Loved and accepted!
Verse for Today: Sunday, December 15, 2013
John 14:18 – I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
The feeling of being an orphan is a formidable experience in life. When one is abandoned, ignored and rejected by the dearest and the nearest, it leads to the deepest sense of loss and depravity. When we are not accepted by our own family, home, church, work place and neighborhood, it is a devastating experience. It shatters us emotionally when no one cares for us and show love and compassion. It leaves us to struggle in life with the deepest desire to belong to somewhere and to someone. But the world denies us of such experience of belongingness because it shows us love basically with selfish motives. Our search for true acceptance often plunges us into deep despair. It is a stage when there is no one to understand and support us in our struggles. We feel friendless, lonely, isolated, insulated and cornered. Then our enemy starts to bark at us and spread false stories about our hopeless future. In seasons like this, we desperately need an anchor which is our Lord Jesus. Today His words of comfort and strength come to fortify us to look to the future with great hope that the Lord is there for us. He has assured us that no matter who forsakes us, He will not abandon us because we are His precious possession. He values us so much because He poured out His very life and blood to purchase us for now and eternity. He lifts us up at in our dark valleys and tells us that He will not leave us as orphans. When we listen to His voice, the feeling of being forsaken will vanish. This was the experience Paul had when he was in the prison and in a storm in the middle of the sea. Daniel, David, Joseph and Jeremiah faced such abandonment, but the presence of the Lord was with them which strengthened them to continue to do what the Lord has entrusted with them.
Dear friend, are you feeling lonely and abandoned in life? Have your kith and kin forsaken you because of the stand you have taken for Jesus? His words come to comfort and encourage you today and reassure you that you are not alone. When you meditate on His promises, He will reveal Himself in glory to your heart and give you fellowship. There is no shadow of turning with our Lord. He will fill your heart with the feeling of being loved, possessed, led, strengthened, comforted, guided and held in His everlasting arms. When you feel lonely, the place to go is the presence of the Lord. When you feel all alone, the person to go to is the Lord Jesus. He is there is speak to you and fill you with the richness of His fellowship. His Spirit will fill you with the peace that passes all understanding. His Word will fill you with His potent promises. His angels will encompass around you and put a firewall of safety around you. When the eyes of the servant of Prophet Elisha were opened, he was able to see horses and chariots of fire. If we look through our eyes opened by the Lord, we will be able to see such firewalls around us. So there is no need for us to be frustrated. Even when we do not know, the Lord is at work to fill the vacuums in our lives. The Lord will come to us at the very hour of need to take away the feeling of loneliness. He is always there to fill our hearts with Himself and take away the feeling of being an orphan.
Psalms 68:6 – God sets the lonely in families, He leads forth the prisoners with singing.
Thought for Today
God’s children are part of God’s large heavenly family where He is our Father who makes all of us accepted in the Beloved Jesus.
Prayer for Today
Dear Lord Jesus: Help me to look unto You and feel accepted for what I am into Your heavenly family. Amen!
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