God wants you back.

 If you have ever had a son or daughter who turned against you and disappeared, you know what heartache feels like. 

Jesus told a story about a young man who claimed his inheritance while his rich father was still alive and travelled to a foreign country. There was no internet and there were no mobile phones. The father did not mount a search party but every day he went out and looked down the road to see if his son would come back. 

One day he looked out and he actually saw his son in the distance.

I don't want to share personal family secrets but I know what this father went through.

Jesus also told a story of a farmer with 100 sheep. One sheep ran away and was lost. The farmer left his 99 sheep behind and searched for his lost sheep until he found it and took it home.

Today I read a news story about a young couple who went for a holiday on Kangaroo Island off the coast of Australia. They took their one year old pet dachshund with them. One day their beloved Valerie escaped and disappeared into the bush.

They were heartbroken and after searching for 5 days, they had to return home without their pet. The people on the island were very compassionate and deeply concerned. They searched with video cameras and drones for over a year. 

A farmer set up a trap with food for Valerie’s owners were afraid their spoilt house dog might not survive in wild country where snakes and other predators were a constant danger. Finally, a strong, muscular little dog got into the trap. The farmer saw Valerie on his remote video camera and pushed the button to shut the door and lock her in.

Valerie’s owners were beside themselves with joy to get their Valerie back. They had a pet cat and two other dogs but they loved Valerie like their own child.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NRSVue

If you are not in a personal relationship with Father God, He wants you back. He will stop at nothing to win your trust.

(Jesus said…) “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jn 10:11 NRSVue

If you are not sure you believe, you might be like Valerie, the little dog that panicked and went wild. If you are not sure, you can talk to God. 

“If you are real and you do love me, please help me to believe.”

God wants to forgive you, to love and care for you.

If Christians have bullied you, abused you, or betrayed you, God did not do it.

For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Lk 19:10 NRSVue

God's Love like Mother and Father

 We have a lovely baby granddaughter. She is nearly 9 months old. She is so wonderfully loved and cared for. Our son and his wife adore her, and they care for her with all of their heart, all their soul and all of their strength. 

She is a really happy child because she is so loved and cared for. If only all babies were loved and cared for like her. When I think about this, I feel sad for all the babies who don’t have this kind of love and care. 

It is often not the fault of the mother. The mother is overwhelmed by economic pressures, relationship tensions, other children to manage. She has to go back to work when the baby is only two or three months old because she needs the income to pay the rent or the mortgage. 

As I thought about this, I felt God was telling me that he loves me with the kind of love that our granddaughter is loved. He delights in me. He does not focus on my faults. He cares for me with deep devotion. He wants me to be aware of this and respond to his love.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 Jn 4:10 NIV

Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. 

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” 
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Is 49:13–16 NIV

World Religions. Only in the Bible

 Jesus and the world religions.

Only in the Bible will you find an almighty God who loves you from His heart.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 Jn 4:16 NIV

The God in the Koran is Creator and Judge, but in the Islamic scriptures there is no Father God.

And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 
For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. Lk 12:29–30 NIV

Only in the Bible will you find an almighty God who loves all people.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, 
who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Only in the Bible will you find an almighty God who loves his enemies. 1 Tim 2:3–4 NIV

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Lk 23:34 NIV

This is what Jesus prayed when he was hanging on the cross and dying.

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Rom  5:10 NIV

Only in the Bible do we find an eternal, almighty Father God who sacrifices his eternal Son to pay our debt so that we may have eternal heavenly life through repentance and faith.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 6:23 NIV

God's Heart Burns for You

God only wants the best for every person on earth. God created you for a good purpose, and his purpose is always good.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Gen 1:27 NIV

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Gen 1:31 NIV

But the first man and woman messed up God's plan by believing the enemy's lies instead of trusting God.

You and I have also messed up God's plan. We, too, have given in to temptations and believed lies. We have all gone astray.

Nevertheless, God does not love us any less.

If we are not kind and faithful, that cannot change the character of God, because…

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 Jn 4:8 NIV

God is love. He created you because He loves you. He loved you before the creation of the world.

He loved you when you were conceived and when you were born, and he still loves you.

If you were conceived unintentionally in a car or hotel room, you were still wanted by God.

And if you were raised in the worst witchcraft imaginable?

That was nothing but a challenge for God's love, because God's heart burns for you. Nothing can extinguish the fire of his love.

If you were not only abused but also led astray as a child, it was not your fault.
God loves abused children.

In the Bible, we find a man with a terrible past. We don’t know his name.
 
Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him.
He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” Mk 5:5–7 NIV

He was so confused that he could not distinguish his own thoughts from the voices of the devils, and he was possessed by hundreds of demons.

But the demons could not resist the command of Jesus. When the demons were gone, he trusted Jesus with all his heart.

