“THIS IS HOW MUCH GOD LOVED THE WORLD: He gave his Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.” (John 3:16-17 MSG)

Many people around us believe that God loves everyone on planet earth. YES, it’s very true! But, not everyone knows the true essence of His love and how He powerfully demonstrated His great love for mankind.

If our perception of His love for us is based on the practical exhibited goodness in our lives, then we are putting our feet on a temporary footstool. Our lives will go on a roller coaster ride with unexpected highs and lows that suctions our attention and affection. “We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)

Have you ever asked yourself this question, “Does God love me?”, just because you did not get what you prayed for or you may find your not that as what you expected it to be.

For us to be founded on the Rock that cannot be shaken, we are to get into the knowledge of how God demonstrated His great love for you and me. When He gave His Son, His one and only begotten and beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to all of us, He did it because He soooo loved us and He ultimately desired to help us back into His loving arms again, free from sin, guilt and condemnation. He found it absolutely fitting to put the world right again. He wanted us to come boldly before His throne where His loving arms are waiting, desperate to embrace and clothe us with His love. He longed for us to once again be His people and Him being our God. He loves us deeply that He set His heart for us to become His sons and daughters whom He can lavish us with all that He is, just as He originally created and intended for us to be. Yes, this is how loved we are by our Father.

But have we ever thought of what Jesus had to go through to pay the price for us to be reconciled back? He was fully obedient to the Father when He said, “Not My will but Yours be done.”, taken into consideration how He would get whipped beyond recognition. The details of His scourging was a horrible scene. The flagellum was a whip with several thongs or strands, each perhaps as much as three feet long, and the strands were weighted with lead balls or pieces of bone. This instrument was designed to lacerate with scourges even to the innermost veins and arteries, so that the hidden inward parts of the body. The weighed thongs struck the skin so violently that it broke open. In addition to this, He knew how He would get crowned with thorns plunged into His skull, His beard pulled off His face, nails hammered into His hands and feet, His side pierced, how He would get mocked and ridiculed, and yet He was readily willing to go through anything, having you and I in His mind, being one with Him and the Father again, AND that gave Him JOY to endure.

He fully paid the price, fully paid the ransom of His own life so we can be free, we can be whole, we can be at peace, and most importantly we will revelatory know and be assured without a shadow of doubt that “my God loves ME!”

God’s love is way beyond comprehension. And because of what Jesus did, He gave us this position where He is more eager to answer than we are to ask. He is more eager to bless us than we want to be blessed. He is more eager to heal us than we want to be healed. He is more eager to prosper us than we want to be prospered. He is more eager to strengthen us than we want to be strong. He is the Great I AM, thus, whatever we need, HE IS.

We still live in a fallen and disfigured world all because of what happened in the Garden of Eden. But, God’s plan was not to keep us fallen and disfigured. It is in His ultimate agenda to restore us, not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God. His redemptive solution is not about what we can do, for left on our own, we are nothing. He deposited in each one of us a measure of faith which was established by Abraham, who was called to be the father of faith, who against all hope believed and became the father of many nations in spite of him who faced the fact that his body was as good as dead–since he was about a hundred years old–and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.

Because God is rich in mercy and abounding in love, men and women from every corner of the earth are not only declared right, but ultimately ARE MADE RIGHT as well. He gave us this too-good-to-be-true invitation which can only be availed by grace through faith, not by our own works and effort, lest man shall boast. By putting our faith in Jesus and making Him as our “Lord and Savior”, we become part of Abraham’s faith family.

Our salvation happens through God’s absolute actions as His demonstrated the power of love in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Who was crucified for our unrighteousness and lawless deeds and raised to repair and restore what has been wrong all along.

When we say “YES” to God’s love-filled invitation to believe in the One Whom He sent, Jesus, we get re-instituted back into the reality of being in the Garden of Eden before the fall, where we walk and talk with Him in the cool of the day without inhibitions and restrictions. We can come BOLDLY before the throne of His grace to obtain mercy and find grace in time of need. This is the hope that we have in Him, the hope that will never fail to satisfy our deepest need because the Holy Spirit that was given to us has flooded our hearts with God’s love.

“Since we have been acquitted and made right through faith, we are able to experience true and lasting peace with God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King.  Jesus leads us into a place of radical grace where we are able to celebrate the hope of experiencing God’s glory.” (Romans 5:2)

The greatest gift our Heavenly Father gave was the GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS that we may reign in life through Jesus Christ. Having eternal peace with Him Who created us in love for Himself is what needs to be daily treasured and celebrated. Gone are the days when we carefully examine ourselves if we are worthy enough to come to Him Who we believe as our Father, and find unrighteousness in us that steals our peace and joy of being in union with Him in His presence. Instead, we look to Jesus and His finished work, His suffering, death and resurrection that sealed us in right standing with our Father 24/7 by acknowledging Jesus and all that has been paid for at the cross. What He paid for, we haven’t scratched the surface yet how deep and lasting these treasures of inheritance are.

“For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).” (Romans 5:17 AMPC)

This is THE reason why we celebrate GOOD FRIDAY! Our GOOD, GOOD Father gave His One and Only Begotten and Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, so that we who believe and receive Him shall have and enjoy the GOOD life that He has in store for us, for all GOOD things come from Him Who is GOOD and Who is ALWAYS in a GOOD MOOD, ever ready to show forth His GOODNESS to all who believe.

If we are to remember one thing today, let it be … “Think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed HIS POWERFUL LOVE TO US IN A TANGIBLE WAY—the Anointed One died for us.  As a result, the blood of Jesus has made us right with God now, and certainly we will be rescued by Him from God’s wrath in the future.” (Romans 5:8-9 Voice)

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You, for the plans that You have for us, plans to prosper us and never to harm us, to give us a hope and a beautiful future, all because You gave us the Darling of Heaven, Your only Begotten and Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Lord and Savior, that we may experientially know You and the power of Your love, empowering us to live a heaven-on-earth life just as You intended us to live.

Thank You, Jesus, for saying “Yes” to the Father, having His will done, fully obedient even to the point of death, for the JOY that was set before You, seeing us secured and restored back into an intimate relationship with You and the Father. Come, Lord Jesus, and make Yourself known to me in the most tangible way as my Lord and Savior.

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for unveiling our eyes to see the beauty and power of God’s love that we may live a life that is surely founded at the cross. Though we may have ups and downs before and around us, but our hearts are steady, strong and confident in the truth that IN CHRIST we have PEACE, not as the world gives, but it is having PEACE with God that produces a steadiness in our walk with You, You, never leaving us nor forsaking us, nor leaving us helpless or without support. In You we are assured that only and surely Your goodness and mercy shall hunt us down all the days of our lives. Amen!