Beloved!

Jer.31:3 (NIV) “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

Do not let defeat define you. Let God’s love define you. You need to be resolved, settled in God’s love and let that define you. You are not defined by defeat. You are defined by the love of your Father and your Maker. Let God’s love define you; build your worth on who God says you are. Do not build your worth on your job. Do not build your worth on your bank account. Do not build your worth on how beautiful your wife is. Do not build your worth on your children. Do not build your worth on the car you drive. Build your worth on God’s love.

Luke 1:28 (NIV) “The angel went to Mary and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favoured!  The Lord is with you.’” (emphasis added). In the original that term highly favoured is the term used for kings and royalty. When people say highly favoured, they are hailing the king, highly loaded, highly empowered, highly favoured. And an angel was saying to Mary, highly favoured; how do you think she felt? If a man says to you, highly favoured, you will feel he is flattering you. But an angel says, I have come from the Lord and you are highly favoured. God is saying to you and me, highly favoured. God says you are highly favoured and that is how we should see ourselves. 

Eph.1:4 (MSG) “Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love.” (emphasis added). I love this translation. Before the foundations of the earth were laid, before the earth was created, God has been focused on you and me. We are the focus of His love. I want you to focus on this scripture and make it your meditation for the next couple of days. If you do this, your life will change. It would not matter what people say to you. It would not matter who accepts you or who does not accept you. It would not matter really because you would be enamelled in God’s love.

The truth is that whether you are tall, short, light, dark, skinny, fat, rich or not so rich right now, or you are in between. Whatever it is, God loves you and that should be comforting. God loves you, He does. I want you to stay here for a while and just think about God’s love for you. Personalise it, own it – God loves me. The way I personalise this is, I say to myself God loves me so much, He named me God loves me so that I will never forget that God loves me. 

Prayer (song): Your love is kind. Your love is patient. You fill my heart with so much peace and joy. You’re amazing, You make my life feel brand new (2x), Jesus, You love me… Amen!