For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” Mk 5:8–9 NIV

Not only was the man freed from the devils, but, amazingly, he was no longer mentally ill.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Mk 5:18 NIV

Then Jesus said something quite unexpected.

Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Mk 5:19 NIV

But the man did not just talk to his family.

So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them. Mk 5:20 NLT

Jesus healed a dangerous psychotic man and set him free to evangelise his entire region.

Before this man began preaching, the people demanded that Jesus leave their area.
When Jesus came back, crowds of people came to him. Many were converted.

It may be that you have experienced rejection and bullying for years. Perhaps your life is plagued by illness or depression. Even if you are cursed with witchcraft, sexual abuse or drug addiction, you are still important and valuable in God's eyes.

God wants to give you a future and a new hope.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jer 29:11 NKJV

Personal Love of God

 In the Old Testament we read how God loved Israel.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Is 49:14–15 NIV

Who is God talking about here? God speaks of his love for Israel, for the Jews. If you are Jewish, you can understand this declaration of love very personally.

But I am not Jewish and probably neither are you. Jesus loves us no less than the Jews.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

God loves the whole world, but what does that mean for you?

God loves everyone, but you are not just a specimen of humanity. God loves you personally.

God loved Abraham, Moses, David, Mary, John and Paul personally, but you are not a shining saint, are you?

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 Jn 3:1 NRSV

If all genuinely converted Christians are children of God, then as a follower of Jesus you are also a child of God.  

Then you can understand all of God's declarations of love in the Bible as His love for you.
Of course, when God explains how He loves the Jews, He is talking about the Jews.

But God loves you no less, because God is love.

It is often said that God has no favourite children.
Is that true? No.

Every child of God is His favourite child.

I am God's favourite child and you are also God's favourite child.

God also wants to bless you, help you, heal you when you are sick, because you are his favourite child.

Jesus took the punishment for all your sins on the cross. When we entrust our lives to Jesus, he no longer sees our sins.

For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God's goodness into us! 2 Cor 5:21 (Today's Living Bible)

Shortly before his death on the cross, Jesus told his disciples:

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. Jn 15:9 NRSV

And Jesus loves you with the same love.

Reconciled with the God of Love

 If you are in any kind of need, you must know that God loves you.
Because God loves you, He wants to help you. His love comes from His heart, but His help is also totally practical.
 
‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Is 41:10 NASB95
 
This text is for all those who know God personally. He always stands by his children, for he is the faithful Father in heaven. He never abandons his sons and daughters.
 
    But if you don't know God personally, then you need his help all the more. God Himself has made a way for you to find Him if you are spiritually blind and have no relationship with your Creator.

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Is 59:1–2 NIV

 But despite our estrangement from Him, whereby we have become spiritually blind and like orphans, God still loves us and wants to reconcile us to Himself.
 
The word ‘reconcile’ means that He wants to receive us as His sons (or daughters).
 
Many of us have a longing for God's love.

The German poet Schiller summarised this longing beautifully.

‘Brothers above the stars must dwell a dear Father.’

Perhaps you  cherish a feeling in your heart that you must be a child of the universe.
But God is not the universe. He created the universe and He loves you personally. God wants to give you something much better.

God loves you and understands you. God wants you to know Him, to know Him as a person; and for you to know that you have a heavenly home and belong to a heavenly family.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus was God in heaven, who chose to be born as a human being, to live among us humans as a human being and to sacrifice himself to death as a human being.

Why?

He was executed on the cross in order to bear the punishment we deserve for our sins. Our debt is paid!

Now you can get to know God.

You no longer need to be separated from your heavenly Father because of your guilt. Everything is forgiven if you want to receive God's wonderful grace and boundless love.
You can never earn God's love and grace.

You can never pay your debt.

No amount of virtue or repentance can persuade God to accept you. He wants to receive you as his child.
 
Jesus said 2000 years ago and he is still saying to you today:

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 
Mt 11:28 NASB95

He reads your thoughts like a book, but He doesn't want to be a threatening policeman. He wants to be like your father or your mother or your best friend.
   
Just tell him the thoughts that are in your heart. He understands your heart and your language.

God Heals Broken Hearts

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3 (ESV) 

God is our loving heavenly Father. 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (ESV) 

If you don’t love Jesus, He still loves you as His child but you are estranged from His love. Oil and water just don’t mix. God’s Holy love cannot mix with our selfish mistrustful nature. 

God sacrificed His only Son in heaven to win you back to Himself. When you and I live according to our faulty human nature, we get hurt and we hurt others without even trying. The world is full of broken hearted people. Our dear Father in heaven wants so much to heal our broken hearts but He is waiting for us to come to Him and trust Him.

If you really know Jesus, you cannot help but love Him. You have experienced His love and encouragement but He wants something from you. He wants you to look and see who is broken hearted. He wants to go with you to comfort and heal broken people.