Unconditional Love From Our Father

Justine and me

My church is running a Holiday Bible Club at the moment for kids in our community, and I've got the privilege of being a prayer partner for one of my bestest friends, Justine. Tonight we had a worship and prayer evening at the church and I am so grateful that I got to be a part of it. After about 45 mins of soaking in God's presence and receiving his love and loving him back while singing in worship to him, the team headed to the hall to spend some intimate time with God. I was so blessed to be able to play the piano and sing while Andrea led, and to have the opportunity to listen to God and pray blessings into and over the lives of the team members. The work that they are doing, loving the children, is so incredibly valuable!

One of the prayer stations tonight involved a time where the team members could read "The Father's Love Letter". This particularly caught my attention because we are planning on using this same love letter during our missions trip to Mthatha next week. I'm heading up the teenage girls ministry time. Part of our main vision is to show these girls that they have value and purpose and that they are not just sex objects. Our contact in the area said that nearly all of these girls have been raped and many would have had multiple abortions. I can't begin to image the trauma that they have been through! Who am I, coming from a loving and protective family in a safe suburb, to say anything to them about things such as sex, abortion, healthy eating and the value that God sees in their lives; the beauty that he created in them, despite all that may have happened to them?

Rebekah and me with some of the teenagers we worked with last year in Mthatha

What I do know about, however, is the love of God. And thus, the main thing we want to show these girls is God's heart of love for them. The absolute last thing that we want to do is bring more pain into these girls lives! No judgement, condemnation or shame. Just love. God's unconditional love. The love of a Father who has cried with them through every moment of pain in their lives. Every thing that has hurt them has hurt him too. I so badly want to show them that they ARE valuable. The DO matter. They ARE princesses and loved by the king of KINGS.

After my last post about the love letter that God wrote through me, I got a comment from a friend of mine who I have seen in a few years saying "I understand where you come from however it is far too lovey mushy dushy for me. I suppose we must be glad that God is many things, thus different for each of us." While I do agree that at times God can reveal himself differently to each of us, in accordance with what we're going through, the fundamentals of who God is NEVER changes. God IS love. And his love is for ALL of us. We just need to be willing to let him love us. How can it be love if it is forced on us? He lets us choose it. Below is the Father's Love Letter, an intimate message from God to you. And I really believe this is 100% true for every single person in the whole world. 

My Child,

You may not know me,
but I know everything about you. 
Psalm 139:1

I know when you sit down and when you rise up. 
Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways. 
Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. 
Matthew 10:29-31

For you were made in my image. 
Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being.
Acts 17:28

For you are my offspring. 
Acts 17:28

I knew you even before you were conceived. 
Jeremiah 1:4-5

I chose you when I planned creation. 
Ephesians 1:11-12

You were not a mistake, 
for all your days are written in my book. 
Psalm 139:15-16

I determined the exact time of your birth 
and where you would live. 
Acts 17:26

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. 
Psalm 139:14

I knit you together in your mother's womb. 
Psalm 139:13

And brought you forth on the day you were born. 
Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented 
by those who don't know me.
John 8:41-44

I am not distant and angry, 
but am the complete expression of love. 
1 John 4:16

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you. 
1 John 3:1

Simply because you are my child 
and I am your Father. 
1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. 
Matthew 7:11

For I am the perfect father. 
Matthew 5:48

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. 
James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs. 
Matthew 6:31-33

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. 
Jeremiah 29:11

Because I love you with an everlasting love. 
Jeremiah 31:3

My thoughts toward you are countless 
as the sand on the seashore.
Psalms 139:17-18

And I rejoice over you with singing. 
Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you. 
Jeremiah 32:40

For you are my treasured possession. 
Exodus 19:5

I desire to establish you
with all my heart and all my soul. 
Jeremiah 32:41

And I want to show you great and marvelous things. 
Jeremiah 33:3

If you seek me with all your heart, 
you will find me. 
Deuteronomy 4:29

Delight in me and I will give you 
the desires of your heart. 
Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires. 
Philippians 2:13

