To love well as Christians, we must grasp the depths to which love went for us and understand how deeply we are loved. The Bible tells the story of a good Father who passionately loves His children, giving the most valuable possession of heaven to redeem us. Love paid a high price for us.

If we lack faith in the Lord and the promises He has made to us, we are missing out on all He wants to give us. The Lord desires a real relationship with us, one that is trusting and intimate, one that is true and pure. The God of the universe loves you and cares for you unconditionally – don’t you want to please Him by simply placing your faith in Him?

Scripture makes it very clear that as a Christian, you are freely given the authority of Christ and have access to the power of God. You have the legal right to claim the promises of God in His Word and exercise the authority that Jesus has given because of His blood shed on the cross.

Nothing can replace the simple, but personal reality of knowing Jesus for yourself. We live in a culture where it’s easy to hide behind the title “Christian” without really knowing Jesus or having an intimate friendship with the Holy Spirit.

What is God like? He loves to love and be loved. The Bible says God is patient and slow to anger. Matthew 6:8 says that he knows what we need before we even ask him, and still likes to hear us ask. He is both tender and stern. He is a good Father. He is altogether lovely, and none compare with him. He is more humble than we'll ever be. He is encouragement personified, speaking the exact words we need to hear at the exact moment we need them.

God is taking great delight in His anticipation of what He has for us, just beyond that thin veil.

When you start to feel the lies creeping in, call on your helper and friend, the Holy Spirit, and ask Him to give you everything you need to believe the truth. He will meet you there and whisper the truth: that He sees you, loves you, and is for you. We lack nothing; He is everything—the only thing that will ever satisfy.

We become like what we behold. All are invited to come and behold the glory of the Lord. However, even if we aren’t beholding Jesus, we are all beholding something. By nature, we are worshippers. Even though we were created to worship Jesus, if we don’t worship Him we won’t stop worshiping. We are called to worship God because He deserves it, but it’s also because we are called to become like Him.

God promises that He will be with us (Hebrews 13:5), He will protect us (Psalm 91:11), He will be our strength (2 Corinthians 12: 7-10), He will answer us (Jeremiah 33:3), He will provide for us (Matthew 6:30-33), He will give us peace (Philippians 4:6), and NOTHING can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39).

Are you willing to give yourself fully to Jesus? Are you willing to lay aside anything that hinders intimacy with the Father? The Holy Spirit led me to this very question for my own life. For many years, I was not willing, and I reaped the consequences of my actions. I missed out on deep intimacy with the Father.

The more you gaze on the face of Jesus with the eyes of your heart, the more you see who you are becoming. Your passion for Jesus and conviction give you momentum to pursue this one thing, from which all other passions and purposes flow. Your pursuit attracts Heaven to bring you into that destiny. “I am alive to burn for God. I am alive to make Him known.”

How do we learn to live for this Kingdom that is contrary to what we see? How do we not get swept up in the self-absorption, self-preservation, and self-glorification that has completely infested our society?

While Balaam’s story is as dramatic as it is funny, it underscores a great lesson: God’s dealings with us, though far beyond our comprehension, are undergirded by great patience and compassion. Otherwise, if He marked our transgressions, who would stand? If the Lord kept a record of our sins, who could survive? (Psalm 130:3)

Does your life reflect the greatest commandment that we are instructed with — to love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, and mind? Jesus tells Martha that only “one thing” is necessary. This “one thing” is fellowship, oneness, and closeness with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

What if we lived every day from the perspective that it is a miracle that Christ lives in us and we live in Christ? That it’s a miracle that we get to commune with Him while we live on earth? That we have the opportunity to live in union with Christ, to know the Holy Spirit, and listen to him as he guides us on the path of life?

Jesus at the forefront of our minds looks like surrendering the idea that the end goal is to obtain anything this world has to offer. We must shift our perspective to the end goal being to glorify Him and share in the inheritance and salvation He promises to us.

God made us in His image and gave us the ability to speak as well. It’s a wonderful mystery and an absolute gift. It’s what sets us apart from the animals. With this ability comes great responsibility because “death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

Western Christendom tends to lull us into thinking our faith journey ought to always consist of mountaintop experiences. That’s a fallacy. The Bible is replete with heroes of faith whose fame germinated out of the soil of intense pain and suffering. There are no exceptions: those that would drink from the cup of Christ’s glory, must also drink from the cup of His suffering.