things about me. I don’t like when people dislike me for no reason. I DON’T LIKE PAIN.

When we think of pain, we think of something that is unpleasant and uncomfortable. When you think of a platform you picture a raised level surface on which people or things can stand. It is a place that puts you at a higher elevation.

However, one may ask how can pain be our platform? Everything that we go through (good and bad) is that the glory of God be revealed. Paul tells us in Romans 8:18 “ … that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” For every painful situation we endure, God will get the glory out of it. The Bible tells us that ‘ALL THINGS work together for the good of them who love God and who are the called according to His purpose.” Our pain will elevate us into places so that we can proclaim who God not ourselves. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 say, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Pressure produces great things. Gold and silver must be pressed to make jewelry. There’s a process used in making diamonds called crushing that is done below-ground mining facilities. In order to get wine, the grapes must be crushed. In order to get olive oil, the seed must be crushed.

For God’s glory to be revealed in us there must be a crushing. We will be tried in the fire. If we never had a problem, we would never know that God can solve them. If we have never been sick, we could not tell anyone that God is a healer. If we never had a need, we could never tell anyone that God is a provider. If God never brought you up and out of something, we could never tell anyone that God is a deliverer! Our pain is our platform to herald the goodness of God in our lives. God wants to use us on the platform of life. He wants to put us on a platform to show His work in our lives. He wants to elevate us to show His glory to a dying world.