grateful love

Monday, May 21, 2018 (6:42 a.m.)

Blessed God,

We love You. We are grateful. And we look to You for guidance.

Mm, yes. Holy God we are so incredibly grateful for Your love. Guide us in using and sharing Your perfect love (1 John 4:16-21) with others.

You amaze me Father. There are times I actively resist being here with You because I have nothing particular to say. Then all I seem to ever have to do is sit gratefully before You and You spur me on to wanting more and more of Your Truth.

Thank You Father. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Thank You for Your love. Your perfect love that calls us to love others (1 John 4:7-8). The more I read in Your Word the deeper the gratitude in my heart grows. Thank You Father.

Thank You for the grace of which the apostle Paul wrote to his faithful brother Timothy. The Message presents his grateful love with these words. “I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. The only credentials I brought to it were invective [abuse] and witch hunts and arrogance. But I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing - didn’t know Who I was doing it against! Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:12-14).

Treated mercifully. Didn’t know what he was doing. Grace mixed with faith and love. Poured over him and into him. “And all because of Jesus.”

How completely blessed we truly are to have this perfect love of Yours poured over and into us. Let us use it well this day. To Your good and to Your glory. Focusing on Your merciful, forgiving, redemptive power.

Teach me Your fine art of forgiveness Father that I will come to better share it with others. How I love You. How I thank You. And how I look to You for guidance.

Thank You Father. I love You. Amen.

(363 words ~ 8:06 a.m.)