Welcome to transformed by the word, a podcast about discovering how to live your life with gratifying purpose. God created you for a reason and the Bible contains the keys to unlock your transformed life. Now, here's your host, Debora Barr
Thanks for joining me for Episode Three of transformed by the word.
What comes to mind when you think about love? Can you recall being so deeply in love with someone that they consumed your thoughts, and you spent endless hours with them, just wanting to be in their presence? You wanted to know everything about this person. When you weren't with them, you thought about them longingly until you can be together again.
Do you know that God loves you with an intensity that far exceeds the ability of people to express love to one another. How do I know that? Well, the Bible tells me so. You may have heard a song in Sunday school as a little child that said Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
The Bible is God's love letter to humanity. I'm going to share with you a few quotes directly from the Word of God.
I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. Jeremiah 31, verse three.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting Life. That's John 3:16.
Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. First John three verse one.
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love. And he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. That's first John 4:16.
God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's Romans, chapter five, verse eight.
The Lord God in your midst, the Mighty One will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing. That Zephaniah three, verse 17.
And finally, his banner over me his love. That comes from the Song of Solomon chapter two, verse four.
Honestly, I could go on and on for a long time, quoting all of these verses in the Bible that tell us that God loves us. God is love.
Now, you might find it hard to believe that God could love you like that. And honestly, when I look back over my life, I find it hard to believe that he could love me as much as he does. That's because I've done a lot of things over the course of my life, that I know were not pleasing to God. In fact, I completely turned away from him when I was in my teenage years and I denied his very existence. I went so far as to mock Christians, thinking that they were diluted to believe in an invisible God. I've been many places, done many things, and thought many thoughts that I am now ashamed of. The Bible reveals to us that there's an enemy of God and of man. This enemy has been trying to destroy me since I was born. And he's been trying to destroy you since you were born. And if I were to listen and take heed of the messages from the enemy of my soul, I can become easily discouraged. I cannot believe that I'm lovable. And if there's no way that God could forgive me for all that I've done, let alone love me.
But
God's word also reveals to us the ancient tricks of this enemy of our souls. First Peter, chapter five, verse eight, says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And John 10:10, says, The thief, meaning the devil, does not come except to steal and to kill, and to destroy
All of the negative things that people have said about you, or said to you, how you were not good enough that you would never amount to anything. Those were messages from the enemy of your soul, who does not want to see you reconciled to God who does not want you to know and experience the true and unconditional love of God.
Jesus says of Satan in John chapter eight, verse 44. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. Jesus through His Word has blown the cover right off the devil's tricks right off of his schemes.
We need to know the truth, to know what God himself says about his love for us. Today, we're going Focus on Psalm 139 whenever I'm feeling unloved or unlovable, I can read and meditate on this particular song and get grounded once again, in the love that God lavish is on me.
Psalm 139 says this,
oh, Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought of far off. you comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all of my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue. But behold, oh, Lord, you know it all together. You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night shall be light about me. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you. But the night shines as the day the darkness and the light are both a light to you. For you formed my inward parts you hovered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book, they all were written. The days fashioned for me. When as yet there were none of them. How precious also are your thoughts to me? Oh god. How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand when I awake. I am still with you. Oh, that you would slay the world. Wicked, oh God, Depart from me therefore you bloodthirsty men, for they speak against you wickedly your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate them, oh Lord who hate you. And do I not love those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
In this Psalm, we learned that God created us with great care and individuality. He knows absolutely everything about us and He loves us unconditionally. In the first few verses, the psalmist recognizes and recalls that God is completely aware of him. He's completely aware of us. He knows what we're thinking, where we're going, what we plan to say, even before we say it. We are never outside of his loving sight. We can't move from his loving presence, no matter where we go. He's already there. God never leaves us or forsakes us. We can't even hide from him. Even if we think that we can move away from him into the dark. He's even there. And in this psalm, we learned the care with which God created each and every one of us. Scripture says that he formed you formed your inward parts and placed you in your mother's womb. He says, You were fearfully and wonderfully made. Your frame was not hidden from God. He skillfully created you.
And God knew all of the days you would live before you were ever born. This is also highlighted in another place in Scripture. In the book of Jeremiah, chapter one. Verse five. It says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. That is God speaking to the prophet Jeremiah, and he's speaking to us as well.
