"I Love This Part!"

God has a highlight reel of your best moments in life waiting for you in heaven!  He’ll provide the popcorn (in heaven you can have all the butter on it you want!) as you are reclining together and watching His version of your home movies, He’ll say over and over again, “I love this part!”

I love this part when you gave your milk money to another child because they didn’t have any!

I love this part when you said a kind word that gave that lonely person hope in a dark moment!

I love this part when you patiently waited and even joked around with others in line when something went wrong with the cash register at the grocery store!

I love this part when you wiped the tears away from a child’s eyes, gave them a hug, and told them something that made them smile again!

I love this part when you sat down and cried with me and believed how good I was even in the midst of an extremely difficult situation.

I love this part when you lifted up your tear-filled eyes to me and said, “I trust you, Father!”

I love this part when you chose to forgive another who had wronged you because you remembered my mercy and released them!

I love this part when you smiled at someone,

when you stopped to open the door,

when you gave a lost person directions,

when you picked up the phone to talk to encourage someone,

when you took the time to listen as well,

when you helped another up,

when you gave a meal to someone who had none…

...and the list goes on and on.

And you’ll say, but Lord, what about the other parts that weren’t so good.  And he will look at you with a quizzical face and say, “My child, I really don’t remember that.”

So we are made holy because Christ obeyed God and offered himself once for all.  By his one sacrifice he has forever set free from sin the people he brings to God. The Holy Spirit also speaks of this by telling us that the Lord said, “When the time comes, 
I will make an agreement
 with them. 
I will write my laws 
on their minds and hearts. Then I will forget 
about their sins
 and no longer remember 
their evil deeds.” 

When sins are forgiven, there is no more need to offer sacrifices.

Hebrews 10:10,14-18 (CEV)

Jesus can’t get back up on the cross again because He did it all for you the first and only time!  He has made you holy and put you right with God.  It’s time to enjoy that relationship and live out your life true to your real self.  It’s time to make more wonderful memories in this life that you and your heavenly Father will watch together again when you will hear Him say with delight,

“I love this part!”

Daddy's Kisses

I remember a trip our family went on to an amusement park and on the way home we stopped for pizza. My almost-two-year-old niece, Isabella, was with us and she had crashed with exhaustion after a long, fun day. She was completely zonked out, snoozing on her mom, Kiyana, who was lovingly looking at her precious daughter and saying, “I love these times because I can kiss Isabella as much as I want to.” Of course, she was referring to the fact that a nearly-two-year-old has a bundle of squirmy energy that doesn’t lend itself to slowing down long enough to receive too many kisses. And now Mom had her chance!

As soon as she said this, I thought, What a perfect picture of how our Daddy in heaven loves us. We are precious to our Father and He thoroughly enjoys watching us run around and discover things. But since we are often too active to enjoy His kisses, He can hardly wait until we get to the end of our day, exhausted and needing rest. Then Papa says, “Oh, good! Now I get to kiss them as much as I want to.” You see, God never sleeps nor slumbers. (Psalm 121:4)

What do you suppose He’s doing when we’re sleeping? Well, since God is love, it makes perfect sense that He takes that time to kiss us as much as He wants to. And just like Isabella, you don’t have to do a thing to receive those kisses. It’s simply the natural response of Daddy’s perfect love that must find its expression toward the ones He adores—that’s you and me!

No wonder we wake up with a fresh gift of new mercy every morning. It’s because we had huge doses of love lavishly and continuously poured out upon us all night long. Jeremiah 31:3 (BBE) reads:
My love for you is an eternal love: so with mercy I have made you come with me.

God has a definite motive for showering us with His love. Here it is: Since God knows He’s the best thing for us, He makes it downright impossible for us to resist Him, and we find ourselves continuously drawn into His great heart.

If you think this is good news, I have some even better news for you. You don’t have to wait until nighttime for your heavenly Daddy to kiss you. God is always showering us with His love and He is bringing us into a growing awareness of His love during our waking, active hours as well. In fact, one of the Bible’s most fervent prayers is that we will truly get how big and good God’s love really is. (Ephesians 3:16-19)

This is why it’s so important that we slow down and enjoy “soaking times,” when we learn to tune our hearts to His and experience more and more of that continuous flow of love. Why don’t you take a few moments right now to quiet your heart and agree again with the most powerful truth the world has ever known: “Daddy, you love me!”