I am able to do more for you 
than you could possibly imagine. 
Ephesians 3:20

For I am your greatest encourager. 
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

I am also the Father who comforts you 
in all your troubles. 
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

When you are brokenhearted, 
I am close to you. 
Psalm 34:18

As a shepherd carries a lamb, 
I have carried you close to my heart. 
Isaiah 40:11

One day I will wipe away 
every tear from your eyes. 
Revelation 21:3-4

And I'll take away all the pain 
you have suffered on this earth.
Revelation 21:3-4

I am your Father, and I love you 
even as I love my son, Jesus.
John 17:23

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed. 
John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being. 
Hebrews 1:3

He came to demonstrate that I am for you, 
not against you. 
Romans 8:31

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled. 
2 Corinthians 5:18-19

His death was the ultimate expression 
of my love for you. 
1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved
that I might gain your love. 
Romans 8:31-32

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, 
you receive me. 
1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you 
from my love again.
Romans 8:38-39

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party 
heaven has ever seen.
Luke 15:7

I have always been Father, 
and will always be Father.
Ephesians 3:14-15

My question is…
Will you be my child? 
John 1:12-13

I am waiting for you. 
Luke 15:11-32

Love, Your Dad 

Almighty God

Father's Love Letter used by permission Father Heart Communications 

© 1999-2011 www.FathersLoveLetter.com

Love letter from God

Song of Songs 8:6-7

"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal over your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned."

Last night I was at church for a time of "Soaking Prayer", as we call it at Pinelands Baptist, but I suppose you could also call it chilling with God, listening to God, meditation, or whatever. It's so cool to come together with a group of other believers and just wait on God together and see what he has to say. The evening started off with Janine and I leading worship. I chose songs that would draw us into a place of surrender to God, asking for more of him in our lives and realizing that he won't stop pursuing us until he has ALL of our lives. So we spent 15 minutes singing Consuming Fire, More Love, More Power and You Won't Relent. Such wonderful songs!

Follow this we went into 30 minutes of quite before the Lord. For the first 20 mins there was gentle music playing, and the next 10 there was total silence. During this time I asked God what he wanted to say to me. Like I said in my last post, I get all muddled up if I try keep everything in my head, so I wrote down whatever I thought God may be saying. I'm going to write here part of the love letter that God wrote through me last night. I hope it blesses you.

 

"My love for you is like this (Song of Songs 8:6-7). It never fades or changes. It never fails. I stay the same always and forever. My love for you is all consuming. Nothing can quench it. It can never run out. It will never end or finish. Take this (love) as a seal on your heart and body. Let my love mark you.Let it set you apart. A love like this cannot leave you unchanged. The effect of my love on your life should be as evident as a tattoo across your heart or your arm.

 

Oh won't you let me love you? Let me fill you! Let me wash over you. Dive into this love that I have from you. You will never be the same again. I have so much more to give you. You have only just touched the surface. I want to go deeper with you. To take you to a whole new level.

 

I love you. Oh how I love you!"

The beginnings

So, thanks to the inspiration of my wonderful little sister, Janine, I've decided to start my own blog. I love writing, as I find it to be a really helpful form of mental processing. I'm not one of those people that process well by just thinking. There's just too much running around at the same time in my head and I get so side tracked. Being ADD doesn't help me much with that either. I'm often in the middle of trying to decide something important and then I get side tracked with some other random thought and forget where I was at.

So I find writing to be very therapeutic. I can see what I've already written when I get distracted, and read what I've written again and again if needed. Somehow it all makes sense once its down somewhere concrete.  I'm always so amazed at how much sense it makes when I read it, while in my head its all just a jumble. I feel so much relief from having something that's been in my mind for a while, OUT. Somehow, once I've written it somewhere, my brain is happy that it doesn't have to try keep it all inside my head all the time. 

So this is the beginnigs. I'll see how things go as to how much I write. I'm intending to use this much more next year, when I go back to YWAM (God willing!) for another two schools. But more on that another time...