In Hot Pursuit | May 2021

If there's one thing I've learned over the course of life it is that it is important to remember that God loves you. The reality of humanity is that some things might shake you, but when you are resting and finding pleasure in God's Word, God's love, God's will, and God's way, absolutely nothing can break you. 

As believers, we must take comfort in the fact that even if we make our bed in hell, God is with us or as the Apostle Paul so eloquently stated, "Who can separate us from the love of Christ?" (Psalm 139:8; Romans 8:35) 

If you are experiencing turmoil right now and your life is chaotic, or spiraling out of control, know that God loves you and He is in hot pursuit of you. 

If you are in a state of distress, if you are experiencing pain, suffering, anxiety, or loss, God loves you and He is still in hot pursuit.

If you are constantly being harassed or if you are burdened with the cruelty and harshness of this world, know that God loves you and He is in hot pursuit of you. 

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the righteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." 

If you're struggling right now or going through a difficult time, here's what you should know.                                          
1. God loves you. 
In Romans, when Paul asks "Who can separate us from the love of Christ?", he  continues by saying nothing. No, literally, "nothing." 

"For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

Despite what you are going through or what you are experiencing right now, God loves you and there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it. 

"Before I formed you in thy mother's womb, I knew thee, I sanctified thee, and I ordained you to be a prophet unto the nations."  (Jeremiah 1:8-9)

Long before Adam and Eve ate fruit from the forbidden tree, God had a plan to redeem mankind by sending His son Jesus.  Whether we believe in predetermination in the traditional sense or not, God makes it clear that He had a purpose and plan for our lives long before we were born. We must be confident in this, knowing that He who hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

2. God has a purpose and a plan for your life. 
God promises that He will continue to work in us, transforming us into the image of Christ, until the day of His return but believe it or not, we have an important role to play.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1-2)

When we begin to understand and embrace who God is, it changes our perspective. It changes how we see Him. It changes how we interact with ourselves and how we interact with others in our daily lives. 

3. God causes ALL things to work together for the good. 
Despite what you've been through in the past, despite what other people might say, or despite what you may think, God has the unique ability to take everything you've gone through and use it for good. Through it all, know that there is purpose in the midst of our pain. 

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the father of mercies, and the father of all comfort. Who comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

When we go through the trails of life, James encourages us to count it all joy, knowing that the trying of our faith worketh patience. . . and patience, experience; and experience, hope. (James 1:2-3, 2 Corinthians 1:4) 

4. It's not about you. 

"By this, all men know that you are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:35) 

God's ultimate goal and his ultimate desire is for everyone to be saved. God uses these trials as an opportunity to comfort us and show us His love, His grace and His mercy, not so that we can be amongst the world's most rich and famous, but so that we can turn right back around and comfort those who are in need of comfort, love those in need of love, and extend grace to those in need of favor. 

God wants us to be in a position to show his love to others and the only way that we can truly accomplish that is for Him to show us the magnitude and the depth of the love He has for us.