Before he actually formed us and placed us into our mother's womb, he knew us. He knows everything about us. The Psalmist goes on to say, How precious are God's thoughts towards us? How great is the sum of them? God thinks about you all the time. If you could count his thoughts about you, the number would be higher than the number of sand grains that you could count on a beach. God thinks about us day and night. And when we awake, we're still with him.
In the last few verses of this psalm, the writer says, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
After recalling how God created him, and gave him life and purpose, how God will not allow him out of his sight, and how much God knows about him and yet still loves him. He asks God to search his heart and to lead him in the way everlasting. Now, if you knew deep down in your soul, that you were loved this completely by God, and then he has a plan and a purpose for your life. How would that change the way you live?
How would that change the way you think about yourself?
How would that change what you believe about your life and your worth?
I know for me, that when I truly grabbed ahold of this truth, this truth that God truly loves me. It transformed my world.
Knowing all that I had done to offend God, having lived in rebellion for a great number of years, thinking and saying and doing things, that today, I'm ashamed even to think about. None of these things permanently separated me from God. The God who created me with great care, formed my inward parts, and placed me in my mother's womb. who laid out the days for me before I was even born.
God made provisions for me to be reconciled to him. He already had a plan in place. A remedy for my Sin you see, our sin separates us from God, and there's absolutely nothing that we can do on our own to be restored to him.
The Bible tells us in Romans chapter five, verse eight, that God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus, who knew no sin, took upon himself the punishment that I deserved. When he died on the cross for my sins. He was beaten, He shed His blood and he died as punishment for my sins and for your sins. He was buried and on the third day he rose again from the dead with all power and authority. He defeated sin and Death. And now he sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven in glorious splendor.
It is by God's grace alone, that I have been saved through faith. There is nothing that you and I could ever do to earn this amazing gift of salvation that is freely extended to us by Jesus Christ. We just need to believe and accept by faith that Jesus died for our sins, that he rose from the dead and he's alive today.
That is why the Word of God is so powerful and able to transform our lives. Jesus is the embodiment of God's Word. He is the living word.
There's this great song that I love entitled How he loves It was written by john Mark McMillan, and it was performed by David Crowder band. And it begins like this. It says, He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane. I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of his win and mercy. When all of a sudden, I'm unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory. And I realize just how beautiful you are, and how great your affections are for me. And oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He loves us. How He loves us all. The song goes on to say, and we are His portion and he is our prize drawn to redemption by the grace in his Eyes. If his grace is an ocean, we're all sinking. And heaven meets Earth, like an unforeseen kiss. And my heart turns violently inside my chest. I don't have time to maintain these regrets. When I think about the way that he loves us. Oh, how He loves us.
I love that song.
Jesus loves you so much, that He died for your sins. He did this to extend to you the free gift of salvation, so that you can be reconciled to him who uniquely created you with a plan and a purpose for your life. If you have never accepted by faith, that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, was buried and rose from the dead. You've never surrendered your heart to Him. You can get right with the Lord right now. You can surrender your heart to Jesus.
Why don't you pray this prayer with me?
God, I confess that I'm a sinner, and I need Jesus in my life. I repent of my sins, and I turned to you. I believe that Jesus died on the cross, was buried and rose from the dead. I accept this by faith and invite Jesus to be Lord of my life, to reign and rule in my heart. Thank you for forgiving me and saving me. Amen.
If you just prayed that prayer with sincerity, you are saved, the Bible says That you will have everlasting life.
Now if you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior at some time in the past, but you've been living outside of God's will, living in sin and rebellion, you can come back to him and get back in right standing with God. First john one nine, says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
Won’t you confess your sins to the Lord right now, and ask for his forgiveness? When you do this, he will cleanse you from all unrighteousness and wipe your slate clean.
If you just prayed that prayer, and you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior Your or you re committed your life to the Lord. I want to hear from you.
Please visit my website at TBTWpodcast.com. That stands for transformed by the word podcast. And let me know about your decision for Christ so that I can encourage you and support you.
My prayer for you today comes from Ephesians chapter three, verses 16 to 19. I pray that God would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the winner And length and depth and height. To know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Please visit my website for resources related to this podcast. And stay tuned for our next episode of transformed by the word where we will explore truth that sets us free.
Thank you for listening to transformed by the word with your host Debora Barr, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or Google Play and connect with us at TBTWpodcast.com. Until next time, be blessed.
