Oh How He Loves Us!

It’s funny how we have such strict plans for some things then out of nowhere God points us in a completely different direction. For a couple days now I have been working on another note called “When will more be enough” and I am talking about contentment and finding peace with what we have, and I am still super excited about finishing it up but for the past couple of days I believe God has been really trying to get through to me about how serious He is about His love and How much He truly loves me. For the past couple of years my passion and love for helping people and talking with people has grown and has become a roaring fire for God’s ministry, in these years I have told so many different people how much God loves them and How is grace is enough and that there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from God and His love and His grace. But in these past couple years, something really depressing happened to my heart. I got so extremely into sharing with others Gods love for them; I started slowly forgetting that…God loves me too. This past week I had one of the most amazing and encouraging talks with a real close friend and it really sparked something within my heart. We talked about how they have gone through a lot of trails and a lot of different types of problems and through their problems they started thinking about how could God still love me? And hearing those words makes my heart sad, it makes my knees shake, it makes my soul cry out. It does this, because I have experienced Gods love in so many different ways and I know that I have been through so much in my life and I have too asked the question “How could God still love me?” and I am just reminded through Gods word that “Not life or death can separate us from the Love of God” and I told my friend to listen to a song called “How He Loves” by David Crowder that I really like but it never really struck a chord with me until today. I knew I could suggest it because I have heard it help and change so many people’s lives, and in that I had confidence in God that this could help change their life as well. After they had listened to it, they poured out all they had within themselves to me and said how much they needed to hear that song. And from that moment, it really hit me. I have been spending so long telling other people how much God loves them, that I completely forgot…that God loves me too. And at first I was really discouraged by myself for forgetting such an amazing thing, how I could be doing this ministry and completely forget that I am a part of it as well. But then an overwhelming feeling came over my whole being. And God pointed me to truly listen to “How He Loves” and here are the lyrics:

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane; I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am 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 so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.


We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way

He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

It was made known to me tonight that I needed to hear this song, just as badly as my friend did. I think I got so caught up with my own sins and getting myself into having the mindset that there is no help for me when it comes to God’s love so maybe I can share it with others to fill this void in my life. But Gods love has and always will be exactly what I need. After listening to this song and being in complete awe of God’s love I couldn’t help but read John 3:16. And I know it sounds cliché and repetitive to mention this verse when it comes to God’s love but this will always be one of the best verses for displaying God’s love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. Love is such an overused word that has unfortunately has lost close to all meaning. It is almost impossible to live in this world without hearing how someone loves this new song or loves pizza or whatever. I don’t think love was supposed to be thrown around so….carelessly as it is today. In John 3:16, Jesus talks about God’s genuine love for His people. This type of love is profound, life changing, eternal, and unending. Jesus doesn’t refer to God’s love as something common but as a love so strong where He was willing to send His Son, to die for us so that we could have eternal life! I am not a father yet, but I have a soon to be 4 year old nephew who is the closest thing I have to a son, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him. And this type of love is the closest thing we have to comprehend God’s love for us. My love for Nathan is nothing more than genuine and real, he hasn’t done anything to earn my love. I just love him, no questions asked. I know when he grows up he is going to make decisions that I am not 100% proud of, but in no way could he do anything to make me love him less. And God’s love is exactly like that but with everyone, and not only just for everyone but to the point of death. I have been blessed with a lot of amazing friends and family who I wouldn’t think twice about dying for, but could I say I would die for someone I don’t even know? Probably not, and that’s what makes God’s love so truly amazing. One thing that I have come to learn about John 3:16 is that so many people read that and leave it but verse 17 just totally brings it home. “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved”. This verse completely does it for me when it comes to God’s love. It truly portrays how selfless God’s love is, that He sends His son not to condemn us, but to save us. For the rest of my life, I will sing praise to God and give all the glory to Him because His first and only intention with me is to love me and to save me; nothing else, not to condemn me or persecute me, but to save me from my sin; my deep, dark, ugly sin. And going back to the song, the very first line is one of the most profound things I have ever heard in my entire life. The words “He is jealous for me”, at first I didn’t really understand that statement but in the bible it states that we have a jealous God. When we hear jealousy, we automatically think of it as a negative term but when it comes to God it is a complete genuine jealously. He isn’t jealous of me, He is jealous for me, that He doesn’t want some of my love or some of my life; absolutely everything. All of my love, all of my heart, all of my mind, all of my strength, all of my life! God’s love changes people. His love is a love that has turned my life around. God offers us to embrace His grace for our sins, because we have all fallen short, we all deserve nothing but death. But God’s grace and God’s love has saved us from death. I believe that all He truly wants is for us to love Him the way He loves us. 100% committed, genuine, sincere love. And even in the worst of times when we think we have walked beyond God’s grace. In my life I know I have done way too many things that I know I shouldn’t have done and some day’s I sit and I wonder why I did it and I beat myself up over it but in this song, it reminds me to refocus on God’s true love for me and that His grace reaches me wherever I am. I don’t have time to maintain these regrets, when I think about, the way He loves…Me. I could literally sit and talk about God’s love for days and days but praise God I can continue sharing my thoughts thru this small ministry God has me a part of right now.

Praise God! Thank you God for loving me, us, your children, the way you do!

