Yes, Jesus Loves Me

In Joseph Prince's book, "The Power of Right Believing", he tells the story "of a minister from Oregon who was assigned to provide counseling in a state mental institution.  His first assignment was to a padded cell that housed deranged, barely clothed patients...He couldn't even talk to the inmates, let alone counsel them - the only responses he got were groans, moans and demonic laughter.  Then the Holy Spirit prompted him to sit in the middle of the room and for a full hour sing the famous children's hymn that goes, 'Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to Him belong.  They are weak but He is strong.'  Nothing happened at the end of that first day, but he persisted.  For weeks he would sit and sing the same melody with greater conviction each time:  'Yes, Jesus loves me!  Yes, Jesus loves me!  Yes, Jesus loves me!  The Bible tells me so.'  As the days passed, patients began singing with him one by one.  Amazingly, at the end of the first month, thirty-six of the severely ill patients were transferred from the high-dependency ward to a self-care ward.  Within a year, all but two were discharged from the mental institution."

That sounds a little fantastic, but what a difference the conviction that God/Jesus really and truly loves me makes!  To know that the constant, consistent love He has for me comes from who He is and not from my present state or level of performance is so freeing.  To know that He, in the middle of caring about every one of the billions of people on this earth, has time and interest to hear every detail I want to share with Him is humbling, but liberating.  Driving down the road, with no one in the car but Jesus and me, is a great time to just talk to Him.  He's always going with me wherever I'm going anyway, and He is always listening.  Plus, when I have a question, and I shut up long enough for Him to get through to me, He has answers for me.  

I've mentioned before how I hate some of the "Christian" music out there that gives the impression we have to wait for His presence or reach out for Him or whatever when the truth is He is always right there and inviting us "to His throne of grace where we obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).  In my Joyce Meyer devotional for today, I read "God is with you always...God is with you right now!  Believe it and start to enjoy each moment.  The present moment may not be perfect - it may even be painful - but recognizing that God is present with you will comfort and encourage you... You don't need to search for God any longer...He is in this moment!"

Sometimes one of those songs I complain about wants to get stuck in my head.  I have always used a little chorus, "I love You, Jesus, I adore Your name.  I love You, Jesus, I adore Your name.  Hallelujah!  I worship You.  Hallelujah!  I worship You", as my default go-to song to change what was running through my head.  But now, thinking about the powerful fact that "Jesus loves me!  This is know" and I know this because His unchanging Word tells me so, I am going to go to that little chorus to change the unwanted themes that sometimes run through my head.  I can never be reminded enough of "Yes, Jesus loves me!"

The Need for Unity

 I'm reading through the book of Acts 8 times in a row right now, each time looking for and underlining different words.  The first time, it was the resurrection.  I hadn't noticed before how the apostles "preached the resurrection."  (Those references are now underlined in green.) Then, I was looking for "the Spirit" or "the Holy Spirit" (that's all underlined in purple) and this time through I'm looking for "the Name".  

One of the things I have noticed in previous readings is how the subject of unity keeps popping up.  Read Acts 1:14; 2:1, 46; 4:24, 32; 15:25.  The followers of Jesus were "in unity", "in one accord", "of one heart and one soul", etc. What was the result? 

The church grew and multiplied, literally exploded!  On the day of Pentecost, when Peter stood up in boldness and under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we read, "those who gladly received his word were baptized, and the day about three thousand souls were added to them" (Acts 2:41).  At the end of the chapter, it says, "the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved".  In chapter 4:4, "the number...grew to about five thousand".  Acts 5:14 says, "Believers were increasingly added to the Lord, crowds of both men and women..." and 6:7 says, "So the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples grew rapidly in Jerusalem, and a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith."  After Stephen was martyred, great persecution began in Jerusalem against the believers, so they were scattered far and wide, finally carrying out the commission of Jesus to be His witnesses "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth"  (Acts 1:8).

Paul, in his missionary journeys, caused glad reception and angry rejection all over the place.  In the city of Thessalonica, "according to his custom, Paul went in, and on three Sabbaths he lectured to them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead (I told you they preached the resurrection all the time) and saying, 'This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.'  Some of them were persuaded and joined with Paul and Silas, including a great crowd of devout Greeks and many leading women.  But the Jews who did not believe became jealous and...gathered a crowd, stirred up the city" against Paul and Silas and the followers of Jesus.  Notice what their accusation was:  "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also."

I am thoroughly convinced that our lack of unity is one huge reason we don't see the growth that the early church saw, and we are not "turning the world upside down". 

I remember hearing a pastor saying how the city-wide group of pastors he met with regularly for prayer and fellowship began to discuss differences in their doctrines, to the point where he didn't want to attend their gatherings anymore. They finally agreed to discuss and share only about those things they agreed on, and these were many, and they were again able to enjoy and be built up from their time together.

A friend forwarded this from Mindful Christianity this morning:

We quarrel over baptism, church membership, and our doctrines. Instead of living by the spirit, we slice and cut up others who do not believe like us. We analyze everything theologically to determine who is right. We are human scalpels dissecting and labeling every piece of theology that does not fit into what we believe.

So, I would like to encourage unity.  Don't get all tied in knots about who believes exactly like you, who believes in following the government restrictions exactly or who doesn't, etc., etc.  We need to be careful about wanting to remove splinters from other people's eyes while we have beams in our own.

Jesus prayed for unity.  "Holy Father, through Your name, keep those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are one...I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word (that's us, folks) that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You.  May they also be one in Us, that the world may believe that you have sent Me.   I have given them the glory which You gave Me, that they may be one even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfect in unity, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me" (John 17:11, 20-23).

We are one with Jesus and the Father, and the Spirit resides within us.  We have been given their glory.   We have the Word, the name of Jesus and His power.

We can do this.