Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” is the important question. Paul was convinced, and now it’s crucial that we become convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Insecurity comes from being unfamiliar with who God really is and what His Word says! Let’s mark the beginning of this year by delving into the Word and getting convinced by the love of God. God absolutely loves you and me. This truth is constantly being assailed by the enemy and by our own misperceptions and distortions. The only way to set right the situation is to turn to the Scripture and rediscover God’s heart concerning His people.

Since then it is by faith that we are justified, let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things He has for us in the future. Romans 5:1-2 Phillips Translation

Let it resonate in your spirit. Pore through the pages of the Bible and get filled with God’s heart concerning His people. It feels good to be forgiven and loved. It’s the best place in the universe!

You’re loved,
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2010 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God. 1 John 3:1a

You’ll become frustrated trying to walk in love if you don’t understand that we love because God first loved us. We can only truly walk in love as it flows out of our understanding of God’s love for us.

The apostle John had a profound understanding of God’s love. Four times John reiterated his awareness of God’s love by calling himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7). I used to think John was rubbing it in to Peter and the other disciples that he was the favorite. But now I realize the contrast between those two disciples at that point in their journeys: Peter was the disciple who tried to love Jesus, but John was the disciple who received the love from God.

It’s not about your loving God more—it starts at square one: God’s love for you. Let it resonate in your spirit that you are the disciple whom God loves, and out of that value, you can start valuing your relationship with God and valuing the people around you.

By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:9-11

God is calling us to revolutionize our generation with this radical approach called love that emanates from our relationship with God. We are at our best when this translates into practical action. How are we going to win the world? Not by our amazing sophistication, but by our love.

It’s good to be loved,
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2009 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11

Without agape—the God kind of love—all other loves fall short. God’s love is different from natural human love; it’s supernatural and changes a person. Agape love is value: looking at a person and realizing that is someone for whom Christ died.

If you started out walking the love walk, but over time life has dealt you a weird hand and your attitude has changed, go back to the Bible and see the pattern that God set in place. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

You can’t control other people, but you can control yourself. Here is a description of love adapted from 1 Corinthians 13. It’s been modified so you can confess it over your own life every day—or ten times a day!

• I am patient.
• I am kind.
• I am not jealous.
• I don’t brag.
• I am not arrogant.
• I don’t act unbecomingly.
• I don’t seek my own.
• I am not provoked.
• I don’t take into account a wrong suffered.
• I don’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoice with the truth.
• I bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things. I won’t be driven off course, because love never fails!

Press on!
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2009 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18

The value of something is determined by what someone is willing to pay for it. The world evaluates worth based on appearance, performance, and status. But God doesn’t make superficial evaluations. Whether you are doing great or not so great, He absolutely loves you. You are worthy because of the blood of Jesus that reconciled you to God!

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17

In order for us to operate fully and effectively in the ministry of reconciliation, we must know who we are in Christ. The devil wants to keep us from seeing ourselves in the mirror of the Word so that we stay dominated by our flesh, fears, and sensory impulses. But God’s Word identifies us clearly and transforms us completely: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

Forget conforming to the expectations of the world. If you want to live radically for Jesus, get your mind on what God has intended you to be: someone who walks in close fellowship with Him and who carries the message of reconciliation to a lost world.

You are loved by God!
Pastor Jeff Perry
St. Louis Family Church®

Copyright © 2009 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.