Yesterday we were considering the ‘joy’ that is in the Godhead, over us!!! Over us His people, The ‘Bride of Christ’. We also looked at our ‘joy’ in the Lord, in the wonder, that the King of all Kings ‘should die to save a wretch like me’. (William How)
For most of us that joy is tempered by the fact that, like the Shulamite in the Song of Songs, we find it very hard to believe that we really are that acceptable to God, or that He can in fact delight in us. Apart from the fact that it sounds rather proud, we are often all too aware of our faults and failings to be really relaxed in our relationship with the Almighty.
So today our thanksgiving revolves around the wonderful truth that the Lord has a totally different perspective to ours. That in spite of being totally holy and pure Himself, a Being who cannot even look upon sin, He comes by His Spirit to live in us, to walk beside us and, yes, to even enjoy us. Now for most of us that takes some believing, and yet I believe that this is what the Lord is wanting for His people in this day. He is wanting us to grasp this truth as a source of incredible joy. It is also a ‘truth’ that will alter the way we see ourselves, and that too will give us and God even more joy. Zephaniah 3:17.
The main point is that the Lord has not just saved us to go into an earthly remand home until we have sorted our lives out enough, so that we can go to heaven. He has saved us and raised us up to be seated with Him in the heavenly realm…….’in Christ Jesus’. Ephesians 2:6. Seated ‘with Him’. This is a total mystery, we have been sanctified and yet we are being sanctified daily. You and I are ‘saints’, that is how He sees us now, and yet still by His grace, and the work of the indwelling Spirit, He is continually changing us to be more and more like Jesus. 2 Corinthians 3:18.
We are now totally loved by our triune God. How do we know? Jesus laid down His life for us and specifically said that there is no greater love than that. John 15:3. He also said, “I have loved you, just as the Father has loved Me”. John 15:9, AMP. We are now also recipients of the same love from the heart of the Father that Jesus had. Amazing or what? But Jesus said it in His prayer “that the world may know (Father) that you sent Me and that you have loved them even as you have loved Me.” John 17: 23. Then there is the Holy Spirit. Well He certainly loves us. Love is one of His fruits and letting us know how much God loves us is one of His main delights. Romans 5:5.
This then is the ‘unconditional love’ that you and I long for, and it is all because our lives are now ‘Hidden with Christ in God’, Colossians 3:3. I for one can’t quite get my head around this, so I thought I would share with you the words from a poem, written recently by Jonathan Bugden and put to music by Dave Hadden. So today, as you read over the scriptures I have quoted above, and read this poem, give Him your thanks for His incredible love, and as you do then let the reality of it fill your mind, and let your heart swell with the joy that this truth brings.
Romanced by the Three.
Entwined and encircled, I’m loved by the three.
It’s hard to imagine why they want this with me,
but the love I encounter is deeper than sea,
beyond comprehension, yet given to me
is the love and embrace of the Eternal Three.
Blissfully lost in a dance with the Three
I’m wonderfully held, yet utterly free.
There’s mystery and certainty found in their eyes,
that baffles all logic and reason defies.
I’m lost in a love that’s the gift of the Three.
A tsunami of mercy that streams from the three,
with relentless compassion for all that they see,
restoring connection, reopening doors
to their love and delight and their passion for more.
That’s the life in the Eternal Three.
Peace, joy and wisdom reside in the Three,
but gladly and freely they’re offered to me.
That lifts me above the noise of my life,
altering perception of struggle and strife
I can powerfully soar in the arms of the Three.
(Heaven Sings. Jonathan Bugden/ David Hadden, Sounds of Wonder.org )
