Doug Creamer: Great Love
Published 12:00 am Saturday, March 4, 2017
I often wonder if we understand how much God really loves us. If you have gone to church most of your life, you have read John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever would believe in Him should not parish but have everlasting life.” That means that if you were the only one in the world that needed to be saved, Jesus would have died willingly for you.
God wants a relationship with each one of us. God has already made it clear that He is in it 100%, now He is waiting on our response to His great love. It doesn’t matter how terrible of sinner we are, Jesus bought and paid for our lives with His blood. Even if we think, “God, you sure are getting the short end of the stick,” God does not agree…having a relationship with His children is worth it.
We had a guest speaker visit our church this weekend. We had four services with him, of which I attended three. (I have the tapes from the fourth…) He has a very good sense of humor and because the sessions were kept informal, he interacted with the members of our congregation. We had fun with him and learned more than you can imagine.
What is really interesting about attending a conference at church is that each person receives something different. In a way, it’s like God deposits in each person exactly what they need. This illustrates an important point. We all come to God with various needs and God is so big that He meets each person exactly where they are and speaks directly to their need.
As I said, we kept the sessions informal so he could interact with us as individuals and with the whole group. If he stopped and talked to one person for a moment, it was powerful to watch. He would speak directly to them about a specific point of need. Each interaction with a member was so positive and encouraging. What I heard in the messages as a whole and in the little side conversations was how much God really loves each one of us.
The speaker made it clear that God doesn’t wink at our sins and disobedience. God wants us to repent and live obedient lives. He said that his purpose in coming was not to beat us up over our sins; he figured that we were already doing that to ourselves. He said he thought his purpose for coming was to encourage us, to strengthen our faith, to offer words of comfort to those deep places of hurt in our lives, and to challenge us to a closer walk with God.
The more I listened to him in the sessions and during these little side conversations with members the more I realized how much God truly loves us. Even the words that were intended to spur us on in our walks with God were filled with God’s love. I thought since God is love that it made sense that His words to us would be filled with His character…love.
I believe God loves us more than we can comprehend. I also believe that He forgives us more quickly and easily than we forgive ourselves. I am also convinced that God is more intimately acquainted with every detail of our lives than any of us could imagine. I don’t know why we are surprised, I mean, if He knows how many hairs we have on our heads…He knows about everything.
I believe that God wants us to pray and talk with Him about all the details of our lives. I also believe He wants us to be bolder as we ask for the salvation of friends and loved ones. Our prayers change things in heaven and God needs and wants us praying for the lost. I also believe we need to become bold about asking for healing and miracles to confirm God’s word. I think God is looking for opportunities to demonstrate His power but we are failing to ask Him.
I am writing today to encourage you to strengthen your faith in God’s love for you. I also want to encourage you to turn up the intensity on your prayer life. I believe you and I have favor with God because we have been bought with Jesus’ blood. We should use that favor to win souls, to bring healing to the broken-hearted, to open the eyes of the blind, and to set the captives free. The most powerful tool we all have in our hearts to begin this work is God’s love.
Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com
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