Rediscover You

Rediscover You
by: Starfield

I need to just admit
my faith is paper thin
I'm feeling so burned out
On religion

I say an empty prayer
I sing a tired song
I need to just admit that the passion's gone

And I want to get it back

You told me
Look for You and I will find
So I'm here
Like I'm searching for the first time
Revive me, Jesus
Make this cold heart start to move
Help me rediscover You

I want to learn to pray
The way that David prayed
I want my soul to burn when I hear Your name
I want to feel like new
I want to hunger for you
Bring me back to life like only You can do
Cause I don't want to stay the same

You told me
Look for You and I will find
So I'm here
Like I'm searching for the first time
Revive me, Jesus
Make this cold heart start to move
Help me rediscover You

Lord, I want to be Yours today
I want to know the passion of the saints
And how they were changed

You told me
Look for You and I will find
So I'm here
Like I'm searching for the first time
Revive me, Jesus
Make this cold heart start to move

I want to burn for You
Bring me back to life, Jesus
Help me rediscover You


To truly understand what it means to ‘Rediscover’ God we must know what the word means. The word ‘Rediscover’ means to find out about, or to recognize or realize or to even become aware of something that has been there all along or to remember and find something good or valuable that had been forgotten or lost. Right now I just want us to forget about anything that is going on in our lives that is keeping us from genuinely worshiping God. May we rediscover that Our God is A God who is fully worthy of our praise and come to the table with all of our troubles and worries and remember that Jesus has taken our sins away and that He is holding us and taking care of us when we feel that the tough times are just too hard. And when we remember that may we step back and look in awe of a God of wonders, a God of Grace, and a God of Love. At this time when we partake of the bread and blood may we rediscover the true importance of this life, this ministry that Jesus calls us to be a part of. For us to realize that we are not perfect but we get to be a part of a ministry that leads imperfect people to the one and only divine perfect One. But also at this time may we rediscover the passion that we had when we first began this walk with God. I know for me that this life gets the best of me sometimes and all I can do is just fall to my knees at the feet of Jesus and rediscover who He is in my life. And may we rediscover that God has compassion for His people and that he loves us so very much. The Greek word for ‘Rediscover’ is Anagnorisis (an-ag-nawr-uh-sis) and it means ‘to know again’ so may we rediscover and come to know again that in the good times and bad. God forgives and He loves us.

From the song it says “I want to learn to pray the way that David prayed” this is one of the many lines in the song that jumps out at me. David is a man of true faith, a man after God's own heart. When I think of David, I think of his true, honest and deep prayers to God. Two prayers of David that have been really made known to me in these past couple of weeks are in Psalm 13 and in Psalm 51. In Psalm 13 David prays a prayer of desperation and pleading to God. David is making an honest cry of dependence upon God then finishes with an offering of thanksgiving and gratitude

Psalm 13
1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.

In Psalm 51 David prayed this prayer of confession to God after the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

May we pray the way that David prays, being brutally honest and open with God about everything. God blesses us with the opportunity to talk to Him; Prayer, if anything is truth, it’s being honest with our maker. And for David, prayer is so much more than just words, it is David pouring out everything within him to God, may we learn to pray this way. May we rediscover today who God is in our lives today!

I hate saying ‘Good Bye'

I don’t believe saying good bye was ever intended to be easy to do. Obviously the words are quite simple to say but that’s clearly not what I am talking about. I am talking about how it is so emotionally tough to get the words good bye out. Today I just said good bye to my sister and brother-in-law as they move back up north. And they both know that I am a very emotional person but I kept my cool as we had our little good bye moment and when they left I got teary. But for me with these types of situations it is never just a sad feeling. It is a mixture of joy and sadness. Sadness because I really hate saying good bye to people I love so much but also I cried tears of joy because I am just so blessed to have them in my life. Lots of people hate saying good bye because it is something that is inevitable in our lives, it is something that like it or not happens. We all get that feeling inside, that sick feeling when we have to say good bye to the people we care most about. But I have made peace with saying good bye because even though it is sad to see the ones you love leave, I have hope and faith that I will see them again soon. From reading this I want you all to come to peace with the dreadful experience of saying good bye, which it is completely normal to feel the way you do. To be sad, angry or even happy, these emotions are a normal response. A couple of years ago a friend of mine and a lot of other people I know passed away. His name was Joey Merling. And though I may not of known him extremely well, his life has made a very large impact in my life. Other than Joey, I have only had 3 people close to me die. But I was much too young to understand anything about death and why I should be sad. I was so blessed to have known Joey, when I think of men of faith I always think of David in the bible who always prayed such deep and honest prayers to God. But I also think of Joey. He was very sick and he knew his fate and yet through all of this pain and sorrow. Joey still praised God and for me that is such an amazing act of faith. I mention this story just because for me it was really hard to say good bye to Joey. I mostly knew of him for most of his life but then he went to the same high school as I did and got to know him a lot more, but I got to truly experience what kind of person Joey was when he was in the hospital. Joey was in the same hospital that my sister-in-law was in at the time when she was very sick. For most people when they are so close to death they may not want to talk to anyone, but not Joey. Joey heard that Jaime (my sister-in-law) was in the same hospital as him, he made his way down to her room to visit with her. I believe that story will always be one of my favorites. I know that these two experiences of good bye’s are a lot different but for me….there really not. Even though I know I will be able to see Lindsay and Shane again physically. I have faith that I will see Lindsay and Shane and also Joey again one day. I know I am not the judge of who gets in to Heaven and Hell but I have faith that God has restored Joey and brought him home. I tell you these stories to provide comfort and peace to having to say good bye. For some it may be easy but I know for me I believe it will always be one of the toughest things for me to ever do. May we come to accept the inevitability of saying good bye and that we come to know that however we feel is normal. Whether your situation is saying good bye to a loved one for the time being or saying good bye to someone who has died, may we know that God is with us and restoring us, that we will never be the same but that we will recover and in that may we find hope.

Grace and Peace

J. Jones