You Are Loved! Thoughts for the New Year

It's a New Year and a time for new beginnings.  Leave the old behind and step forward into your future with the knowledge that you are loved by the Creator of the universe.  You. are. loved. Don't forget that!  Not only are you loved but, if you are His, you have been called for a purpose…. to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him.

God wants you to have a life that is full of His goodness, abounding in the riches of His love. A life filled with purpose.

The enemy, the devil, wants to destroy you…plain and simple.  He wants to plant thoughts in your head to make you feel like a failure, with no purpose.  In John chapter 10, verse 10 we read the words of Jesus, "The thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Jesus wants you to live a full life filled with the purpose of His love.

When we respond to the invitation to follow Jesus and try to live as He lived, even in all of our imperfection, He promises that our joy will be full. (John 15:11 and 16:24).  When He tells us that we would have life to the full in John 10:10, the word for full here in Greek is, perissos...it means "super-abundant, superior in quality, over and above. It is an extravagant, abundant word, full of promise and hope." (see Keri Wyatt Kent's, Deeper Into the Word, New Testament).

Sometimes we allow ourselves to be swayed by the standards of the world and begin to tell ourselves lies that we are 'less than'…not pretty enough, not smart enough, not organized enough. Enough. enough.enough! Stop the lies dead in their tracks and replace them with the truth of God's word. We are to 'take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.' We are to take back our thought life, putting it under the authority of Christ and His word.

 When the world or the enemy of our soul tries to tell us that we are 'less than', we tend to let it sink deep into our thought life. The lie takes root and our emotions become engaged, dictating the way we interact with the world in which we live. It can begin to take over, stealing our focus and causing feelings of helplessness. It becomes a stronghold in our lives, holding us down and keeping us from becoming all that God created us to be.  It drains our emotional energy and keeps us from fulfilling the abundant life that God has called us to. This is exactly what the enemy wants.  We need to turn away from the lie of 'less than' and turn to the truth of God's Word.  HE IS ENOUGH so we don't have to be.  We don't' have to strive to be perfect…to have the perfect family, perfect kids, perfect body, perfect life.  The truth is no one is perfect but the one who created us. And HE IS ENOUGH. We are perfected IN HIM and HE.IS.ENOUGH.

 Instead of letting the world define you, or listening to the enemy as he whispers lies into your ear, lies of worthlessness, and hopelessness…allow God to lead you into a full life….a life of joy and purpose. Allow Him to take your less than and turn it into more than enough.

I want to live that kind of 'full' life, a life that is more than enough! Don't you?

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.    ~2 Corinthians 10:3-5