Who Loved Who First?

I John 4:19 says that "We love because he first loved us."

Many struggle and lack the power to change because they are blinded to God's love. I have had friends turn on me. Parents fail me. Relationships disappoint me. Yet one thing is for sure. God loves me and His love for me will never fail.

The crazy thing about it is... He loved me even when I hated him.

Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

In a few verses before this one, it says that we were actually enemies of God while we were sinners. God doesn't wait for us to get our act together before he loves us. No! He loves us and what's us to come to him as we are... broken in sin. Then His love will transform our lives and revolutionize us.

The power of changed life is God's love demonstrated through his grace and mercy.

The more your realize how Great his love for you is... the more you will want to love him back!

Download the audio file Who Loved Who First? to hear a two minute devotional on experiencing God's Love.

Little Mercy... Little Love! Much Mercy... Much Love!

The Power of a Changed Life ... It all begins with God's Mercy!

In Luke chapter 7 we discover a powerful story of forgiveness and a life totally changed by an encounter with Christ.

36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."
40 Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."
"Tell me, teacher," he said.
41 "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."
"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
48 Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
49 The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
50 Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

If you want your life to change, you need to experience God's love and mercy. And that will happen when you realize how messed up your heart is and how much you need Him. Then your love for God will be genuine and your life changed forever!

Download the audio file Much Mercy equals Much Love to hear a two minute devotional on experiencing God's Mercy.

The Key to Receive God's Mercy

The Power of a Changed Life. It all begins with God's Mercy.

How many of us really want to change. But the struggle is too great. The power to change begins with God's Mercy. But so many miss out on God's mercy and never receive it. What is the key to receive God's mercy?

REALIZE YOU ARE MESSED UP AND BEG FOR GOD'S MERCY!

Here Jesus tells a story to some people who didn't think they were messed up (becuase they were confident of their own righteouseness).

Luke 18
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about[a] himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Download the audio file Key to Receive Mercy part 1 to hear a two minute devotional on receiving God's Mercy.