He does not merely tolerate you politely, He delights Himself in you! (Ephesians 5:29 TMT) 

Enjoy the journey into the depths of Papa's HUGE heart for you!!

Taken from chapter 4 (A Father Who Celebrates You) of Daddy, You Love Me: Living in the Approval of Your Heavenly Father by Brent Lokker.

Turning Failure Into Victory

Turning Failure into Victory

Peter was one of Jesus’ closest friends, and he promised Jesus that he would never abandon Him, no matter what. When Peter failed miserably at standing up for Jesus in His darkest hour, he felt like a dismal loser. So much so that even after he had seen the living, resurrected Jesus, he went back to his previous trade of fishing because he didn’t think Jesus would have use for him anymore. Peter’s failure was fearing for his own life on the night of Jesus’ brutal arrest, leading him to deny knowing Jesus three times when questioned by the Romans around a charcoal fire.

Why do you suppose John would have mentioned in his gospel that it was a charcoal fire? The answer is clear when you read about the charcoal fire Jesus built after His resurrection to cook fish for the disciples who were out fishing all night.

Jesus intentionally brought Peter back to the same atmosphere of that charcoal fire to give him the opportunity to come through with flying colors this time.

In order to restore Peter from defeat to victory, Jesus asked Peter to affirm his love for Him three times. Jesus didn’t scold him. Jesus never even asked Peter why he denied Him. He simply said, feed my sheep and take care of my lambs.  Jesus was telling him, in effect:

"Peter, I know you feel bad about what happened, but feeling bad isn’t going to get you to where I need you to be. I know all things. I know that you love Me, but you needed to hear yourself say the words so that you would believe it again. I brought you back to the charcoal fire—to the place of your failure—for you to succeed this time. I have things for you to do, Peter. I have taken away any and all excuses for disqualification. You are Mine, and you know My love for you. It’s time to get back in the game. I need you to feed people the truth of My grace and love. I need you to take care of those who have lost their way and point them back to the Father I revealed to you, Peter—a Father who wants each and every child with all of His heart."

The Lord then used Peter in astounding ways ... the very same man who at one time thought he was unusable. Just look at the next chapters of Peter’s life and see the rest of the story.

In Acts 2, after the Holy Spirit comes in power, it’s Peter who gets up and preaches to the crowd, and three thousand people come rushing into God’s kingdom that day! In Acts 3, it’s Peter and John who stretch out their hands and heal the crippled man at the gate called Beautiful, and it’s Peter who once again speaks to the crowds and two thousand more people are drawn into God’s kingdom. In Acts 4, Peter is no longer bound by fear or unbelief. He is put in prison for preaching the good news of Jesus, and even when threatened with his life, continues to tell the enraged council about Jesus. In Acts 5, the power and glory of God are pouring out of Peter—even his shadow is healing people! In Acts 9, it’s Peter who heals a paralytic and, as a result, everyone in the towns of Lydda and Sharon want to follow Jesus. Also in Acts 9, it’s Peter who raises a woman from the dead, and many in the town of Joffa choose to believe in Jesus. Peter ends up so free from his past fear and doubt that he is sleeping soundly between two guards while imprisoned in jail when an angelic jailbreak sets him free. Peter’s past didn’t disqualify him. God’s love for Peter and His determination for Peter to walk out his destiny prevailed.

The same is true for you. You are loved and you are accepted.

No matter what you have done, no matter how much of a failure you feel you’ve been, you are never disqualified from God’s kingdom. Jesus has pre-qualified you to share in His inheritance. 

Keep going, and look into the eyes of the One who says to you, “You can do it! I am holding you up and giving you My strength for the journey.”

Allow the Lord to love on you and burn away the things that have no business being in a new creation in Christ Jesus. Whether or not you end up preaching to crowds where thousands are saved, the Lord has chosen you and is perfectly preparing you to love as He loves and to make a huge difference in His kingdom.

Believing that you are a failure, a loser, or God’s “project” is only agreeing with the accuser. You belong to only One, and the opinion of that One who affirms you is the only voice that matters.

Someone who is continually down on him or herself is not readily available to be used by God to lift up others. But someone who knows his or her infinite worth will have one encounter after another in which the encouragement of God flows freely through him or her, making a huge difference in the lives of others. That’s your destiny, beloved! 


Taken from the book, "Daddy, You Love Me: Living in the Approval of your Heavenly Father" by Brent Lokker
www.BrentLokkerMinistries.com