3/01            JAMES 1:2-7

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
ASK

Testing our faith isn’t fun but it does produce growth.

Ask the Father for help.

Ask the Father for strength.

Whatever else you need be sure to ask the Father. 

Focus on Jesus-no divided loyalty-faith in Him.

He will see you through.

Jesus will never abandon you.

One day soon you will experience the end of the testing.

Your joy will be complete-you now know He will see you through the trial. 

By faith we walk.

Our journey is straight to Jesus. 

Walk worthy.

Walk in faith.

The Lord Jesus loves you. 

2/29            EPHESIANS 1:5

⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

ADOPTION

I am a child of God.

He has adopted me into His family.

It was a grace gift.

I claim that gift by faith.

I walk in Him by faith.

I talk with Him and listen to Him by faith.

The Holy Spirit guides me and I believe it by faith.

One day I will stand face to face and see Jesus.

Praise the Lord that marvelous day. 

2/28            1 JOHN 3:1

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.

BLIND

The world is blind to the Lord.

They do not see Him nor do they believe in Him.

The hate us for claiming Jesus as Lord.

Stand your ground.

Pray for the lost.

Glorify God by the things you do. 

Love others and care for them the way the Father cares for you. 

2/27            PSALM 36:5-7

⁵ Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
    your justice like the ocean depths.
You care for people and animals alike, O Lord.
⁷     How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humanity finds shelter
    in the shadow of your wings.

CLOSE

The Lord God Almighty is close by.

I live in His presence.

His Holy Spirit indwells me. 

His strength and power enable me.

I know His joy, it fills me. 

His safety covers me.

He cares for me.

I belong to Him. 

2/26            PSALM 5:11-12

¹¹ But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
    let them sing joyful praises forever.
Spread your protection over them,
    that all who love your name may be filled with joy.
¹² For you bless the godly, O Lord;
    you surround them with your shield of love.

FILLED

The love of Christ fills me.

The Holy Spirit brings that love into me.

I experience it.

I believe it by faith.

His joy encourages me to have joy.

Jesus loves me. 

2/25            EPHESIANS 3:18-19

¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

FAITH

I experience Christ’s love by faith.

I can’t define it and in some cases it may be unique.

But Jesus loves me.

I believe it and experience it. 

2/24            ROMANS 8:35, 37-39

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 

³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[p] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
THE QUESTION

Can anything separate us from Christ’s love? 

No.

Nothing can separate us from Christ’s love.

Nothing. 

2/23            1 JOHN 4:18

¹⁸ Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

FEAR

Do not fear.

Our Father reminds us: do not fear.

We fear and miss the mark.

We fear and deny God’s power.

Do not fear. 

There is no fear in love. 

2/22            1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-7

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

LOVE

Love is not bits and pieces of the above.

It isn’t a buffet line. 

Love is all of these things; it is a whole.

We love and we never give up,

Love is patient and kind,

Not jealous, not boastful, not proud, or rude,

Doesn’t demand its own way,

Not irritable,

Rejoices whenever truth wins out,

Never loses faith,

Always hopeful,

And enduring through every circumstance.

This is love.

Godly love. 

Love like this. 

2/21            ROMANS 8:38-39

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

TRUST

The Word of God speaks truth. 

When we pray we are talking with God.

When we read His Word, He is talking to us. 

Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

It is eternal. 

It is a real cause for our glorifying our Father.

Praise the Lord, He loves us.